THE LION AND THE LAMB

Many of us have often said, "time sure flies!" We are often so busy multitasking that we lose track of time. It is already almost a week into the month of March. The season and weather is beginning to change in many parts of the country. The weather in March can be quite variable. The old saying "If March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb" indicates that if the weather is ferocious at the beginning of the month, it will likely be gentle at the end of the month. The lion and the lamb are often seen as opposites, as in that saying.

The lion is usually thought of as powerful and destructive, something to be feared. The lamb is often understood to be meek or vulnerable. The lion is the king of the jungle, the hunter, while the lamb is the prey, the hunted. There is an oft misquoted Bible passage about the lion and the lamb lying down together after the second coming. Though it doesn't actually say that the lion lies down with the lamb, it still gives the picture desired. In the Bible verse, it is actually the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the goat, and the calf and lion and yearling are together, with a child leading them; the cow and bear eating together and their young lying together, and the child playing with the snake. The thought in the actual passage is the same as the misquote about the lion and the lamb, that there will be peace between what would be expected to be enemies:

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:6-9 NIV
This same thought is repeated again later in Isaiah, about the new heaven and the new earth:
The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD. Isaiah 65:25 NIV

This is such a peaceful scene. These supposed opposites living together, eating and sleeping and playing together, is hard to imagine in our world. What a serene picture of heaven given to us by the prophet. There is another place in the Bible where it refers to the lion and the lamb, but this time it is referring to them as one and the same. This seems contradictory. How can something be powerful and conquering while at the same time hunted and killed? Seems like an oxymoron. But that is the picture given to us in Revelation:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 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. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb... And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:1-10 NIV

Jesus is pictured as both the triumphant lion and the sacrificial lamb. He has conquered sin, death and the devil by laying down his life as a sacrifice for our sins, taking on the punishment we deserved, and giving us new life with him. What a wonderful day it will be when we join our Lord and Savior in heaven!
written by Jan Andersen, redeemed child of God