LIFE IS A ZOO
THE EAGLE
DR. JIM DIXON
ISAIAH 40:28-31
JULY 4, 2004
On June 20, 1782, the Federal Government of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, established the Bald Eagle as the official symbol of the United States of America. On that same day, June 20, 1782, the government adopted the Great Seal of the United States, which portrays the American eagle. In its right talon, the American eagle has an olive branch symbolizing peace with thirteen olives and thirteen leaves representing the 13 original states. In the left talon of the American eagle, there are 13 arrows symbolizing war. Our nation wanted the world to understand that we seek peace but we’re willing to wage war.
In its beak, the American eagle has a scroll inscribed with Latin words, “E pluribus Unum,” “one out of many,” “one nation out of many states,” “one union out of many peoples,” a melting pot. The founders of our nation, by and large, felt great about the adoption of the eagle as the symbol of our nation, but there was an exception and I think many of you know that that was Benjamin Franklin. He wanted the turkey to be the symbol of the United States of America. Ben Franklin believed that the turkey in every way was a more noble bird. We can only thank God that he failed. Had he succeeded, we would have a turkey on every flagpole instead of an eagle. Of course, instead of Eagle Scouts, we would have Turkey Scouts. Somehow the whole turkey thing just doesn’t fly.
Now it’s true that turkey tastes better than eagle, but ornithologists tell us that in virtually every way, eagles are superior. They are greater in flight, greater in strength and power, greater in intelligence. The eagle is a fitting symbol for a great nation. This morning we take a look at the eagle as it is portrayed in the Bible, the symbols that are there, and we’ll see what they say to our nation and to our lives individually.
First of all, in the Bible the eagle is a symbol of education. In the Bible, the eagle is a symbol of training. Now in Asia today, there are a group of people called “Berkutchi.” The Berkutchi are eagle trainers in Asia. Their methods seem a little harsh. They snatch eagles from the nest. They ensnare eagles in nets. They hood the eagles, blinding them. They place them in cages and on perches that are constantly in motion so the eagle is not allowed to sleep. They deprive the eagle of food and of water and they then all the while chant and sing to the eagle. They talk to the eagle in a kind of ornithological brainwashing. Then they try to bond the eagle as they begin to feed it with their hand and stroke it. If the bonding doesn’t take place, they repeat the whole process again, beginning with the hooding. One they feel there is sufficient bonding, they begin to train the eagle, and it is said the eagle becomes incredibly loyal for life, and its life span is approximately 50 years.
The Bible speaks of the training of eagles, but when the Bible speaks of the training of eagles, it’s referring to training in a different sense. It’s not the human training of eagles, but it’s the training that eagles give their young. It’s the training, the education, that eagles provide eaglets, the way eagles care and train their young.
Scientists tell us that when eaglets are 11 to 12 weeks old, that’s when mom begins to teach them to fly, begins to train them. She does an amazing thing. She picks her young up in her talons, just one at a time, and she flies as high as she can and she just drops it. She drops the eaglet. This little bird just falls like a brick, just falls like a rock racing to the surface of the earth. It must be a panicky experience for this little bird. The mother, with great speed and incredible skill and coordination just swoops down and, just before the eaglet is about to hit the ground, scoops it up in her talons. Then she rises heavenward again as high as she can fly and drops it again. She does it again and again and again until finally the eaglet begins to try to fly. In the midst of its panic and its fear, it begins to try to fly. Once the eaglet begins to try to fly, the mother eagle begins to fly underneath her. And scientists tell us that the eagle actually spreads her wings and her pinions and when the eaglet falters the mother catches the eaglet in her wings. The eaglet just falls into the pinions of the mother while in flight. A beautiful thing.
In the days that follow, the mother eagle will fluff the nest, forcing her young to fly, always flying underneath them so she can catch them in her wings. It’s a beautiful training, educating process and it’s all described in the Bible in the Book of Deuteronomy, the 32nd chapter, verses 10-12, this process of training. God says, “As the eagle trains her young, so would I train My people.
We look at our nation, and is the eagle a fitting symbol for us? We train and educate our young. And do we do this beautifully? Do we do it responsibly? How are we doing in education? There are 80,000 elementary schools in the United States of America and 25,000 high schools. Seventy-five percent of these elementary schools and high schools are public schools. We have 3,500 colleges and universities in America and 45% of those are public. The rest are private, either secular or religious. We’re a nation that prides itself in education. We thank God for those who teach. We thank God for those all across America who give their lives to the teaching and instructing of our children, public and private education.
