An eagle is a symbol of the divine presence among the people of God (Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7).
The ability of a Christian to be able to mount up with wings like the eagle, is therefore a reference to the grace of God, which gives us the ability to be able to do what we ordinarily cannot do (Isaiah 40:31).
Tests and trials will come to everyone as obstacles in our pathways in doing the will of God. They will always come, but they are meant to strengthen our faith in God and our love walk. A Christian who is not growing in faith and love won’t be able to handle the enemy appropriately.
That’s why Christians are not to be looking for ways to avoid tests and trials. We don’t run away from them either. But we are to confront them with joy, patience, faith and love.
It’s our ability to walk in love while living by faith that causes us, to be able to soar higher like the eagle, in the victory which we do have in the name of Jesus.
We are able to access God’s grace while in the midst of the tests and trials, with these four fruit of the Spirit (joy, patience, faith and love); so as to come out of them triumphantly.
We need constant access into God’s grace and power, so as to be able to stand firmly in the victory that Christ had given to us. An eagle therefore in the holy scriptures represents God’s grace in our lives.
Mary, the mother of Jesus had God’s grace abundantly over her life. John, the Apostle once painted an action-packed imagery with words; about what he saw on the island of Patmos concerning the woman, who was given the two wings of a great eagle in escaping the wrath of the dragon.
He wrote:
“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”
Revelation 12:13-14 NKJV
It’s important to note that this encounter of the woman and her Child, which took place in the wilderness is a reference to the encounter of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The incident occurred after the birth of her Child (Jesus).
The wings of a great eagle which she had received points directly to the grace of God, which was made available to her during her trial and test in the wilderness, while she was carrying God’s Vision for the salvation of the world.
God was seeking to protect the Vision (Jesus) who was with her. All of Heaven’s angelic forces were watching over her, as God’s grace was made available to her for flying away from the dragon (Satan). The birth of the Child had made her a target for the enemy (the dragon). The Child had been supernaturally taken up to God; but the woman who was the vessel of God in carrying and delivering Him became Satan’s enemy.
The wilderness therefore became to Mary, a place of refuge from the wrath of the enemy; just as it was also a place for the great hand of God to deliver her and her Child.
This analogy applies to the believers in the name of Jesus today also, as the carriers of that same Vision of the Lord to the end of the earth. Our encounters with the Lord are therefore meant to protect the vision of God in our lives. Those encounters are there to help us in nurturing that vision into maturity, until the fullness of time for it to become manifested.
Mary had to remain in Egypt until the death of Herod, who was seeking to kill her Child (God’s Vision). The two wings that she had received in this vision of John, helped her to escape the wrath of this evil king.
With the wings she was empowered to do exploits, so as to be able to tap into the wisdom of God, during those moments of difficulties in the wilderness.
Purposes are revealed through wilderness encounters
After she had nurtured her Child into adulthood, we could see the same grace that was upon her life, being manifested in the life of her Child (Jesus) also. The scripture says about how Mary had used the “two wings of a great eagle” to nurture her Child into adulthood:
“And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”
Luke 2:40 NKJV
Jesus as the Son of Man became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, even as God’s grace increased daily upon Him. It was the divine presence in His life that made Him strong in the spirit. We need to note here that he was already strong in the spirit, before the Holy Spirit actually descended upon Him (Matthew 3:16).
By being strong in the spirit Man the wisdom of God filled Him, and God’s grace was consequently made available to Him. We can see here how a strong spirit of faith and love before God can transform our lives.
If God, did it for Jesus, He will do it for anyone. All that it takes is to cultivate a strong spirit of faith in God’s word and love.
After the Holy Spirit had descended on Him, Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness; for the spiritual encounter that was to bring His Ministry to the prime.
As He came out of the wilderness encounter, He went into the synagogue (the Old Testament gathering of God’s people). It was there that the anointing upon Him became evident to all, as He declared to them His calling and anointing:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:18-19 NKJV
His spiritual encounter in the wilderness prepared Him for the Mission, which He had received from the Father. The purpose of His calling was revealed to Him through the encounter in the wilderness.
Now Jesus had to do the walking by faith in that anointing. It’s possible to be anointed of God in doing anything, but if you are not ready to walk in that anointing by faith, it will not function in doing what you had been anointed to do. Faith is the connection between your anointing and that calling.
