JESUS CHRIST: THE LION OF JUDAH AND THE LAMB OF GOD
1). INTRODUCTION
The Lion of Judah is a particular motif seen in the Old Testament.
Lions are frequently symbols of leadership, as the lion is considered the king of the animals. In Genesis, long before the Israelite monarchy is established, Jacob blesses Judah on his deathbed, saying he is a ”lion’s whelp,” or cub. Because of this blessing, the tribe of Judah adopted the symbol of the lion to represent itself.
The blessing Jacob gives to Judah in Genesis 49 reflects this symbolism. Jacob explains the comfort that Judah will have, using the imagery of a lion stretching out and not being roused by others. He refers to the rulership that Judah will have, saying the ”scepter shall not depart” from him. Jacob finally completes this symbology with a depiction of what the lion, or Judah, looks like. His eyes are ”darker than wine” and his teeth are ”whiter than milk.” When you see pictures of lions, these colors are prominent. The lion is also wearing a purple robe that is soaked in the ”blood of grapes.” The color purple is symbolic of royalty, so Jacob’s use of this image further emphasizes the idea that Judah’s descendants will be kings.
Through the tribe of Judah, the lion symbol came to represent the blessing, majesty, and even divine protection of the Jews. It is not surprising, then, that the lion symbol continued to be used even after the destruction of Jerusalem, the capital of Judah’s nation, in 586 BCE. In 1949, a year after the establishment of the modern state of Israel, the lion became part of the emblem for the capital city of Jerusalem, recalling the city’s historical importance.
2). WE WERE BORN TO ADMIRE CHRIST
Muslims make a claim that we were all born Muslim. Muhammad made an even more ludicrous claim when he said: “All the earth is a mosque apart from the graveyards and bathrooms.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 317; Ibn Maajah, 745; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah, 606).
There is no truth in these claims of course. But there is a certain truth that we were born for something. The One we were born for is the very antithesis of Islam. The One we were born to love and admire, is none other than Jesus Christ. We were born to be the Father’s gift to the Son (John 17:6).
The human heart was made to stand in awe of ultimate excellence—you were made to admire Jesus Christ the Son of God—Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, King of kings, and Lord of lords—and if your heart is not much taken up with Him, then you don’t need to look any further to know the deepest source of your frustration and dissatisfaction with life. Without Jesus there are only tears (Revelation 5:4)
What makes Christ stand out as absolutely unique is this: beauty or excellence consists in the right proportion of diverse and paradoxical qualities. For example:
■ We admire him for His glory, but even more because His glory is mingled with humility ;
■ We admire Him for His transcendence, but even more because His transcendence is accompanied by condescension;
■ We admire Him for His uncompromising justice, but even more because it is tempered with mercy; we admire Him for His majesty, but even more because it is a majesty in meekness;
■ We admire Him because of His equality with God, but even more because as God’s equal and the perfect man, He nevertheless has a deep reverence for God;
■ We admire Him because of how worthy He was of all good, but even more because this was accompanied by an amazing patience to suffer evil;
■ We admire Him because of His sovereign dominion over the world, but even more because this dominion was clothed with a spirit of obedience and submission;
■ We love the way He stumped the proud scribes with His wisdom, and we love it even more because He could be simple enough to like children and spend time with them;and we admire Him because He could still the storm, but even more because He refused to use that power to strike the Samaritans with lightning and He refused to abuse it to prevent His arrest or get Himself down from the cross.
The list could go on and on. Muslims need to see that beauty and excellency in person is not a simple thing? It is not about a one dimensional uncompromising prideful boasting of strength. It is complex and multifaceted. It is a coming together in one person of the perfect balance and proportion of extremely diverse qualities. And that’s what makes Jesus Christ so unique, so irresistibly admirable and excellent. Nowhere else is this diversity better expressed than in the contrasts of His titles, the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah.
3). MAJESTY AND MEEKNESS PERSONIFIED: THE LAMB OF GOD AND THE LION OF JUDAH
“Here is My Servant whom I have chosen, My beloved in whom My soul delights; I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not argue or shout, and no one will hear His voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick, until He has led justice to victory. The nations will put their hope in His name.” (Matthew 12:18‭-‬21 HCSB) c.f. Isaiah 42:1-4
The Father’s very soul exults with joy over the servant-like meekness and compassion of his Son.
