The Lion And The LambInspirational Messages - Sermon preached at Houe Of Praise Home ChurchKuils RiverTitle: The Lion And The Lamb
The scripture reading from Isaiah 53 will form the backdrop of everything in this sermon. The event described here is the reason we have gathered here this morning. Isaiah 53 (New King James Version) Isaiah 53 1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But 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. 6 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. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. Lion and the Lamb sermon
Start The last few weeks the singing of the song with the words ‘The Lion and Lamb’ have registered in my Spirit and when I was asked to share this morning, the only thing I had was this stirring. We know that scripture is filled with references to the Lamb, but I was somewhat shocked to find that scripture only uses the term Lion from the tribe of Judah in one place. Let’s read from the book of Revelation chapter 5:1-5 1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read[a] the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”
Lion and the Lamb sermon
Now as I said this is the only reference we have to the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Now that name would have been new to John. It is the first time and only time that it is recorded as such. If that name had any familiarity for him, it would have come from Genesis 49:9-10. The context being Jacob’s last words to his sons. To his son Judah he says the following. Genesis 49:9-10 (New American Standard Bible) 9"Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?
10"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Lion and the Lamb sermon
The word Shiloh means, the one to whom it belongs. So we could read verse 10 the b part as … Until the one comes to whom it belongs. So we know that the passage was referring to the Messiah and specifically to His second coming when He will come to reign as King with the iron scepter. Well I can’t say what was in John’s mind, but I am sure that he would have been familiar with the passage. So hearing the name the Lion from the tribe of Judah would give Him hope. It would conjure images of strength, power, majesty, royalty, victory etc. So on hearing this Name for the first time he looks to see where is this Lion, this conquerer, this ruler, this One worthy enough to open the 7 seals and he looks up and … Maybe he was expecting to see something like Aslan the lion in that movie The Cronicles of Narnia. A King with a crown. Think of the image of the lion so often used in national emblems, sometimes with a crown, sometimes with a scepter.
Lion and the Lamb sermon
6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. So where’s this Lion? It turns out it’s the Lamb. There was no Lion only a Lamb. The Lion and the Lamb... So the Lion is a Lamb or is the Lamb a Lion? I know that Bible scholars mainly associate the “Lion character” of our Lord with His second coming and reign. Not many associate it with the cross. Yet look again at verse 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” The prevailing that is referred to here can only refer to the cross, because in the next verse we read … And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, THE LION IS INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE LAMB
Lion and the Lamb sermon
We are familiar with what the Lamb represents,
Let us see if we can we see glimpses of the Glory of the King or do our eyes still have the covering over them. Just as Israel was blind. Just as His disciples were blind. If you will allow me a bit of freedom in expression I suggest to you that the Messiah was a Lion in the disguise of a Lamb. In order for Jesus to be the Lamb he needed the character of the Lion:
Lion and the Lamb sermon
Let us look at some familiar events around the crucifixion and see if we can see traces of His glory, traces of the character of our future King. Courage In the garden of Getsemane He had requested that the cup should pass.
He took it from God and drank deep. He did not sip at it. He emptied the cup. Was He only displaying the meekness of a Lamb, the acceptance of the sentence – No I suggest to you that it took the courage of a Lion to accept the cup.
I see Single-mindedness Read Isaiah 50:4-7 … set my face like flint
Lion and the Lamb sermon
Once He had made his peace with God he displayed single-mindedness – Once He took the cup He was determined to go after the victory. He knew exactly what was going down. 11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Have you seen a lion go after its prey? No one wants to get between a lion and its prey. Can we not say that on the cross He went on the attack.
Colossians 2:13-15 (New International Version)
Lion and the Lamb sermon
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. I see a bit of Trojan horse setup here. According to Greek mythology when the Greeks could not conquer the city of Troy, they gave this massive wooden horse as a gift to the leaders of the City. But inside were hiding the best Greek warriors and once they were taken inside they were able to take the city. Don’t you. Satan thought He was dealing with a Lamb, but it turns out to be a Lion. I see Jesus the conqueror. I see a Lion. I see a master tactician here. I see a military strategist. I see a conquerer. Strength While he was enduring the beatings, the mockings, the nailing to the cross remember this thing.
Lion and the Lamb sermon
It was not only that He would be able to bear the suffering, but He had to endure it without sinning. Therein lies the challenge of the cross. If He had sinned the sacrifice was blemished. The sin offering would be rejected, because the Lamb was no longer innocent. He had to enter death perfectly sinless. When He was hanging there for 3 hours between the sixth and ninth hours, waiting for death to come, experiencing the abandonment of God. The separation from God. Holding on until death came. I see the strength of a Lion. I see a the Lion character protecting the innocence of the Lamb. Jesus says no one takes His life from Him, but He lays it down willingly. I think you see what I am driving at this morning. Go and read the full account of the Crucifixion and see if you can see more of the Lion.. Application
Lion and the Lamb sermon
God wants to save men though us. We are His instruments. But we are so busy defending our positions and possessions that we are of little value in the greater scheme of things. We say we are followers of the Lamb but are we really. We are so worried about what the world thinks. Jesus said that as he faced persecution so would we. That is not to say that we should go looking for persecution, just that it will come if we are truly following the Lamb. I want you to realize this morning that God want to build that same character into us. The character of the Lion. He wants to develop is us an understanding that yes we will seem weak to the world when we try and live according to His will. When He says turn the other cheek, if someone demands something – as iemand jou bokleed vra gee hom ook jou onderkleed, accept being wronged etc, but there is more to it. When we get to that point of obedience then we are ready to count for God. Then He can deploy us in the battle for His Kingdom. Now we are ready to achieve things that really count. We have learnt that the battle is spiritual and fleshy weapons are of no consequence. Jesus understood this principle clearly. Isaiah 53:11 we read the following:
Lion and the Lamb sermon
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. He had the knowledge. He understood the principle. I see a master strategist at work. I see a King in Battle. We often have the wrong idea that, that by submitting our wills we know that the world will say that is weakness. Now here is the strength that God is after … that we will stand up to that, not by fighting or arguing but by submitting. That is strength – knowing that you will be perceived to be weak by another party,but doing it anyway because you are following the Lamb. That is real strength. I don’t want to say too much more this morning. I don’t want to detract from Jesus this morning. I hope that through what was said you behold him in a new light this morning. You see something you have not seen before. If you are seeing Him more clearly this morning, then this message was successful. If we can see Him as He truly is we will be changed. Yes we are called to rule and reign with Him, but in the form of a Lamb. Balance
Lion and the Lamb sermon
While the Lion can be seen as a symbol of the enormous spiritual power of Jesus, we must remember that the power was released in the form of a Lamb. We should also remember that the character of the Lion was manifested in Christ to save man, not destroy Him. We can easily be lead astray by imaginations of power and influence etc. But that is not the way. We find an excellent example what I am trying to say inLuke 9:51-56. So we see here that whatever influence or power God will give us, it’s intention is always to save man. Not to become famous or to build our kingdom, but to save man. The entire Bible is about saving man. He gives us the strength to Love. Did you know Love required strength Worthy Is the Lamb
Lion and the Lamb sermon 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “ You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice: “ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
“ Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” 14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. Lion and the Lamb sermon
Let us approach the Table: We come to this table, fully recognizing, that the strength that God requires, we do not possess naturally. But Jesus has secured us. While the Holy Spirit revealed the inner strength of Jesus to us this morning let us acknowledge to Him that we do not measure up. But we are not discouraged this morning. For what we lack was supplied in the Cross. Lion and the Lamb sermon
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