Since the dove returned to the Noah’s ark as the bringer of good tidings with the freshly plucked olive leaf, it has become the familiar image of the gospel of grace. It is to spread on rapid wing beats across the earth, that lies under God’s heavy wrath because of the unrighteousness of mankind. The olive leaf brought Noah the happy message that the waters of judgment had receded from the earth. The branches of the trees reached already above the waves, and although the flood still covered the flat