God of Creation: Birds Picturing Christ

Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W.

Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Delaney, Florida.

Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior.

Now here's your host, Pastor James W.

Knox.

But if they didn't, I'm Brother James.

And I welcome you to the preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

Greetings to you today, in the name which is above every name, the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is, of course, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

We are forever indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ for all the blessings that we enjoy in this life, in particular the blessing of eternal, everlasting life.

His free gift to us who have repented of our sin and received him as our personal Lord and Savior.

We're thankful to God that He sent His only begotten Son into the world to suffer and bleed and die, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have, not hope to have, not wish to have, not wonder if they have, but whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And we certainly are grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is broadcast number twenty-two in a series entitled The God of Creation, and we have been showing uh program after program, broadcast after broadcast, how that the things which are made testify to a maker, how the things that are created testify to a creator, how the things which we can see testify of him whom we cannot see, that being God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the uh triune Godhead is manifest in all that is made.

And we have talked in the last two broadcasts about birds, and wish to do so again on the program today.

You know what the Bible says in Psalm 102 and verse 6, and we believe, speaking prophetically of the Lord Jesus Christ, a very well, what seems to be a very strange statement, I am like an owl of the desert.

Psalm 102 and verse six, I am like an owl of the desert.

Now this striking similitude is one of seven that is made in the Holy Bible relating to the Lord Jesus Christ, which involves the realm of ornithology, that is a science which pays its tribute or concentrates upon the study of birds.

And this science of ornithology enables us to apprehend the manifold nature of the activities wrought by our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Of the seven birds which are mentioned relative to Jesus Christ, every one possesses a specific characteristic that is exemplified by the Savior in carrying out his wonderful work of redemption for mankind.

Now, all of us are aware, I'm sure, that the eagle expresses superiority, and Jesus Christ is likened to an eagle in the scriptures.

The hen represents to us sympathy.

Jesus Christ is spoken of as such in the Bible.

Up the pigeon speaks of sacrifice, the dove of sorrow.

The pelican speaks of solitude and the owl of separation, while the sparrow in the Bible will speak to us of substitution.

Now, there's something of the mysterious always attached to divine selection, equally as much as in divine election.

You hear a lot of talk nowadays about this term election in theological circles, but very little about selection.

Now, when choosing the seven figures of service from all the varied features of bird life, the creator was well aware of their distinctive traits and instinctive habits.

After all, he made them, he gave them their traits and characteristics.

He furnished the lofty superiority signified in the eagle.

He furnished the lonely solitude suggested in the pelican.

He, the creator, and no one else, set forth the lovely sympathy symbolized in the hen.

God knows all about the lovely substitution and submission set forth in the sparrow.

Each of these characteristic features is displayed in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to a degree that is clearly seen during his sacrificial work by means of which he secured eternal redemption for all those that would believe upon his name.

Now we should greatly prize these pictures of the Savior's precious perfections displayed in his demeanor and disclosed in his behavior during the whole period of his labor of love as he lived here upon earth as a man for thirty three and one half years.

For example, in the superiority displayed by the eagle over external surroundings, and in the air supremacy it demonstrates, that there is a clear witness to its competent strength, the ability which enables this bird to soar above the stateliest pinnacles of towering mountain peaks, its efficient mastery of atmospheric conditions in combating tempestuous winds, its intrepid speed, and its wonderful powers of respiration and in rarefied air, its resistance to extreme temperatures of cold or heat, the apparent tireless exertion in carrying live food to its young at enormous heights, its unparalleled vision and being able to see small creatures when several miles distant, combine to establish an all-around superiority toward every phase of its physical surroundings.

Of the seven instances in the Old Testament, in which analogies are drawn, connecting features of this great denizen of the air to the actions of deity, let's just select one for the program today.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 11, as the eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young with her wings, so the Lord alone did lead them.

Deuteronomy 32 · chapter mention

Now, Deuteronomy, and I'm giving that from memory, let me let me look it up right quickly.

Deuteronomy chapter 32.

Deuteronomy 32 · chapter mention

We can make sure we get this just exactly right.

And verse number eleven.

As the eagle, or 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, and there was no strange God with him.

What a graphic picture this is of the sustaining strength of the divine might in its benevolent sufficiency.

The eagle-faced cherub of the four cherubim depicted in the prophecy of Ezekiel and confirmed by John's vision on the Isle of Patmos, was applied by the early fathers to the character of the content of John's gospel.

