Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
A Whale of a Story
August 06, 2011
Mankind is like a humpback whale caught in the snare of the fisherman’s net, entangling it to the point it no longer is free to move through the waters. If remaining in this state, the mighty great fish will lose its freedom and eventually be destroyed, within the dangerous waters into which it swam.
If man should cut the nets away and set it free again, it will perform for him to demonstrate just how much it loves and values its freedom. There will be a display of great leaps out of the water and into the air to demonstrate its gratitude for its freedom from that which, in all likelihood, would lead to its death.
Abraham was like a baby whale caught in the enemy net of the destroyer, unable to do anything about his situation. In His mercy, God looked down upon the helpless creature, cut the net away from him and spoke to His liberated little whale, much as a father might speak to its child.
“Little whale, I have set you free from the nets of religion, which bind you, and from the idols and rulers of this world; now I want you to separate from this place and follow Me. For I am going to take you out of these dangerous waters, grow you along the way in understanding, so that when you are in a safe place you will be wise enough to remain there, free in the place I have prepared for you. There the living water will be very different from the waters found surrounding the religious nations that bind you.
I will provide safety within the empire nation of Egypt to mature you, but then, it too, will enslave you if you remain there. So when you are mature enough, I will cut the nets of slavery from all of the religions of the world and once again place you on the path to liberty.
The conditions for your liberty will depend on your and your descendants’ obedience to My leadership, along with your trust in Me alone, and not in yourselves, as your Instructor and your Ruler. For I am placing you on a path of victory over the destroyer’s snares, but there will be dangerous waters all around the path where the destroyer is just waiting to pull you down. I will not tolerate disobedience within My camp.”
Fish are like sheep, which can be led astray if they do not listen to the voice of the Master. Sheep are stupid animals and merely follow whatever goes before them: so one disobedient animal can lead the entire flock in the wrong direction. Rather than have that happen, the shepherd will kill the rebellious sheep or, at the very least, separate it from the others for their own protection.
Before Abraham’s descendants entered the Land of safety, God warned them that no cults or rebellious ones would be allowed to remain in the Land and take the ones He had saved back into the same spiritual waters of the destroyer from which the Lord had delivered His original little whale, called Abraham. His fruitfulness had produced millions of little whales, all delivered through the dangerous seawaters to freedom by the Lord of hosts.
Only He was able to lead the way, as not only God’s messenger, but also as God, Himself. He would deliver the rules of liberty, or the Law, at the commencement of the journey, so that the whales would become well established on the path, with the understanding of a moral code, which, if adhered to, would serve to maintain their liberty, under their God. Rebellion, such as that of the first man in the Garden, leading to sin and the destroyer’s victory over him, would not be tolerated, any more than God tolerated it then.
Unfortunately, the first whales to be set free in the safe waters did not value their freedom, nor did they listen to the voice of their Master who had set them free and given them the rules by which they were to live. They did not shoot up out of the water in leaps of joy and gratitude for their freedom, nor did they perform for their Liberator. So, the Liberator destroyed their unity and scattered them, driving them back into the dangerous waters whence they came, where they chose to become harlots to their Master.
Finally, in His mercy, the Liberator came to swim among them and once again delivered all the whales who could hear His call. This time it would include fish of all sorts from among the religious gentile nations, who were all caught in the nets of the destroyer. For a second time, the original whales, still proud of their lineage as descendants of the first chosen whale, showed no gratitude for what had been done for them by the Master. They were the other whales that had never known victory, which leaped for joy in gratitude for their freedom.
The Master placed His focus on the other whales, which responded like sheep that know the shepherd’s voice and obey him. The Master was well pleased with these little whales, calling them His church and showing them the Way of the path to liberty. In return for their freedom, He commissioned them to go and search for other ensnared fish, chew away at the binding nets and set them free, so that they could multiply and be fruitful, as well, in their liberty.
The Master and Liberator lived near the Sea of Galilee and so became known as the Good Fisherman of the Galilee. Like a pied piper, He collected fish of all sorts and blew a trumpet sound for them to follow Him wherever He might lead through the dangerous waters to a safe place, He called the kingdom.
Now, the day came when the dangerous waters became uninhabitable and the fish, which had not been set free, cried out to the Master for help; but they had waited too long and it was too late for them. There was no joy left in them for soon they would be destroyed by the polluted waters. How they regretted the fact that they had never learned the difference between truth and the lie! Had they only listened and discerned the times, they might not have been part of the tragedy – the human tragedy, which had delivered them into the hands of the destroyer.
Afar off, through the murky waters of destruction they could see the liberated fish swimming freely in clean waters with their Master leading them to what looked like a fresh, clean kingdom. They were jumping and leaping out of the water in a display of great joy as the trapped fish felt a darkness coming over them and, suddenly, they were no more. Their world faded away to become only a memory of what once was for them, but would be no more.
(Based on the true story of some men in a small boat at sea, off the coast of California, who discovered a humpback whale, caught in the nets of fishermen and unable to move. They cut away the nets and freed the whale from its bondage, only to have it deliver a very long performance of leaps and turns in the water, as if to show its gratitude to them for its freedom.)