Lessons from Crummackdale: Bird of Prey

Crummackdale in Yorkshire is wonderfully evocative and beautiful. The clouds’ shadows dance upon the hillsides and the limestone boulders seem to reflect the sunlight. The moody skies and brooding mountains possess a dignity and austerity we cannot but admire. Yet in this place of beauty and natural wildness was evidence of death and violence. A collection of feathers on the grass, almost pinpointing the spot upon which the hunter's talons struck. Something died- quickly, hopefully- and something else was fed. Sad though it may appear, our fallen world is characterised by death and pain. In Isaiah 43:11, God speaks of a coming predator, swooping down:

Calling a bird of prey from the east,

The man who executes My counsel, from a far country.

Indeed I have spoken it;

I will also bring it to pass.

I have purposed it;

I will also do it.

That bird was Cyrus of Medo-Persia, and he was God’s instrument by which mighty Babylon would fall. The message of God is not all love and harmony, much less tolerance and platitudes. Judgement is coming, vengeance is planned, Christ is returning. Our planet might seem secure and majestic, but a Bird of Prey from heaven is coming, the ‘man who executes My counsel, from a far country’. Will He really come?

Indeed I have spoken it;

I will also bring it to pass.

I have purposed it;

I will also do it.