The Lion of Judah

In Revelation 5v5

5But 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.”

I was just thinking about the picture of the lion and it's cub which I posted on the BTLOG Facebook page yesterday.

For those of you who are familiar with CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, the character Aslan, the mighty lion, is the omnipotent King and Ruler of Narnia, who sacrifices himself for another but is resurrected and defeats the Witch.

CS Lewis depicted Aslan as a beautiful type of Christ.

I was just thinking how much the Lord Jesus gave up, His power and the glory He had in heaven.

The worship of the angelic hosts.

He made everything, including the people who would ultimately reject, humiliate, spit on Him and pluck the very hair from His face.

He created the tree which became the cross on which he hung naked for all to see.

Yet like Aslan, He had the power to just speak one word and He could have wiped out all His enemies.

We read that when He spoke the words "I am" (the word "he" was added by the translators but the Greek text says "I Am", the name that Jehovah told Moses to say had sent him in Exodus 3) to those that came to arrest Him in the Garden, that they fell backwards, such was the power of His word. John 18v6

Matthew 26v53 records that also in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said,

53“Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

12 legions would be anything from 72000 (a Roman legion was 6000 men strong) to 80,000 angels. Remember one angel slew 185000 Assyrians in one night. 2 Kings 19v35.

Jesus also reminded Pilate in John 19v11,

11¶“You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

But because of the great love with which he loved us, He humbled himself to become one of us and He suffered the humiliation and cruelty of the cross for me and you.

Did we deserve it - the simple answer, NO..NEVER!

We didn't deserve one drop of His precious blood being shed for us.

The mighty creator, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. There are no words to describe the majesty, glory and power that Jesus relinquished to become one of us, in order to die in our room and stead.

It's like the mighty lion allowing hyenas or maybe more accurately ants to kill it. A poor analogy but there are no words or analogy that says what I'm trying to say.

Hebrews 1v3&4 says

3who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

4having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

See also Colossians 1v15-19

God of very God. Yet Philippians 2v5-11 says

The Humbled and Exalted Christ

5¶Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

9Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,

10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,

11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

See also Hebrews 2v14-18

Jesus prayed in John 17v4&5

4“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.

5“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was".

He is now exalted to the highest place in heaven, seated at the Father's right hand, until His enemies become His footstool.

He is returning very soon not to be humiliated, spat upon, derided and rejected but to be glorified in His saints.

He is returning as the Mighty Lion to reign.

He will rule the nations with a rod of iron, smashing them in pieces like a potter's vessel and He will tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Psalm 2v9, Revelation 19v11-17, Isaiah 63v1-6.

Every scoffer and mocker, every atheist, every arrogant and proud person, like Stephen Fry who has spoken against God with such contempt or Richard Dawkins who denies God's very existence (if they do not repent), every evil world leader, everyone who has rebelled against Jesus and pledged allegiance to Satan and His evil progeny, the Antichrist, will cry to the rocks fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come and who will be able to stand. Revelation 6v15-17.

A day of reckoning is coming and we need to seek power from on High to see the souls of men and women saved and delivered from the wrath that is coming.

But let us reflect soberly and in genuine thankfulness, how much Jesus give up and laid aside, to redeem us and save our lives from destruction

Thank you Lord Jesus for laying aside your glory and humbling yourself and being obedient to the death of the cross.

There are no words that are sufficient.

Listen to this beautiful song from Don Francisco which captures it beautifully:

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh4aU3R1olE&feature=share