When a reed is bent and about to break, the Servant will tenderly hold it upright until it heals. When a wick is smoldering and has scarcely any heat left, the Servant will not pinch it off, but cup his hand around it and blow gently until it burns again.
Thus the Father cries, “Behold, my Servant in whom my soul delights!” The worth and beauty of the Son come not just from his majesty, nor just from his meekness, but from the way these mingle in perfect proportion.
When the angel cries out in Revelation 5:2, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” the answer comes back, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).
God loves the strength of the Lion of Judah. This is why he is worthy in God’s eyes to open the scrolls of history and unfold the last days.
But the picture is not complete. How did the Lion conquer? The next verse describes his appearance: “And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Jesus is worthy of the Father’s delight not only as the Lion of Judah, but also as the slain Lamb.
This is the peculiar glory of Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son — the stunning mingling of majesty and meekness. It’s what Muslims fail to recognise. Strength in weakness is a peculiarly unique, and paradoxical manifestation of God’s glory and a preferred way He uses to glorify Himself. The Jews mocking Jesus at the crucifixion failed to recognise it too, just as Muslims today fail to and fall into the same trap:
“Those who passed by were yelling insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “The One who would demolish the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross! ” In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked Him and said, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He has put His trust in God; let God rescue Him now — if He wants Him! For He said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ” In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with Him kept taunting Him.” (Matthew 27:39‭-‬44 HCSB)
4) SUMMARY
□ Question: “Who/what is the Lion of the tribe of Judah?”
Answer: The Lion of the tribe of Judah is a symbol found in Genesis and Revelation. In Genesis, Jacob blesses his son Judah, referring to him and his future tribe as a lion’s cub and a lion (Genesis 49:9). In Revelation, this symbol is seen again when the Lion of the tribe of Judah is declared to have triumphed and is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals (Revelation 5:5). Jesus is the One who is worthy to open the scroll (see John 5:22). Therefore, Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
In Genesis, as Jacob blesses his children, he promises Judah that his brothers will praise him and that they will bow down to him. Jacob also tells Judah, “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?” (Genesis 49:9). Jacob says that in the future the scepter and ruler’s staff will not depart from Judah “until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be His” (Genesis 49:10). This messianic prophecy points forward to the second coming of the Lord Jesus, the descendant of Judah who will rule the earth (Revelation 19:11–16).
Based on Jacob’s blessing, the lion is a symbol of the tribe of Judah, which is known as the kingly tribe (King David was of the tribe of Judah). Lions symbolize power, fierceness, and majesty. Lions are the king of the beasts, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah is the king of everything. In the Old Testament, God is sometimes described as being like a lion. In Isaiah 31:4, just “as a lion growls, a great lion over its prey—and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it, it is not frightened by their shouts . . . so the LORD Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.” The Lord is not afraid of His enemies. He protects His people and does not allow them to be conquered. In Hosea, God is angry at Israel because they became proud and forgot Him. God says, “I will be like a lion to them. . . . like a lion I will devour them. . . . You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your helper” (Hosea 13:7–8). It is better to experience the help and protection of the Lion than to deny His kingship and face His fierceness.
In Revelation 5, Jesus is the long-awaited Lion of the tribe of Judah. John weeps because no one was found worthy to open the scroll of God’s judgment or even to look inside it. Then one of the elders says to John, “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” (Revelation 5:4–5). Both of the genealogies in Matthew and Luke record that Jesus is a descendant of the tribe of Judah. When Jesus is revealed as the promised Lion of the tribe of Judah, it reveals His deity. He is the true king and the One to whom belongs the long-awaited obedience of nations. Yet it is not His fierceness or the force of His power that makes Him worthy. The Lion has triumphed because He became a Lamb (Revelation 5:6–10; cf. John 1:29). Jesus Christ is worthy because He lived a perfect, sinless life and in shedding His blood defeated sin and death. His death and resurrection have resulted in a protection for His people and an eternal kingdom that will honor and worship God. Ruling this kingdom will be Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.