A story is told of a fire in Scotland that destroyed the farm. In the aftermath of the fire, a farmer went into the barn to assess and make sense of what had happened. In the process, a farmer kicked one of the dead chickens and under the chicken wings were six live chickens the mother died protecting.
Another story is told of the forest fire that had been brought under control, and the group of firefighters were working back through the devastation making sure all the hot spots had been extinguished. As they marched across the blackened landscape between the wisps of smoke still rising from the smouldering remains, a large lump on the trail caught a firefighter’s eye.
As he got closer, he noticed it was the charred remains of a large bird, that had burned nearly halfway through. Since birds can so easily fly away from the approaching flames, the firefighter wondered what must have been wrong with this bird so that it could not escape. Had it been sick or injured?
Arriving at the carcass, he decided to kick it off the trail with his boot. As soon as he did, however, he was startled half to death by a flurry of activity around his feet. Four little birds flailed in the dust and ash then scurried away down the hillside.
The bulk of the mother’s body had covered them from the searing flames. Though the heat was enough to consume her, it allowed her babies to find safety underneath. In the face of the rising flames, she had stayed with her young. Her dead carcass and her fleeing chicks told the story well enough–she gave the ultimate sacrifice to save her young.
The lesson here is not all chicks can run to their mothers in times of danger. Some panic or try to find a way to save themselves and they get devoured. Worse still the mother hen cannot run around gathering them individually. They have to come to her. Most of the chicks that survive the attacks from cats and foxes stay close to their mother and all they have to do is run under their mother’s wings and they are covered.
The hen in the story was the only chance those chicks had for safety; she, being willing to spare her own life, had gathered them up under her wings to herself. At the point of terrible pain and death, when she might still have saved herself, she chose to stay through the ordeal. It is been noted that the “mother hen instinct” is a feeling that someone has, that they must “take care of somebody.” Anybody. A mother hen demonstrates behavioural habits that are different from a normal hen. Her priority shifts from her personal survival to protecting and ensuring the survival of her young. She puts her heart and soul into her chicks, educating them and protecting them from all predators. The Bible tells us:
At that very hour, some Pharisees came up and said to Him, “Leave and go away from here, because Herod Antipas wants to kill You.” And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox that sly, cowardly man, ‘Listen carefully: I cast out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I reach My goal.’ Nevertheless, I must travel on today and tomorrow and the day after that—for it cannot be that a prophet would die outside of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those messengers who are sent to her by God! How often I have wanted to gather your children together around Me, just as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were not willing! Listen carefully: your house is left to you desolate abandoned by God and destitute of His protection; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord (Luke 13:31-35 AMP).
The greater story that is illustrated is the true story of our Creator Who made a way to save His wandering children. The Lord stretched out His arms on the cross and took the pain so that we didn’t have to. He stood between death and us and fought for us sinners like a hen protects her chicks. In other words, in a dangerous situation, when a fox is on the loose and the chicks are vulnerable, the mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings and fends off the fox as best as she can. Jesus gave His life to protect those whom the fox would destroy. We now live in the shadow of His wings and under His wings we find refuge (Psalm 91:1-4).
The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk in the Spirit. Christ lives again in His redeemed followers the life He lived in Judaea; for righteousness can never be divorced from its source, which is Jesus Christ Himself. The ethics of Jesus cannot be obeyed or even understood until the life of God has come to the heart of a man in the miracle of the new birth. Our Creator has made a way to save His wandering children.
Let us not forget that there were once two brothers. They lived in a society that had not had time to develop the many social evils we know today. Yet one killed the other because sin was there. If two brothers in the morning of the world could not get on together, how can we hope that the gentle teachings of Jesus can ever bring brotherhood to a race filled with complex iniquities, where men inherit hate and where the souls of all are lacerated by jealousy, murder, envy, egotism, greed and lust?
According to the Bible, the human race is morally fallen, spiritually alienated from God, lost and under the severe sentence of divine judgment. In sharp contrast to this, the Church is a body of regenerated persons who have withdrawn from the world in spirit and heart and have thrown in their lot with Christ to own Him as Savior and to follow Him as Lord.
The hope of the human race is that Christ shall come again to earth. I am reminded of this quote from CS Lewis:
When the Author of Life walks on the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then? When you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else … something that never entered your head to conceive—comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left. For this time, it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not. Now, today, this moment is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.
God’s covenant love to His people is: ‘I love you so much, I will never let the devil have you. I won’t let him take over your life, even when you fail me. It is impossible to stray too far from God’s love. There is no place in heaven or earth where you can escape it.’
Corrie ten Boom is well known for offering forgiveness to the guards who held her captive during the Nazi regime. She touched millions of lives through books and speaking tours before dying on her ninety-first birthday. She often recalled her sister Betsie’s hope-filled words: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Do you think Satan wants to keep driving you into the loving arms of Christ to find mercy, love, and grace? No–The only sin he can tempt you with now is to attempt to turn you away from God’s incredible love. That’s where a hard heart comes from–not falling back, but from continually rejecting God’s love.
Even so, Lord, come quickly.
