Lion & Lamb (Revelation 5:5-6)

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Good morning. I’m gonna go ahead. Grab your Bibles. You can open up to Revelation chapter five. Revelation chapter five, we’ll look at the first few verses there as we begin our new series – Advent series –  an Unexpected King, and we are celebrating the coming of our King, this King of glory, infinite riches of glory are his and yet he is born in a manger. And now that odd juxtaposition kind of hints at the theme of our series that we’ll be unpacking for the next few weeks. We live in an age of extremes, I don’t think I need to convince anyone of that we are in a deeply polarized society. And so kind of our unofficial motto is no compromise. No quarter when it comes to these sorts of culture clashes that we have, you know, you got to pick a team, right? Are you Team Black Lives Matter? Or are you Team Blue Lives Matter? We got to know which one you are; make sure you put your sign in your front yard. If there is an unplanned pregnancy, do we care for the mom? Or do we care for the life of the baby? Are you allowed to play Christmas music before Thanksgiving? And the answer is no. Okay, no, it’s a mortal sin. I’m sorry. Okay. I know some of you came here looking for a salve for your conscience, but I’m not giving it to you. All right, you shouldn’t do it. But no, most of these are, of course, a false dichotomy. I mean, that’s the whole problem, right? I mean, should we care about Black Lives? Or should we care about the lives of our law enforcement? Yes. I don’t understand the question. You know, should we support a mother who’s going through an unplanned pregnancy? Or should we work to preserve the life of the baby in that employment? Yes, yes, of course, both. So it’s this strange paradox where so often, what we need is both extremes simultaneously. 100%. Like, I think sometimes we might. Either you got to pick one or the other, or let’s moderate it. Like we’re gonna be 50% Pro this and 50%. Pro that No, we got to be 100%. Both. There’s actually one reason that I’m convinced that Christianity is true. One of many reasons, I’m convinced Christianity is true, but because it rejects false dichotomies time and time again, and insists on something richer than both. I’m actually wary of Christians who are on the extremes, because almost every heresy in the history of the church comes down to somebody going, well, it’s gotta be one of the other. So let’s pick this one. When you go, no, no, no, it is both at the same time. Should we be about love or justice? Yes, right? Both what matters? The body or the spirit? Both, right, because we have a physical resurrection that is coming or look at the mysteries at the core of Christianity like the Trinity is God one, or is God three? Well, he’s three individual persons forming a cohesive unity, three in one, a tri unity Trinity. And this has all sorts of implications for us. I mean, just think about that, that Trinity idea right there, like how that cuts against both traditional and modern societies and points us in a better direction. In traditional societies, the needs and desires of an individual are subsumed under the needs of the tribe or clan, or family. I know you want to be an artist, but you got to be a doctor or lawyer. Sorry, you just got to do it. Or in a modern society, of course, it’s the needs of the individual. Doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks there’s no sense of duty or anything like that. You just You gotta you do you write expressive individualism, all that. And now Christianity goes, no, no, the individual matters, and the community matters both at the same time. 100%. Well, then we come to the person of Jesus, which is our focus today, of course, and those impossible extremes are wedded in the unlikeliest ways there is in Jesus Christ what Jonathan Edwards calls an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies I deeply regret that we don’t talk like this anymore. And admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies right there, these extreme excellencies that somehow come together in Jesus Christ, you wouldn’t expect the combination to work and it’s so wonderful when you see it, to do what Jesus needed to do. He had to be who he is, like Jesus couldn’t just be loving, or just be just. He had to be 100%, loving 100%.  Just at the same time. And that’s kind of our main idea, really, for the series as a whole. I’m going to introduce in the series today, although we’ll look at a specific point, but to have any hope of salvation, we need an unexpected King. have any hope of salvation, we need an unexpected King and we’re going to flesh this out as we go throughout the series, as I said, but the unexpectedness is in that mirror Marriage of opposites, we’re going to see it so clearly in our first passage this morning. So what I’m gonna do is I’m going to read it and actually give it some context and read more than the couple of verses we’re looking at. Give it some context. And then we’re going to draw out those diverse excellencies and celebrate them together. So let me read Revelation, chapter five. I’m gonna read verses one to seven, even though we’re going to drill down in verses five and six. Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a scroll with writing on both sides, and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. But no one in heaven or on earth, or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept, because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside, then one of the elders said to me, 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, then I saw a Lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, and circled by the four living creatures, and the elders, the lamb, and seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth, he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne, and kind of goes from there. So what exactly is happening here? Again, let’s get some context. We are looking really at the beginning of the end, here, we’re looking at the end of time, which is going to begin with the opening of this scroll. Because what exactly is this scroll? Good question, right? So you’ll notice it’s got writing on both sides. This is highly unusual. In this time, scrolls are almost always written on just one side, I could explain to you why but you’re not interested. So we’re not going to talk about it. Okay. But there is one type of scroll that actually did have writing on both sides. It’s called an epistle graph, which means both sides graph basically, so that there you go, and what was it would be something like a contract or a deed. So they would, they would write the contract on the one side, seal the scroll with the seven seals, and then on the back, they’d write the details. So you’d know which scroll you were looking at, okay, I need, you know, the merger of these two companies, or here’s a divorce certificate or something like that. Those are the kinds of things that were written on both sides. But what contract would we be talking about here in Revelation? Well, based on what happens in Revelation, as well as the use of a scroll in apocalyptic writings, generally, we got a whole bunch of apocalyptic literature from this time period, like the 50 years before and after Christ, because messianic expectation had reached a fever pitch, right? So based on how scrolls get used in apocalyptic, and what we see in Revelation, what’s written on the scroll was not a contract, but God’s plan of redemption. This is how history is going to end. And in fact, unrolling the scroll is what gets it going. The closest illustration I can think of as Mission Impossible, right, where he, he opens the woudl device, or whatever, at the time, and it says, Here’s your mission, if you choose to accept it. And so it’s the opening of that, that sets this all in motion. And if the person doesn’t accept, it doesn’t click on that device, you know, Tom Cruise or whatever, then the mission doesn’t happen. That’s why John’s in such despair, when no one is worthy to open the scroll. Because, well, the mission goes unfulfilled. History doesn’t come to its culmination, there’s no salvation, God’s plan of redemption will not unfold. But then the angel comforts John, there is one worthy, and he’s an unexpected King, because he is both lion and lamb. And the two don’t belong together. Like lions and lambs are not friends, at least not for long, because one of them will be eaten quickly. Yet, here they are. And so what we want to explore this morning is why does Jesus need to be both lion and lamb? So starting in verse five, why do we need an ally and we need a lion to conquer sin? So here’s verse five again, and one of the elders said to me, 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 it’s seven seals. So there’s heavenly being one of the elders around the throne points to the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, he’s the one who’s triumph so he’s the one who is worthy to open the scroll. Now these are two of the great Christological titles in revelation to the great titles for Christ in Revelation. Each one is taken from the Old Testament. The lion comes from the passage that the beer guys were kind enough to read for us earlier. Genesis 49, nine and 10.
