Lion and Lamb

Today we will be looking at two striking names that Jesus is given in the New Testament: the Lion and the Lamb.

In the Old Testament, lions usually symbolise awesome authority and majesty, whereas lambs usually symbolise humility, innocence and sacrifice.  Two passages are particularly of note.

• Gen 49:9-10: [Jacob said:] "You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son.  Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness — who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his."
• Isaiah 53:7: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

In the first passage, Jacob prophecies over his son Judah, and predicts that one of Judah's decendants would be a powerful ruler like a lion.  In the second, the prophet Isaiah predicts that an innocent servant of God will be put to death.

Now consider the following passage in the New Testament book of Revelation:

• Rev 5:4-7: I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”  Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders... He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

This passage is remarkable.  The Apostle John looks up, expecting to see the prophesied lion, but instead sees a little lamb (Greek arnion) that seems to have been killed.  That is to say, Jesus is the lion and the lamb simultaneously.  He is majestic and powerful, yet He was humble and gentle enough to allow people to crucify Him.

The book of Revelation states that Jesus will be revealed to all humanity as the Lamb of God in the last days.  This revelation causes very different reactions in the saved and the unsaved.  The saved cry out in joyful worship:

• Revelation 5:13: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

The unsaved, on the other hand, flee from Him in terror:

• Rev 6:15-17: Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.  They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

Before that terrible time comes, however, Jesus mercifully urges everyone to come to Him and be saved:

• Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Judge

In this post, I address a topic that many people would prefer not to think about: the fact that Jesus is going to judge the living and the dead.

To begin, I want to point out that the idea of God punishing sin and rewarding the righteous can be found throughout the Old Testament.  Here are just a few of the relevant verses from the Old Testament:

• Deut 8:19: If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.
• Deut 30:19: This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.
• 1 Sam 2:9-10: He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.
• 1 Chron 16:32-33: Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
• Psalm 11:4-7: The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; His eyes examine them. The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence His soul hates. On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.
• Psalm 98:9: Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
• Ecc 12:13-14: Here is the end of the matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
• Jer 17:10: I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.
• Dan 12:2: Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

Some people suggest that the idea of judgement is purely an Old Testament concept, and that the New Testament contradicts it.  They couldn't be more wrong.  Consider the following words uttered by Jesus Himself:

• Matt 16:27: “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.”
• Matt 25:31-46: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.... and the wicked will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
• John 5:25-29: “I assure you, the time is coming - and is now at hand - when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live. For as the Father has life in Himself so, too, He has given the Son to have life in Himself. And He has given Him full authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Don't be amazed at this. For the time is coming when everyone in the graves will hear His voice. And they will come out. Those who have done good will rise again to live, but those who have done evil will rise again to be judged.”

These verses make it clear that Jesus Himself is the one who will judge humanity.  This is confirmed in the rest of the New Testament.  For example:

• Acts 17:30-31: In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
• Rom 2:6-8: God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”  To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
• 2 Cor 5:10: We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
• 2 Tim 4:1: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead...
• Hebrews 4:10-13: The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
• Jude 14-15: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
• Rev 20:12-15: The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.  If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

If we were left only with a message of judgement, it would be terrifying.  The wonderful news of the Gospel however is that, no matter what we have done, we can escape the just punishment for our sins.  All we have to do is confess our sins, ask for forgiveness, and receive the free gift of salvation that has been purchased for us by the death of Jesus on the cross:

• 1 John 1:5-8: This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Bridegroom / Husband

The Old Testament prophets, especially Isaiah, Ezekial and Hosea, often used the relationship between husband and wife as a metaphor for the relationship between God and His people.  For example:

• Isaiah 54:4-6: For your Maker is your husband... The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit - a wife who married young, only to be rejected.
• Isaiah 62:5: As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
• Ezekiel 16:8: When I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love... I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
• Hosea 1:2: Like an adulterous wife, this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.