Of course, it’s true that from all over the world students come to be trained in American colleges and universities, and yet there’s reason for concern, because I believe public education in America and even secular private education is all losing its soul. We’ve misinterpreted the First Amendment. We’ve taken the beauty of the freedom of religion and we’ve distorted it and twisted it into freedom from religion. Our courts across our nation are attempting to script religion out of the public square and the public arena, out of public education. Our public education across America has lost its moral base. We have no theological undergirdings. We are losing our soul and we are in danger of creating a soulless generation.
Last week Barb and I traveled to our General Assembly in the State of Virginia, in the City of Norfolk. We went a day early because we wanted to walk around Williamsburg. We went with John and Mary Ellen Patterson. The four of us just walked around Williamsburg, which is always a fun and kind of a meaningful time. As the day grew late, we went over to William and Mary College, which is contiguous with Williamsburg. We walked around the campus of William and Mary, the second oldest university in the United States, founded in 1693. On the back side of the Administration Building, we saw its original charter and those incredible words that William and Mary has been established to train young people in the Christian faith and in their knowledge of the Bible, that they might take the gospel to the nations and to the Indian nations.
It must be an embarrassment today to many of the faculty, many of the administrators at William and Mary, because William and Mary has become a wholly secular school now. Many of its teachers attack the Christian faith, the integrity and the credibility of Holy Scripture. They try to destroy the faith of the young. Of course, what’s happening at William and Mary has happened to colleges and universities all across our country. We’re losing our soul. When it comes to education, the eagle has crashed. And as Christians, we desperately need to encourage our young to be trained for service in public education. We need more Christians in the public square. We need more Christians and public elementary schools, in middle schools, and in high schools, and more Christians in secular and public colleges and universities. We need Christians there who are seeking to be salt and light.
And as Christians, we need to begin to focus our dollars on Christian private education. Plenty of tax dollars go to public education. We need to focus our dollars on Christian private education because Christian private education has never been more critical at all levels, from elementary schools to colleges and universities. We need to train a strong generation of young people to be salt and light on the earth. Many Christian schools are struggling to find dollars. As Christian moms and dads, we need to ask ourselves whether the eagle fits us, whether it’s a proper symbol for our training and our education of our young.
In the time of Christ, Jewish men 13 years of age and older rose every morning and they put on their phylacteries, the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew “tefillin.” The tefillin, the phylacteries, were those little rectangular boxes. Jewish men put them on their foreheads in the morning and they put them on their left arm. They would begin first thing in the morning putting the tefillin on the left arm above the elbow and they would tie it so that it was almost touching the heart on the inside of the left arm. They would tie it with a knot that was shaped like a “yod,” a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Then they would wrap seven times the leather strap around their forearm, forming two Hebrew shins, another letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the equivalent of our “sh” sound.
When they had put the phylactery, the tefillin, on their left arm, they would say this prayer. “I thank you, Oh Lord, our Lord God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by the commandments and enjoined us to put on the tefillin.” They would take the second tefillin and they would put it on their forehead and they would tie it in the back in the form of the Hebrew dalet, another letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The shin, the dalith, and the yod go together to form the Hebrew word “shaddai” which means, “The Almighty.” When they had put the second tefillin on the forehead forming the triangular box, they would say this prayer, “We thank you Oh Lord God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with the commandments and has enjoined upon us the command about tefillin,” and then they would say their morning prayers. They would do this every morning. They would pray the four passages that were in the phylacteries, two passages from Exodus 13, one passage from Deuteronomy 6, and one passage from Deuteronomy 11.
The one they focused on most was Deuteronomy 6. It was considered the most important. Deuteronomy 6:4-9, called the ?S, which we’ve seen before. The word Shema means, “to hear,” and of course that passage begins “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. The words which I tell you this day shall be upon your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children as you sit in the house. You shall speak of them as you sit in the house, as you walk along the way, as you lay down and as you rise up.” Every Jewish male said this every single day, and it was a reminder for Hebrew parents that they were to rear their children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, a daily reminder.
In fact, the word phylactery today can simply mean “reminder,” and this was the reminder for Jewish fathers that their children were to be reared in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We need reminders today. What is our reminder today? What is our reminder as Christian parents that every day we are to rear our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? The days are long past when we can count on public education to give our children strong morality. The days are past when we can count on public education to provide any kind of theological undergirding. The responsibility is upon the church and upon Christian parents. And so, we have this first symbol of the eagle, and it is a symbol of education.
