The Parable of the Eagle

The Parable of the Eagle (Part 1)
By Tommy Franks

Consider the eagle. In my next series of articles, I want to share with you some interesting things about the eagle…and the relationship between the eagle (king of birds) and God’s creation called man….made in God’s image. I want you to consider three things while reading this parable: Reason, tradition, and Scripture. “So God created the great creatures…and every living and moving thing…according to their kinds…and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and…let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day” (Gen.1).

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground" (Gen.1).

The word “eagle or eagles” is found 32 times in Scripture. Eagles are some of the largest and most majestic of all birds…a symbol of power, courage, and immortality. Their wing span can be as wide as 8 feet. Their huge wings allow them to glide through the in the air in splendor and beauty. From miles above, they search for food. They have incredible sharp eyesight. Their eyes, eight times sharper than human beings, can see a rabbit two miles away or a fish in the water below. When the eagle spots food, it folds its wings and drops suddenly, swiftly, and silently from the sky. Eagles have been known to fly away while clutching an animal as large as a small lamb.

The eagle's nest is high in a tree or on a rocky ledge where it cannot be reached by other animals. This is necessary because young eaglets stay helpless for a long time. A mother eagle will lay one to three eggs which will hatch and remain in the nest from 50 to 100 days. The nest is often used by the same pair of birds year after year. It is made of sticks and lined with grass and leaves. Each year the birds add new material to the nest. The largest known nest ever measured was 20 feet deep and almost 10 feet across weighing more than a ton. That was some nest.

Little eaglets are born quite helpless; however, they gain strength daily by playing tug-of-war with the sticks in the nest. They learn to fly by hovering over the nest. They are coaxed out of the nest by “the stick and carrot approach”. Food is dangled just beyond their reach. If the little eaglet decides to stay in the nest, the mother eagle pushes it out. Then she will swoop below the baby eagle and catch it on her back. Eagles are very protective of their “kids”. As the days go by, the eagle continues to stir up her nest…fluttering over her young…taking them on flights… bearing them on her wings.

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary…they will walk and not be faint” (Isa.40). As Christians, we are led by the LORD. As His children, He cares for us…leads us…feeds us…stirs us up to go forward and upward. He encourages us to “grow up”. His love for us causes Him to seek the highest and best for us. He is always there…spreading His wings to bear us up when we fall. His eyes are keen to see the past, present, and future all at once.

Even when we get weary and tired, we must trust Him to lead us safely through the darkness in the night. After all, we are made in His image…strong, courageous… filled with authority, freedom, and honor. After all, God likened Himself and us to an eagle…not a turkey! (Part 2 will follow).

The Parable of the Eagle (Part 2)
By Tommy Franks

Through God’s covenant with us, He desires to reproduce Himself in us. The parabolic relationship between the eagle (king of birds) and God’s creation called man is most significant. God likens Himself and us to the eagle. Eagles are ageless. Some have lived to be 80 years of age and older. They are an International symbol of strength, beauty, authority, and freedom. The adult male eagle weighs 20 to 22 pounds while the female eagle is usually larger. Eagles are born with their mouths open and eyes looking into the sun. They have two sets of eyelids. One is used for hunting while the other is used for flying directly into the sun. Eagles have the ability to see a distance of seven miles. Similar to us, they are born meat eaters.

Eagles love to fly directly into the sun. When we as Christians, get into trouble, we need to run to the Son. He is our light. His light will blind our enemy.

The eagle portrays God. Since we are made in God’s image, we too, are compared to the nature of the eagle, especially his strength, beauty, majesty, fearlessness, and freedom. As the eagle reigns over the heavens, the Christian rules over the earth through the power and authority of Christ. The eagle rides above the storm. The storm has no affect on the eagle. When we are in the eye of the storm, we embrace Him and He covers us with His “wings and feathers” (Ps.91). His peace and stillness overshadow us. We are safe!