Here it is for you. You are a Lions cub, Judah. You returned from the press A my son like a lion he crouches and lies down like a lioness who dares to rouse him. The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the rulers, staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come in the obedience of the nations shall be his. This comes in the context of Jacob’s blessing on his sons. And this is his blessing on Judah, which is a little bit odd, by the way, because who’s kind of chief of the sons at this point? Not Judah, Joseph is, and yet Judah is the one who’s going to be the line of kings. Apparently, he’s going to be in fact, rule over all nations, ultimately. And that will come through military victory. Brian, read that for us. In verse eight, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. So you will have triumphed. In other words, this lion, he goes out, he fights and he wins. And then he comes back, and he lies down like he’s earned his rest. That’s why nobody’s going to rouse him at that point. So this is a title that celebrates Messiah’s victory over his enemies. And that makes perfect sense when you think about what a lion is. So lion is the animal most frequently mentioned in the Old Testament at about 150 times. And it is in the Old Testament frequently, a symbol of strength and majesty. not unique to the Bible, right? That’s just kind of how we think of lions. That’s why there are lions in all sorts of places. But you see this in the Old Testament for sure. David’s throne, for example, his son Solomon constructs, it sits on David’s throne, it has 12 lions on the steps leading up to it. It’s a little unclear if they’re all carved out of ivory or if some of them were actually lions that they just like had their which would be a little bit imposing, of course, because David was the lion of the tribe of Judah, he was the king in Judah’s line, that’s his family. But of course, he’s a foreshadowing the true lion of the tribe of Judah who had come Jesus. So that’s one way the lions used another way the lions used the Old Testament is when prophets speak of God, as a divine warrior. They use the image of a lion. You can see this in Isaiah and Jeremiah or here in Hosea, chapter five, verse 14, Jose says, For I will be like, This is God’s speaking for I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah, I will tear them to pieces and go away, I will carry them off with no one to rescue them. So we don’t always like these images. I don’t always like the idea of God as a divine warrior, especially if he’s against us. We prefer our kindly grandfatherly sort of God. But at the same time we do all long for justice, also. And that’s the context of Hosea five, why is the Lord going against Judah at this point, because they are exploiting the poor of the nation. And so God is against them. This is good, right? We need a king to set things right to overcome the evil in the world, I guess is what we’re longing for. Like, why do we watch so many movies about superheroes and super spies? Because we want to know that somebody is going to win, like the right person is going to win Indiana Jones or James Bond or Loki or Ahsoka, I don’t care who it is, I just need to know the person who’s got all the power is going to do it and do it. Right. We want to know that Justice comes in the end, so that there’ll be no more trafficking, slavery, terrorism, whatever it might be. We need a lion. By the way, as long as we’re talking about the Bible here, who else is compared to a lion in the Bible? Satan? Makes sense because lions are of course, deadly carnivores. We were watching a nature show recently and a lion ate a baby zebra and it’s deeply traumatic, isn’t it? Right? So you know, it depends on which animals the hero of that particular episode, right if the lion is on the brink of starvation, you’re like, good eat the zebra. And if it’s about the baby zebra, which this one was about, it’s horrible. And yet there you have it, but this is kind of like Satan right just is looking for baby zebras to eat. He is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Peter says in First Peter Five, Verse eight, Satan has got all the menace but none of the majesty of Jesus. But if Satan is like a roaring lion, who do you want fighting a roaring lion? Not a baby zebra. Not even a lamb. I might add. We want a lion, right? Who can defeat our enemy? We need a lion. We need somebody who’s got that power and strength. We need a lion to conquer sin. We need a lion to defeat our enemies Satan and death and the sin that still resides within us. The elder also calls this lion The route of David, that’s taken from Isaiah chapter 11. Verse 10, was our Advent series last year we looked at all these passages in Isaiah. Definitely unexpected, though, because he’s the Root of David in chapter 10. He’s the shoot of David in verse one. And so he’s both of them right there in chapter 11. So we’ll talk more about that Christmas Eve. But the Root of David is a conquering king, in Isaiah 11, verse 10, he’s lifted like a banner for the nations. It says, just a few verses later, Isaiah 1112, it says Judas enemies will be destroyed. Or a little bit earlier in verse four, it says this with righteousness, He will judge the needy, with justice, he will give decisions for the poor of the earth, He will strike the earth with the route of his mouth, with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked, so very similar imagery to the lion, right? Because this is the king, we need a king who brings justice, who judges rightly who defeats evil and wickedness. We need to eLion to conquer sin, to have to have any hope of salvation. You know, we need it. We need a lion like King.
