By HUNTER GREENE

In my office at the church, there is a banner on one wall of a lion and a lamb lying together in a field. This is generally the image that most of us use when thinking about the peace and harmony of Heaven. However, the lion and lamb imagery has always been much more for me. Jesus is compared to both animals in the Bible. One unfamiliar with the Bible can easily get confused on how Christ is both a sacrificial lamb and the king of the jungle. It doesn’t make sense that Christ can be both passive and gentle while also being aggressive and powerful. But in my mind, this is exactly what makes Jesus so great. He can be everything we need Him to be.
Isaiah 53:2-7 reads, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
The “Lamb of God,” as John the Baptist called Jesus, has come to take away the sin of the world. We needed a savior, a messiah, and a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus came to do what we could not do ourselves. When sin entered the world, we received a debt that we could not pay. When Jesus entered the world, He paid the debt that He did not owe. Only a man could be the sacrifice, but only God was able to pay it for us. Jesus entered our suffering world to suffer with us. Jesus, our sacrificial lamb, willingly laid down His life to be slaughtered. He was slaughtered that salvation may be free to all people, but we must know that it came at a great cost.
Salvation is free, but it costs lives. It cost Jesus His, and it will cost you yours as well. Just as Jesus became a sacrificial lamb, we must also become a sacrificial lamb for others. The world, and I would even say many Christians, doesn’t understand that we are called to gentleness. The way of the world is power, oppression, and manipulation, but the way of Jesus is weakness, meekness, and sacrifice. It may never make sense to us, but in the Way of Jesus, we find power and victory.
In Revelation 5, John gives us some vivid imagery of a scene occurring before the throne of God. He writes, “And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed. Because Jesus came first as the lamb, He then rose as the lion with power and majesty. His promise to us is that if we will come to his throne as a lamb surrendering over our lives, our hopes, our dreams, our everything, He will raise us up as lions prevailing over the darkness of this world. When we feel weak and frail from cancer, financial burdens, anxiety, and depression, Jesus Christ will roar into our lives with power, healing, and hope. The Lamb of God has defeated death, Hell, and sin for us. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah will defeat your tribulations and trials. There is power in our weakness. It may not be the visible power of militaries and nations, but it is the power of Almighty God. Kings and kingdoms will pass away, but the King of Heaven is eternal. Because the Lamb of God is worthy, you are now worthy. Because the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed, you will prevail. Declare victory over your fears, your pain, and your enemy because Jesus is enough.
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, Hunter Greene)