THE ORIGINAL LION-KING
Revelation 5:1-14
This Christmas season we have been using the children’s story of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as a means of illuminating the life and mission of Jesus. The author of the book, C. S. Lewis, was a dynamic and prolific Christian writer. He created a magical land called Narnia that is discovered by four children. Narnia is a land in conflict, populated with all types of talking animal and mythical characters, but also a land on tip-toe in hopeful anticipation for the coming of Aslan - the great lion king of Narnia who will put everything back together as it is supposed to be.
It is easy to see why C. S. Lewis used the lion as the image for Jesus Christ in his novels. The lion is almost a universal archetype of power and majesty. Archeologists have found depiction’s of majestic lions in the pottery, jewelry, mythology and architecture of almost all ancient middle-eastern cultures. From Egyptian hieroglyphics to Aesop’s fables lions were portrayed as symbols of strength and courage. The mysterious Sphinx has the body of a lion. The ancient world even saw the shape of a lion in the stars, in the constellation called Leo.
But it wasn’t just the pagan cultures that recognized the majesty of the lion. From the earliest pages in the Bible the lion was also seen as an important symbol. In Genesis 49:9 the lion is used to describe the future Messiah and the tribe of Judah and his royal line, out of which the Messiah would come. Lions were everywhere in the great Jerusalem temple built by Solomon - in the art and statues and columns. (Ezekial 1:10, 41:19, 1 Kings 7:29, 36). Even the armrests of Solomon’s throne were shaped like crouching lions. (1 Kings 10:19, 2 Chronicles 9:18). Like a funnel narrowing its focus the Old Testament becomes more specific about this Lion of Judah the closer we get to the time of the birth of Jesus. But he is not a cute, cuddly lion. No. Especially for the prophets this is a roaring lion coming to display the terrifying power of God in judgment (Jeremiah 49:19).
And then in the New Testament book of Revelation chapter 5 we see one of the most dramatic images of Jesus as the great Lion - King. People get confused by the book of Revelation usually because they’re not familiar with the images, symbols and prophecies of the Old Testament. The main purpose of the book of Revelation is to give us information about Jesus after his resurrection, after he ascends to the right hand of the Father in heaven. The book opens with this declaration in 1:1: "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants what must soon take place." A revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the central character of the book of Revelation; not predictions about the future, when or where or how things might happen. Its purpose is to give us a vision of the Risen Savior.
After all, most of us carry around a mental picture of Jesus that comes from the Gospel stories. At Christmas we think of him in the manger surrounded by cows and sheep and adoring wise men. We think of him as a grown man walking the roads with his disciples, healing the multitudes, preaching and teaching. Or we think of Christ on the cross bearing our sin. That’s how Jesus was before his death and resurrection. Revelation shows us what Jesus is now, at this very moment, as the exalted Christ in heaven. And it is quite a different picture.
As chapter five opens John has been witnessing a scene of breath-taking beauty and awesome holiness and worship in the very throne room of God. But now there is a dramatic pause. God is ready to bring judgment on the earth that has rejected him for so long. Like Aslan coming to the land of Narnia, the time has come for God to intervene in human affairs in a final way through the Messianic judgment that will once and for all establish the Kingdom of God. Verse 1 tells us the judgment of God is written on a scroll. In ancient times important documents were written on both sides of a parchment. Seven witnesses were required for a valid legal document, like a will. Each witness had their own wax seal and each had to be present to break the seal when the document was read. So verse 2 asks: "Who is worthy to break the seal and open the scroll?" No one answers. There is no one worthy to break the seals, no one worthy to carry out God’s grand purpose. There is a tremendous sense of tension and anticipation. John is overwhelmed by the silence. He says, "I wept and wept..." Powerful tension. Then one of the elders makes an announcement. I wonder if it wasn’t Judah himself. Verse 5 "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."
What follows can only be described as the coronation ceremony for the Lion King, the enthronement of Jesus as the righteous one, the only one worthy to carryout God’s judgment. The scroll changes hands and the right to judge and rule the world is given to Jesus. Why? Because he was the one who provided the atonement for the world. There was victory in his sacrifice. Like Aslan who dies on the stone table to free one of the children, Christ died for all our sins. His death and his resurrection triumph opened the door for forgiveness and mercy and reconciliation with God...that’s what qualifies him to be the one to open the scroll.
