Exodus chapter 19. In the third month, when the children
of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same
day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. for they were departed
from Riphidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had
pitched in the wilderness, and there Israel camped before the
mount. And Moses went up unto God, and
the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus
shalt thou say unto the house of Jacob, and tell the children
of Israel, I have seen, ye have seen, what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bear you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey
my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a
peculiar treasure unto me, above all the people, for all the earth
is mine. and ye shall be unto me a kingdom
of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou
shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and
called for the elders of the people and laid before their
faces all of these words which the Lord commanded him. And all
the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has
spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words
of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear
when I speak with thee and believe thee forever. And Moses told
the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Go unto the people and sanctify them today, and tomorrow,
and let them wash their clothes. And be ready against the third
day, for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of
all the people upon the mount. And thou shalt set bounds unto
the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves that
ye go not up into the mount, nor touch the border of it, or
whosoever touches the mount shall surely be put to death. There
shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or
shot through, whether it be beast or man. It shall not live. When the trumpet soundeth long,
they shall come up to the mount. And Moses went down from the
mount unto the people, and sanctified the people, and they washed their
clothes. And he said unto the people,
Be ready against the third day, and come not at your wives. And
it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there
were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount,
and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the
people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people
out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether
part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether
on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the
whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet
sounded long and waxed or became louder and louder, Moses spake,
and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount
Sinai on the top of the mount, and the Lord called Moses up
to the top of the mount, and Moses went up. And the Lord said
unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through
unto the Lord and gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests
also which come near to the Lord sanctify themselves, lest the
Lord break forth upon them. And Moses said unto the Lord,
The people cannot come up to the Mount Sinai, for thou chargest
us, saying, Set bounds about the Mount, and sanctify it. And
the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt
come up thou, and Aaron with thee. But let not the priests
and the people break through, and come up unto the Lord, lest
he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people
and spake unto them. As the Lord add his blessing
to the reading of his word, may we be helped to consider this
evening for a little while, verse five. Sorry, verse four. You have seen what I did unto
the Egyptians. and how I bear you on eagle's
wings and brought you unto myself. It's quite a contrast really
to what was being seen by Moses and Aaron and all the people
of Israel as they had come out of the land of Egypt and were
now at the mountain where God said to Moses that you would
serve God on this mountain. Now they'd come to that very
place and he speaks to Moses and tells him that I had borne
you on eagle's wings to bring you unto myself and when they
see God or his presence And they see the cloud descend upon the
mountain and the barriers that the Lord puts in place to stop
people from approaching. He says that he is holy and no
person is to come up to the mount unless, or if they do, then they
are to die. They're to sanctify themselves,
wash their clothes, make themselves ready to prepare to meet with
God. and the mountain is burning with
fire. There is the trumpets and the
people are afraid. And yet in this verse four there
is that tenderness of God. He says that I've borne you,
I've carried you to this point and I've brought you to myself. And that shows us the character
and nature of God. We know that God is holy. completely
holy and cannot behold sin. Sin is unable to enter into his
presence as he pass a judgment and so fearful was the sight
for the people of Israel as they looked at the Lord descending
upon their mount that they later tell Moses that They don't want
to speak with God, that God speaks to Moses and Moses speaks to
the people. They were so afraid of the sight
that they saw and yet he is also so tender and so kind and compassionate
to them and so there is that the holiness of God. which is
fearful to a sinful person. But then there is that outstretched
arm of mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ that makes a person
acceptable in the sight of a holy God as he is able to wash away
the sins of his people through that perfect sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus. And so there is that the attributes
of God, the character of God and what struck me as I looked
at this verse and how it led me on was that how the Lord understands
the frailty of the human mind. That we have to walk this earth
by faith We have the word of God before us which reveals to
us the nature and character of God. We have his wonderful creation. We see his power and his ability
day by day. And he reveals himself to us
in wonderful ways to enable us to grasp his nature or how he
is like. And so he uses parts of his creation
that we are able to see. And when we see those parts of
his creation we are able to know something of the nature and character
of God and how he deals with his people. And here as he has
delivered the people of Israel from the land of Egypt he says,
I have done so like an eagle bears its child on its wings
and carries them safely from one place to another. We know that it's not literal.