Think about this. Chickens and turkeys eat the chicken feed in the barnyard where the air is smelly and foul with odor. The eagle “eats high on the hog”. You will never see an eagle in the barnyard. They are very wise as to what enters there bodies. If only Eagle Christians would do the same, what great deliverance it would bring to the church. He chooses his diet and restaurant wisely. He eats fresh seafood, lamb chops, fat squirrels, long eared rabbits, and other delicacies. With his strong claws (talons), he carries his victuals and cuisine to the top of the mountain and tears it apart while it is still warm and fresh. The eagle refuses to eat any decomposing meat of any kind. He is finicky when it comes to his diet.

In a healthy and spiritual sense, we are what we eat. If we eat chicken feed and dirt from the barnyard, we will exist, but not be strong and healthy. We will begin to act like a chicken instead of an eagle…the king of birds. We were born to fly…and one day we will…up to the sky…into the third heaven. That day will come. Therefore, we need a strong spiritual diet that consists of prayer, church attendance, fellowship, and Bible study. Our spirit man has an appetite. That’s why we need to discern the nutritional value of what we feed our spirit. We need fresh food. We need living food…not something that is dead. “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power (active, energizing, and effective). It is sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb.4).

The eagle is the opposite of the hawk, turkey vulture, or chicken. The vulture seems to build its nest just anywhere…even in dead trees. The vulture’s diet seems to be that of “left-overs”. They will eat anything. Eagles refuse to eat road kill. Some vultures will eat until they become intoxicated by overeating putrefied carcasses on the highway. Then like a drunken man, they waddle around unable to fly…often becoming a prey to their enemies. The eagle is not so. He wouldn’t be caught dead in this type of debauchery! (Part 3 will follow).

The Parable of the Eagle (Part 3)
By Tommy Franks

When the male eagle is about 3 years old, he seeks out a female eagle to be his mate for life….for better or for worse…in sickness and in health…til death do they part. They hunt together, nest together, play together, and raise their young together for the next 65 to 80 years…staying together for life.

After the male and female eagles “get married”…accept each other as lifetime mates… the eagles begin to build their home (nest). The first step is to seek a proper location. They look for a high accessible location with their backs turned to a rock wall. Eagles work together (beak to beak) to build their nest and to raise their youth. Once completed, the eagle's nest will weigh from one to two tons. It is deep with a shallow 18 inch brooding area on top. The mother Eagle will lay one to three eggs in the brooding area.

Once the eaglets are born, they cry constantly for food. At first glance, the babies are very unattractive with raccoon looking eyes; however, they will grow into beautiful and graceful eagles with magnificent beauty.

When some of us first became Christians, we were perhaps unattractive because of sin, but as time went on…we began to imitate Christ more and more and reflect His kindness and attractiveness in our lives.

Once the eaglets reach a certain age, the mother eagle knows that it is time for the eaglets to learn to fly. She will sweep out all of the soft things in the nest…and leave the sharp thorns. She then throws the brooding part of the nest down the cliff and takes the eaglets for a wild ride on her back. The little ones attempt to fly. All the while, the papa eagle is overseeing the whole operation. If he sees one of the eaglets falling, he will fly down…at speeds up to 200 MPH to catch the little eaglet before it hits the ground. Most eaglets do not learn to fly the first time they try; however, they continue the flight process until they have accomplished the goal of flying.

God does the same for us. We are never out of His sight. We fall. He picks us back up. We fall again. He picks us back up. He will sometimes stir our nest and remove us from our padded pews. But we do not have to fear because God is near. Our Father is never far away. We soon learn to fly with Him because we were born to “fly”.

During the eagle’s life, he will go through at least one or two molting processes (shedding feathers which are replaced by new ones). Feathers are not permanent organs on the eagle, especially when the eagle's feathers get beaten up from the wind and weather. Feathers have a finite life span and are shed and replaced on a regular basis (2 years for the eagle). This replacement process is called as molting. During this process, the eagle goes into depression. Calcium deposits will appear on the eagle's claws and beak. This is sort of a wilderness time for the eagle. During this time, the eagle begins to walk like a turkey … talk like a turkey…and gives up flying for a time because he has no strength to fly. The eagle “goes through the valley of the shadow of death”. Some eagles die during this process.

The Parable of the Eagle (Part 4)
By Tommy Franks

Eagles who have gone through this molting process…will fly above the eagle and drop fresh food to help strengthen him. Sometimes, the molting eagle refuses the help of other eagles. When this happens, he dies; however, the majority of eagles make this transition just fine.