Have you ever seen a hologram where the picture changes if you move it slightly from side to side? In the same way there are two prophetic images of Jesus in this passage. Jesus as the Lion and the Lamb, the ruler and the redeemer, are linked together to form a fascinating double-exposure portrait of the coming Messiah. We need the Lamb that was slain. This shows just how important sin is to God. Were it not for Jesus’ death there would be no hope of deliverance from the judgments to come.
What happens next in chapter 5 is that we see God the Son worshipped as the Lion and the Lamb: the Ruler and the Redeemer. And at this stage the worship in heaven is lifted an octave higher...a crescendo that bursts into praise. The dramatic delay is over as the Lion King Messiah appears and the whole panoply of heaven goes crazy. First the 4 living creatures identified as the cherubim and the 24 four elders (verses 8-10) Then the myriad of angels...the highest number the Greeks could conceive (11-12). Then the whole of creation... every living creature in heaven and earth (v. 13-14) I can’t help but feel this is the fulfillment of Philippians 2:9 where it says "Therefore God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father." That is what John is witnessing. The ultimate praise given to the Lion and the Lamb - our Ruler and our Redeemer - our Lion-King!
But really, all this talk about Lions and Kings is hard for us to relate to. After all, we don’t live in a kingdom. We don’t give our unwavering loyalty to our leaders. We think that each person is responsible for his or her own destiny and happiness. We’re rugged individualists. The quality of our lives depends on us, not on some elected official. This talk about kings sounds like something from a Shakespearean drama, not something from our daily lives.
And how can we relate to God in the image of this Lion of Judah? We don’t live in a culture where we see lions on a regular basis. If we see a lion at all its at a safe distance in a zoo or a circus, where we are well protected. Oh, we might ooww and aahh when someone enters the lion’s cage and makes the lion do a few tricks. The lion’s roar may give us shivers but we’re not really scared. It’s like an amusement ride that gives us a vicarious thrill. But we know we’re in no danger.
Well, maybe that’s not so different from how we treat Jesus, the Lion King? British novelist Dorothy Sayers once wrote that we in the church have effectively trimmed the claws of the Lion of Judah. We have caged him inside a safe-tasteless religion that offers no surprises, no threats, and really, few thrills. In our worship we are protected by our bulletins and our traditions so that this Lion is predictable, tame, and hopefully even entertaining. We like to look at him, see if he’ll jump through a flaming hoop for us, but the last thing we expect is to actually encounter the real Lion King.
Imagine if you’re participating in a new reality TV show. You’re at the circus and some men come into the audience, grab you by the collar, drag you down and throw you into the cage with the wild lion! You’re not a spectator anymore. It’s just you and the lion face to face. No protection. No escape. Or what if you were dropped off, lost, in the middle of the grassy savannas of Kenya and you come face to face with a wild lion? Few people have encountered a lion on its terms and lived to tell about it.
One who did was Beryl Markham. In her autobiography West with the Night she tells of the time as a little girl growing up in Africa in the early 1900’s when she came face to face with a lion. She was running playfully through the fields surrounding her family’s farm and suddenly came within twenty yards of the lion. The lion lay sprawled in the morning sun; it was huge, with a thick black-mane, his tail was moving slowly, stroking the rough grass like a knotted end of a rope. His body was sleek and easy; rusty-red, soft looking.. He wasn’t asleep, only idle. She stood there, scuffling her bare toes in the dust. Then the lion raised himself and began to look her over. She knew the rules about lions. She did not run. Trying not to look scared she walked away very slowly, and began to sing a song. Then she started to trot toward the rim of the low hill where she hoped some thick bushes would give her protection. She writes:
The country was gray-green and dry, and the sun lay on it closely, making the ground hot under my bare feet. There was no sound, no wind. Even the lion made no sound, coming swiftly behind me. What I remember most clearly of the moment that followed...a scream that was barely a whisper, a blow that struck me to the ground, and as I buried my face in my arms I felt the lion’s teeth close on [my flesh]. I remained conscious, but I closed my eyes and tried not to be. It was not so much the pain as it was the sound. The sound of the lion’s roar in my ears will only be duplicated… when the gates of hell slip their wobbly hinges one day, and give voice and authenticity to the whole panorama of Dante’s poetic nightmares. It was an immense roar that encompassed the world and dissolved me in it. I shut my eyes very tight and lay still under the weight of the lion’s paws. (61-63)
Is this what we should really mean when we talk about knowing Jesus in a personal way? Isn’t this what the prophet Hosea meant when he wrote of the Messiah (11:10) "He will roar like a lion. When he roars his children will come trembling..." or the prophet Amos (3:8) "The lion roared-who will not fear. The sovereign Lord has spoken - who can but prophecy?"
