Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah.
Really? Roaring lion? Who is the witch and which wardrobe then? What / where / who is Judah?
Here is where the Old Testament and all that history are relevant. Judah is one of the tribes of Israel, and it is symbolised by lion, as they are regarded as the tribe of the Kings. In those days, a king is a fighter. He wins wars, he gains lands. Genesis 49:8-9 says about the Lion of Judah conquering the enemy.
If our God is the Lion, that means he is a fighter? If you read the Old Testament, you soon realise God’s chosen people did not always win the wars. But when people turned to God and worship him only – that means, in those days, follow God’s instructions to the letter – he will be with them to accomplish what they want to do to fulfil his will.
But life was not just about wars. And all manners of life, personal and social relationship, God had a word (or two) about how his people ought to conduct themselves. The better they conduct their lives, they better their wellbeing becomes, the better they worship God, the better God is pleased.
Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain.
The metaphor of a sacrificial lamb, referring to Jesus, is clear in the New Testament. Romans 8 probably is a good start – you can read it now, take note of the first few verses. Jesus became a sacrifice for our sins.
Lion, and Lamb. Ya, that makes sense.
More than that though. The idea of a lamb, as sacrifice for our sins, is already a theme in the Old Testament. Leviticus 4:35 says that through sacrifices, the people’s sin will be purified (in those days, the priest played a key role), so that they are acceptable to God.
While God’s people were slaves in Egypt, Exodus 12 records that they were to use blood from lambs without defects (as healthy as they can be), and put it on the doorposts of their dwelling. You must know the rest of the story – God was about to bring the final plague to Egypt where all firstborn males will be killed.
There is a side note here as in why God did what he did in the first plague, the text in the Bible makes it clear God’s active involvement or even direction. To solve the problem (apply management thinking), God should have reset the world and made that problem go away. The bad one no more, the good one thrives. But what is more intriguing is that Moses and Aaron, and Pharoah and his committees, went along as nature and calamities unfold – as in time comes and events happen. I think how the olden day people recalled great events has a lot to do with how this kind of stories, as recorded in the Old Testament, is written down and passed on to us today. It is probably correct that God was the instigator for the plague, but equally you can say Pharoah was pharoah with some magic but not much. Moses and Aaron were followers of God, their own ideas, if any, played little part in the unfolding events. But where God said, they did.
That’s the side note.
The blood of the lambs on doorpost did save God’s chosen people. None of the people complained. The instruction was followed. The plan worked. I think the fact that we ‘have’ is cause for great celebration.
How please God’s people were we probably would never know, because the cries and angers from the Egyptians were so groundshaking that the real exodus began. It will be some time, when all of the people with Moses and Aaron realised freedom. Freedom. They would have made one and one equal two. They are alive (and free). They would recall the death of the Egyptian firstborn. The plague did not affect Moses and his people, because of the blood of the lamb.
In fact, way back in Genesis 22, in the account of Abraham, his son Isaac and the sheep (and some thick, tangled up bushes), the idea of sacrificial substitute was already understood. That might well be an early account of sacrificial substitute, the theory, the principle, and the meaning.
This kind of thing would be in the mind and soul of God’s people for centuries, awaiting for one who is the Lamb of God who will provide a much better world for those who love him. When Jesus appeared to John, well, you need to read John chapter 1. Jesus was already in the vicinity of John for probably a few days before he approached John for baptism. The point is that John made all the ‘connections’. In his account in the gospel, you can read that he declared Jesus and Lamb of God, and a few verses after, he was described as the Messiah.
Minutes. Ponder on above. Hours.
The truth is so great. Pondering restricts it to how far our mind can take. God makes sense to us in the way the idea of sacrificial substitute becomes clear to us. It’s there in the Bible. But God is much more than that contained in the created time and place. We can’t fully comprehend such beauty and power. Like Moses and Aaron, we obey. Like John, we behold truth and recognise it.
For a feel of the energy of such an idea – Lion and Lamb, why not listen to / watch / sing / play Lion and the Lamb by Brenton Brown.