The second symbol of the eagle is a symbol of renewal. On this we will be brief. The eagle in the Bible is oftentimes a symbol of renewal, regeneration. It’s a symbol of recuperative power. In the State of Arizona there is the city of Phoenix. Some of you travel there in the wintertime to escape the cold here. You take a little vacation. A few of you might even have a second home there in Phoenix. Of course, the city of Phoenix takes its name from the mythical bird that is part of Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, the Phoenix is a beautiful bird. At any one time there can only be one Phoenix and it is always male. It has a golden plumage mixed with red and purple feathers and is beautiful. It has a long life span. According to their mythology, the Phoenix lived 500 years, 5 times longer than any other bird. At the end of its life span, the Phoenix would build a funeral pyre and there it would incinerate itself. Then out of the ashes, there would arise a new bird, a new Phoenix. This new Phoenix risen from the ashes would carry the ashes of its father to Egypt, to the city of Heliopolis, to the city of the sun and make an offering there.
Of course, throughout the Greek and the Hellenized world, the Phoenix became the symbol of renewal, the symbol of regeneration, the ultimate symbol of recuperative power. Many historians today believe that the Greeks took their image of the Phoenix from the Golden Eagle. We don’t know that for sure. We do know that the eagle has always been a symbol of renewal as well. There are many mythologies surrounding the eagle in the Middle East and Asia and Europe. Part of this imagery and symbolizing with regard to the eagle has to do with its annual molting because every year an eagle molts and it creates new plumage, beautiful. Therefore, eagles became symbols of renewal.
We look at America and we see great powers of renewal. We think of Psalm 103, and in Psalm 103 God says to His people that their youth will return to them like the eagle. Their youth will be renewed like the eagle. We look at this history of our country and our ability to recuperate from disaster and our recuperative powers have been tremendous. We think of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. We recuperated. We think of 9/11. We are recuperating. You look at the economy and you think of the Great Depression in the 1930s. This nation has shown great recuperative powers. We see this in the spiritual realm as well because this nation has experienced many great awakenings because we have back fallen with regard to our spirituality and our spiritual live.
From time-to-time, there’s been great revival in this nation. The first was the 1730s during Colonial America with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, and we had what was called The First Great Awakening. In 1790, the Second Great Awakening began, and it continued until 1820. In 1890, the Third Great Awakening began with Billy Sunday and D. L. Moody. Revival spread across America.
What are the signals, what are the symptoms of revival? J. Edwin Orr, who died just a few years ago, was a leading student of revival history and he wrote many books on the Great Awakenings. He says that in every great awakening, there were three characteristics. The first was confession of sin. People in America would confess their sin. The second was repentance. It is not enough to confess. The Bible says we must repent, and this means we must long to change and commit to change.
So, the first is confession. The second is repentance. And then the third characteristic of revival is transformation. People are changed. Churches are changed. Society is changed. The social indexes change. The crime drops. The divorce rate drops. Acts of compassion rise. The ministries to the poor grow. Church attendance rises dramatically. I tell you, we need a fourth great awakening in this nation.
This is the 4th of July weekend, always one of our lowest attendance Sundays at church because so many go to the mountains. But all across America attendance is a problem at churches. We have growing numbers of people attending church occasionally, fewer people attending church regularly all across America. The statistics prove it. In this church five years ago, we had 5,300 households. Today we have 6,800 households and we’re projected to have 7,100 households next year. That looks like incredible growth, but it’s not reflected in attendance. We’re a culture now where it’s easy to sleep in. We’ve got activities and even athletic programs for our kids on Sunday mornings and we’re willing to spend the whole Sabbath recreating. We don’t honor the Sabbath Day and keep it holy, not anymore. We don’t honor the Lord’s Day. We’re sliding… Like the frog in the kettle, bit-by-bit, and it’s happening in every arena of American life. We desperately need revival.
Where does revival come from? Jonathan Edwards did not bring revival. Neither did George Whitefield. Neither did Billy Sunday or D. L. Moody. Only God can bring revival. In John 14, 15, and 16, our Lord Jesus Christ said that He was leaving this earth but He would send the Comforter, who He described as the Holy Spirit. He said, “The Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin.” We need the Holy Spirit to fall afresh on our nation and upon our churches, that people would be convicted and we would begin to experience the Fourth Great Awakening. This is the second symbol of the eagle, the symbol of renewal.
