Advent From the Backside - The Lion & the Lamb

Scripture

Selections from Revelation 5:1-12 - I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one seated on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was fastened with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming loudly, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” Nobody in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to look at or open the scroll. Then one of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered and can open the scroll and the seven seals.” The lamb took the scroll from the right hand of the one seated on the throne. When he’d taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints…Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the creatures and the elders, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands and singing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

Engage

It’s always interesting when babies are born…what will they end up looking like? What will they end up doing in life? If you know the parents and relatives, that usually will give you a clue, but not a full picture. Some fit the molds they were raised with, some break out of them. Tonight we remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus. There is the traditional Christmas song, Mary Did You Know? The song could’ve been made much shorter, very short actually. Here are my lyrics: Mary, did you know? Yes, the angel Gabriel told me. There, end of the song. But few others, except the likes of JTB, Simeon & Anna, Zechariah & Elizabeth, would’ve suspected that a carpenter and his young wife would birth God in the flesh, the savior of the world.

Encounter

What does the birth of Jesus mean for us? I want to approach it a bit from a back angle, a side angle tonight, using the book of Revelation. What on earth is John seeing in his visit to the throne of God, transported by the Spirit from exile on Patmos? Scrolls, and animals, and elders, and a lion, and a lamb, oh my...

In short, friends, the Lion is the Lamb is the Lord is the Light is the Legend for all creation for all eternity.

I’ll start with the scroll. What is it? The scroll represents the will of God, the purposes of God. It’s in God’s right hand, the hand of will and purpose in the ancient near east. Scrolls didn’t normally have writing on the backside…except when maybe a little extra space was needed. But this scroll is covered, complete. And sealed, with seven seals. This scroll is God’s will for creation, completed, perfected, it cannot be added to or changed…

And, we learn, nothing in all creation can open it EXCEPT the Lion, who is the lamb, who is the Lord, who is the light, who is the legend for all creation. The Lion has conquered Satan, fallen Babylon, and the elements of creation who’ve chosen that side. Through the cross, the victory of Jesus, the Lion and the Lamb, gives him total Lordship, the ability to open and execute the totality of the scroll. It’s illustrative that He is a lion and a lamb. The lion…strength, dominance, power, control. He’s that when he needs to be. The lamb, peaceful, meek, passive when he needs to be that way. The lamb also means deliverance if you remember Passover.

I had a colleague, years ago, who learned his beautiful elite athlete daughter had been taken advantage of by a coach. I saw him not long after he learned of these crimes. He said, “I need Jesus the Lion of Judah right now.” I hope I never have to learn personally what he meant and only have to imagine it. Sometimes, when Satan longs for lion like violence, we need to be lambs.

Jesus’ access to the scroll means he is the legend for all creation, including all of us. And creation, if you haven’t noticed, is pretty expansive and remarkable. In his visit to the throne here, John sees a multitude of angels. One scholar says the number here comes up to 200B or something…basically, an uncountable multitude of just angels. BRING MAP OF SOME SORT. What do I mean by legend? I mean legend in the sense of a map or other coded document. What do we use a map legend for? When we don’t know the meaning of something, or understand the writing, we look to the legend…ILLUSTRATE. Jesus is our legend. We are designed, created, empowered, and gracefully allowed to interpret everything through him. Everything. The scroll contains everything.

You know, have you ever tried to read a map in the dark? Hard, eh? We live in world of darkness. Satan loves darkness. He wants to keeps us in it, immerse us in it, so deeply that we believe we can never get out. I think about those disciples after the death but before the resurrection…they thought, perhaps, that Satan had not only extinguished hope, and joy, and peace, and love, but Christ himself. BUT HE DIDN’T! Ah, but we have a light. Jesus is not only the legend, he’s the ETERNAL light. BRING MAP TO LIGHT. He will shine his light in ANY darkness. John says the darkness cannot overtake him. Ever. Where Jesus is invited, he can go, no exceptions. And, he can shine his light and be the legend for us in any circumstance…even, perhaps even most especially, when we’ve made decisions that have made a mess for ourselves.

The Lion is the Lamb is the Lord is the Light who is the Legend for all circumstances in all eternity. Praise Jesus!

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