The Carpenter and the Dove

Scripture is filled with the scent of wood

Scripture is alive and filled with the scent of newly cut wood. Sawdust and shavings are under our feet. We see pieces of oak with its lovely grain and lengths of cedar from the forests of Lebanon. From the first week of the designed creation of the world we marvel at the forests and woods - at the diversity of shape and colour. Only God could create a tree! The most important and meaningful item ever fashioned from wood was the Cross. The central vertical upright and the shorter horizontal cross section provide the simple and inspired design holding within it the vastness of God’s love for the world. The Cross was in the mind of the Lord from the moment the first tree created, stood in splendour and strength

Sounds of the carpenter

(Isaiah 41:7) So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
(Isaiah 44:13) The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass.
(1 Samuel 13:19-20) Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his ax, and his mattock.
The carpenter not only worked in wood but also in stone, iron, and copper. They were all-round workmen versatile and could put their hand to various skills and tasks. We know that all Jewish men even the Rabbi’s learned some handicraft. Paul was a tent maker for example. In the large cities the carpenters would have been mostly Greeks but in the smaller villages of Israel the carpenter would have been Jewish.
(Matthew13:55) Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
(Mark 6:3) Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon?

In Genesis 6:8 we have a carpentry record – But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (Genesis 6:13-16). 
Contrast the size and structure of wood as the means of safety and salvation. To the size and structure of Calvary’s wooden Cross as a means of salvation not simply from rain and flood but from ruin and fire.

Sight, Sound and Splendour of the Dove

Wherever a tree grows the birds sing. They make a lovely couple and partnership. Scripture is alive with song on the wing and on the branch.
(Genesis 8:8-12) Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. 
Dove is a symbol of Peace (Genesis 8:11).

Christian believers are to be like doves in their actions. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (Matthew 10.16). Good to see. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. (Song of Solomon 2.14) Doves are seen by rivers and streams. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. (Song of Solomon 5.12).

Come with me now down to the river may we see together the Carpenter and the Dove.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3.16-17). Here we see the Carpenter and the Dove.

16 October 2007