LIKE A MOTHER HEN

 

 

In Section 29 of Doctrine and Covenants, the Saviour uses two metaphors in relation to the Second Coming, which are in stark contrast to each other.

In describing the earth becoming ‘ripe’ for the days of tribulation and desolation, He says that His ‘cup of indignation is full’ and He will take vengeance upon the wicked who will not repent (v 9, 17).

This metaphor of the cup suggests that just as there is a limit to how much a cup can hold, so also there is a limit to the Lord showing patience to the wicked (Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 61). Please note that His patience is limitless but His exercise of it is limited when the people become ripe for destruction.

The second metaphor is one with which the Lord begins this Section, declaring that He will ‘gather his people even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, even as many as will hearken to His voice’ (v 2). This is good news for the righteous that follow Him.

Consider the sense of security we can feel knowing that the Saviour’s heart is like a mother's: loving to the point of self-sacrifice, relentlessly caring and aggressively protective.  Now note the characteristics of a mother hen that He used as an example of His care:

·        After the first three days, the chicks develop a fear of new things, an instinct that keeps them safe from danger. However, mother hen’s presence makes them feel secure, as she provides a safe base from which they can explore and learn about the world.

·        A mother hen gives special alarm calls when she senses danger relevant to her brood’s age.

·        In addition to providing warmth and protection, researchers have found that a mother hen provides an important source of social learning for the chicks she is raising.

·        It appears that the security offered by a mother hen promotes the healthy behavioural development of the chicks she is raising. A confident mother can help her chicks to grow up with appropriate behaviour for their environment, leading to a happy and healthy life.”

 

-        (Tamsin Cooper, Raising Chicks with Mother Hen, 18 Aug 2021)

Can you see the Saviour in what you have just read? Does He not provide knowledge that can lead to a happy and healthy life through His Gospel? Does He not send prophets to warn us of present danger? Does He not offer security through His commandments and His Church? Does He not dispel fear and offer protection through the power of His spirit?

Does He not make us feel secure in the knowledge He has given us of our eternal nature and eternal destiny? Has He not provided everything that is needful for us through the power of His creation? Does He not promise us safety from the calamities that are yet to engulf the world and its wickedness when He appears? Could He possibly do more in His capacity as a saviour to ensure our ultimate success?

 

Thy love for Thy people is beyond compare,

Thy mercy affixed forever more.

Thy power delivers us and

Thy loving kindness gathers us;

We are restored by Thy merciful might,

We are Israel, children of light.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Gathering by Eva Koleva Timothy)

BESIDE ME THERE IS NO SAVIOUR

GOD'S WINGS -

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God's wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"  Matthew 23:37

As the unrepentant Judah neared Babylonian captivity, prophet Isaiah made a valiant attempt to bring the covenant people to a remembrance of the God of Israel. Chapters 40-47 of Isaiah are written in a completely poetic style and contain the most beautiful scriptures about the promised Messiah in all the standard works. Even when prophesying of captivity, Isaiah does not leave the covenant people without hope revealing Judah's future deliverance from bondage and the destruction of Babylon that had been Judah's oppressor. Isaiah brings the Saviour to the world's attention as its' only hope of deliverance from sin, oppression, despair, fear, hopelessness and death. Over and over Isaiah reiterates that there is only one Saviour and beside him there is no other:

Isaiah 43:10,11 - "...beside me there is no Saviour"
Isaiah 44:6 - "....beside me there is no God"
Isaiah 45:5,6 - "....there is none beside me"
Isaiah 45:14 - "...surely God is in thee and there is none else"
Isaiah 45:18 - "....I am the Lord and there is none else"
Isaiah 45:21,22 - "...there is no God else beside me"
Isaiah 46:9 - "...I am God and there is none like me"

Through modern day revelation we learn more of the Saviour's majesty, might and power and why He has the right to say that there is none other beside Him. Consider the following scriptures that speak this truth:

"O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer us from heaven, thy holy habitation, where thou sittest enthroned, with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy and an infinity of fullness, from everlasting to everlasting." (D&C 109:77)

"He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things, and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever." (D&C 88:41)

Isaiah's exhaustive efforts to bring Israel back to their God provides a very thorough list of the Saviour's incomparable qualities. One cannot help but feel that this prophet knew the Saviour on a personal as well as revelatory level. Here is a list that in all reality teaches us that truly there is none other beside Him equal in wisdom, knowledge, might and power:

1. No one can teach Him or Counsel Him: Isaiah 40:13,14
2. He never fails nor gets weary: Isaiah 40:28-31
3. He created the heavens, the earth and the nations: Isaiah 40:12,15,16,21,22; 45:12,18
4. He can help when no one else can or will: Isaiah 41:17,18
5. He is never discouraged with us. He never quits or gives up: Isaiah 42:3,4
6. He will turn darkness into light and make crooked paths straight: Isaiah 42:16
7. He will stay with us in our trials: Isaiah 43:1-4
8. He will blot out our transgressions: Isaiah 43:25
9. He blesses our families: Isaiah 44:3,4
10. He carries us at all times: Isaiah 46:3,4
11. He will never forsake us nor forget us: Isaiah 49:14-16

Despite His majesty and power by which He can thrash the nations, the Saviour appeals to us mostly through sentiment enticing us back into His arms. The most effective metaphor which he uses to do this is one of motherhood. Could it be that we at present, in our mortal state, cannot relate to the grandeur of His godhood but can very well relate to the parental bond that exists between a parent and a child that is so much a part of mortality? Every woman that has experienced motherhood could understand this statement: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?  Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (Isaiah 49:15). It is unthinkable, is it not, for a woman to forget to feed her newborn baby? Yet, that is more likely to happen than for the Saviour to forget to succor us. And consider the hen who would sacrifice her life for the sake of her baby chickens. Would not any mother do this? More than his qualities of power, the Saviour would have us know that his heart is like a mother's: loving to the point of self-sacrifice, relentlessly caring and aggressively protective. He would have us know that within the shadow of His wings, He gathers us and protects us from the world which seeks to tears us down. Israel of old led themselves into Babylonian captivity by committing two foolish sins: they had forsaken the one true and living God, and they placed their trust in the powers of the world instead. It tugs on the heart strings to hear the Lord's lamentation concerning this: "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). 

"In ancient times, a king was welcomed to his throne in a great processional, often after victory in battle. A new highway would be built for the king and his parade of soldiers; workers would level the road and straighten it to make a path for the royal progress to the throne. Isaiah counsels us to 'prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God' (Isaiah 40:3). This appeal is an invitation to welcome the Lord into our hearts, to enthrone Him there instead of the proud, deceptive king of Babylon who desires only to keep us enslaved" (Breck England, "Beside Me There Is No Savior", Meridian Magazine). 

We do not belong in Babylon. We belong in the shelter and shadow of His wings. We of the House of Israel wish to proclaim to the world that He is the King of Kings and that there is no other beside Him. We want to be gathered from all nations into his loving and protective care so that when He comes, this, His plea, will not be true of us:

"O, ye nations of the earth, how oft would I have gathered you together as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!" D&C 43:24