Mary (His mother) was aware of the anointing upon Him. This was why she had said to the servants at the wedding of Cana:
“ .. Whatever He says to you, do it.”
John 2:5 NKJV
Jesus was not yet ready to launch Himself fully into the Ministry at that wedding. He had been there to enjoy Himself with the disciples. Even though the anointing was upon Him, but He was not in the spirit at the time. But the faith of His mother pulled on the anointing in Him to do something.
This shows to us that no matter how anointed we may be in our callings, we are still humans of flesh and blood. We live in a normal world with that anointing.
And no matter where you may be right now, it’s going to take the faith of someone else to pull on that anointing in your life. Mary put the anointing on Jesus to work at the time when He least expected. The woman who had the issue of blood did the same thing in getting healed (Luke 8:43-48).
A worldly Church in the wilderness with God
God took Israel through the wilderness after they were delivered from the bondage of Egypt. They had never been taught about the ways of the Lord before. There was nothing spiritual about them.
They were still full of the mentality that was in them from Egypt, as they journeyed through the wilderness into the promised land. But it was this same gathering of unspiritual people, that God had chosen in given birth to the first Church ever recorded in the Bible.
The gathering of the Israelites in the wilderness signaled the birth of the Old Testament Church, in the wilderness by God the Father. This Church is compatible with the worldly Church as we have it today.
The Bible says about the Old Testament Church:
“Moses led the congregation in the wilderness, and he spoke face-to-face with the angel who spoke with him on the top of Mount Sinai. Along with our ancestors, he received the living oracles of God that were passed down to us.”
Acts 7:38 TPT
This Old Testament Church was pastored by Moses, who had also been prepared for forty years in the wilderness, on the mountain of Horeb for this purpose. Moses had thought that he was shepherding the sheep of his father-in-law; but it was actually God who was preparing him to shepherd His chosen people.
There was no one else at the time with a better qualification than Moses to do this. God knew how rebellious this people were before leading them out of Egypt. He however with great caution brought them to Himself in the wilderness.
They were not spiritual at all, but they heard the voice of God, as He spoke directly to them. The situation made them to tremble. They had never experienced it before, but God’s word that they heard cleansed them and transformed them into His Church on the earth (John 15:3).
But for them to be strong in taking possession of the land that was promised to their fathers; God had to teach them and re-educate them from the mentality of Egypt.
Egypt here symbolized the unsaved world with her systems. When a person gets saved, he has to be educated about what it takes to be a Christian. Many who are not being discipled in this way are not growing into spiritual maturity. The old way of thinking and living like the people of the world has to go away completely; so that they can begin to live in the reality of the new life in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Moses in his final song to the nation of Israel, described how the Lord God had taken them out of Egypt, while allowing them to go through the wilderness. Moses did this by comparing the action of the Lord God with Israel, to that of an eagle with the baby eaglet.
This is interesting because whenever the mother eagle begins to teach the eaglets, it’s normally done from inside the nest after the egg has hatched. The nest is the comfort zone for both the mother eagle and the eaglets.
The baby eaglet begins to learn how to eat, in the same way as a new believer in Christ Jesus begins to learn, how to read and study the scriptures for spiritual growth from the pastor.
Moses said about the Israelites:
“He (God) found him (Israel) in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, that he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock;”
Deuteronomy 32:10-11, 13 NKJV
An eagle stirs up the nest to awaken the eaglets to something which is about to happen. This is how the Lord God stirs up the heart of the young Christian, in awakening him to see the need to start doing something for the Lord. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t stir up those who are favored by the Lord, they can’t really find themselves doing something in His Kingdom.
We can see in this description of Moses how the mother eagle spreads out the wings underneath the eaglet, so that even though the eaglet may initially find it difficult to fly; but the mother’s wings are always there for support.
The presence of the mother reassures the eaglet that everything will be okay. Failure is not an option here. Success is guaranteed, as long as the mother eagle is there for support. There is therefore prosperity and greatness ahead for the eaglet.
Just as the Lord God painstakingly and with great difficulties, as a result of their rebellious attitude took the Israelites into the wilderness, for the purpose of teaching them how to excel in the promised land; the mother eagle goes through a lot of efforts in teaching the baby eaglet new things also.
