The Eagle of the Bible

Look at how big E9, the baby eaglet of the Florida webcam, is getting -- only ten days old! His brother egg never hatched but just ten days ago E9 came out of an egg that size. Now he is probably four times bigger than the egg. Blink and those little ones have grown up. Sniff.

Since an eaglet is in Book 3 of my Unlikely Friends series, I have been doing a lot of research on eagles. They are fascinating creatures. Did you know they figure prominently in the Bible? The more I learn about them, the more I understand some of those biblical references.

One of my favorite verses involves an eagle:

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

The eagle's strength in lifting into the sky towards heaven is a symbol of the strength we will find if we patiently wait upon the Lord, keeping our focus on Him.

For thus says the Lord: “Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab... Jeremiah 48:40 

The majestic eagle is also a fighter, and his huge wings allow him to vanquish foes and conquer prey. In fact, the eagle has no natural predator. What a wonderful symbol of those who fight for God and not against Him!

You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Exodus 19:4


The powerful eagles' wings are the symbol of God's strong protection as He draws us out of struggle and to Himself.

The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand... Deuteronomy 28:49


God's judgement will be sudden, powerful, and inescapable, likened to an eagle swooping down upon its prey.


And before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” Revelation 4:6-8

Well , your guess is as good as mine on what this wild four-faced creature is, but the salient point is one of the creatures who will never cease worshiping God was likened to a noble eagle in flight.
Of all the creatures that could have been eternally proclaiming God's holiness, one of the four chosen to symbolize eternal worship is an eagle.

You see why I love them.