lion of judah
Okay, I am super excited about this week’s blog!! I had so much fun digging into the topic of the Lion of Judah. It is so fascinating!! What is the meaning of the Lion of Judah? First, to know more about what it means, we have to know more about the tribe of Judah. Judah was one of the 12 sons of Jacob. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham. The descendants of Jacob formed the 12 tribes of Israel. Judah shows both the depravity of the human heart as well as God’s capacity to redeem. It was prophesied that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. So who is the Lion of Judah? Jesus is.
Revelation 5:5 says “And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Think about the power that a lion has. A lion is viewed as fierce, strong, and powerful. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is Jesus. The Jesus who was sent down, tortured, and died on the cross for you and for me. Genesis 49 (specifically 49:8-12) is a reference to the Lion of the tribe of Judah that points to a conquering, victorious king that would descend from the tribe of Judah. And in Revelation 11:15 it says that his kingdom will reign forever.
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9-11
Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. Talk about how powerful that is!
His road to conquering– becoming the lion– came through suffering. He didn’t redeem us by keeping his status as a lion, he redeemed us by becoming as humble as a lamb (Go read 1 Peter 1:18-19). If you continue to read after Revelation 5:5, in 5:6 you will see the shift from Jesus being a lion to him being the lamb. We can never fully understand His position as the Lion of Judah until we understand him as the lamb who had to be slain. If you misunderstand his purpose in being the lamb, then you will misunderstand his position in being the lion.
It’s the suffering Jesus (the lamb) that paves the way for conquering Jesus (the Lion of Judah). Jesus will destroy all his enemies. Our lion has given us victory over sin and has removed the penalty of death (1 Corinthians 15:24-26). But it was his lamb-like surrender, which goes against what's normal, that positioned him to become the true Lion of the tribe of Judah. The true significance of the tribe of Judah was not in the kings who reigned in the tribe of Judah or in the many battles they won but in the fulfillment of God’s divine plan to provide a savior for the whole world.
The significance of the Lion of Judah is in the lamb of God.
