The Wings Of God

"THE WINGS OF GOD"

Mark McCool

TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 32:9-12

9 For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

INTRODUCTION:

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of the Wings of God.

After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.

Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings.

The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies.

When the blaze had arrived and the heat had singed her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.

I. WINGS OF HIS PURPOSE

Approximately two thousand years ago, God came in the form of man, and like a mighty eagle that swoops down to the aid of its falling eaglets, so God swooped down to the aid of a falling and helpless humanity to save us from certain destruction.

He came to a people whom He had chosen and cried unto them to come to Him saying,

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" Luke 13:34

John, in his Gospel said,

"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" John 1:10-12

So to those who would receive Him... to those that would believe on his name... to them he gave power to become the sons of God. And with that sonship, came the protection of the Savior from the impending doom that sin would bring upon the world.

II. WINGS OF HIS HEALING & SALVATION

Throughout the ministry of Christ, humanity felt the healing virtue that came from those gentle wings that caressed the wounded and the broken that abounded in a sin sick world.

The Prophet Malachi cried out....

Malachi 4:2 "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; "

Then Jesus announced....

Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

III. WINGS OF DELIVERANCE

It seems that throughout the Bible, we find that when God speaks of His deliverance, provision, and protection of his people, it makes reference to the Wings of God.

In His deliverance of Israel from Egypt he said....

Exodus 19:4 "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself."

IV. WINGS OF MERCY

Within the Tabernacle Plan, God had Moses place the Cheribum’s wings as a covering of the Mercy Seat, which was above the Ark of the Covenant (which contained the Book of the Law, the Pot of Manna, and Aaron’s Rod that Budded).

Exodus 25:20-22

20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.

21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.

22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.