THE WINGS OF A DOVE
[p. 316] THE WINGS OF A DOVE
Psalm 68: 13; Revelation 4: 1,2
It is in my mind to speak about the Holy Spirit, but to confine my remarks to the Spirit as the power in the believer by which alone he can lay hold of and enter into his heavenly position. I have selected this verse in Psalm 68 because it speaks of doves’ wings; “the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold” Psalm 68: 13. It refers thus emblematically to the Holy Spirit as characterising the believer. To those spoken of it is said that they should be like doves’ wings. It is not that they have them, but that they should be as them. “Yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove”. The dove is emblematical of the Holy Spirit. We all remember how the Holy Spirit came down on our Lord Jesus Christ in bodily form as of a dove, and abode upon Him.
When He came down at Pentecost it was as cloven tongues of fire — “it sat upon each of them” Acts 2: 3. The fact that He came in that way had its own voice: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them” Acts 2: 2,3. First, there is the sound: and then the cloven tongues of fire; thus there should be on the one hand speaking, and on the other the means of consuming what is unsuitable to God. The result of the activity of the Holy Spirit as thus seen would be to bring about what we get in this verse; that although the saints had lain among the pots, they should “be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold” Psalm 68: 13. That is the end reached; in other words, the believer is brought by the operation of the Holy Spirit in him, to conformity with Christ. He should be as wings of a dove, only “covered with silver”. The dove which [p. 317] came upon our Lord did not need that. We are not told what the wings were like or the plumage. It could add nothing to Christ in these respects, for all divine beauty was embodied in Him. The Holy Spirit came and abode upon Him; that is, there was a divine resting place there.
In Genesis 8 we get the first reference to the dove in Scripture. It says there, “God remembered Noah” Genesis 8: 1, and as the waters of judgment abated on the earth, Noah sent out a raven. The raven went to and fro until the waters were dried up. He brought back no tidings to Noah. Nothing accrued to Noah or the occupants of the ark through that enterprise. Then it says, “He sent forth a dove from him” Genesis 8: 8; as if to remind us of the link between Noah and the dove. One need not say as to that, that the Holy Spirit is in the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is referred to in Scripture at the very outset; He was hovering over the face of the waters. He fully represented the divine thought in regard to the chaotic state which had come in. He hovered over the face of the waters, and was there when God said, “Let there be light” Genesis 1: 3. By him God garnished the heavens, and now when the raven fails to return, Noah sends out the dove from him. There was a link between him and the dove. We are then told that “the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark” Genesis 8: 9; suggestive again of a link between them. Then it says, “he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him” Genesis 8: 9. The dove goes out again and returns with an olive leaf plucked off. This shows us that the Holy Spirit does not rest in a scene under judgment, but He takes account of the fruit He produces. It was not an olive leaf floating on the waters, but one plucked off. The product of the Holy Spirit in the believer is not regarded as detached, but in relation to its root; hence it says it was “plucked off” and brought back to Noah in the ark. What a remarkable testimony! It is a kind of foreshadowing of the day in which we [p. 318] now are. The deluge is a type of baptism: “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us”, says Peter, 1 Peter 3: 21. In relation to that the Holy Spirit produces fruit for God. There is a nine-branched fruit tree in Galatians 5, which we should ponder. The features the Holy Spirit looks for are the elements which survive the judgment. In those who recognise the Holy Spirit and walk in Him there is that blessed fruit for God, evidence of vitality; the dove brought the olive leaf back. There was the fruit of life in the midst of death.
Now the believer, as being like the wings of the dove with feathers of gold, may rise and enter into his distinctive heavenly portion. It was said that God bore Israel on “eagles’ wings” and brought them to Himself. Mark, it is eagles’ wings, not doves’ wings. When it is a question of being taken out of Egypt there is no thought of beauty or adornment, but when entrance into the divine sphere is in view the thought of adornment is introduced. If one is cold, one is not concerned as to the colour of his clothing, but the warmth that will accrue from it; if we need light we are not concerned as to the kind of light, we want the means by which to see, and so it is in regard of power. When the Egyptian monarch was close in pursuit of the Israelites, they were not thinking of the beauty or order of their equipment, what they needed was power and swiftness so as to escape from the hostile armies close upon them. The eagle is the emblem of these features. So Jehovah says, “I have borne you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself” Exodus 19: 4. They are the wings of deliverance. But when it is a question of entering into the divine sphere there is something further. Hence in Colossians we get the word “meetness”, because now it is a question of entering into Canaan. In Romans it is exit from the world, which corresponds with Exodus; but Colossians is like the book of Joshua. Hence in Colossians we read, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us [p. 319] meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” Colossians 1: 12.
