Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together

Dennis F. Orme
May 1971

When I heard the body -- the Spirit of Truth -- was on the Earth I pondered over this statement in the Bible. What type of body do eagles gather around anyway? A stinking rotten carcass? A fish? A lamb? I suppose one's answer depends upon where one lives. Up in Scotland lives the most magnificent of all birds -- the Golden Eagle, the king of the feathered creation. Would it be possible that the eagles close to the Messiah would be golden ones? Certainly Golden Eagles are notorious for stealing lambs. They are undoubtedly the finest hunters taking birds in the air or animals on the ground. For centuries farmers killed them whenever possible on sight. Yet every farmer will talk with respect of their power and beauty -- a noble creature to all friend or foe.

Persecuted by man it faced extinction in the British Isles where it was one common in all mountain regions. It survived only in the remote highlands of Scotland. Living in the high crags of these barren mountains, it dwarfs even these great old granite structures soaring higher and higher into the sky until its huge wing-span is a speck against the shimmering sky. For this creature mountain ridges are mere furrows in a field as it descends onto moor or into the valley with great rapidity to hunt. It's vision being exceptional in keenness. A nesting pair may hunt over an area of more than forty square miles, searching out living meat which it prefers to eat. The Golden Eagle does not like dead meat, consequently it remains the most noble and greatest of all birds of prey. Striking at its prey often from considerable height, its weight and speed allied to its sharp talons with their tenacious grip make it a feared hunter.

One story illustrates this unusual tenacity. A motorist driving along a lonely road in the remote north west of Scotland came round a corner and saw a wild cat, a powerful creature about twice the size of a large household cat, run across the road. An eagle swooped and carried the still struggling cat aloft. The wild cat fought with great ferocity but the eagle would not let go. Finally the cat tore the entrails from the eagle and both eagle and cat fell from about three hundred feet to the ground. The cat had killed the eagle and the fall killed the cat. The outstanding feature of this struggle being the tenacity of the eagle to hold on to its food. It would not let go even at the cost of its life.

The body -- the spirit of truth -- the Messiah -- will be surrounded by eagles, men and women who have the characteristics of this the king of all birds, a bird whose only food is living food (truth). They will soar high in the sky (heavens) in search of truth (their prey). They will hunt after truth (living food) with great diligence, and when they find it they will grasp it with great tenacity never letting go. They will indeed be as Eagles holding on to him with a relentless grip of steel even unto death.

Will the Lamb of God be surrounded by such persons? I think so, for will not his followers have the desire to feed off the most choice of living foods -- the Lamb of God? Will they not be ardent in their endeavor? Keen in their vision? Tenacious in their grip? True hunters. Where the body is there indeed will the eagles be gathered together. There are many eagles around the Lamb, some like Mr. [Hyo Won] Eu have gone to its spirit world, others remain a living testimony to the Messiah.