Jesus: The Lion is the Lamb - Riverside Community Church

Good morning everybody! It’s been a hot week, so just remember that if you’ve been struggling in the heat, that’s good news. It means you’re not made for hell. And on the flipside, if you struggle in the winter; as long as the Leafs win the cup, you’re not made for hell either: because it’s frozen over. Over the past few weeks we have been focusing on the concept of “More About Jesus”, different aspects of the Biblical definition of our Saviour, and how they work together. The last three weeks George talked about Jesus being the King: King Eternal, King over all things above and in and below the earth. Today I’m going to be talking to you about Jesus, the sacrificial lamb who knowingly embraced self-sacrifice with a purpose: us. And this might feel like a bit of a whiplash moment, to go from Jesus the King to Jesus the Sacrifice. How many kings step down from their thrones to lay down their lives for people who hate them? Who slander their name every waking moment?

I think an important discussion that we need to have more often in church is why do we need a saviour, who is that saviour, and how was it accomplished? Because the Gospel is not just for new Christians, it’s for all of us. So let’s go through the Coles Notes version before really diving in to the concept of the King who is still the King through his sacrifice. In the Beginning the triune God created the heavens and the earth. And it was created through Jesus, by Jesus, for Jesus. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit create the entire cosmos. They create the earth, make all the wonderful things in it, and make humans last. Humans sin, we disobey God, and the world is thrown into chaos. But God doesn’t just leave us in that chaos: he promises a saviour, when he tells the serpent, the devil, who entices the first humans to sin, that the offspring of the woman will crush his head. Cue several thousand years of humanity messing up and really needing a saviour, and we get to right around the time we switch from B.C. to A.D. And a woman

named Mary is promised that she will give birth, despite being a virgin, to a son, one who will save his people from their sin. That son is Jesus.

Just as a little aside, when I was at Bible school we had a week long Missions conference, where we had speakers who had been in the mission field come and tell us all about their experiences. One of the main speakers there was a missionary who went to an unreached tribe, spent over half a year learning their language and their customs, training to become a man in their culture by killing a boar wearing only a loincloth, and using only a spear as a weapon. When he became a man, he was allowed to teach in their village, and spent the next six months teaching them the Bible, all the way from Genesis to Jesus. And when humanity is promised a saviour, they got very excited. When Cain was born, the folks there thought the same thing that Eve did; this would be the man to take away the sin of the world. The Cain becomes the first murderer, and falls short of the promise of the Messiah. And all through the Old Testament, every time a new character was introduced, they asked, “Is this the one who will save us” and they kept getting told no, as every single person fell short of the Messiah, every one sins. Finally, they get to the New Testament, and start with John. And when John the Baptist first shows up, they ask “Is this the saviour?” and John himself says “I am not the Christ” they get bummed as per usual. Then John sees Jesus coming and goes “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” And they ask “Is this the one who will save us” already knowing the answer, as the missionary finally gets to say “Yes!” And they are so elated, they have a week-long feast in their village just to celebrate, to say “Here is the one who will save us!” And that should be our heart posture. Here is the one who will save us, who will redeem us from our sins! If that’s not the most exciting news you have ever heard, I really need to read the news you think is more exciting.

So we get back to the story of Jesus, he’s on the earth for a little over thirty years, performs miracles, gives sound teaching, and forgives people of their sins. He rattles the current order though, he’s too punk rock. The current establishment says “hate your enemies, your neighbours are only the people who share the same beliefs as you” and along comes Jesus, who goes anti-establishment (which is the very definition of punk rock) and says “Hey guys, love your enemies, and your neighbour is literally everyone”. The religious leaders don’t like that this guy is taking away their fame and popularity, so they scheme up a plan to kill him. Jesus is arrested and charged under false pretenses, then hung on a cross to die. When he dies, they bury him in a tomb. But, and this is the main thing that we wanted to get across to the kids at VBS this week, he doesn’t stay dead. Jesus rises from the grave, takes up his own life again, and defeats sin and death by proving he has power over it.

Another method of looking at it is what’s known as the Romans Road, which is a much quicker summary than mine. Romans 3:23- All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23- For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:8- But God demonstrates his own love towards us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ’s sacrifice, our salvation. It shows his power and his sacrificial love. I really love the statement that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” from Romans 5:8. I’m going to use a really weird analogy, so I hope you can follow this. Let’s say you knew somebody, and they threw chocolate milk at you multiple times a day every day. Like you go into a convenience store with them, they grab a carton of chocolate milk and purchase it, and you know exactly what’s about to happen next every time. They’re going to open it, take a sip, then throw the rest of it on you. And this happens every. Single. Day. I

think I would get tired of that. And then, one day, you’re walking down the street, you have just gone into the convenience store and they grabbed their chocolate milk. You know what’s coming next. And as they turn to throw the chocolate milk on you, they step in front of a car. They are distracted by throwing this on you, and because of that distraction they are about to get hurt. You have two options: You can say “They’re about to get hurt, that’s what you call natural consequences” or you can push them out of the car’s way and get hit instead. And the worst part? Even if you save them, they will grab some chocolate milk and throw it on your body.