Therein the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ in the mystery of his deity is portrayed, overcoming all physical diseases, overcoming all material difficulties, overcoming all the powers of evil.

And Jesus Christ rose prevailingly above all obstacles that confronted his mission of mercy, no matter what form they took.

And he obstinately, or not he didn't obstinately, but they obstinately opposed his authority, and yet in every case he overcame them with grace, with love, with mercy, and with truth.

He lived and labored above the barriers of national prejudice, above the barriers of racial prejudice, above the barriers of legal prejudice, above the barriers of traditional prejudice, and never permitted the superstitions that were current in that day to curb or curtail his compassion for the needy and his care for the heavy laden.

What a captivating picture of attentive regard and affectionate interest is to be seen when a brood of young chicks nestles beneath the wings of the mother hen.

Our Lord laid hold on this attractive figure, when as king of grief he wept in anguish of soul over favored Jerusalem, and gave utterance to those memorable words in Matthew twenty three and verse thirty-seven, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which were sent unto thee! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hand gathereth her chicks chickens under her wings, and ye would not.

How expressive is this of the tenderness of Jesus Christ's character, the gentleness of his care, and the kindness of his compassion.

No metaphor could more clearly express the amiableness of his attitude toward his people, who rejected his ministry and repelled his mercy.

You know, quite a number of the Psalms are graced with the beauty of the feature of paternity in the Godhead.

What recollections are woven about the warmth of welcome received, and the wonderful refuge afforded beneath God's sheltering wings.

David desired the divine defense when he said, Show me thy marvelous loving kindness, keep me as the apple of thine eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, that word from Psalm 17, verses seven and eight.

When on another occasion he declared his personal decision, he stated, I will abide in thy tabernacle forever.

I will trust in the covert of thy wings.

Psalm 61, verse 4.

Psalms 61:4

God had illustrated his attitude in the tabernacle, wherein two cherubim with extended wings stood above the mercy seat.

David likewise realized his supreme delight in the same sanctuary.

In Psalm 63 and verse 7, he said, Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

In one of the great Messianic Psalms we meet a similar record.

Psalm 91, verses 1 and 4 read, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalms 91:1

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.

What a what a wealth of weighty assurance these references minister to the heart and mind.

The Lord Jesus was willing to do all this for Jerusalem, but the city rejected him.

How vividly the Savior's gracious words of invitation are recalled.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

That's Matthew 11, 28.

Every requirement of refuge, rest, renewal, and reassurance is implied in this appeal for those who respond by he repairing to his presence and nestling in the nearness of his sacred bosom, a bosom that was accessible to the twelve, yet only one disciple is ever said to have rested his head there.

We sing there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God, but how few of us ever allow the Lord to gather us as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.

Then of Christ is written, as we read to you at the beginning of the broadcast today, I am like a pelican of the wilderness.

Now the pelican is able to penetrate more deeply into waste areas of desert lands than any other bird, because it carries a substantial amount of food in the large pouch beneath the lower beak.

While crossing by car, the extensive desert in Iraq, uh two hundred miles southeast of Mosul, uh those who have made the trip say they have noticed uh large pelicans.

One man uh said that we his testimony is we drove near enough to take a picture, and while we were stopped, one of the birds turned its head sideways, opened its long bill, and dropped a large pineapple on the ground.

Immediately all three began pecking at the fruit, and when it was considered each had had sufficient, the remainder of the pineapple was scooped into the pouch again and held in reserve.

This bird is able to live for a time in the midst of surroundings that do not contribute to its maintenance.

In like manner, the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, was not sustained from his surroundings.

When in the wilderness he was challenged by the enemy and commanded to exert his creative right and secure supplies, and he replied, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

On another occasion he said, to the surprise of his disciples, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

The psalm from which our verse is taken that we just read, Psalm number one hundred and two, was considered by the church from the earliest centuries to be a description of the experiences that Christ encountered in Gethsemane.

And that for good reason.

On the final night which preceded the crucifixion, when he repaired to the garden, he left eight of his disciples near the entrance.

Three others accompanied him some distance farther, to whom he said, Abide ye here while I go and pray yonder.

Luke records that he withdrew from them about a stone's cast.

He went deeper into the depths of sorrow, and suffered anguish more severely than any one had ever done.

Yea, he encountered agony more crucial, bore the heaviest of burdens, and drank the cup of woe to its direst dregs.

He prevailed in this awful conflict alone, without any aid or assistance from his associates.

The singular separation and seclusion of the owl, and its nocturnal habits, naturally separate it from other winged species, so that its life is lived largely in seclusion.