Alright, so there’s the king, part of unexpected King. What about the unexpected part? Well, that’s what comes next, in verse six, we need to lie to Congress and we need a lamb to cover sin, need a lamb to cover sin. You’re talking about unexpected, though, because look what happens next. So, you know, Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, verse six, then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders, the lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth, he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. So the elder says, John, look, look, see the lion of the tribe of Judah. And John looks, and he says, I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain. Now we know this is the same person, because the lamb goes and takes the scroll, and only the lion was worthy to take the scroll. This is like the greatest mixed metaphor in the history of the world. Like, where is it coming from a lot to unpack. And it’s a lot of Old Testament to unpack, again, a lot of Old Testament references. We think of a lamb. In Old Testament terms. Of course, your mind should go to the Passover. Immediately, the lamb was slain the Passover lamb was slain. Back in Egypt, the the blood of the lamb was put on the doorpost of all the houses of the believers so that the Angel of Death there’s the divine warrior, right, who’s coming to make things right to the Angel of Death would pass over Israel. So there’s the sacrificial lamb. This image really climaxes in Isaiah 53 Verse seven, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. It says there the suffering servant of God, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And that’s what the word slain means here doesn’t mean murdered, it means slaughtered, like in a sacrifice. So the lion is the Lamb slaughtered in the place of his people. Earlier in Isaiah 53, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on em. and by his wounds, we are healed. We need a lamb to cover our sin, or else we’ll be conquered and defeated to as the lions marching out to destroy, like, here’s that justice in love at the extremes. God works perfect justice in punishing our sins and yet perfect mercy, and making a way for us not to be punished as our sins are being punished. My professor Grant Osborne put it this way, in his commentary on Revelation. Here we see how the victory was actually achieved not by sword, but by sacrifice. Christ was indeed the conqueror, but his victory was one, the cross victory in defeat is unexpected, to say the least. And yet we know it’s the only way that God could save us. This is why John the Baptist, early on and Jesus’s ministry really as his ministry is beginning says to His disciples, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, because that’s exactly what he does in his death, and resurrection. The resurrection is key, though, for a lamb to triumph. He had to defeat death. He actually had to rise from the grave and we we see it here. I mean, the lamb was alive. That’s a good sign, of course, but it’s pointed out in other weighs two, it is a lamb looking like it had been slain. And the reason why it’s phrased oddly looking as if it had been slain just because it’s alive, so how could it have been slain? But it’s not just a lamb but a ram. We know it’s a ram because it’s got horns and rams have horns. It’s actually got seven horns and seven eyes and now you go, right because this is Revelation. So everything’s weird. Okay. All right. How’s it weird? By the way, when it’s weird and revelation, you got to know two things. First of all, there’s a good set of apocalyptic imagery, don’t guess, okay, you can figure it out. Second of all, it’s all about the Old Testament, which is why we keep quoting the Old Testament. So you’re gonna try and read Revelation and not going to look at the Old Testament references. Just don’t read Revelation, okay? It’s not going to help you out. You’re gonna get really confused. Alright, but so here we have it. What’s going on here, this Ram has got seven horns seven eyes, the horn is a symbol of power. symbol of power shows up all the time. In the Psalms, for example, it’s talked a lot about David as king. So here’s just, as an example, Psalm 132, verse 17, speaking of Zion of Jerusalem, here, I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for My Anointed One. So basically going to establish this as a fortress for my people. No horned RAM actually becomes an image of the Messiah in the apocalyptic writings of this time, ones that are not in the Bible, things like the testament of Joseph, or first Enoch, the horned RAM is an image of the Messiah will hear that it’s seven horns, and seven is the number for perfection. So what do we have here? We sing it last week, this lamb is perfect in power. The slain lamb becomes a conquering RAM he triumphs in his death. He’s also got seven eyes, eyes are as you would expect a symbol of knowledge of discernment, and really, therefore judgment as well be able to judge rightly because he knows all He sees everything. Why are they going throughout the earth sent out into all the earth, that’s just a direct quote about from Zechariah four, verse 10, which says, the seven eyes of the Lord that ranged throughout the earth, so there it is, right. So seven eyes, perfect vision, and perfect vision of everything, because it’s ranging throughout the earth. So this mean, the slain lamb is omnipotent. Because he got seven horns, and he’s omniscient, because he’s got seven eyes. omnipotent and omniscient is interesting, because of course, those are words that we ascribe to God, and God