As believers in Christ we are living creatures, and we need to enjoy the grace of God, live by the grace of God, let the grace of God strengthen us inwardly and overshadow us outwardly, and do everything by the grace of God.
The four living creatures in Ezek. 1 each had four wings: two of them were joined to the adjacent living creatures, and two of them covered their body; the wings of an eagle in the Bible signify the resurrection power of Christ – God’s power in life applied to us and becoming our grace.
Jehovah came as an eagle to His people when they were in Egypt, and delivered them and bore them on His eagle’s wings all the way to Himself, to mount Sinai where He opened His heart to them.
In the New Testament we see the eagle’s wings in our experience and enjoyment of the grace of God. We are mere earthen vessels, but we have a treasure in our being – this treasure is God in Christ as the grace of God, the eagle’s wings; the excellency and strength and power comes from the treasure within us.
We may be pressed and pressured, we may go through sufferings and ask the Lord to remove them, but He constantly reminds us that His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is perfected in our weakness.
Our Christian experience should be an experience of the grace of God – God in Christ as the Spirit to be our enjoyment and supply; we should daily enjoy the Lord, let Him overshadow us, let Him strengthen us within, and be filled with Him so that no matter what we do it would be by the grace of God and not by ourselves.
On the one hand the grace of God supplies us and strengthens us within, and on the other hand the grace of God is like eagle’s wings, bearing us through, causing us to soar above anything, and empowering us to do God’s will and live the Christian life.
When we enjoy the Lord, delight ourselves in Him, and are satisfied with Him, our youth is renewed like the eagle. We need to take Christ as our life, let Him satisfy the prime of our life with good, our youth and vigor will be renewed and we will soar like eagles.
Stopping our Living and Doing to Receive God in Christ and be Strengthened to Soar above Everything
In Isaiah 40:31 we are told that those who wait on Jehovah will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles.
If you look at the eagles, they are very patient; they are sitting perched on a tree or a mountain for a long time, waiting for a long time – they wait for a warm column of air rising from the earth, and then they stretch their wings and soar.
The eagles don’t flap their wings like many other birds – they simple soar, gliding on the current of air. Their body is not too big (2-3 feet), but their wings are long (up to 7 feet). As the air rises up, they stretch their wings, and they simply soar – they soar higher than any other birds, yet without their strength or by means of flapping their wings, they just let the current of air carry them.
If we as believers in Christ learn to wait on Jehovah, the eternal God, by stopping ourselves with our living, our doing, and our activity, and just receive God in Christ as our life, person, and replacement, we will soar like the eagles.
To wait on the eternal God is to terminate ourselves, stopping our being with its activities, and receive God in Christ as our everything. When we stop, listen to the Lord, and wait on Him, we will sense the Spirit’s move, we will stretch our wings, and the current of the Spirit will carry us (Gal. 2:20; Heb. 12:2; Col. 4:2).
Our Christian life is not about how strong we flap our wings to fly high, but open our wings and let the Spirit carry us. May we be such ones, waiting on the Lord, to be renewed and strengthened to such an extent that we will mount up with wings like eagles!
Waiting on the Lord in such a way transforms us and causes us not only to walk and run but soar in the heavens, far above every earthly frustration. Some believers say that the eagle’s wings are our faith as believers; this is true, for our faith is our declaration that we are not but God is.
Our faith is our response to God’s appearing and infusing. The wings of an eagle are the grace of God and His power applied to us; when we enjoy this grace, we respond with faith. Our Christian life is not of ourselves or of our effort, but it is the resurrection power of Christ becoming grace to us.
In our Christian life we need to learn to stop ourselves, wait on the Lord, stretch our wings, and fly where the Spirit takes us. Let the Spirit take you to Europe for the Lord’s ultimate move today!
At the end of this age, the Lord must perfect many saints who would be such living creatures with wings stretched forth. We need to not rely on ourselves but on the grace of God, the eagle’s wings that brought us here and bring us on!
We are what we are and we do what we do not according to our own wisdom, strength, and ability, but by the grace of God; we have no boast in ourselves or in anything else but in the Lord (see 2 Cor. 1:12; 10:17; 1 Cor. 3:21; Gal. 6:14; Phil. 3:3; Jer. 9:23-24).
Our testimony should be this: we have no boast in ourselves but in the Lord and in the grace of God, rejecting ourselves and trusting only in Him. May our glory be in knowing God and enjoying God, not in riches or glory of men but in God Himself.
Lord Jesus, we want to learn to wait on You by stopping ourselves with our living, our doing, and our activity, and receiving God in Christ as our life, our person, and our replacement. Make us those who wait on the Lord, listen to the Spirit, and allow the Spirit to carry us to soar above every earthly frustration. Keep us enjoying You as the grace of God who enables us to be and do everything. May everything we are and do be not according to our own wisdom or ability but by the grace of God, and may our only boast be in the Lord!
The Grace and Strength of the Lord are both for our Moving and for Covering us
Every living creature has four wings: two are stretched upward and touch each other, and two cover their body; two wings are for moving and two are for protection. The grace of the Lord and His strength and power are not only for our move but also for our protection and covering.