The New Testament takes this further, by referring to Jesus as a Bridegroom or Husband.  For example:

• Matt 22:2-3: The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
• Matt 25:1: At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom....
• Mk 2:19-20: Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?  They cannot, so long as they have him with them.  But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast."
• John 3:29: [John the Baptist said:] The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
• Ephesians 5:25-32: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless... For we are members of His body, of his flesh and of his bones. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
• 2 Cor 11:2: For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
• Rev 19:7-9: “The wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)  Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”
• Rev 21:2: I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Verses like this have led some Christians to use the term "Bride of Christ" to refer to the church.  The use of this term has however been somewhat controversial.  Regardless, we can speculate as to which attributes of Jesus the terms Bridegroom and Husband refer to.  Personally, I suspect it means that we can rely on Jesus to love, provide for and protect us. It also means that we are to remain absolutely faithful to Him, putting Him first, and not allowing other people or things to take first place in our hearts.  Moreover, when one becomes a Christian, one enters into an eternal covenant with Him, just as a wife enters into a lifelong covenant with her husband when she marries.

Faithful and True

In the New Testament book of Revelation, Jesus is described as "faithful and true":

• Revelation 3:14: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.
• Revelation 19:11-12: I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.

The word "faithful" indicates that Jesus is completely trustworthy, reliable, dependable.  The word "true" suggests that the same applies to His words (as revealed in scripture).  We can therefore trust Him and submit to Him completely, without fear of ever being let down, misled, betrayed or abandoned.

Some other verses on this theme:

• Matthew 28:20: Jesus said, "I will be with you always, to the end of the age".
• Hebrews 3: Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
• Hebrews 13:5: Be content with the things you have, for He has said "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you".
• Romans 8:38-39: Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any spiritual powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 1 Thess 5:23-24: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
• 2 Thess 3:3: The Lord is faithful and will give you strength, and will protect you from the Evil One.
• Revelation 21:5: He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Suffering Servant

The Old Testament book of Isaiah contains four remarkable passages concerned with a suffering servant.  The passages are:

1. Isaiah 42:1-9
2. Isaiah 49:1-7
3. Isaiah 50:4-9
4. Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

(For the sake of brevity, I have not written these passages out in full.  One can easily find them on the web.)

These passages prophecy the coming of a servant of God who has done nothing wrong, but is punished for the sins of others.  For example:

Isaiah 53:5-6:  He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities.  The chastisement for our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

The New Testament writers make it clear that Jesus was that suffering servant.  For example, all four quotations in the following passage come from those passages in Isaiah:

1 Peter 2: 21-25: Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.  “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”  When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”  For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Interestingly, this issue touches on three key Christian doctrines: that Jesus lived a sinless life, that all other human beings have sinned and deserve punishment, and that Jesus took on the punishment that we deserved (when He was tortured and crucified).

Many people, even some who call themselves Christians, oppose these three doctrines and spend a lot of energy and time trying to discredit them.  One cannot do that, however, without discarding large chunks of scripture.

Shepherd

The Old Testament contains many prophecies that God will raise up a "shepherd" to take care of His people.  The New Testament makes it clear that Jesus is this shepherd.

See, for example, the following verses:

• Matthew 2:6: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
• Matthew 9:36: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
• Matthew 25:32: All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
• Matthew 26:31: Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ "
• Mark 6:34: When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
• John 10:11: [Jesus said:] “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
• John 10:14: [Jesus said:] “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me".
• John 10:16: [Jesus said:] "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."
• Hebrews 13:20: Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep...
• 1 Peter 2:25: For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
• 1 Peter 5:4: And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
• Revelation 7:17: For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

What does it mean to say that Jesus is a shepherd?  It means that He guides, nurtures and protects us.  This only applies, however, if we submit to Him and trust Him, just as sheep tend to be docile and trusting.

King

Jesus is described in various places as being a king or like a king.  To be a king means to have majesty, power, authority and glory.  I believe however that the word also speaks of the noble, regal, dignified and magnanimous character of Jesus.

As usual, here are some verses:

• Jer 23:5 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land".
• Da 7:14: He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
• Zec 9:9: Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
• Mt 2:2: "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
• Mt 25:34: Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world".
• Jn 1:49: Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
• Jn 18:37 Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
• Rev 17:14: These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.