alone. And that explains the most shocking part of this episode. Even more so than the fact that the lion is the lamb. It’s that the lamb is standing at the center of the throne. Well, that’s where God should be. In fact, look what happens next, I’m gonna read the rest of the chapter for us here. So picking up in verse eight. And when he had taken it, taking the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people, and they sing a new song saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open it seals because you were slain, and with your blood you purchase for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation, you have made them to be a kingdom, and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. That I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering 1000s upon 1000s, and 10,000 times 10,000 They encircled the throne, the living creatures and the elders and a loud voice, they were saying Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth, and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth, and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying to him, who sits on the throne, and to the land be praise and honor and glory and power forever. And ever. The four living creatures said, Amen. The elders fell down and worshipped. This is absolutely shocking, especially given the father’s silent approval, he doesn’t interrupt this praise that’s happening. He doesn’t object despite what we read all throughout the Bible. Here’s Isaiah 42, verse eight, for example, I am the Lord and that is my name, I will not yield my glory to another. And here he yields willingly to Jesus. So it couldn’t be any clearer. This Lamb standing at the center of the throne is in the words of the Creed, very God of very God, Light from Light God from God of the same essence as the Father. He is God Himself. And for reasons that we’ll see the last week of the series, of course, he had to be God. He had to be man to that’s another one of those paradoxes to have any hope of salvation. We need an unexpected cake. And we need a lion to conquer sin. We need a lamb to cover sin. As lion he’s victorious as well. lamb he’s vicarious, as a lion. We could almost say he overcomes us whereas as lamb he overcomes God. In that as lion he overcomes our sin but as lamb he overcomes the wrath we deserve. This is truly an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies these wondrous paradoxes working for us such a wondrous Sal Vation Jesus is the Lion of Judah, He is God Himself infinitely great high. Above all this is the King of kings and Lord of lords. To Him belongs all honor and glory and praise whereas worms before him the prophets tell us all the nation’s like a drop in the bucket or like dust on the scales and yet Jesus is the slaughtered lamb, and so Infinite is is condescension that he closed himself in dust. He didn’t consider equality with God something to be grass, something to cling do something to us to his own advantage, but made Himself nothing he was born in humble poverty.
The King of Kings was born as a lowly subject to King Herod. Could any human mind ever conceive so great glory as this? Has there ever been a savior like him? He possessed the infinite riches and glory of heaven. He had he dwelt among us in obscure poverty, the son of man had no place to lay his head. He possesses infinite power so that storms stop at his word, and yet he possesses infinite meekness so that he stops at a lepers word. He’s so holy injustice, the demons swept before him, so gracious and loving that sceners flocked before him. Could any human mind ever conceive so great glory as this? Was there ever a savior like him? Here’s the way Gregory the Theologian put it centuries ago. He prays that he hears prayer, He weeps tears yet makes tears cease. As man he asks where Lazarus was laid as God he raises Lazarus, he is sold very cheaply to for a mere 30 bits of silver, yet he buys the world’s freedom at boundless costs for the price was his blood. As a sheep he’s led to the slaughter yet he himself is now shepherd of the whole earth. As a lamb he is silent get He is the Word preached by the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He is bruised and wounded, that he heals every illness and infirmity. He is lifted up pierced with nails to the tree, yet by that tree of life, he brings us back to paradise. They gave him vinegar mixed with gall to trink. To whom did they give it to him who turned water into wine? He dies that gives life and by his death, he destroys death He is buried, but bursts forth again, could any human mind ever conceive so great glory as this? Was there ever any Savior like him? To have any hope of salvation? We need an unexpected King and praise God, we have one. So what do we do with all this? How should we respond? There’s no need to guess the text tells us plainly, we join with the angels, we join with the angels. The lamb slain is the conquering lion and he is worthy of all honor and glory and praise. None of us is worthy. So that too, right? We don’t get to open the school, we don’t even get to look inside the scroll. In fact, we’re not even worthy to stand in God’s presence as we are in our cells. Yet, in a series of blessing paradoxes, God sends His Son to defeat our sin without destroying us. The only proper response is what we see here to fall down in worship before him. I will add one specific bit about how we can do this good for individuals but good, by the way, for families as well, like parents with kids. I think one thing we can do to increase our worship is to broaden our language and the