I just recently started archery, and I am really enjoying it. The bow and arrow gave me an idea for my lesson tonight. There are so many lessons we can get from the bow and arrow. I want to give you some points I have found.
We will start with the Shaft. It is the long part of the arrow it is the body. You want to make sure it is straight especially the wood arrow. You do not want it to bend and break. You want to make sure it is strong enough to fly.
We will start in Genesis please turn your bible to Genesis Chapter 6:12-22 We read that the world had became corrupt and God decided to have Noah build an Ark in verse 14 it says, “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood” God wanted the best wood, and he wanted it to be strong. Noah had to make sure he built this ark according to what God commanded. Genesis 6:22 – “Noah did according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Just like the shaft of the arrow it had to be the right wood and strong.
The next part of the arrow that I like is fletching or feathers. These feathers (today plastic) are extremely important because they give the arrow its spin and roll and keep it on target. When an arrow is released, the shaft begins to “flex”. The fletching or feathers help the arrow to stop this motion and send it into a “spinning” motion so it will go straight sooner, and thus travel further and truer to its target. Without the spinning motion provided by the feathers, the arrow would go wildly in any direction.
The lesson of Joshua reminds me of fletching that is on the arrow and how he kept the Israelites on the right path in leading them to the Promise Land. Joshua chapter 1 God told Joshua to be strong and of great courage. In Joshua chapter 3 we read how Joshua had to make sure that the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God was led the exact way God wanted it and in the right direction and the right spaces and that no one come near it. Joshua 3:10 Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you.” Joshua 3:15-17 – They came to the Jordan and the priest’s feet touched the edge of the water and then the water dried up and the people were able to cross on dry land. In Chapter 2 we see God told Joshua to have one man from each of the twelve tribes’ and in verse 3 “commanded them saying Take yourselves one stone for each tribe of Isreal and this should be a covenant with the Lord your God.
This lesson shows that Joshua just like the fletching for an arrow had to make sure everything was just right and make sure the Israelites went the way God had commanded. The stones that the Israelites left in the Jordan are now covered in water just like our baptism we are covered fully in water.
Lastly, the part that makes the arrow take flight is the Bow. The bow is mostly used for hunting and sports. Archery is the art, practice, or skill of using bows to shoot arrows. A person who shoots arrows with a bow is called a bowman or an archer. Ther is several different bows, there is a Recurve, Compound, Tradition and youth bows.
The Bow reminds me of the one and only Jesus. There are no different choices to make. He is the One and Only. When Jesus got baptized, he was baptized in the same water as the Israelites when they crossed over to get to the Promise land where they laid the rocks as their covenant with the Lord.
When Noah finished the Ark and all the animals and 8 people were on board reminds me of the baptism in 1st Peter 3:20 – “In the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight souls were saved through water.”
“There is… one baptism” (Ephesians 4:4-6). When Paul wrote Ephesians there was one baptism. It is one thing (along with the one body, the one Spirit, the one hope, the one faith, the one Lord, the one God) that all Christians share and have in common and that binds us together in Christ. The one baptism is “the washing of water” mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 5:26 and commanded by Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15-16. In John 14:6 Jesus says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
Inconclusion an arrow has no power on its own, and in fact is quite helpless until it is connected to its power source, the Bow which is (Jesus Christ)