[Note: This sermon expounds Matthew 24:28, focusing on the Greek distinction between ptoma and soma and the spiritual lesson that discernment against the Antichrist depends on nature, not technique. Delivered 26 July 1981, Montreal.]
We continue today in Matthew chapter 24 at the point where we left off last week, at verse 28. To understand this verse in its context, we read the whole section from verse 15 to verse 28, since this whole section belongs together. The entire passage is preoccupied with the Antichrist — the desolating sacrilege of verse 15, and the false Christs and false prophets of verse 24 — and twice in this section the Lord says "do not believe it." Christians are not people who believe everything. They must exercise discernment, perception, and insight — not merely intelligence, but spiritual perception — evaluating accurately whether what is claimed to be true is actually so. Also notice that though verse 24 speaks of false Christs in the plural, verse 26 immediately returns to the singular: "Lo, he is in the wilderness... lo, he is in the inner room" — singular, he. There is a focus on one person, the Antichrist himself, who stands behind all the false prophets and false teachers.
Now we come to verse 28: "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together." This verse has been an exceedingly great problem to commentators, and the difficulty lies largely in the fact that most of us with a Western education have become very literalistic in our thinking and cannot easily handle metaphors and parables. We can work with mathematics but not with the language of poetry. Try reading Keats, or Tennyson, or Milton — or Chinese poetry — and you will see how our scientific training creates real difficulties there. But once we understand how the Lord Jesus thinks and teaches, this verse is by no means difficult. In fact, it is a truly beautiful way of expressing a profound truth.
I should mention that back in 1975, when I came to Canada to minister at Camp Trent, I preached on this very passage, and according to my notes Don and Virginia were the only ones present at that occasion who are still with us. So we return to it again now. The key lies in a comparison of the Greek text. If you look at Matthew 24:28 and the parallel passage in Luke 17:37 in the Chinese Bible, you will find no difference whatsoever — they are word for word identical. In the English Revised Standard Version there is a difference of one word only: Luke says "where" and Matthew says "wherever." Yet if you look at the Greek, you will discover that fifty percent of the words are different. Half the words differ in Greek, and this difference does not emerge at all in either the Chinese or the English.
The key to that difference lies in the Greek word translated "body" — and it is a different word in Luke from the word in Matthew. In Luke the word is soma. You find soma in the English word "psychosomatic" — psycho from the Greek word for mind, soma for body. In the New Testament, soma always refers to a living body. When Paul says "this is my body given for you," he says my soma — my living body. We are the soma of Christ, the body of Christ, not the corpse of Christ; though too often the church today resembles a corpse, we are meant to carry the life of Christ and communicate it to the world. In Matthew, however, the word translated "body" is an entirely different word: ptoma. Ptoma in Greek always means a corpse — look it up in any Greek dictionary. The Chinese translation, remarkably, puts the word for corpse in Luke instead of Matthew, which is precisely the reverse of what is correct. The English translates both soma and ptoma as "body," which is technically permissible since "body" in English can be either living or dead — but the vital Greek distinction is entirely lost.
Once you grasp this — soma for living body, ptoma for corpse — you are on the way to understanding the passage. Now the Greek word translated "eagles" can mean either eagles or vultures, as your RSV margin notes; they belong to the same family but are significantly different creatures. The critical difference is this: a vulture by choice goes for the ptoma, the corpse, the dead body. An eagle by choice goes only for living prey. By choice — not because it is forced to — an eagle is not interested in dead bodies. I have been reading about golden eagles in the southern United States: you can capture a golden eagle by placing a living pigeon as bait over a concealed pit, with a heavily-gloved hand hidden underneath. The eagle sees the living creature and dives to seize it; when it lands, the man underneath grabs it by the legs. It has to be alive. Put a dead thing there and the eagle has no interest. The vulture, by contrast, will wait patiently for something to die — even as an animal is dying and still moving, the vulture circles overhead and does not come down until movement stops completely. By choice, the vulture feeds on dead things.