In case you hadn’t fully picked up on the metaphor, the chocolate milk is sin. Jesus is with us through every part of our daily lives, and when we sin, we grab that chocolate milk and throw it right at him. And he takes it, he still loves us. And when we were about to get hit by that bike, he took our sin and saved us, sacrificed himself in the process, and took both that sin and that sacrifice. And I think that’s amazing. He didn’t wait for us all to become “good people” if such a thing exists, but he took our sin, and died for us while we were still sinners. Putting him on the cross was sin. Even if it was used for good, the act itself was evil. We were actively throwing chocolate milk at him while he was willingly sacrificing himself for us.

Okay, enough about milk, it’s going to make my lactose intolerance unhappy. Let’s look a little at the willful sacrifice. And if you don’t think Jesus was a willful sacrifice, I’m afraid you’ve misread your Bible. In Luke 4:9-12 Jesus is tempted for the third and final time by the devil. 9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

to guard you,’

11 and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Notice that the devil uses Scripture to tempt Jesus. People will say they have a Biblical worldview, but that can be twisted. The only way to guard ourselves against false teaching is to know scripture, and know it in its context; because a text when not put into context is just a con. But as Satan tempts Jesus you see his view: the Psalmist said that God will command his angels, and that he is our refuge and fortress. And Jesus doesn’t say that he doesn’t have that power. He says you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. There is no denial of power over the angels here. Thousands of them showed up for his birth, do you think thousands wouldn’t show up if he asked? Yet when his hour comes, Jesus doesn’t fight the religious leaders. He doesn’t call down angels or fire from the skies. Instead he goes willingly. He goes so willingly, in fact, that when one of his disciples cuts off the high priest’s servants ear, Jesus reattaches the ear and heals the man. He wants no harm to come to others because of what he must endure. He stays silent in his trial, because he could refute every charge the pharisees bring against him. His willing sacrifice. He doesn’t call angels down to remove him from that cross, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. That quote, from Hebrews 12:2, uses the Greek word kataphroneo (Kat-af-ron-eh-oh) for despise, which means to detest, to treat the object with contempt. Other uses include Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will

hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” And Matthew 18:10, “10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” So to despise, to detest, even to hate. Jesus despised that shame. Yet he loves us so much that he went through that humiliation and didn’t call down his angels.

Now you may be wondering from way earlier, Eli, how does this fit with the context of Jesus being a king? Our first thought when we think of kings is not self-sacrificial. I looked up how many kings of England have abdicated their thrones willingly, and the answer was 0. King Edward famously abdicated because he was in love with a commoner, but he wanted to retain his kingly title, not give it up. Out of the rest of England’s 1000+ year history, three others have abdicated: Edward II, who was forced to abdicate in favour of his son and then promptly murdered, Richard II, who was forced to abdicate after a political opponent ousted him from the throne, and then starved to death in captivity, and James II, who ran away into exile when the prince of Orange landed in England and was considered to have abdicated simply because he was no longer there. So 4 kings in 1000 years abdicated, three by threat of force, one because he loved a woman. So when we look at kings, our first thought is not self-sacrificial.

The flipside of this is that we usually don’t see sacrificial people as powerful. They might be powerful up until the moment they make the sacrifice play, but after that moment they’re just dead guys. Iron Man in Endgame (spoilers for those of you who haven’t seen it) proves Captain America wrong, he lays down on the wire and sacrifices himself for the world, the universe even. And he dies for it. He was powerful before then, probably in the top 5 of the people at that battle, and his sacrifice saves people. But after that sacrifice? He’s just a dead guy, who gets

buried like everybody else. He doesn’t have the power he once did in life.