As the eagle regains its strength, he will climb the mountain in which he was raised. He will then fly into the rock and beat the calcium deposits off his beak and claws (talons). This is very painful, but necessary. After this experience, the eagle will soar again with greater strength and courage than ever before.

The molting process is especially important to the longevity of the eagle. He sheds the old…puts on the new. This is truth: In our own lives, we sometimes need to get rid of the old and put on the new so that our lives can be renewed and extended. Sometimes, it may be getting rid of some little sins that so easily beset us. I just wished that molting would work for my hair. Then I wouldn’t be bald!

As Christians, we will sometimes go through valleys and a "molting" stage. Sometimes, it may feel as if we have been stripped of everything. Some Christians draw back at this point. Some even “give up” and "throw in the towel" and just quit.

This is when we need to lean on Christ and each other. Without His help…the help from the "Rock of our Salvation" (Jesus Christ), we will fail. Receiving help from the "Rock" is the only way that we can regain our strength…leaving behind those things that so easily beset us… making us stronger than ever before in the Lord! But if we will not lose sight of our destiny, we will find that the Lord is right there waiting for us. If we wait on the Lord, we will be renewed like the eagle. “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” (Isa.40).

To reiterate, after a waiting period…the eagle’s feathers, beak, and claws grow back, and the eagle soars again with greater strength than ever before. It is believed that when an eagle finally dies…that he dies on a rock…facing the sun.

When we finish the race and eventually die physically, we know that we will face the SON. We also know that He will say, “Thou good work good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord” (Mt.25).

Do eagles have enemies? Yes. Do we have an enemy? Yes. The eagle knows that he will always have to deal with some enemy either in the valley or on the mountain top; however, the eagle is not afraid. He deals with animals and “snakes in the grass” who want to eat him for dinner by keeping his eyes focused on his surroundings and keeping his claws sharp. Eagles will pick up a serpent (snake) and drop him on a jagged rock causing him to die.

As Christians, we do not have to be afraid of the enemy (Satan). We can use the Word of God and crush and destroy the devil. "Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Lk.10:19).

The Parable of the Eagle (Part 5)
By Tommy Franks

Aren’t you glad that God has compared us to eagles? "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as Eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint” (Isa.40). In Christ Jesus, we have been called to share in God's Majesty…not robbing Him of His Glory…but revealing the Glory of God to men. Glory and Honor to You, Lord Christ! You have saved us, fed us, healed us, and have thrown us out of our comfort zone (nest) so that we can mature as your healthy sons and daughters. You have borne us on Your wings and taught us to fly. We give Glory to You…The Author and Finisher of our faith! Read on…

A young man found a young eagle and took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat chicken feed and to behave as chickens behave. One day, a naturalist who was passing by inquired about the eagle, the king of all birds. Should this king of birds be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens?

Since the eagle had been given chicken feed all of its life, the eagle thought it was a chicken; therefore, it had never learned to fly. The eagle behaved just like a chicken.
After talking it over, the two men agreed to find out what should be done with the eagle.

The naturalist took the eagle in his arms and said, “You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly. You are king of all birds. You are NOT a chicken. You were never a chicken. You will never be a chicken.” At this point, the eagle was confused. He did not know who he was. He thought he was a chicken.

The next day, the naturalist took the eagle up on top of the roof and urged to stretch forth his wings and fly. But the eagle was afraid…and jumped down and ran to the chicken feed.

On the third day, the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. He held the king of birds high above him and encouraged him by saying, “You are an eagle. You belong to the sky high above the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly.”
The eagle looked back toward the barnyard and then up to the sky. He refused to fly.
Then the naturalist lifted him straight toward the sun. The eagle began to tremble and slowly stretched forth his wings. At last, the eagle soared away into the heavens.

From time to time, the eagle flies over the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken. He was an eagle and is an eagle…even though he had been raised as a chicken. Just like the eagle, Christians who have been in slavery in the barnyard of sin…have learned to think for themselves and have decided to fly as God’s eagles, His children, and winners. AMEN!