Notice also that in both passages the eagles or vultures are described not as gathering themselves but as "being gathered." They do not gather; they are attracted. The corpse or the living body draws them. Both eagles and vultures appear in the plural: not one eagle, not one vulture, but many. In this context, the corpse is the Antichrist. He is spiritually dead — though he manifests extraordinary power — and he gathers to himself the vultures, those whose nature draws them toward what is spiritually dead. The living body, conversely, is Christ — drawing to himself the eagles, those whose nature goes after what is spiritually alive.
Here is the beauty of the Lord's imagery, which can only be brought out through the power of parabolic language. Eagles and vultures look strikingly similar; in Greek, as I mentioned, the language does not even sharply distinguish them — they are both called members of the same family. Likewise, a living body and a dead body are almost identical in appearance. Sometimes it takes a doctor to determine clinically whether a person is alive or merely unconscious. The parallel is exact and profound: the Christ and the Antichrist may at first sight look very similar. We can more easily tell whether a body is physically alive or dead after close observation — but could you tell whether a person is spiritually alive or spiritually dead? That is far harder to discern. And that is precisely where the deception comes in.
When the Antichrist comes performing signs and wonders, would you be able to tell whether his power is from God? I was struck by an account of a spiritist — a spirit medium — who was acknowledged to have raised the dead on certain occasions. When he later became a Christian, he was asked how he had done these things, since he was not drawing on God's power at the time. He said plainly: by the power of the devil. The devil has powers too, something Christians do not always recognize. If the devil can do things as impressive as what certain Christians can do, how do you tell which is which? Those of you from Malaysia will know that it is not only Christians who can speak in tongues — spirit mediums can speak in tongues as fluently as any Christian. If a spirit medium came into the church and spoke in tongues without telling you he was a medium, how would you know? And I shared with some of you before the experience in Liverpool where a woman was prophesying in ecstasy so profound that her husband slapped her left and right and she was completely unaware of it. These are the things that make discernment so difficult.
The vital point, however, is this: not being deceived is not primarily a question of technique. It is a question of nature. The vulture has a certain inbuilt nature — not through rationalized conclusion but through instinct — that draws it toward dead bodies. The eagle's nature draws it toward what is alive. The question of whether you will go for the Antichrist or for Christ lies not in whether you have developed some sophisticated technique of discernment, but in what kind of nature you have. If you have the eagle nature — the nature that seeks for living things, that goes after what is spiritually alive — the Antichrist will find it much more difficult to deceive you. If you have the vulture nature, the nature that goes after dead things, the Antichrist will have no trouble at all; he will appeal so powerfully to your nature that you will be swept away.
[Continues in Part B]
# Where the Body Is, There the Vultures Will Be Gathered — Matthew 24:28 (Part B) — Eagle Technique; Skill and Timing; Eagle Characteristics; What Excites You
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Matthew 24:28, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 26 July 1981, Montreal.]
The eagle also employs remarkable technique, not merely speed. I was reading about how a golden eagle descends upon a rabbit. A rabbit runs in a zig-zag pattern at great speed to make itself a difficult target — just as a soldier running from machine gun fire will not run in a straight line. The eagle makes a passing motion as though diving to one side; the rabbit, alarmed, moves to the other side — which is exactly what the eagle anticipated. The eagle then swirls directly into the path the rabbit has just taken, cancelling out the zig-zag entirely. You would not want to play chess with an eagle; it calculates your movements in advance. All this requires sharp eyesight, coordination, perfect timing, and considerable energy. The vulture, by contrast, does none of this — it simply finds something dead and goes to feed on it. It does not have to chase anything, fight anything, or even move quickly. Both are protein, so why go the hard way to get your protein? And there, precisely, is the fundamental difference of nature and mentality.
That is why the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, that we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Your whole thinking has to be transformed — whereas before you went for dead things, now as a Christian your whole thinking should be renewed to go for what is alive and eternal. In Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, he makes this explicit: "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not things that are on earth." The English expression "down to earth" is precisely what Paul is warning us against. The Christian is to be "up to heaven" — not with his mind bound to earthly things. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 18: "We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." Look around you — everything you see is transient. This pulpit, these pillars, this building will all be gone. The glories of ancient Greece, ancient China, ancient Egypt are no more. The things which are not seen — love, righteousness, truth, kindness, goodness, mercy, the things of the spirit — these abide when all else has gone.