We know that Israel was not literally carried on the wings of God from
Egypt to Mount Sinai. It was a process in which they
walked out And yet we see in the way in which God reveals
himself something of those protective things that were going on. By
using the illustration of an eagle the children of Israel
were able to see how God did move them from one place to another
and these objects that the Lord uses helps us to see his nature
and how he deals with us and how he protects us and how caring
and compassionate he is towards his own people. And so he says
you saw what I did unto the people of the Egyptians and how I bear
you on eagle's wings. Now if you look at the different
commentaries and if you look at those who study birds they
will tell you that it's very rare to witness an eagle carrying
something on its wings. There are stories of it taking
place. You know whenever the Bible says
something there was always going to be that attack to say that
it's not true. But it's God who spoke to Moses
and says that, I bear you on eagle's wings. It is said that
an eagle, as it builds its nest, it uses stones and thorns and
then moss and then lines it with some fur of the animal. And it
slowly over time, to encourage its young to flee the nest, it
moves those layers and uses the thorns to discomfort its chicks. But there have been cases where
the eagle puts its child, its baby, eaglet, on its back and
flies right up into the sky and then tips the baby off. and then
waits as it falls down it slowly learns how to flap its wings
and then it comes underneath and it catches it And then it
flies back up again and does the same again. Or sometimes
it's been noted that when the child, the eaglet, is tired that
its mother will come underneath and just settle underneath it
to take some of the burden. We've seen in swans, swans carry
their young on their backs on the lakes. And so it's something
that the Lord has created so that we might learn something
about himself. and how that bird, which we would
think is not so clever, is able to have concern for its own chick. It's willing to take the bird,
and it's willing to teach it how to fly. It's willing to soar
right up into the sky and to then come down and catch that
eaglet on its back, upon its wings, because it cares. And
the Lord cares for his people and so he uses those illustrations
to help us to see. And this goes on through the
whole of the scriptures. These illustrations to help us
to grasp spiritual truth about God. It's very easy when you
read about the law and how God descended upon the mountain to
think of God as completely fierce and uncaring. although that is
that he is fierce and angry against sin yet towards his people, his
peculiar people that he has called out for himself he is full of
compassion and care towards them. In Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 29 it says then I said
unto you dread not neither be afraid of them Lord your God
which goeth before you he shall fight for you according to all
that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness
where thou hast seen how the Lord thy God bare thee as a man
doth bear his son in the way that you went until you came
to this place. And so he goes from speaking
about being born upon the wings of an eagle and now to using
the example of a father carrying his son. And we know that it's
something that children like. If children are tired, they say,
Daddy, can you carry me? Can you put me on your shoulders?
I'm getting worn out. And it's the father's delight
if everything is, if his heart is in the right place. It is
his delight to help his little child and to put him up on the
shoulders and to walk with him. And so God uses that illustration.
He says that Israel is my firstborn son and I've put him upon my
shoulders and I've carried him out of Egypt, through the Red
Sea, through the wilderness and I've brought him to the place
of rest. And so he uses that as a an example
for us to see a day-to-day thing in which we can witness and gain
encouragement in our walk with the Lord. Deuteronomy 32 from
verses 9 it says, For the Lord's portion is his people. Often we say that the Lord is
my portion. But here it says, the Lord's
portion is his people. A portion is that that is taken
out of a bigger piece and it's claimed for himself. And he says,
that portion is mine. My people, they are mine. I've
cut them out and they are mine. You children, you know when you
have a piece of cake, you cut a portion for yourself and you
put it onto your plate. It's taken out of the bigger
piece and it's put on yours and it becomes yours. And God says,
My people, they are my portion. He says, I found him in as a
desert land in the waste howling wilderness. He led them about. He instructed him. He kept him
as the apple of his eye. We say the apple of the eye is
that black part of our eye, which is so tender and so useful and
so precious that we protect it. And so the Lord says, my people
are my portion and they are kept as the apple of my eye. As the eagle stirs up her nest
and flutters over her young, spreadeth aboard her wings, taketh
them, beareth them on her wings. And so there we have the similar
illustration of the eagle. Why does the Lord use the eagle?
