Before the eight people began their new living on the new earth, Noah conducted some tests. He sent forth a raven and a dove (8:7-12). The raven represents the fleshly people. If you read Leviticus 11 carefully, you will find that the raven is an unclean bird. All of the unclean birds are unclean because they eat the dead things, the carcasses. In other words, they eat death. They are unclean because they feed on death. Death is filthy in the eyes of God. According to the Old Testament, once a person contacted death, he immediately became unclean. While the unclean birds ate death, the clean birds ate grain, cereal. In every grain there is life. The clean birds are clean because they feed on life. In the eyes of God, nothing is as clean as life, and nothing is as unclean as death. Do you eat death or life? Do you eat the carcass or the seed? Whoever eats carcasses is a raven, and whoever eats seeds is a dove.
Noah was wise and firstly sent out a raven. When the raven left the ark, it was as if he had come out of a cage. He saw the carcasses floating on the water of judgment and began to feed on them. When he was confined in the ark, he had no opportunity to eat carcasses, because there was no death in the ark. However, as he left the ark, he saw that the surface of the water was filled with carcasses, filled with death. What does this mean? It means that within the church there is no death and that all the ravens are being starved. In the church, the people who are accustomed to feeding on death are starving. One day, when there is the opportunity to get out, the ravens will fly away and begin to feed on the carcasses. Throughout the years, I have seen a good number of such "ravens." They were in the church life for awhile, but went out to contact the world that was judged by God and began to feed on the carcasses. Anyone that loves the condemned world resembles a raven feeding on the things of death. Even Demas, who was once with the Apostle Paul, loved the world and forsook Paul (2 Tim. 4:10). To love the world is to feed on the dead things condemned and judged by God.
After sending out a raven, Noah sent a dove. The dove could not find a resting place, because the earth was still filled with death waters. So, since there was no place for her, the dove returned to the ark (8:9). After seven days, Noah sent the dove out again, and this time she returned with a fresh olive leaf (8:11, ASV). In typology, olive signifies the Spirit, and the new, fresh, olive leaf signifies the new life in the Spirit. The dove saw the fresh olive leaf and plucked it. It was a sign of life.
In order to open a new opportunity for the church, a fresh olive leaf is needed. If we are going to have a church in a certain city, we should send one or two "doves" to see whether or not there is some fresh olive leaf. If there is, then it is possible to have the church life in that city. Otherwise, the "doves" should return to the ark. When Noah sent the dove the third time, she did not return, because the land of life was exposed. This also is a sign that we may have the church life. Suppose certain saints intend to start the church life in a particular city. They must determine whether the death waters are rising up or whether they have abated. If the water has abated and some olive trees have come up with fresh leaves, that may be a sign that the church should be there. They need to wait until the death waters have abated and the land of life has arisen. That will be the time for them to start the church life. Before we begin to have the church life in any place, we must act according to the same principle, testing the situation to see whether or not it is good for the church life.