You see, the greatest danger to our Christian lives does not come from outside forces, from secular humanists or the media. It comes from within, a complacent attitude that makes us think we already know everything there is to know about God; we have God all figured out - boxed in and packaged in neat catagories based our own limited expectations. There’s nothing new about the baby in the manger. There are no more surprises, no more threats, no more challenges. Faith is flat - like an old can of soda that’s lost its fizz. We have we trivialized the Lion King. Pulled his fangs so that our Lion King has to gum his food.
You see in Jesus we are dealing with a big, rough God - a Lion King who will not be caged or tamed. A Lion King, who in love, is pursuing ,stalking each one of us. He’s hot on your trail. Can you feel his breath on the back of your neck as he comes upon you suddenly - silently? A God who reaches down into your life and grabs you by the scruff of the neck and shakes us with his power. Who pounces so that the weight of his paw crushes your chest. His roar so close to your ear that your whole body vibrates with the sound! This is the Lion King we encounter in Jesus Christ. Our relationship with Jesus the Lion King cannot be a just weekly visit to the zoo where God lives. Hebrews 10:31 tells us "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"
Jesus, as the biblical Lion King, is not a comfortable image. It should disturb us, even frighten us. He has placed a demand upon us to follow and serve him. A demand for unhesitating allegiance and unquestioned loyalty. But it is easy to cut corners, to make excuses, to loose the awe-inspired reverence that brings us to our knees before him. That was the problem with the churches for whom John wrote the book of Revelation. In chapters two and three seven churches are mentioned and each received a special personal word from the Lord Himself. Their problem was they had lost their zeal for God. They’d lost their first love for Him. They were lukewarm and tasteless in their faith. Bland and tired. Their devotion and commitment were at low tide. And John’s antidote for this bland faith is the same antidote we need today. His solution was to give them a bigger picture of Jesus as the risen and reigning Lord of the Universe. The Lion-King who holds all the power and glory of God. The Lion-King who is worshipped by the myriads of angels and the whole universe. The Lion-King who holds the scroll of God’s righteous judgments in His hand.
You see, Jesus is not content to be a small piece of an otherwise orderly life. He is not satisfied with being kept out of the periphery. He must take center stage. At the center of each person’s heart is a throne. Something sits on that throne of your life. It could be yourself, your job, your spouse, a relationship, your children, money, your house, a sin, your fears. But what should be king over your life is Jesus Christ. He sits on the throne of heaven but does he sit enthroned in your heart? Often we fall into wanting to trade places with Jesus almost like playing musical chairs. But we can’t play games with Him. The image of the Lion King shows us the risen Jesus in all His majesty and might so that we would feel the full force of His divine power to shake us out of our apathy. He alone deserves to be king over your hearts and he will settle for nothing less. The challenge before you is simple: will you make Jesus Christ truly the center of your life!
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the curious children want to know more about Aslan the Lion King of Narnia. While staying with a family of beavers one of the children asks, "Is [Aslan] quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn’t safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "...Who said anything but safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good." (75-76)
That is the Lion-King we encounter in Jesus Christ. He isn’t safe, but He is good. Where are you this morning with the Lion King? If your spiritual life is weary; if you’ve given up on the daily disciplines of Bible study and prayer; if you’ve grown tired of sharing the Good News of Christ with others; if you sense your faith is not what it used to be...then the solution is always to get a bigger picture of Jesus...this Lion-King who loves you, who is pursuing you. In the fictional land of Narnia things are only set right when the awesome power and majestic love of Aslan is released. The same thing is true in your life. The quality of your spiritual life is based completely on your willingness to entrust yourself in obedience and love to our great Lion King, Jesus - knowing that He isn’t safe, but He is good. AMEN.
