Introduction
1.
2.
Read Text: Rev. 5:5, 12-13
One of the names of the Lord that has been fascinating to me is...
“Lion of the Tribe of Judah”...
Bible Encyclopedias and Dictionaries don’t seem to cover much on this name...
And yet, I feel that it is very significant...
The Lion of Judah in reference to Christ is only found in Revelation 5:5...
There is a passage in Genesis 49:9 where Jacob gives his blessing to Judah and refers to him as a lion...
He says,
“You are a lion’s cub, O Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness--who dares to rouse him?
3. It is thought that C. S. Lewis wrote his series of books, “The Chronicles of Narnia” featuring the lion Aslan, who is a Christ-figure in the books...
is taken from Revelation 5:51...
4. After having just come through the Christmas season...
a great celebration of Christ’s first coming...
and we recognize that Christ coming as a baby is the fulfillment of Biblical prophesy...
There is every reason to believe that the prophesies about the 2nd coming of Christ will be fulfilled too.
5. There is coming a time when...according to the Bible...
The Lion will lie down with the lamb...
This is a reference to the millenium...
the 1,000 year reign of Christ...
1,000 years when satan is bound...
and evil is held back...
and peace and prosperity will flourish...
Someone described that scene like this:
“Try to imagine a world in which the wolf and lamb will share the same stall.
The leopard and the baby goat will sleep together,
a little child will put halters on a lion and a calf...
and lead them around.
a lion will eat grass and straw like the oxen...
and a little child will reach down into a cobra’s den and not be harmed...
That’s what the world will be like some day”!!
6. But for now, the world is certainly not a place of peace...
One magazine published that...
since the beginning of recorded history...
the entire world has been at peace less than 8% of the time...
of the 3,540 years of recorded history...
only 286 years saw peace over the entire earth...
There are been more than 8,000 peace treaties made AND BROKEN!!
It is fairly obvious that peace is unlikely to come through the efforts of mankind...
certainly, we should strive for that...
but, until Jesus comes, there will always be Hitlers, Saddam Husseins, and Usama bin Ladens.
Not until sin is dealt with, with there be peace....
And dealing with the sin problem began with a...
Body
1. Little Baby
A. We’ve just celebrated the Christmas season...
What a joy and delight it was to celebrate the birth of Jesus...
Most people love babies...
and the birth of babies show us that there is still hope...
B. During WW2, the sun was rising upon a new day on a battlefield in Norther France...
The fog was so thick, that no one could see more than a few yards behind the trenches...
During the night, the Germans had drawn back their lines a little...
and the French had edged forward...
Between the two positions, a lonely farmhouse was still standing.
As the sun rose, and the fog began to break...
the guns began to crack.
Suddenly firing ceased and there was a strange stillness.
Between the trenches, near the farmhouse,
there crawling on his hands and knees, was a baby.
The baby stopped...
sat down...and picked a dandelion...
and in the silence of that battlefield...
they heard the child giggle...
Both sides were tense and fearful that the other side would shoot and endanger the life of the child...
In the unfamiliar silence, the soldiers in the trenches could hear the baby’s laughter.
Eventually, a soldier overcame his fear of being shot...
jumped out of his hiding place...
and ran to where the child was crawling.
He scooped him up and raced him to shelter.
From both sides, there was a cheer.
For a few moments, that baby brought peace to an earthly battlefield.
A place of war had become a place of peace because of a baby...
Now, that peace did not last...
But it started with baby...
And the peace that we talk about with Baby Jesus is a peace that...
at least to this point...
has not lasted...
2. But that Little Baby became a Lamb (another good “L” word)
A. During our Christmas celebration...
we were careful to remember the real reason that Jesus came...
Remember?...
“All I want for Christmas is a Savior”...
Jesus came to be our Redeemer...
The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world...
The Lamb...
a Sacrificial Lamb...
Sacrificed upon a most unusual altar...a cross...
We would love to just celebrate Christmas all year long...
we would love to just embrace the Baby...
B. But the life of Jesus moves on...
God’s plan called for something more...
In order to pay sin’s penalty...
blood would have to be shed...
And Baby Jesus became a Lamb...God’s Lamb...
C. But the story doesn’t end there...
because the Lamb becomes...
3. a Lion!
A. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah!!!
When we examine the life of Christ...
we certainly cover the incarnation story...
and we certainly cover the Lamb of God story...
but we often stop there...
A Little Baby...
A Gentle Lamb...
But the Little Baby...and the Lamb...
Becomes a Lion!!
B. What do we know about lions?...
Lions are known for their strength...
they are known for their teeth...
they are known for crouching...
and catching their prey by surprise...
they are known for roaring...
C. Jesus...
as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah...
will bring judgment...
All the peoples of the earth will be brought to judgment...
The world will be judged by the the wrath of God against sin...
as seen in the characteristics of a lion.
The Lamb’s Book of Life contains all the names of all the people who have repented...
and their sins are covered by the blood of the Lamb...
D. Tonight, I want us to see Jesus...
not as a little baby in the manger...
not as a sacrificial Lamb upon the cross...
but tonight, let us see Jesus as a Lion...
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah...
I want us to see Christ in power and authority...
dealing with the problem of sin once and for all...
This may not be the most comfortable image of Christ we have...
Little babies are so cute...
and the Lamb of God died for our sin...
But we will stand before the Lion and be judged.
We will be judged according to whether we have accepted Christ or not...
but then there is also another judgment for Christians...
Christians will be judged according to their good works...
while we remain in this life...
we are to work and serve our Lord...
Yes...we are saved by grace...
But Scripture also tells us that “faith without works is dead”...
Conclusion
1. Well, here we are...
learning our ABCs...
L is for Little Baby...
L is for Lamb...
and L is for Lion...
Jesus is all of these things...
It would be easy to embrace the Little Baby and the Lamb...
and put the Lion of Judah out of our sight...
But, as troubling as it may be...
we must also embrace the Lion of Judah...