Jesus, however, does still have that power. The main section of the Bible that I want to focus in on this morning is Revelation 5, so if you want to turn there in your Bibles we’ll be going through the whole chapter. I don’t know about you, but every time I think about Revelation, I think it’s a pretty scary book. There’s so much happening here with weird imagery, grotesque monsters, and just a general sense of foreboding. Then I got a chance in April to go to a week-long retreat studying the entire book of Revelation, and had my whole perspective shifted that it’s actually a book full of hope. Never once in this entire revelation (and it is just one revelation, not plural) do the bad guys win. They’re allowed a modicum of power occasionally, but every single time that they try to reach for power, they are denied. They’re playing checkers while God is playing chess, and he’s playing it masterfully. A second major realization to come out of Revelation is the numbers game. We see these descriptions of animals with seven horns, seven eyes, four wheels, all that stuff, and it’s freaky. Because yeah, who wouldn’t see this and be freaked out? Yet the numbers are purely meant to be symbolic. And I’ll explain the numbers after we go through this passage. 5 “Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 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.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

So seven is the number of completeness, wholeness. When we see the scroll sealed with seven seals, the vision is showing that this scroll is completely sealed. And this scroll cannot be opened by anybody; and John weeps loudly, because nobody is worthy. And an elder in heaven says here comes the Lion of Judah, who has conquered and is worthy. And when John looks up he sees a lamb, not a lion. A lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. Remember how I said the numbers are symbols, and seven is the number of completeness? Horns represent power, eyes represent knowledge. So this lamb is completely knowledgeable, and completely powerful. Who else can be that but God? When he grabs the scroll the elders fall down and worship, praising him for being slain and ransoming people to God from everywhere: by his blood all can be saved. The lamb is Jesus. The Lion? Also Jesus. The king of the jungle, the Lion, and the meekest of animals, the lamb. Quite a juxtaposition. Yet how does the Lion of Judah conquer? His victory comes from being slain as the lamb. He has absolute power and absolute knowledge, yet his victory comes from his sacrifice. King; willing sacrifice.

I want to travel to one last section before I wrap up. Revelation 14:14-20. 14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the

clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

Significant wording is used in this action. In both the grain harvest and the grape harvest, the word used is reap. Reaping is not destruction, it is gathering the crops you want to keep. Jesus is gathering, this is not some future action, he is gathering those who have responded positively to the Gospel. The harvest of the grapes is also an act of salvation, although that might not be how you see it at first. We’re going to go into the weeds a bit here, but I hope and pray that you can stay with me. “Gather the clusters from the vine of the earth”. Who is the true vine? Jesus. Gather the clusters from Jesus. Then look at the winepress. The great winepress of the wrath of God, trodden outside the city. And where was Jesus crucified? Outside the city, on Calvary. The first half of Hebrews 13:12 says “Jesus suffered outside the gate”. The winepress of the wrath of God; Jesus crucifixion, our salvation. Then look at the final verse of this section. Blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, 1600 stadia. Again if we go back to Hebrews 13:12, the latter half says “in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” And blood flows from the winepress of God’s wrath, the cross. How much blood? 1600 stadia. That’s such gross imagery, but it’s really cool when you think of it. This number likely has multiple meanings. One, 1600 stadia is the traditional length of Palestine, from Tyre to Egypt. Blood enough for all of Palestine, which is where most of the world’s Christians were living at the time. Then 1600 is also 4x4x10x10. Weird math, but stick with me. 4 is the number of humanity: 4 corners of the earth, 4 winds, etc. 10 is another number of perfection and completeness, think 10 fingers, 10 commandments etc.

So 4x4- lots of humanity. 10x10- completely lots of humanity. And finally, perhaps most simply, 1600 is 40x40. 40 is the number of sinful disobedience: 40 years in the desert, the flood had rain for 40 days, etc. So by saying 1600 stadia, the imagery is that there is blood enough to cover the sins of all who repent. Completely enough blood.

Okay, that was a lot, and I need to land the plane here. I want you to take four main points away from this morning. One: God chose to save us while we were still sinners. You do not need to become a better person to be saved, Jesus has done that heavy lifting, you simply need to seek him earnestly and genuinely repent. “While we were still sinners” shows that God loves us at our lowest, and wants to bring us to him as children of God. 2: His sacrifice was a willing sacrifice, and it was a sacrifice for us. He was not forced, he chose to save us by dying on the cross. 3: It’s not the lion and the lamb. The lion IS the lamb. Jesus conquers through his sacrifice. And no matter what happens in the world, or in your life, the slain lamb is still on the throne. 4: There is blood enough to cover all of sin. Jesus died for us, his blood covers us, we are forgiven. So we don’t have to run from him, or hide. He sacrificed himself willingly for us, and has all the power, glory, honour, and praise. So next time you encounter somebody that you really don’t like or don’t think could be saved, remember there is blood enough. Because if he covered my sins, he can cover anybody’s.

At Riverside Community Church