Frank Jamerson
In describing the One who had power to loose the seals and open the scroll, John said, “And 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” (Rev. 5:5).
Later in the same chapter, he is described as “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessings” (Rev. 5:12).
About seven hundred years before Christ came, Isaiah said, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him, he said “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). Peter said we are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19). John said that Jesus “washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Rev. 1:5). Paul said that when we are buried in baptism, we are “baptized into His death” and arise to walk a new life (Rom. 6:3,4).
In Jacob’s blessing of Judah, he said, “Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the lawgiver from between his feet…” (Gen. 49:9,10).
The first verse of the New Testament says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Mt. 1:1). Jesus was from the tribe of Judah (Heb. 7:14), as was David (Mt. 1:6). The last book in the New Testament presents Jesus as riding on a white horse, and “a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer” (Rev. 6:2). Later the rider on the white horse is described as, “Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war...and His name is called The Word of God” (Rev. 19:11,13).
The rule of Christ may be compared to a Lion or a Lamb. Both are figures of speech, but picture the dual roles of the Son of God. The book of Revelation describes heaven as a place where the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will be. “And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light” (Rev. 21:22,23). Only those who obey the Lamb will be permitted. “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Rev. 21:27). Is your name in the book?