The four duck eggs looked perfect - all smooth and softly colored and just the right shape and size. Nate had bought them from a farmer who raised pure-white ducks. He learned the mothers are called “ducks” and the fathers are called “drakes.”
Nate was very careful with those eggs. He kept them just the right warmth in an incubator and turned them every day. We were allowed to see them through the glass top of the incubator, but only with his permission. He followed the instructions very carefully, and no careless handling was allowed. No one must break those eggs.
Now here is a riddle for you: Why were those eggs like the Old Testament in the Bible?
Here is the answer: Each one of those eggs had a secret inside. Nate didn’t put it there. It was God’s plan ever since He created the world that the duck and the drake should produce a secret life inside that egg. We couldn’t see it, but we knew it was there, and that’s why the eggs received such tender care.
The Old Testament has a secret in it too. God put it there. It is repeated over and over and over again, and it’s the most wonderful secret there ever was in the whole world. One place where you can find it is Micah 5:22But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2). This is what it says: “Thou, Bethlehem . . . though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
Can you guess the hidden secret? Who was born in Bethlehem, who will be Ruler and who has lived from everlasting? Do you know the answer?
One day, Nate came and found his eggs all cracked and broken. And guess what! He wasn’t sad! He was excited! The eggshells were all broken, but the secret inside was out, and those little baby ducklings were the cutest things! We were all called to come see them.
And God’s Old Testament secret really came alive too. We learn about it in the New Testament. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and He will someday be Ruler of everything. And He has lived from everlasting, farther back than our minds can think about. A few shepherds were glad when He was born, and an old man named Simeon and an old lady named Anna were glad. But almost everybody else was troubled.
When Jesus began to preach publicly, the chief of the people planned to kill Him. Why were they so angry? First, because He seemed to spoil their religion. The Old Testament is not spoiled at all by the birth of Jesus, but its secret is out for all of us to see and to wonder at. But the people did not want anyone to spoil their religion. They were afraid that Jesus might seem more important than they were, and they did not want Him at all. They nailed Him to a cross.
He has gone back to heaven now, but He will come back as Ruler. God has made His secret so plain that you cannot miss it, unless you shut your eyes and your ears too. God is telling you, through this message, that He loves you and sent Jesus to die for sinners like you. He had that planned long ago, even before He wrote the Old Testament, and nothing can change His plan. Jesus is Ruler of everything right now, but He has not come yet to take up His power to rule.
The ducklings grew and waddled after us in a row, just as ducklings always do behind their mothers. And after they grew larger, Nate sent them back to the farm where they would be raised for market. You may feel bad about that, but ducks are just ducks. There will be more.
Is Jesus your Saviour?
ML-06/18/2000