Wednesday Bible Study: Eagles

 

(Appropriately enough, originally written on July 4th...)

In my recent morning Bible reading, I hit a verse that I've never been able to truly grasp until now...

Luk 17:34  I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 

Luk 17:35  There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 

Luk 17:37  And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” 

Which is easy enough  to understand, until you ask yourself, "How does that answer the question?  Perhaps that is why the ESV renders the word "vultures" so; but others more correctly do it this way:

Luk 17:37  And they answered and said to Him, Where, Lord? And He said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together. 

Which will make sense in a minute; but first you have to get past eagles eating carrion.  One sermon I looked into told me that the phrase isn't as much common sense (with vultures) as it is a reminder of the passage Jesus was thinking of in Job 39:

ob 39:27  Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high? 

Job 39:28  He lives and stays on the rock, on the crag of the rock and the strong place. 

Job 39:29  From there he seeks food, and his eyes see afar off. 

Job 39:30  And his young brood also sucks up blood; and where the dead are, there he is. 

So how does it answer my question?  First of all we have to think of the many ways an eagle is SYMBOLIC in the Bible.  It is used as a symbol of swiftness; the sureness of judgment; renewed strength; youth; and conquerors coming to do God's bidding.  But how does it apply here?

First, you have to think about why the question was asked.  Jesus had been asked about the last days, and had described what we know as the Rapture: One will be taken and the other left.  They were asking where these would be taken, and that we know the answer, too:

1Th 4:16  For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. 

1Th 4:17  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. 

Which means the "Body" (also mistranslated in the ESV and others as 'carcass') is Jesus Himself, and the eagles then are those who will gather around Him.  Now let's look again at the connected passage in Job:

39:27- The eagle will 'mount up' and make his nest "on high"- in other words, with Christ on the clouds of Heaven.

39:28- He dwells on the ROCK; Mat 16:18  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.   Another often misinterpreted passage, where Peter comes from a word meaning "a piece of rock" and Rock from one meaning  "a MASS of rock".  More descriptive is this from Psalm 62:

Psa 62:1  To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. 

Psa 62:2  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. 

39:29- He has his eyes open to prophesy: and his eyes see afar off. 

Mat 13:16  (Jesus speaking to the Apostles)But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. 

Mat 13:17  For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard them. 

Also v29:- they seek their food from then Rock:

Joh 6:35  And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes on Me shall never thirst. 

39:30- "sucking up" the blood of Jesus, for the Cross bought us salvation: 

Joh 6:53  So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

So the Jews of the day, who had truly read the scriptures, and could connect what Jesus said to the passage in Job, were treated to a mini-retelling of the Gospel! If you were an expert in the Scripture, this verse alone would be more than enough explanation of Jesus as Christ:

Joh 3:9  Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 

Joh 3:10  Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 

For the Jews, who had rejected Him, these things are well-hidden;  for us, they are only hidden if you reject Him, or don't read your New Testament, for He says them clearly to us all as much as He hides them for the unbelieving.