Well finally, in the Bible the eagle is a symbol of endurance. It’s a symbol of endurance and perhaps there are more passages in the Bible where the eagle signifies endurance than any other symbol of endurance. Our nation has a young history. We’re only 228 years old. We’ve not endured long. Whether we will be able to endure long remains to be seen.
Two weeks ago, we saw how the Roman Empire began in 27 BC with the rise of Octavian, who became Caesar Augustus. It continued until 476 AD with the fall of Romulus Augustulus as he was defeated by Germanic tribes. Five hundred and three years. We saw how many historians would add all the years of the Roman Republic and they would treat the Roman world as a thousand years long and how other historians would even add the years of the East Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and thus the Roman history becomes a history of two thousand years. But any way you look at it, this nation has a very brief history, just 228 years. And will we be able to endure? The greatest threat to America is not an outward threat but it is inward, and it has to do with our core values and our core beliefs.
In the New Testament, there are two words for endurance. There is the word “makrothumia” which means, “to suffer long,” and the word “hupomone” which means, “to abide under a weight.” We all struggle with endurance. Most of us are not willing to suffer long, and you see that when you get on the highways.
Just a month ago, I was driving my car on I-25 north in the region of the Tech Center. Somebody just cut me off. From the lane to the right, they just cut me off. I hit my horn. It wasn’t in anger. I was startled and I thought the person was going to hit my car so I hit the horn, just a real brief hit. The person jerked his car back and then he kind of became angry and he turned around and flipped me the eagle! Just flipped me the bird! I know you’ve probably had that happen to you sometime. I’ve had that happen a few times through the years. Of course, when it happens, there’s just a brief moment when you wish your car was equipped with a missile launcher, but that’s because we’re all “short suffering.” We’re not long suffering.
I’ve told that little story about the guy in the grocery store, the dad who’s got his little boy in a stroller. The little boy is crying and fussing. The dad is saying, “Keep calm, Albert. Keep calm, Albert.” There’s an elderly woman there in the grocery store and she’s watching the dad as he’s pushing the stroller and saying, “Keep calm, Albert,” and the baby is crying. She sees him on the next row and the same thing is happening. The baby is crying and the dad is saying, “Keep calm, Albert. Keep calm, Albert.” This elderly lady goes up to the dad and says, “Sir, I just want to tell you how impressed I am with your patience for the baby, Albert.” The dad says, “You don’t understand, ma’am. I’m Albert!”
Of course, it is true that even parenting takes endurance. Heather and Chris just about a month ago went away for the weekend for their anniversary and left Abigail at our house. Of course, we love Abigail and we had a wonderful fun weekend, but as soon as Heather came back and took her, the first thing Barb and I did was take a nap because endurance is needed in so many different ways.
Of course, endurance is needed in all areas of life. I think particularly endurance is needed in the Christian faith. So, we come to Isaiah, chapter 40, and we read of the eagle. “You shall mount up with wings like eagles. You shall run and not be weary. You shall walk and not faint.” The symbol of enduring strength. And this is the will of God for His people, that we might have enduring strength.
I know you’ve all heard of Winston Churchill, one of the great leaders of world history. Winston Churchill flunked 8th grade and then he took it again and flunked it again. Winston Churchill had to take 8th grade three times. It took him three years to get through 8th grade, and the reason was he couldn’t master the English language. Of course, the irony of that is that ultimately Winston Churchill became one of the great masters of the English language and was able to use that language to move a nation and to impact the world. One of the great moments, I think, in Winston Churchill’s life was when he spoke to the graduating class at Oxford University. He gave one of the greatest addresses to a graduating class even given. It was only three words. He stood up there. He put his top hat on the platform. He took his cigar and put it on the platform. He leaned on his cane. He looked out over the students and he said those three words, “Never give up!” Then he just turned and walked away.
I think there’s a sense in which Christ would say that to His people. Never give up! If you’re going to live for Me in this world, never give up! Remember how Jesus called Paul on the Damascus Road and Jesus said, “I will show you what you must suffer for My name’s sake. I will show you what you must endure for My name’s sake.” Paul DID endure. He had enduring strength in a fallen world.
So, you come to 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, that great passage where Paul says, “Is anyone a servant of Jesus Christ? Well, I serve Him more, though I am speaking like a fool. But I’ve had far greater labors with far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death. Five times I’ve received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I’ve been shipwrecked, a day and a night adrift at sea. On frequent journeys, danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from the Gentiles, danger in cities, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, oftentimes without food, cold and exposure… In addition to all this, I had the anxiety for all the churches that were weak and I felt their weakness. Who was made to fall, and I am not indignant?” That was the life of the Apostle Paul, but what did he say when he came to its end? He said, “I’ve fought the good fight. I’ve kept the faith. I’ve finished the race.” Enduring strength. And that’s what Christ calls His people to today. If ever His people needed enduring strength in a fallen world, it’s today.