And same as he uses the lion. The eagle is a picture of the
strength and power soaring above all of the other birds with its
powerful eyes and its powerful wings and its sharp talons. It's
able to spot the prey and watch over its young. And so he says,
that I behave over my people as an eagle, I flutter over them,
I protect them, I bear them up, I lift them up on my wings and
I look after them in other words. In Psalm 103 Verses 13, it says, Like as a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fears them. Again, he brings us back to that
father. We know that the scripture tells us that The Lord is our
Father who is in heaven. Israel was his child. The believers are the children
of the living God and he as a father, a good father, pities his children
so the Lord pities them that fear him. Psalm 119. It gives us a wonderful promise. In verse four it says, He shall
cover thee with his feathers and under his wings thou shalt
trust. He his truth shall be thy shield and thy butler. if you remember the Lord Jesus
Christ, as he looked at Jerusalem, he says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
that killeth the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto
thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would
not. And so it's the same illustration
that the Lord gives as one of his creation. his hen that he has made. He's
made it in a way that he can liken himself to it, the protection
that she gives, that hens are not seen really as intelligent
creatures. Yet if you live with chickens
you will know that they are extremely good mothers and they take extremely
good care of their little ones and when it's raining they cover
them under their wings and when it's hot they procreate a shelter
for their chicks and so the Lord says I am just like that. If
you look at the chicken you can see this is how I am protecting
you. You are sheltering underneath
my protection. You're sheltering underneath
my wings. They are a covering. They are
a covering for you. There is that covering which
is given to the Lord's people which is the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But then there is that ongoing
covering and protection that the Lord gives to his people. Luke 15 gives us another illustration
of how the Lord works. He likens himself in the Old
Testament to the shepherd of Israel. King David says that
the Lord is my shepherd. And the Lord Jesus Christ as
he tells the parable of the lost sheep he says that that good
shepherd goes and he searches for that sheep that is lost and
when he finds it he puts it upon his shoulders. Luke 15 and verse
5 it says or from verse 4, what man of you having an hundred
sheep he lose one of them does not leave the ninety and nine
in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find
it and when he has found it He lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost. And so he likens
himself to a shepherd who has gone searching for a lost sheep. And when he has found that sheep,
he puts it on his shoulders and he carries it back to the sheepfold. And so as Israel, as they are
led forth out of Egypt, God says, I carried you, I bore you there
on eagle's wings and I brought you to myself. And so the things that we see
round about us reveal something to us of the nature and character
of God. the New Testament we read of
the church being described as the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ
and we see that in marriage God has a picture of himself or the Lord Jesus Christ
and their church and that relationship which is there. And so there
are these types that the Lord has put to encourage us and to
help us in the Christian pathway. Yes we read the fierceness of
God, the thunderings and the lightnings and the flames But
then we see the loving kindness of God, that he bore his people
on eagle's wings, that he is, as a father, pities his children. He's the one who carries his
child when they are downcast, when they are weak and tired.
As a chicken, he covers them with his mighty wings to protect
them from harm and danger. And as a shepherd, he carries
them back to the sheepfold when they have wandered off and gone
astray. Why does he use the eagle here?
To demonstrate to the people of Israel their swift deliverance
that he took them out of Egypt. He carried them forth. He brought
them to himself. He led them forth by the right
way. The eagle as we have said, is
a bird of prey. And it's able to offer a protection
for its young as it takes them up into the sky to teach them
how to fly. And so it's able to bear them
up on those strong wings and offer that protection from any
harm and danger. And it is said as the eagle flies
up to the highest of heights It's young, they're out of any
harm and danger. No fox can come and get them.
