Worship Flag - True Covenant
Printed Satin Flag, with sewn in flexi rods.
Size: 135cm x 85cm
Art and word by ILSE KLEYN
TRUE COVENANT
Courtship of the Bald Eagle involves the two of them flying up high where they grasp talons and then glide in dramatic fashion back to the ground. This is called the Cartwheel. They would then break apart at the last minute before hitting the ground. After this spectacular and strenuous courtship flights, it is time for mating.
It is said that this Cartwheel flight help to bond the pair for life. But what it looks like is 2 eagles fighting and plummeting to the earth.
The theory is if the eagles do this and they let go too soon, he or she might be signaling to a potential mate that they are not as bold or strong as maybe need to be to raise young successfully. The other extreme is that if they don't pull out of that maneuver in time, they can severely injured or kill themselves. They are establish a bond between them. Such a tight bond where not even death scare them away. They are literally trusting each other with their lives. (Bald eagles typically mate for life. )
This is not only a picture of a marriage but also the bond of Christ with His bride. (Covenant)
Gen 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
In Hebrew the word “cleve” means ‘dâbaq’. Meaning to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, to be joint to, overtake, catch. The Hebrew term to “join” or “cleave,” (dâbaq), is a very strong expression that has the literal sense of two being held together by force, as when one person captures another. It has a figurative sense of being “glued to” – much like these two eagles with their locked talons.
We read several times of God commanding His people to cleave unto Him (Deu_10:20; Deu_11:22; Deu_13:4; Jos_22:5; Jos_23:8), such cleaving demonstrates true love for Him (Deu_30:20).
Another example of such faithfulness appears in Psalm 119:31, where the psalmist says to God, “I have stuck unto thy testimonies.” “Stuck” is dāḇaq. In Psalm 119:25, David says, “My soul cleaveth unto the dust,” that is, despair was sticking to him as though it were glued.
Now, however, it is he who is glued, glued to God’s Word. “While the dust of despair is glued to me,” David says in effect, “I am ever glued to God’s standards”. A woodworker uses glue to join boards together, and so strong is that bond that the board will break in another spot before it will break on that joint. That is how we are to be glued to the Word of God. This is how these birds are cleaving to each other whiles tumbling to the ground. Each one’s life in the other one’s hands (talons).
This is thus a symbol of how we should be stuck, glued to our marriage partner - in true covenant – in sickness and in health, through the good and bad times. True love do not run away when the hardship of life makes its appearance.
This is not only a picture of the meaning of covenant between a woman and her husband, but also between Christ and His Bride.
True unity and oneness.
Heb 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people”
Heb 13:20 & 21 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. “