How vividly this feature of the Savior is expressed in the four great sorrowful psalms of the Psalter.

A quotation from each of the four will suffice as a demonstration.

Psalm eighty eight eighteen.

Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

Psalm sixty nine verses nineteen and twenty.

Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness, and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.

Psalm one hundred o two, verses two and six.

Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble, incline thine ear unto me, in the day when I call, answer me speedily.

I am like an owl of the desert.

Psalm twenty two, verse one.

Desperation sounded the lowest depth of the Savior's direst grief when he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Notice the first three sections of this Psalm hinge upon three pivots, if you will.

Far from me, verse one, far from me, verse eleven, far from me, verse nineteen.

The owl does not appear to be a becoming figure to use in association with so dignified a person as the Son of God, and yet in this specific regard, it is the best suited of all birds to portray him as the one who is despised and rejected of men.

No other member of the winged family could do so more becomingly and befittingly.

We should notice that the four birds we've mentioned thus far are chosen to set forth features that symbolize characteristics in the Son of Man and experiences in his service.

The three which follow signify most aptly various aspects of his sacrifice.

The dove, with its mournful note, suggests the sorrow of the Lord Jesus Christ as a mourner in the world of sin for which he died.

The spiritual nature of Christ's sensitive soul recoiled in the presence of envy, malice, enmity, and hate, and from all other ugly propensities of which five score are mentioned in the New Testament.

One hundred particular sins of human nature are listed in the New Testament scriptures.

The sweetness of Jesus' spirit was never embittered by the sinister and sordid contradiction of sinners against himself.

Undoubtedly this is suggested in the figure.

For the dove has no gallbladder, and where there is no gall, there is no bitterness.

Amazing how that type and picture found its way into the scriptures.

I don't believe the men that wrote the Bible were ornithologists.

I don't believe they studied the anatomy of the individual birds.

I believe they were moved by the Holy Ghost to record what God knew would picture and portray the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the steadfast constancy of the Son of Man is also indicated in that the divorceless dove chooses a mate and never forsakes her.

The Lord has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

Furthermore, the dove builds a nest and never deserts it.

Christ said explicitly when speaking of the Father's house, I go to prepare a place for you.

I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.

Now we might rehearse the ten instructive features of the dove and find that each one furnishes some special phase of the Savior's sufficiency in the carrying out of the great plan of salvation.

But let's make mention of one more of these reflections in passing.

You know the dove's eye never winks or blinks and never shuts.

And there's a simple reason for this, it has no eyelid.

This suggests that the eyes of our Savior are ever watchful, in ceaseless care.

For the Bible says in 2 Chronicles chapter 6, verse 20, in Psalm 121, verses 4 and 5, that He never slumbers, he never sleeps.

2 Chronicles 6:20 Psalms 121:4

There is an eye that never sleeps beneath the wing of night, there is an ear that never shuts when sink the beams of light.

We may say with assurance that in view of its nature and varied characteristics, the dove is virtuously qualified to prefigure the spiritual character that is most suitable for the acceptable sacrifice, and is therefore a picture of the one who is holy, guileless, and undefiled.

So from the burn offering aspect of Christ's sacrifice for adjustment down to the trespass offering for amendment under the old economy, this bird is one of the familiar figures used.

See Leviticus chapter 5.

Leviticus 5 · chapter mention

As creator, God has made the many creatures of his creation to supply us with graphic pictures of those secret mysteries of his grace.

Sacrificial service characterizes also the pigeon.

No other bird has rendered such valuable service as a messenger or received such a variety of decorative honors for carrying dispatches as the pigeon.

Thousands of them have been trained and used for army purposes.

Under favorable weather conditions, their flying speed is approximately sixty miles an hour.

But Jesus Christ, the swift messenger who speedily brings relief as a mediator, far more readily responds to a request for help and far more rapidly releases the prisoner from his bonds.

Another feature of vital interest is the remarkable intelligence of the pigeon, with its navigating organs which are sensitive to the earth's magnetism and rotation, and the ability it has to correlate these with its own land speed.

Therefore, it is able to find a way back to its loft from whence it may have been taken, even though the distance intervening be hundreds of miles.

Our Savior repeatedly emphasized that he knew full well from whence he had come, and was wholly familiar with the way back and would most surely return thence.

You know love finds a way when none exists, and Jesus himself founds and furnishes a way of life that leads to celestial realms.

He knows the Father, and is able to guide us unto him.