There is often carelessness among the saints as to entrance into the presence of God. We have learnt something of the eagles’ wings, but what about the dove’s wings covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold, and entrance into the presence of God? When coming into the assembly it is not a question of eagles’ wings, but of doves’ wings. We are made “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” Colossians 1: 12. In the message through Paul the word was that they should receive an inheritance among them which are sanctified; the title to that is in the gospel, but Colossians speaks of meetness. Think of the light which shines in the circle of the saints.
Were I to be ushered into heaven tonight what I should find would be ineffable light. Think of the magnitude of the grace of God which “hath made us meet” for that! We know something of the full light of the sun at noon-tide, but the apostle in his exuberance describes the light that shone around him as “light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun!” Acts 26: 13. It brought him down to earth. Were we ushered into heaven tonight, ushered into all that light, there would be no falling down, we should be “holy and without blame before him in love”, for we are “accepted in the beloved” Ephesians 1: 4,6.
The King’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold. The “within” does not refer to her clothing, but to the King’s palace; her clothing is in every way in keeping with the King’s palace; yea, she adorns it. It was thus with the prodigal, the servants were told to bring forth the best robe and put it on him; the robe was brought out. It is what Christ is as Man in the presence of God put upon the christian. Is there anything more magnificent than that? The robe is brought out — the best robe. There is only one best. The Holy Spirit brings out of [p. 320] heaven what Christ is as Man and puts it on the christian, and he enters in that robe. It is wrought in the christian as here. The silver is the token of redemption; we go in on that ground.
‘Higher and higher yet,
In Thee, through blood, made nigh;
We taste the love that knows no let,
And “Abba, Father!” cry’. (427:5)
Now the apostle John in the book of Revelation helps us as to this. In thinking over the subject my mind reverted to the epistles and traversed Romans, Colossians, Ephesians, and finally reached Revelation. The epistle to the Ephesians coupled with the book of Revelation shows the power of the Holy Spirit in the christian as enabling him to enter into his heavenly portion. In Romans the Spirit is connected with the state of the christian; through Him deliverance is practically effected. In Revelation the believer is seen outside natural laws and impediments. It is well to take note of that. The epistles take account of us in this world for God. The book of Revelation contemplates a state outside natural laws; it comports in that respect with the feast of weeks (Deuteronomy 16), a feast not bounded by time, like the other feasts in Deuteronomy. The feast of tabernacles is the millennium; it is governed bytime — a long era of great blessing, but having a limit. When we come to the feast of weeks it is not so; no time of duration is given; it refers to what lies in the Spirit, and the Spirit is power in us by which we rise outside of time and its limitations, and reach what is eternal. We see in Revelation 21 the holy city coming down from God out of heaven. In order to come down it had to be placed in heaven, and Ephesians and Thessalonians instruct us as to this. Revelation touches on the power of the Spirit by which the believer has an exodus out of time limitations into eternity. Hence at the outset we read, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice ... and I turned to see the voice that spake with me” Revelation 1: 10,12. He sees Christ and sees Him here in the midst of the churches. After this, things are shown to him and the passage I read says, “I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven” Revelation 4: 1. It is not translation, for that is not by the Holy Spirit, but by the direct act of the Lord Himself He comes Himself, as in Thessalonians: “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout”. 1 Thessalonians 4: 16. The Lord comes down to meet us and take us up. Here John hears a voice which said, “Come up here” Revelation 4: 1. That voice has resounded throughout the dispensation. If it enters our souls it makes strangers of us as in this world. If strangers then pilgrims. The Lord calls us to our heavenly portion. John says, “immediately I became in the Spirit” Revelation 4: 2. We see thus that entrance into heaven now is by the Spirit.
I refer only to the principle, as of course what is spoken of in these verses was special. There is no ladder in view here as in Jacob’s vision. There a ladder was set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven, and angels of God ascended and descended on it. The ladder was for the angels to go up. The point was that Jacob here on the earth was the object of interest to heaven; that is, in picture, the millennium. The Lord says, “thou shalt see greater things than these ... Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” John 1: 51. But now the Lord is in heaven and there is no ladder for us to ascend by, but John was in the Spirit. To enter on our heavenly portion we must become in the Spirit and know how to retire into what is spiritual. We can enter into divine things only by the Spirit; we must be as the wings of a dove; we become that by the power of the Holy Spirit. “Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold”. Psalm 68: 13. The christian enters in that beauty into the presence of God. We shall have spiritual bodies also.
Thus beloved brethren, we can understand the correspondence effected by the Spirit between Christ and the saints. They find their place as holy and without blame before God in love, as those taken into favour in the beloved.