No other bird of prey can come and get them. They are out of
harm's way. And so the Lord brought them
forth with a high hand. He protected them. He lifted
them above the harm and the danger. He gave them deliverance. The
eagle is able to deliver his chicks, his eaglets from harm
and from danger. The symbol of strength. If any
of you have ever been chased by a goose and been hit round
the shins, you will know how strong their wings are. I've
never held a eagle but I should imagine their wings are just
like that. Extremely powerful and strong. And we know that our God is also
all-powerful and all-almighty, that he gave a great deliverance
to the people of Israel as he brought them out of Egypt. And
so he gave a great deliverance to all of his people as he brought
them out of the spiritual Egypt and brought them into union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. But also I thought of the eyes
of the eagle. The Lord, the scripture tells
us that his eyes are on the righteous and his ears are open to their
cry. And so the eagle as it soars
right up into the sky it's able to look right down and it's able
to focus upon its prey. It's the animals that it wants
to eat. and they're able to stoop down and grab them and so the
Lord has an eye on each of his people. He knows exactly where
they are, exactly what they are doing and is able to offer that
protection and that strength and to cover them with his wings
to bring them through another day and ultimately to bring them
to himself. He says, ye have seen what I
did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle's wings and
brought you to myself. We know that the only way that
a person can be brought to God is to be carried to God by the
Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd. As I have thought on this, I
don't know if you've ever read the story of Moses and when the
Pharaoh's daughter says to the little girl, Moses's sister,
she says, or Moses's mum, take this child and nurse it for me
and I will give you your wages. God the father before the foundation
of time almost said the same thing to the son. Take these
children and nurse them for me and I will give you your wages.
He nursed them through the law of God. They were unable to keep
the law of God, not even one line or dot they could keep for
one day, one second of their life. And the Lord Jesus Christ
brought them through and fulfilled the law of God for them. As a
high priest the scripture tells us that the high priest had the
names of the tribes of Israel upon his shoulders and the names
of the tribes of Israel upon his breastplate. And Christ being
our high priest it's like he bore his people through the law. He carried them through it and
they found righteousness in the sight of God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so he bore them, he carried
them through and he brings them to God. As the people of Israel
were brought out of Egypt into the wilderness and then on into
the promised land so the Lord Jesus Christ brings his people
out of sin. He brings them through the wilderness
and their final destination is the eternal promised land which
is in heaven. I'm sure all of you have read
the poem The Footprints in the Sand and as this person has the
dream he sees in his dream two sets of footprints walking in
the sand and then at points in the man's life There only seems
to be one set of footprints and he's concerned because during
those times of his life he noticed that was the most troubled time.
Those were the most difficult times in his life and he noticed
there's only one set of footprints there. And so he asks God, why
is it that you sort of left me in my most troubled times? And
God's response in the dream is something like, my precious,
precious child, during those times are the times that I carried
you. Those are not your footprints
you are seeing, but my footprints. And so there are times in our
life when the Lord carries us on eagle's wing. He puts us as
a child onto his shoulders and walks us through the problems
of life. Although we physically are walking,
yet spiritually we are upheld day by day. We're given strength
sufficient for the day. And the Lord shows us that I
am your father, a loving, caring and compassionate father. I am
just like a chicken. spreading my wings over you daily
to protect you from the harsh sun and the rain. I am just like
a shepherd when you stray off. I wander after you and I bring
you back upon my shoulders. I protect you as a father. I carry you as an eagle. And
I shepherd you as your good shepherd. And may we be encouraged then
by these things. And as we go out day by day and
we see these types that the Lord uses to illustrate himself May
we have that simple mind just to be encouraged by these small
things. If we see the birds or the eagles
soaring in the sky be encouraged. The Lord has said, I bore you
on eagle's wings. If you see the chicken seemingly
insignificant, then remember that the Lord said, I have covered
you with my feathers, I've covered you with my wings and as you
see in the park a daddy carrying his son, remember the Lord said,
I am your father that is in heaven and I put you on my shoulders
and I carry you through. because I love you with an everlasting
love. I gave you before the foundation
of the world to my beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in
him, you were brought through, you were carried through the
whole law, you completed the law. And you were found righteous
in my sight, not for anything that you have done. You were
found righteous because of my beloved son. And I accept you
because of my beloved son. And I will one day bring you
ultimately to myself and you'll look back over your life and
you'll see those, maybe we will, maybe we won't, the footsteps
walking in the sand and we will know there the Lord carried me
and there we walked together. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.