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The Ravenous Bird
A
Fulfillment of Prophecy
as seen in
Christ
By
Elder Mark Thomas
Isaiah 46:11
Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the
man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken [it],
I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed [it], I will also do it.
This prophecy from Isaiah is a familiar one and many different interpretations will have likely been presented to the reader at various times. It is my understanding of the passage that it has a double fulfillment in the persons of both Cyrus and Christ.
It appears to me that the immediate fulfillment of this passage was in the person of Cyrus as he did evidently come and fulfill the language of the passage. But, as well as Cyrus fits the context and details of the passage, it is sure that it points to a Greater Redeemer in the person of Christ. For the purpose of this writing, let us look at the ways in which it appears that Christ fulfills this prophesy.
Consider with me the word ravenous. What a powerful descriptive word!
When considered in the light of one's appetite, it would indicate a hungering
of great intensity. It calls to mind the intense hunger of
the animal of prey. Indeed in the Hebrew, this exact meaning is denoted
by the word. Thus, we find the language to describe a bird of prey. The
Hebrew wording for ravenous bird is even more descriptive, for it
specifies that it is a swooping bird of prey. One gets a very graphic image
of the wing driven bird of prey power diving or swooping down upon
its prey with a voracious, intense, driven, yea, a ravenous appetite.
Yet, more is implied in the description of this ravenous bird by the accompanying
language, for it is no wild animal of prey that is meant, but rather a
disciplined, focused, and directed bird of prey that responds to being
called and executes the will of the Caller. Thus the image of the falcon
and falconer is brought to mind as the falconer goes about his occupation
of directing the bird of prey to a specific target and then unleashes the
power, skill, and driven intensity of the ravenous bird upon its prey.
In the context of our passage, we can seen that Cyrus was called to
execute the power of his armed forces against and subdue the enemy of national
Israel. So also, we need to understand that Christ in His ultimate fulfillment
of this prophecy is called and directed by Divine Counsel to execute the
most holy will of God in seeking out His prey and
eradicating the power and hold of the enemy. The ultimate enemy of
the children of God is sin. To fit the type of this prophecy we need to
see in the Lord Jesus Christ one who comes to seek out and eradicate
sin and death in perfect harmony with the will and counsel of God.
The Nature of the Enemy and the Scope of God's Will
Consider for a moment the nature of this enemy. How totally has the enemy captivated God's people! King David tells us that we are conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity. We are born in sin and have the nature of sin by the course of heredity as members of the fallen race of Adam. We are all tainted with the disease of sin and it is a terminal condition ending in death. We cannot by our actions cure the disease. Worse, we are so depraved in nature as a result of our sinfulness that we have not in the natural man even the will or desire to be rid of it. We are captivated by sin and sold under bondage to it. Filthy and wretched are we, mired so deep in the pit of sin and iniquity that we have no ability nor desire to come forth out of it. We are as the dog that returns to its vomit and the swine that delights to return to its wallow. Just as Israel would have remained in bondage without the gracious deliverance of God by the hand of Cyrus, so also the child of God is bound by the nature of sin unless God by his grace freely gives deliverance.
Please consider too, the scope of God's will regarding the vile, polluted, and fallen race of Adam. From this fallen mass of humanity, God, by mere free grace, has chosen in eternal counsel by everlasting covenant love to extricate and heal the objects of His Divine love and give unto them deliverance from their enemy. He has appointed their deliverance, according to our text, by "the man that executeth my counsel". Who better suited to execute that counsel than Christ, who is a party to and privy to the full counsel of God? He is intimately knowledgeable of every detail of the eternal counsel and covenant. He is the sole covenant mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Christ is the executive force of the Divine will and purpose of God. He speaks as one with the Father saying: "yea, I have spoken [it], I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed [it], I will also do it." Even as it was the will and purpose of God that Cyrus would come and give deliverance from the enemy to national Israel, even so it is the will and purpose of God that Christ would come and give deliverance from the enemy of sin and death to spiritual Israel, the elect of God.