The grace and power of the Lord enable us to move with Him and overshadow us, protect us, and cover us, so that we would labor by the grace of God (1 Cor. 15:10) and we are overshadowed by the grace of God which tabernacles over us (2 Cor. 12:9).
We need to be covered as we move with the Lord; it is easy to be exposed, and the enemy can attack us, therefore we need to be covered and protected. As the Lord is moving, it is easy, if we are not careful, to get ourselves exposed to the enemy’s attacks; the eagle’s wings are for our protection, and the grace of God and the power of Christ overshadow us to protect and cover us.
We need to tell the Lord, Guard me as the pupil of Your eye, and be gracious to me; I want to take cover in the shadow of Your wings (Psa. 17:8).
We need protection not only from the enemy’s attacks but also from his tempting; sometimes he may tempt us as he tempted the Lord, to do things simply because there’s a need and we have the capacity; we should not “rise to the challenge” as Satan presents it to us, but wait on the Lord, enjoy Him as the eagle’s wings, eat Him, be in coordination with the saints, and let the grace of God fill us and cover us.
Such a living will cause us to be mysterious yet wonderful men, giving others the impression of the Divine Being. The four living creatures had the front face of a man, but the body of an eagle (Ezek. 1:10-11); they looked like a man but moved like an eagle.
The two wings for moving and the two wings for covering indicate that there’s something mysterious about us, and that this gives others the impression of the Divine Being.
Our Christian life is full of paradox: we love the Lord, we are for the Lord, and we may think that the Lord will be for us – yet He seems to allow many unpleasant things to happen to us.
The Lord never promised that, as long as we love Him, He will bless us with everything and cause us to prosper outwardly; He did promise He will bless us with Himself, but not necessarily outwardly. Paul testified of this in 2 Cor. 6:9-10 where he said that they are as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold they lived, as being disciplined yet not put to death, as made sorrowful yet always rejoicing…this is the life of the living creatures.
It is man living, yet God lives in them, and there’s something mysterious about them. We need to live such a mysterious Christian life – not everything needs to be open and known; we need to wait on the Lord, enjoy Him, and let the wings of an eagle to carry us as the grace of God and the power of Christ.
When others see us, they see a proper husband, wife, parent, or child, yet there’s something covering, empowering, strengthening, protecting, and overshadowing us, and it’s not easy to understand or describe us.
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy the grace of God so that we may be both empowered to move and protected from the enemy. Keep us enjoying You, waiting on You, and allowing You to move in us as the wings of an eagle. Lord, we hide in You: guard us as the pupil of Your eye, and be gracious to us, for we take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. Protect us from the attacks and temptations of the enemy. We love You, Lord, and we want to enjoy You to the uttermost so that Your grace, power, and strength would enable us to move, cover us, and protect us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother James Lee’s for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 59-60 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel (1), msg. 5 (week 5), The Wings of an Eagle, the Hands of a Man, and the Feet of a Calf.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Touching now Thine outstretched scepter, / O most mighty King of kings; / Of Thy fulness now receiving, / High I mount on eagle wings. / Touching Thee, new life is glowing / By Thy Spirit’s burning flame; / Cleansing, purging, Spirit filling, / Glory to Thy Holy Name! (Hymns #559)
# I would cease completely / From my efforts vain, / Let Thy life transform me, / Full release to gain; / Build me up with others / Till in us Thou see / Thy complete expression / Glorifying Thee. (Hymns #841)
# From Thy fulness grace outpouring, / Show me ever greater things; / Raise me higher, sunward soaring, / Mounting as on eagle-wings. / By the brightness of Thy face, / Ever let me grow in grace. (Hymns #394)
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The front face of the four living creatures is the face of a man, but the body is that of an eagle. Two of his wings are stretched forth to join to the other living creatures, and two of his wings are wrapped around his body for a cover. Thus, if you look at his face, he looks like a man, but if you look at his body, he looks like an eagle. He looks like a man, but he moves like an eagle. This indicates that we must always express ourselves like a normal man, for example, like a normal and proper husband, wife, parent, or child. But when others look at us and consider us, they should realize that there is something covering, empowering, strengthening, protecting, and overshadowing us. As a result, it should be difficult for others to describe us. Those who work with such a person might say, “He can suffer the things we cannot suffer, and he can bear a responsibility that we cannot bear. He understands things more deeply than we do. What kind of person is he? How can he live this way?”
The point here is that with us as children of God there should always be something mysterious. Although we suffer, we are happy and rejoice in the Lord because something is covering us….These moving and overshadowing wings should give others an impression of the Divine Being. We have the four wings of an eagle, giving others the impression that we have God with us as our power and protection. This is the eagle. (Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 59-60, by W. Lee)
Amen….LORD …KEEP US WAITING YOU…AND NOT DOING WITH OUR OWN BUT TO LET YOU DO
Amen
Amen, Lord!!
Amen, amen, amen.