A little while back, I was reading Matthew
24:28, "For wheresoever
the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together."
The eagle is not as the vulture or other scavenger
birds for it will not touch a dead animal. I wondered
what this verse could mean. Then I came across this
study on eagles that become wounded in the wild.
The word "carcass" in verse 28 translates in
the Greek original as "ptoma" \( pto'-mah\ )
from the alternate of 4098; TDNT - 6:166,846; n n Gk -
4773 \( ptw'ma \ )
1) a fall, downfall
1a) metaph. a failure, defeat,
calamity
1b) an error, lapse into sin
2) that which has fallen
2a) the fallen body of one dead
or slain, a corpse, a carcass.
Enhanced Strong's Lexicon, (Oak Harbor,
WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1995.
In the wild, when an eagle becomes wounded and falls
to the earth, other eagles will gather around it.
One eagle will go get water and bring it to the fallen
eagle. Another eagle will go find some food and
bring it to the fallen eagle. The other eagles that
have gathered will stand guard and fight any predator
that would come to take advantage of the fallen eagle.
Only vultures kill and eat their own!
Are you an eagle or
a vulture? Do you seek to
protect and help strengthen and restore a wounded brother?
Or do you seek to take advantage of his downfall and destroy
him?
Paul wrote in Galatians, chapter 6 and verse 1, "Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted."
Are you an eagle or
a vulture? A vulture dwells
in the tree tops and low places looking for the sick and
wounded to prey on. Eagles mount up into the heights
of the heavens where the air is clean and the vision is
clear.
Often, when the eagles seek to nurse their wounded back
to health, the wounded eagle will strike out with its
beak in confused self defense. In addition to his
normal pair of eyelids the eagle has a set of clear eyelids
called nictitating membranes. These membranes serve
to protect the eagle's vision while seeking to minister
to the fallen eagle.
When we choose to be spiritual eagles for Jesus, our
vision will be protected when we seek to minister to a
fallen brother, even when they lash out against us.
On the contrary, the vulture seeks to destroy a wounded
animals vision as it pecks the eyes out first. We
must choose to be eagles for Him!
Sincerely,
John Arcovio
