The Nineteenth Sunday after
Trinity.
The Collect.
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O
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GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not
able to please thee; Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things
direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
4.Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles'
wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:4)
11.As an eagle
stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings,
taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12.So the Lord
alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. (Deuteronomy
32:11-12)
14. And to
the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the
wilderness,etc (Revelations 12:14)
The Great Eagle
is one of the more beautiful and amazing allusions to the nature of Christ
found in all of God's Creation. In the least complex sense, the great Eagle as
Monarch of the skies is very like Christ as the King of Heaven. The similitudes
are practically inexhaustible. Just as the ground squirrels, rabbits and other
vermin attempt to hide their actions and movements from the Great Eagle, so
does the sinner attempt to hide in the holes and caverns of their
unrighteousness from the watchful eye of Christ. There is no avian that can fly
higher in the sky than the Eagle. Just so, there is no higher King than Christ,
for He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Both the Eagle, and Christ, are
of noble and royal blood – and they are so by nature of their birth to us.
One cannot help
but be deeply moved by the plaintive and prophetic words of Christ pronounced
over Jerusalem describing the terror to come to that city (and it did occur in
70 A.D. via the Roman Army commanded by Titus). O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are
sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! (Luke
13:34) Like the wings of an Eagle, the wings of Christ are very broad and able
to cover all who trust in Him. Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle
with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came
unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar ….(Ezekiel 17:3)
But the wings of Christ cannot protect if we remain at a distance from
Him – we must flee to His sheltering wings, not only at times of distress, but
at ALL times!
Just as the Lion
is the Ruler of the Jungle, so is the Eagle the Ruler of the skies. He is the
strongest adventurer on wings. Christ, too, is the Lion of Judah, and the
Bright and Morning Star. The Eagle has the capability to fly above the storms
of life. He often flies so high that his prey beneath cannot see him. So is
Christ so very high in His ways and His doings that we cannot see Him until He
comes near. We see His shadow first, and then the fullness of His Person. He
reveals Himself through the agency of the Holy Ghost prompting our
understanding from His Holy Word.
The way of the
Eagle in its flight is described as "too wonderful" by Solomon
(Proverbs 30:18-19). The way of Christ is too wonderful, as well, for us to
fully comprehend. There are some blessings that are simply too wonderful to
describe, and that is the nature of Christ to us.
The eye of the
Eagle is a piercing eye that can distinguish clearly from great distances.
"….she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. (Job
39:29) So the eyes of Christ can penetrate great distances – even from
His Throne in Heaven – and observe the secrets of men's hearts.
The Eagle is swift
to come to the defense of its young, or to apprehend its prey. Christ is swift
to come to the defense of His Church and people, and to execute judgment
against those wicked who rebel against heaven. The Eagle fights against
serpents and conquers them. So does Christ contend with that old Serpent and
Dragon of the Garden, Satan, and has unconditionally defeated him!
The Eagle has an
amazing ability to fly straight toward the sun when the archer takes aim. The
Eagle has a membrane of tissue that covers his eyes so that he can look
directly at the sun. The archer is blinded by the light and loses his target.
Christ is very like the Sun itself whose glorious brilliance cannot be viewed
by the eye of the sinner, but those who place their trust in Him may fly to His
Person and the eyes of the Adversary will be blinded thereby.
The talons of
the Eagle are so very strong that the Eagle refrains from holding her young
thereby for fear of crushing them. She, therefore, carries her young on her
back above her wings. If the enemy arrows fly, it is the mother Eagle who
perishes before the young. How precisely like the sacrificial love of Christ is
that mother Eagle.
The Eagle builds
her nest upon the high places and upon a strong Rock. Doth the eagle
mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and
abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
(Job 39:27-28) Christ, too, makes His home on High, and He is the very Rock of
our salvation, and our Fortress in time of trouble.
It is a wonderful mystery that the Eagle
builds her nest, first, of sharp twigs and thorns; then of pieces of rock or
glass; then she lines the nest with leaves; then fur. When the little ones are
of appropriate age, she begins to stir up her nest and remove, first, the fur;
then the leaves; until the sharp stones, twigs and thorns make the nest too
uncomfortable to bear for the maturing young eagles. As an eagle stirreth
up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh
them, beareth them on her wings: So the Lord alone did lead him
(Deut 32:11-12) The young eagles leave the discomfort of the mother's nest and
exercise their limbs by walking about the high born rock. After a time, the
mother Eagle does something that is so dismaying and hurtful to the young
eagles, that they cannot even begin to understand. She swoops down and shoves
them off the rock ledge and allows them to fall, often, hundreds of feet. They
are forced to attempt flight. Their untrained wings flail the air as they head
to sure destruction below. At the very last moment, the mother swoops beneath
the young eagle and catches him on her back. She carries him back to the Rock
to await further flight training. Doesn't God often make our nest so
uncomfortable that we are forced to leave the comfort of our existence and
strike out onto the mountaintop? Doesn't Christ often appear to leave us
alone as we flail the air with our spiritual wings until He catches us upon His
own broad and loving wings?
If the mother Eagle is unable to find
adequate nourishment for the young, she may feed them her own blood from an
open wound of her own making. Is this not a Christ-like behavior? Her
young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.
(Job 39:30) Christ feeds us His own Blood. And where those who are "dead
in trespasses and sins" there is Christ, too, seeking His own. Can it be
more clear? For my flesh is meat indeed, and
my blood is drink indeed. He that
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (John 6:55-56)
The Eagle has a
renewable life-span. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and
not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31) At
mid-age, the Eagle often becomes despondent and depressed. He stops flying, and
lives in the lowest valleys over which he once soared in grandeur. He loses his
will to fly, and he eats mice, insects, or anything else that is found on the
floor of the valley. The young eagles shrill and cry to encourage him not to
remain in the Valley of Death. After a time, the old Eagle becomes disgusted
with his plight. He resolves to climb back up the mountain Rock where he was
born so long ago in the mist of ages. Once there, he plucks all of the old,
drooping, greasy feathers from his body. Amazingly, new feathers appear and the
Eagle becomes as a beautiful young and healthy Eagle. He now has renewed his
strength and will live a life longer than heretofore lived. Christ, too, has
renewed His strength at the Garden Tomb. He teaches us to also rise from our
lowly graves of sin, and be like Him. We may have our resurrection in Him. Have
you done?
