David Diga Hernandez - Holy Spirit: Dove of New Beginnings

You don’t need to wait for a date on the calendar or a dramatic change in circumstance to experience a new beginning. The Holy Spirit is the One Who breathes newness of life. It’s a new season because of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power. Are you ready for a fresh start, a new beginning? Receive this revelatory message by David Diga Hernandez, and allow God to do something new in you right now.

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So if you’re in a season of life where you are praying for a shift in your season, this message is for you. I want to show you something interesting in the scripture, particularly as it pertains to the Holy Spirit. One of the symbols of the Holy Spirit is the dove. The scripture says this in Matthew 3:16: «After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him.» That’s Matthew 3:16. The same narrative is repeated in Mark 1:10 and John 1:32, while Luke 3:22 says something slightly different: «And the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, 'You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.'» Other scriptures also speak about the dove, so we know that the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. By looking at how the scripture describes doves, we can gain greater insight into that symbolism. Some scriptures speak to the purity and innocence of doves, such as Song of Solomon 5:2: «I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.'» Matthew 10:16 says, «I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.» So, doves symbolize innocence and purity. Other scriptures speak to the hiding nature of doves. For example, Song of Solomon 2:14 says, «My dove is hiding behind the rocks,» and Jeremiah 48:28 states, «You people of Moab, flee from your towns and live in the caves; hide like doves that nest in the clefts of the rock.» When you look at the dove in scripture and consider the biblical symbolism of doves, you gain insight into the person of the Holy Spirit, as the scripture makes it clear that the dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit. I want to show you something interesting here in Genesis 1. I’m going to read verses 1 and 2. You’ve likely heard these verses before, but I want you to listen: «In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.» In Psalm 33:6, we see that «by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.» The Holy Spirit is that breath; the Holy Spirit is that wind; the Holy Spirit is that dove that was present at the beginning of creation. When the scripture says that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, it describes the Holy Spirit brooding or fluttering. That word «hovering» means brooding or fluttering, like a bird brooding over its eggs to incubate them. The Holy Spirit brooded over the spoken word of God to bring forth creation. The Holy Spirit was the breath at the beginning, and we see the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God coming together to create, to bring into existence. Like a dove, the Holy Spirit brooded, fluttered, and hovered over the surface of the waters. The Holy Spirit moves upon God’s voice and adds power to it. The Holy Spirit is the power of God in action; He is the omnipotence of God. We know the story: the Holy Spirit is there, present at the beginning of time. God creates all things, and then, of course, creation falls. Man falls into sin, and man becomes a fallen creation. In order to begin again, God sends a global flood, a flood that overtook the entire earth. He sent that flood so He might begin creation anew; He sent that flood to establish a new season and to cleanse the earth of wickedness. Again, we know that the Holy Spirit is symbolized by a dove in scripture, and we know that the Holy Spirit fluttered at the beginning of time. He was present at the very moment when God began to create; the Holy Spirit was there at the beginning of time. When God first began to create, we see the Holy Spirit hovering. This is amazing, because if you look in Genesis 8 and read verses 6 through 12, this is what the scripture says: «After another 40 days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground, but the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.» God created all things at the beginning; the Holy Spirit was present, hovering over the commands of God. Creation falls, and God has to begin again or chooses to begin again.