The Old Testament Church was born in the wilderness. The Church is the place for the discipleship of new believers in Christ Jesus. Jesus commissioned every believer in His name to make disciples of all nations. It’s not a calling for those who are in the ministry alone; but for everyone who believes in the name of Jesus Christ.
In nursing the New Testament Church of Thessaloniki Paul wrote with these words to them:
“But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”
I Thessalonians 2:7-8 NKJV
Basically, it was the same thing that Moses did with those in the wilderness, that Paul did also with this New Testament Church. God’s word is the spiritual food for nurturing spiritual babies.
Paul told the Church at Corinth:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”
I Corinthians 3:1-3 NKJV
This Church had the Holy Spirit in her midst, even though she was still ignorant about what she had. Paul had to wake her up.
We can see that it was the same carnal nature, which was with the gathering with Moses at Horeb, that was evident among these New Testament believers in Christ. Even though they had been spiritually fed, they were still not able to access the benefits of what they had in Christ Jesus, because of their carnal nature.
The Church in the wilderness was discipled by Moses. Being properly disciplined in God’s word enabled each member of the Church to prosper in the promised land.
Unfortunately, many of them never learnt anything from those teachings of the Lord from Moses; but those who did prospered with it.
Those who did not follow the teachings of Moses (their Pastor) decided to follow the people of the other nations around them. Many of them perished in the wilderness as a result of this.
In the same manner the Church today is being taught, but many are turning to the ways of the world to find prosperity.
Israel was nursed and educated in the wilderness. This Church was in a very bad shape coming out of Egypt. They were ignorant about who they were as the descendants of Abraham. They were completely without faith in God and were lost in the world. They therefore were in need of redemption, as the ways of Egypt was still in them.
God alone has the timing for all things
The duration of any wilderness encounter is determined by God Almighty alone. It takes time to instruct and educate those who are going through it, so that they might start walking closer to Him.
For the Israelites, it took them forty years of journeying in the wilderness, before they got into the promised land. The journey from Egypt to the land of Canaan was not a long one; but their rebellious attitude made them to journey for a long time.
Jesus was in the wilderness for six weeks. John, the Baptist lived all his life in the wilderness. His ministry was actually in the wilderness, because as the one who had to prepare the way for Jesus to come, He had declared his role in this way concerning Jesus:
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John 3:30 NKJV
The wilderness was the best place for John to decrease, so that Jesus may increase among the people.
The encounter with the Lord in the wilderness, is meant to test the faith of those who are going through the it. God will never send an untried and untested believer in Christ against the enemy. Your faith must be tried and tested through the fire of God, so that it can come out of it as pure as gold, which is precious in the sight of God (1 Peter 1:6-7).
Jesus was tried and tested for six weeks (Matthew 4:1-2). The children of Israel were tried and tested in the wilderness for forty years. Several of them failed the tests and died during those encounters in the wilderness. Joseph was also tried and tested in Egypt (Psalms 105:17-19).
God’s word has to test our faith as Christians. Your faith in God’s Covenant promises which you are holding on to must be tested in your life, before you can inherit the promises themselves.
There are no beds of roses in Christianity. The only beds of roses are in Heaven; but while we are on the earth we will be tried and tested. Jesus never said that you will not be tried and tested. He however had promised to be with you in it, and never to leave you alone in it.
The Apostle Paul said of his trial and test which came during his own encounter, due to the revelation which he had received from the Lord:
” And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
II Corinthians 12:7-10 NKJV
The revelation of the Lord to Paul made him a target for the enemy. Satan wanted to prevent Paul from benefiting the Church through this revelation. That was why Paul had to be tested and tried. The devil wanted to stop him from profiting anything with his revelation.
In your trials and tests God’s grace will always be made available to you, so that you can be able to go through them successfully. He will guard you through each one of them, as the apple of His eyes.
Remember that He guarded the Israelites through the wilderness, in the night as the Pillar of fire, and as the Pillar of cloud in the day.
God watches over those who are going through wilderness encounters with Him. He will carry them as the eagle carries the eaglets on its wings. The instructions and the teaching of the Lord comes to us in this way.
The wilderness encounter is meant to cause a beloved child of God to ride in the high places of the earth. In this way God will be the One giving him the victory, in every spiritual warfare that he never will have to fight.
Like the children of Israel, you will possess the gates of your enemies, because the Lord God is the One fighting for you.