As one of the clean birds, the place of the pigeon, uh which the pigeon occupied in the sacrificial system of Israel is significant.

Considerable importance clusters round the merits of its appointment as an oblation for sin.

This fact directs our thinking to the vastly superior merit of Christ Jesus, spotless character and comeliness, which adequately answers the divine claims for all human defects and deficiencies.

Yes, more.

His sacrifice of himself assures an inexhaustible volume of credit, which makes the bankrupt debtor solvent forevermore.

The blessed, beloved, and only begotten Son, with his infinite merit, has secured by his supreme sacrifice.

An eternal redemption for all that will receive it.

And then substitution.

That's the key word for the sparrow.

The sparrow is about the most common of birds in most lands, and where a blood sacrifice was necessary for the cleansing of the leper, two were ordered to be taken by the priest for the purpose.

One of these was killed and its blood taken in an earthen vessel.

Then a piece of cedar, scarlet and hyssop, together with the live sparrow, were dipped in the blood, and the bird was then freed and flew away with the mark of death upon it.

He who said in the language of the Psalm, I am as a sparrow, alone upon the housetop, is represented in the ceremony.

The cedar expressed his lofty majesty, the scarlet his lovely dignity, and the hyssop his lowly humility, all figures of the true, the divine nature that constituted the sacrifice.

But the symbolism of the ritual, the celestial credentials thereby of the Son of Man were linked with the common sparrow.

His crucifixion, his resurrection, his ascension were figured in the ceremony of the cleansing of the leper.

What a significance there is in the consoling word he spoke to his disciples when they were threatened with mob violence.

But even the very hairs of your head are numbered.

He said that in Luke 12, verse 7.

Luke 12:7

He preceded the statement by saying, Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings?

Yes, my friend, the cheapest of sacrifices to all outward seeming, had behind it the costliest and choicest of heavenly values, because as the Redeemer Jesus Christ was therein represented as the lone sparrow.

By virtue of the infinite price he paid as a ransom for them, every hair was of value to him.

Such pictures portray a profound expression of Emmanuel's qualifications in discharging his many-sided ministry, the range of which extends from his exalted status of being loftiest in sovereignty as signified in the eagle, to the place of lowliest submission as suggested in the sparrow.

His adaptability to the conditions for ratifying the covenant and his suitability in answering every legal demand and fulfilling every righteous obligation are beyond question.

The lists of representative birds that we have considered on the broadcast today, and the representative beasts in Scripture are brought before our notice to verify an important truth in relation to substitutionary sacrifice.

Jesus Christ was not slain as a private individual, but was put to death as representative for all mankind.

On the occasion when Christ offered himself without spot, he was accepted in the character of that capacity in which God regarded him from before the foundation of the world.

By his manifestation, he assumed the position of being the second man, therefore the last Adam, and did what he did as the covenant head and federal representative of all mankind.

Therefore, however gross, however grievous the insults may be that a merciful and faithful God has suffered because of the enmity of sin's guilt and the enormity of sin's guilt, the sacrifice which Christ made and the price he paid with the infinite merit of his perfect character brought inconceivably majestic recompense and immortal honor to the eternal justice of the Father.

The glories of his peerless personality furnish values inestimable and merit incalculable, which far outweigh the discredit done to God's radiant name and the dishonor brought upon his great love.

Even to suggest a boundary or to suppose a limit to the incomparable efficacy of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is to insult the infinite wisdom.

Now, my friend, not only did the Lord Jesus Christ create all these varied types of birds with their particular characteristics, but do you realize, my dear friend, that when he formed and fashioned them, he at the same time was writing a great book, planning a great book, the Holy Bible.

The Holy Bible would be the revelation of God's plan of salvation for mankind.

What an amazing thing that the birds which God created, way back in the first chapter of Genesis, this is recorded, what a marvelous thing that these birds, seven of them selected by the Holy Spirit for recording in the Holy Scriptures, all of them pictured so wonderfully, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Is it any accident that nature and the Holy Bible agree together as they present a perfect picture of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Can you deny that He is the Creator?

Can you deny that He is the author of the Scriptures?

Can you deny that He is the Redeemer and the Savior of all mankind?

Oh, my friend, with evidence like this, only a fool could deny such a great truth.

I trust you're not a fool.

I hope that you'll humbly receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

He is your creator, he is your redeemer, he is the one that longs to give you his everlasting life.

It's my hope and my prayer that you'll repent of your sin, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved even as God promised He would be.

Thanks for tuning in today.

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Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.