images that we use in prayer. A lot of us fall into a rut of kind of beginning every prayer the same way. Maybe it’s Dear God, or father or Lord, and look, he is God and Father and Lord, but he’s also the lion of the tribe of Judah, and the Lamb who was slain. He’s the Holy One of Israel. He’s also the friend of sinners, we could think about who it is we’re praying to, and which facet of his infinite glory is worthy of remembrance in that moment, and for that need. Of course, one way that we declare Christ worthy is as Paul tells us, in Philippians, one to live lives worthy of the gospel of Christ Jesus. We live worthy lives when we live Christ like lives and we become more like Him and one way we do that is by exemplifying extremes in harmony. We keep going back to the love and justice one, right? Like, you know, you have this debate sometimes right? Should we be loving or truthful? Both right. And again, not 5050 but 100 and 100. At the same time, always lovingly truthful and truthfully loving. As God makes us more and more like Christ, we will become a little lion lambs ourselves powerful, and gentle at once majestic and meek. So, for example, we might display zealous strength in defending the truth, but a loving gentleness and seeking to win the deceiver, who, as we know, is the deceived. Which means as individuals, we need to watch our Lean, you know, we’re like on a balance beam with these extremes. And we all got a tendency to, we’re gonna fall off one side or the, the other. We got to watch our lean in all sorts of areas. I’ll give you an example. Some months ago, I wrote an article for the gospel coalition called the bottom this option manifests as one of the greatest stories in church history for sure, because he’s trying to convert the Saxons who worship Thor, and all those, you know, pantheon of gods. And so they’ve got this sacred tree, Thor’s oak, and benefis takes an axe to it. And the Saxons are like waiting for him to be struck by lightning because you know, Thor. That’s what he does, right? All that kind of stuff, and nothing happens. So Bonavista is interesting, though, because I think he embodies the extremes here. Like you want some truth, the man took an axe to their beloved idol. But you want some love? He didn’t take an axe to them. Right? He was not trying to attack the Saxons. He was loving the Saxons by exposing the powerlessness of the idols they were worshipping. Not everyone liked my article, which is fine. Jake’s laughing because he read some of the comments on Twitter they did not like this article, some of the people why because there’s a group of people in American Christianity who love a muscular Christianity. And so the picking up the axe and going after our cultural enemies is what we do. They’re fallen off the balance beam. Of course, then there are others of us who would never pick up an axe ever. I don’t wanna get into conflict like I’m gonna have the whole town watching me as I take down this tree not a chance we’ll fall off the other side, we need to watch our lien. Like Jesus we conquer, not with sword but with sacrifice. Just like our Savior, important reminder for us in our culture wars today. But so if as individuals, we need to watch our lien, can I say that as a congregation? We need to watch our lien as well. Congregations develop cultures? Absolutely. You know, do we want to be a church that’s known for our doctrine or our spirit? You know, are we going to settle for a lifeless orthodoxy or for a lively heterodoxy? That’s like the worst possible game of would you rather? You played? Would you rather you know, it’s like, you want to eat chicken eyes or chicken beaks? And you’re like, No, no, okay, I quit. I quit the game. I’m sorry, I will not answer I’m going vegan. And that’s the same thing, right? If you’re gonna make me choose between doctrine, or spirit life, I quit. We’re not we’re gonna we’re gonna go for both. Of course, we need to watch our lien as a congregation. This is one of the reasons why I love that God has called us to have a plurality of elders, a group of leaders, because none of us embodies this balance perfectly yet. And so you know, we need leadership leading the Congress and that’s got some people kind of like, well, I would lean lamb and I would lean lion and hopefully then because we’re both on the the elder board together, we’re going to actually stay on the balance beam. The mere fact that we have to watch our liens reminds us that only one is perfect. He was a perfect lion 100% And a perfect lamb 100%. As lion he conquers our sin as lamb. He covers our sin as both He is worthy of all our worship, to have any hope of salvation. We need an unexpected king, and his name is Jesus. And he came for you and me. Let’s pray to him now.
Lion and Lamb standing at the center of the throne the one who conquers our sin, the one who covers our sin. We join with the angels even now and bow before Are you submitting ourselves so joyfully and so gladly to your reign and rule because we see what kind of king you are. You could have wiped us out. We were rebels against your throne. And yet instead you redeemed us. You made a way for us to be reconciled to you. You are the lion who defeats sin, but you are the Lamb who redeems us from sin. And so we worship you. That’s, Kyle spoke earlier. We prepare room in our hearts for you. Submitting to your rule. Because we know that you are worthy because we know that you are just and loving. We want to be in surrender to you. That is where our greatest joy and hope and peace is found. draw us into your praise even now we pray for Christ’s sake, Amen.