November's Theme: Trusting in God’s Promises -Philippians 4:19

The Lamb Nature

When John the Baptist announced that Jesus was the “Lamb of God,” I wonder if he realized the full significance of the statement. John was pointing to the perfect Lamb who would be sacrificed on Calvary. Though God had revealed to John earlier that the man upon whom he saw the Spirit descending and remaining would be the Son of God, John probably did a double take when he saw the Spirit upon Jesus, his own cousin.

The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Lamb who was “…slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). God had the sacrifice of Jesus already settled in His mind before Jesus was ever born in Bethlehem. God knew that Adam and Eve would sin and that He would need to provide a Lamb for mankind’s redemption.

Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, the only Lamb whose death was final and acceptable to God as an atonement for the sins of man. He came to die and was raised from the dead to remove your sins, and when He did, He gave you a brand-new nature that doesn’t want to sin. John alluded to this new nature when he said that Jesus would take away the sins of the world. John didn’t live long enough to see what the Lamb of God would do in order to take away man’s sin, but by calling Him the Lamb of God, he indicated Jesus’s role in your salvation. Jesus is your savior, the Lamb of God. And now “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12).

The Lion Nature

But just being the Lamb of God wasn’t enough for a God who loves you so much that He sent His own son to die for you. The Bible also tells us that Jesus is the Lion of Judah because you need the nature of both a lamb and a lion.

The lion nature of Christ was represented in several ways in the Old Testament. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah—the largest tribe (Numbers 1:20-46). Whenever the Israelites moved in the wilderness, Judah led the way and, if necessary, led the fight as well. That’s because Judah represented the lion nature of Jesus.

Israel was also represented as a lion. When Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam instead prophesied blessings upon Israel, which he called a lion (Numbers 23:24). In addition, Jerusalem was called “Ariel” in Isaiah 29:1. The word Ariel means “lion of God.”

As a Lamb, Jesus died to free you from the bondage of sin. As a Lion, all power in heaven and earth is given to Him. Jesus alone can give you the power to walk in this life in the fullness of what the Lamb purchased for you on the cross. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He indicated that God had done everything He was ever going to do for you.

Now, I don’t mean that God is never going to do anything else for you ever again. What I do mean is that He has already done it. That means your salvation is finished. No one else can do anything more to get you saved! It is finished! Your healing is finished. No one else has to take stripes on their back because Jesus already finished your healing for you! Your finances are finished because He became poor that you might be rich. Your relationships are finished because He came to heal the brokenhearted. The Lamb of God “finished” all your needs.

You can’t have His lion nature unless you first have His lamb nature. You have to be saved before you can grow and mature in the Lord. Jesus’s lamb nature gives you authority over the devil and all his evil wiles. It makes you very bold to do the works of the Lord.

Salvation is the lamb’s nature; the lion’s nature is manifested in power. When you take on the lion nature of Christ, you become “the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath” (Deuteronomy 28:13). You don’t need to hand your head down, drag around, and look pitiful because you have Jesus’s lion nature. God never intended for you to be a king and priest, and a victorious one at that!

I thoroughly enjoy being a lion! Proverbs 28:1 tells us, “… the righteous are bold as a lion.” Why? Because we have the real Lion inside! That means that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Lions are among the strongest of beasts and are often referred to as “the king of the jungle.” The Bible tells us they don’t run away from anything (Proverbs 30:30). Instead, the confront their enemies and prey with equal valor and strength. The lion in you wants you to take authority and “…trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19).

Psalm 91:13 says, “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.” You’re supposed to walk on lions and snakes. I can hear you now: “Marilyn, that doesn’t make any sense. If we’re supposed to be lion-like, why would we tread on the lion?”

The answer is found in 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” I put the keyword in bold: the devil is not a lion, but he sure ties to act like one. So, everyone who has a lion nature is supposed to stomp on that imposter.

There’s something about treading on the devil that really makes you feel like a lion king. When someone gets healed, I like to hear that “crunch” sound of the devil under my feet. One morning, we had a woman delivered from demons during a church service. She got up free and smiling, joyful in the Lord. I walked out of the service and thought, GRRRRRRRRR! Where’s another devil? I just want to crunch him good!

There is another aspect of the lion’s nature we need to consider. Jesus first came to earth as a lamb, but He’s coming back as a lion! Joe tells us He’s going to return at the time of the Antichrist. The Antichrist thinks he will be able to take over the whole world, but he’ll never be able to rule the whole world. Leaders like Napoleon and Hitler have tried and failed—miserably. There is only one who will assume control over the earth, and He is going to “roar” out of Zion to do so:

The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. (Joel 3:16)

Now, lambs don’t “roar,” do they? So, who is coming back? It must be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will defeat the Antichrist, take the title deed of the earth, and set up His kingdom forever. Remember the words one of the elders in heaven spoke to John: “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” (Revelation 5:5).

After God casts Satan and the fallen angels out once and for all, there will be a great exclamation in heaven:

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” (Revelation 12:10)

Government is not going to change the world. Only the Lion of the tribe of Judah can do that. As our Savior, He’s a Lamb, but as ruler of the earth, He’s a Lion. Since you are to be like Him in all ways, you have His lamb nature. Yet, He also gives you His lion nature because He wants you to have the ability to wield power against the enemy until He returns to reclaim His earth.