You may have heard of Jesus Christ being referred to as “the Lion and the Lamb.” Jesus is referred to as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” only one time, in Revelation 5:5. However, Jesus is referred to as “the Lamb” twenty-five times in the book of Revelation alone.
The attributes of Jesus Christ as the Lion and the Lamb help us learn more about His nature. His identity as the fierce, powerful Lion shows the intensity and power of His redeeming love. His identity as the meek, harmless Lamb shows the sacrificial love of Jesus who laid down His life for us. The strength of the Lion is that He is also the Lamb.
Now, you may be perplexed by this. You may think these are two different natures. The Lamb was a picture of meek sacrifice, but that is not how we typically view a lion. You may instead think of teeth, claws, and aggression. However, the Lion and the Lamb are the same man.
Throughout the Scriptures, the Lord is called many things: the Good Shepherd, the Messiah, the King of kings, Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, and more. The fact that Jesus is referred to as “the Lamb” twenty-five times in Revelation alone is in itself a revelation. God wants us to see Jesus this way. Jesus does not overcome by force but by sacrificial love.
Jesus Christ will come back with force and power, but His love is what will make Him so forceful and powerful. The power of the Lion is that He is a loving, sacrificial Lamb. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
Romans 12:21 also says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” The closer we come to abiding in and learning His love and adopting the nature of the Lamb, the more we walk in kingdom authority. It is the loving, sacrificial Lamb who sits on the throne in power. Real kingdom authority only comes by being joined in nature to the King through His sacrificial love.
If you behold the Lamb and learn about Him, you can become like Him. First, lambs are harmless. They do not have sharp claws and teeth like lions. Yet some believers have sharp tongues they use to bite and devour one another with malice, anger, and jealousy. Jesus, the Lamb of God, was not like that.
Matthew 10:16 says, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Are your words and attitudes harmless as doves, or are you trying to prove something by being hurtful or self-serving? Jesus’ Lamb nature speaks of His complete submission to the Father’s will, and we are called to follow in His footsteps.
We have confused our definitions of boldness and courage with traits related to our fleshly egos, but Jesus commanded us to “love one another, as I have loved you” (see John 13:34). When have you taken a backseat to those around you? When have you celebrated someone else’s blessing rather than being jealous of them?
Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Our lives become sweet-smelling aromas when we stop living like the world and start praying, giving, helping, and living sacrificially.
Ephesians 4:31-32 says, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Anyone can be kind to the kind, but when we become kind to the unkind, we become like Jesus.
Jesus’ call to every disciple is this: “Follow me.” Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (see Matthew 16:24). We must learn to abide in the sacrificial love and nature of the Lamb of God by laying down our own lives. When we do this, our victory is assured, as we wait for Jesus to return as both the Lion and the Lamb.
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Blessings,
Chris Reed | President & CEO
MorningStar Ministries