There’s a clip from the movie, “Chariots of Fire,” that great movie about the missionary and Olympic runner Eric Liddell, in which you see Eric Liddell preaching from Isaiah, chapter 40. “Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket and our countries as small dust in the balance. All nations before Him are as nothing. They have come to Him as less than nothing. Invalid. He bringeth a princess to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth as a vanity. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth faintest not? Neither is he weary. He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no strength, he increases might, that they that waiteth upon Him. The Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as an eagle’s. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.”
Eric Liddell refused to run the Olympic 100 Meters, though he was favored, simply because it was held on the Sabbath, on the Lord’s Day, and he would not dishonor the Lord’s Day. Of course, later in the week he won the Olympic 400 Meters, setting a world record. Later in his life he went to China as a missionary and he died there of a brain tumor. His final words were these three: “It’s complete surrender.” He fought the good fight, he kept the faith, and he finished the race in enduring strength. That’s what Christ calls each of us to.
As we conclude, I want to tell you a little story. It took place in 1894. That’s when, in the state of Montana, a man named Jake Hoover was mining for gold. Jake Hoover was mining for gold in Yogo Creek, Montana, near the cow town of Utica, nearly 40 miles from the town of Lewistown. As he was mining for gold, he found a little blue pebble. He didn’t know what it was, so Jake Hoover put it in his cigar box. He continued to mine, and he found a few more blue pebbles. He put them all in the cigar box and he shipped them to New York to Tiffany & Co. asking, “What are these and do they have any value?” Tiffany & Co. sent him back $3,750, a lot of money in 1894, saying, “You have discovered blue gold, the most valuable sapphires in the world.” Jake Hoover used that money to buy the land and establish the Yogo Mine.
The Yogo Mine ran along a geological dyke 6 feet wide and 5 miles long, a geological dyke laden with sapphires, with blue gold. He began to mine the sapphires and he found that it was hard work. As he began to do it, he began to tire and he just thought, “It’s not worth it.” So, in the year 1897, Jake Hoover sold the Yogo Mine for $5,000. Three months later, just three months later, the Yogo Mine was purchased for $100,000 by a British conglomerate. They began to mine sapphires from the Yogo Mine and from that geological dyke. They mined sapphires for Queen Victoria and many other world leaders and dignitaries.
Through the years the Yogo Mine has continued blue sapphires. Then in 1982 they made an amazing discovery. They found that the geological dyke of the Yogo Mine ran 500 feet down, with 40 million carats of sapphires worth billions of dollars. Today, they now think that dyke may run deeper than a mile. In fact, some estimates say 7,000 feet.
When you think of sapphires, and particularly deep blue sapphires, you think of Burma and Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Kashmir. Maybe in the future people will think of the United States and the state of Montana. Maybe they’ll think of the Yogo Mine. But it doesn’t matter to Jake Hoover. It didn’t matter to him because he didn’t have the endurance. He couldn’t stick with it. He didn’t have the enduring strength to mine the treasure, and it takes enduring strength to mine treasure.
Your marriage is a treasure, but it takes enduring strength to mine that treasure. Your wife is a treasure. Your husband is a treasure. Your children are treasure, but it takes enduring strength to bring that treasure out. Jesus tells us there’s no greater treasure in all the world than His kingdom. “This is the kingdom of heaven. It is a treasure,” Jesus said, “hidden in a field which a man found. And in his joy, he went and sold all that he had a bought that field.” There’s no greater treasure than Jesus. There’s no greater treasure than His kingdom, but it takes enduring strength to mine that treasure. You must finish the race, keep the faith. You must be faithful and have enduring strength. That’s what Christ calls His people to.
The real question in life is, “Where is your treasure?” “Where your treasure is,” Jesus said, “there will your heart be.” Jesus said, “Don’t lay up treasures on earth, where rust and moth consume and thieves break in to steal. But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven.” We have the symbol of the eagle and it’s a symbol of education. We need to train our young. It’s a symbol of renewal. We need revival in the church and in the country. It’s a symbol of enduring strength, without which no one will ever wear the crown. As we close, Marcia’s going to come and she’s going to sing a special song for us.