Called from the East
The prophecy specifies that the Ravenous Bird is called from the east. This one can see typified in Cyrus by his geographic location relative to the city of Babylon, and it is seen also in Christ in the following ways. First, Christ sprang up from the tribe of Judah. In the encampment of Israel while they traveled in the wilderness, Moses by the direction of God appointed that the tribe of Judah would always be located upon the eastern side of the encampment of Israel. Thus it is made to appear that Christ who came in the flesh in the line of Judah may be seen to come from the east. And, second, we see the prophetic type answered in Christ also in that as the Sun of Righteousness He arises in the east with healing in His wings.
Malachi 4:2
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall
go forth,
and grow up as calves of the stall.
How well this fits with the portrait of the Ravenous Bird as we see that in this arising the Sun of Righteousness is equipped with wings. Not only are these wings resplendent in brightness and shining glory, but they carry the wondrous healing power that cures the malady of sin. Christ is further seen as this great dawning, rising light called from the east in the following passages as well.
Isaiah 49:6
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preserved of
Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that
thou
mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Isaiah 9:2
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them
hath the
light shined.
Matthew 4:16
The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to
them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung
up.
The Ravenous Appetite
Now we come to consider in what way that Christ may be said to come with a ravenous appetite in fulfillment of the type. This may be seen in the keen delight with which Christ comes to execute the Father's will. Consider:
Psalm 40:6
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast
thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written
of me,
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within
my heart.
And again, notice the driving need that the Father's will should
be
executed that is expressed by the Son:
Hebrews 10:5
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou
prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no
pleasure.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written
of
me,) to do thy will, O God.
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings
and
offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein;
which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh
away the
first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all.
The Sin Eater
Thus, we have connected the idea of a ravenous appetite to the desire of the Son of God to fulfill the will of the Father. We hope to show now the connection to the object of the ravenous appetite.
Please give careful consideration to these passages from the
Mosaic law
regarding the priesthood.
Lev. 6:25
Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of
the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed
shall
the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy.
26 The priest that offereth it for sin
shall eat it: in the holy place
shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Lev 10:12
And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto
Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take
the meat offering that remaineth
of the offerings of the LORD made by fire,
and eat it without leaven
beside the altar: for it is most holy:
13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place,
because it is thy due, and thy
sons' due, of the sacrifices of the LORD made by fire: for so
I am
commanded.
14 And the wave breast and heave shoulder
shall ye eat in a clean place;
thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they be
thy due,
and thy sons' due, which are given out of the sacrifices of
peace
offerings of the children of Israel.
15 The heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with
the
offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering
before
the LORD; and it shall be thine, and thy sons' with thee, by
a statute
for ever; as the LORD hath commanded.
It is shown in these passages that portions of sacrifices meant to be the offerings for sin were actually eaten by those in the Levitical priesthood. In type, the sins of the people were figuratively laid upon the sacrifices as the priest laid his hands upon the head of the sacrificial animal. Thus the priesthood, in a figure, became "sin eaters".
Now , it remains to try to connect this idea to the Lord Jesus, our High Priest, to see if this Ravenous Bird can be found in antitype with the idea of ravenously consuming sin........
Please notice this:
This victory over sin and death is said to be accomplished in such a way as that they are "swallowed up" or internalized or consumed.
And this:
In I Peter we again see that sins are taken by the Master and internalized. And notice to that here the idea of healing is presented in the context. This matches up nicely with the One rising in the east as "the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.."Mal. 4:2
Now this:
The language matches so graphically here as our Lord reveals the Father's will to be His meat. To fulfill that will he must devour and destroy the enemy and deliver from bondage all those that the Father hath given him.
And this:
Here we see the power of our enemy is consumed and destroyed by Christ and this results in the release from bondage of all our Deliverer came to release.
And finally:
As a ravenous bird our Master internalized our sins, He became the "sin
eater" by swallowing up sin and death in redemptive victory for His elect.
He descended from on high as a swooping bird of prey targeting the enemy
to strike with a deadly blow. He came with a ravenous appetite to do the
will of the Father and internalize, consume, and swallow up the sins of
those given Him by the Father. Here is a desire to consume
and irradicate the said sins that is so intense (ravenous) that He "became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Here is an intensity
of desire such that He willed His own death. Having seen the
joy set before Him that His work would accomplish, He finishes the work;
swallows up sin and death in victory; and ascends, taking flight for glory;
having brought and left in his wake that healing and righteousness for
His own that had been treasured up in the divine wings of the Sun of Righteousness.