If I took everyone on a journey into eternity past, you would meet the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself was the very Lion of the tribe of Judah, He ruled and reigned together with the Father and the Spirit. But, when the Father sent His only begotten Son in that specific place of sonship, we see revealed in Jesus, the Lion and the Lamb. 

When we look at lions, we see that they are the ‘king of the jungle’. They rule and are hardly ever the prey. Lambs, they require guidance. They are humble, quiet creatures and can fall prey to lions and wolves. Jesus revealed through His life that the identity we rest in, must come from the Lamb’s heart so that our authority can be in the Lion. 

The world around Him, including the disciples, was looking for the Lion. Palm Sunday was a good example. Our Jewish brothers and sisters wanted somebody to rule and to reign over them. They had endured years of oppression under Roman rule. So, naturally when Jesus was revealed, out of the abundance of their hearts they spoke, “Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21:9) but the same one they cried to become their king ended up being the same one they asked to be crucified. They wanted a lion, but Jesus showed a different way. He did not defend Himself. Isaiah prophesied this about Jesus “He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7) In order to truly free them, He had to show them a different way. Jesus chose to lay His life down in obedience to the Father. This was the one who taught with authority that was given to Him by God. He was the Son of God, the darling of heaven, the Creator – yet, He humbled Himself and He came as the Lamb – to take away our sins. He was slaughtered for us. He paints a sobering picture. It was in the laying down of His life that Jesus overcame the world. There is no greater love than this. It’s displayed in the Lamb.

This is the upside Kingdom. It was so opposite to the way they operated and how we continue to operate today. The people desired peace, they believed it would come through an earthly king. As His body was laid in the tomb lifeless, they didn’t know that a Sunday moment of victory was coming with a Resurrection. They didn’t understand that there had to be a Friday. They didn’t know there had to be a sacrificial Lamb to take away the sins of the world. They didn’t understand that their King was to come to them riding a donkey’s colt, but that He would also suffer.  Jesus’ own disciples struggled to receive this. When Jesus revealed that He must suffer many things and be rejected and killed, Peter rebuked Jesus and the Lord’s response to him was “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” and follows up by clarifying for the disciples that the way of Jesus, the Lamb is to lose one’s life, not to seek to save it. (Mark 8)

Jesus gained His authority by becoming obedient until the point of death. He is the original “roaring Lamb”. His roar came in His humility and His yes to Papa God. The Father has drawn me to focus on the next mission force as the roaring lambs. If we are going to show the world a God that looks like Jesus, it’s going to be important for us to learn how to behold the Lamb and recognize His values. Looking at the Beatitudes, all of those are characteristics of the “upside down kingdom”. So, if you are looking at each of them, you see Him: “blessed are the poor in Spirit”; it’s the Lamb’s nature, each one of those are characteristics of the Lamb and then it shows the Lion on the other side–the byproduct–the Kingdom belongs to them! It’s important for us now, in this next season even as we are looking into the future, looking at all the challenges that we have in our country, from the war on the identity to all of the polarization, the tendency we have as believers is to try to be lions and try to roar but we actually cause people to scatter because it doesn’t come from the Lamb’s heart. The priority is to recognize this: who Jesus is to you is who Jesus will be through you. If all you see is the Lion when you look at Jesus and you cannot see the Lamb, then that is the Jesus you will represent to the world.

I want to challenge myself and all of us to fall in love with the Lamb; to fall in love with His humility because that’s how you tap into His ability. Fall in love with vulnerability. The Lamb is vulnerable. It looks like He’s weak, but it’s called strength; it’s the strength of weakness. When you are tapping into that, you access something called grace.  Jesus said, ‘I can only do what I see my Father doing.’ ‘I only say what I hear my Father saying.’ It is the identity of the Lamb that is totally living in dependence, not independence. He prioritized this relationship. Out of that, now He has authority. He says, ‘All authority has been given now to me’ because of that Lamb posture and then out of that, we see the Lion’s authority emerging. So, Jesus is the Lion that became a Lamb so that we could become lambs that are becoming lions. And when we roar people will gather and not scatter because it’s an authority that is flowing from humility.

I am so excited about this journey as we are going to learn more about the ‘roaring lambs’. In you, there is a lamb and in you there is a lion. That’s the Christ in you that will be the hope of glory to the people around you. (Colossians 1:27) 

You have authority over what you weep over. Are you broken over what’s broken? Remember, you have authority over what you love. It’s going to be so important for us to capture that the Lamb feels the pain and the brokenness that’s around Him and when we get broken over what’s broken, we tap into intercession. When we step into this we’re entering a place where we can represent God before people and people before God. It’s called the ministry of reconciliation and that belongs to the ambassadors of love. It starts with the Lamb’s nature. 

Some people in leadership are not afraid of the Lion, but they just don’t know what to do when it comes to the Lamb. It’s time for us to arise and shine for our light has come. It’s in the Lamb that the Light shines, so that you can roar as a lion in this beautiful season of transformation. You change the spiritual climate when your internal climate has been changed by the Lamb. 

What are you broken over? In what ways is Father drawing you to become like Jesus?