Yet frankly, it is hard to set our minds on those unseen things, because by nature — vulture nature — we go after what is material and concrete. The money in the bank makes sense to us. You can compare houses: your house has a garage and mine does not. But kindness — how do you compare kindness? You cannot eat kindness; you cannot drink it. If someone comes and gives you kindness, what do you do with it? But money you know exactly what to do with. There is the vulture mentality at work. We feed on the things that are passing away — Paul says these things will pass away, but never mind, they will pass away eventually, in the meantime I can still feed on them. And the Lord is saying: if that is your mentality, when the Antichrist comes he is going to appeal so powerfully to your nature that you will be swept away with him. Where the corpse is, the vultures will gather there. Where you gather depends on what you are.
Consider the characteristics of the eagle in Scripture. The eagle dwells in the high places — Jeremiah 49:16 speaks of those who make their nest high as the eagle and warns that God will bring even them down if they are not genuine eagles. The eagle has proverbial clarity of vision: one of the smaller members of the eagle family was tested and found to have vision equivalent to a human being seeing a needle three miles away. What is your spiritual vision like? When someone speaks of spiritual things, do you show sharpness of spiritual insight, or is your mind muddled about them? This has nothing to do with intelligence. I have seen distinguished scientists who, when it comes to understanding spiritual truth, are no better than ten-year-olds, probably worse. Yet sometimes a very humble person with no exceptional intelligence shows such clarity of spiritual insight that it humbles you. Intelligence and spiritual perception are entirely separate gifts, and the Apostle Paul, who had both in remarkable measure, was rare indeed.
The eagle is also proverbial for its kindness and patience toward its young. Deuteronomy 32:11 speaks of God himself as an eagle hovering over the young — stirring up the nest, then sweeping underneath to catch those who fall. Exodus 19:4: "I bore you on eagle's wings" — when Israel was exhausted and could not fly, God swooped beneath and lifted them up before they fell. And Deuteronomy 28:49 speaks of the eagle's speed in accomplishing its path. When you come to doing God's will, are you swift in it — do you rejoice to do his will? Or is it foot-dragging and arguing and asking why it has to be so? The eagle's antagonism toward snakes is also instructive: the snake in Scripture is an ancient symbol of evil, and the eagle strikes at what moves, snakes included. Many Christians take a casual attitude toward evil — small financial deceptions are acceptable, sexual license is permitted, carelessness about spiritual commitment to righteousness is tolerated. The eagle does not look the other way when a snake appears.
Psalm 103:5: "He satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." Isaiah 40:31: "They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." The eagle is a symbol of undiminishing spiritual vitality. Observe many Christians: when they first come to the Lord, they are on fire, ready to conquer the world for Christ. One year later, the temperature has dropped. Two years later, still further. After a few years it is barely above freezing and then they are gone. Those are not eagles. The eagle grows stronger as time goes on — its youth is said to be constantly renewed, going from strength to strength.
Most importantly, what excites you? What delights your mind? What captivates your thinking and causes you to get excited in conversation? That tells you a great deal about whether you are eagle or vulture. The Christian more excited about his job, his money, his house, his car, his promotion — his mind is set on earthly things. The Christian who begins to get genuinely excited about spiritual things — that person's thinking is being transformed. Many Christians are neither here nor there: they do not mind feeding on living things sometimes and on dead things at other times; they have a wide appetite and consider it all acceptable. But you will not get away with that in the Word of God. Sooner or later, one passion will dominate. And perhaps they do not even know themselves which it is. But God knows — and the day of the Antichrist will reveal it clearly.
In these last days, if you want to survive — and especially if you want not to be deceived in the day of the Antichrist — you must become an eagle. Your whole sense of direction must change. Your sense of values must change. Do not live for the things that pass away. The car looks beautiful today; in two years it looks less beautiful; in five years it is ready for the scrap heap. What are you getting excited about? So that you can replace this corpse with another corpse that will also pass away? Look for the things which are eternal. Live for the things which endure forever. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.