The Lion & The Lamb

The Lion & The Lamb

The love of God is multi-faceted, just as He is. He is the Lamb of God, but He is also the Lion of Judah. Some swing to the extreme and think that His love is always meek, gentle and kind. Some swing to the other end and think that His love is about judgment against sin. Well, each side is true, but incomplete.

In my limited exposure with people, I realised that the prophetic people (in general) leans towards the loving judgment of God. And the pastoral people (in general) leans towards the loving kindness of God.

There is a balance because it depends on His target audience. At the same time, we must not forget that we are in the New Covenant, where pronouncing judgment is an Old Covenant principle.

Having said that, when it comes to the religious ones and the devil, Christ's love is aggressive. For He is zealous and compassionate towards the weak.

As a father, I love my son. But because I love him, I am aggressive towards anything that tries to harm/hurt him. God is our Father. How much more His love is aggressive towards those who intentionally seeks to hurt His people.

In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. - John 2:14-15

These people were deceiving the innocent. They were making tons of money in the disguise of 'helping them'. Jesus did not come to them and said, "My Father loves all of you. I love you too", and walked away with a gentle spirit.

His love for the people who wanted to worship God compelled Him to have a righteous anger that drove out these oppressive and religious ones. He is the Lion of Judah against His enemies. And the Lamb of God towards the weak. 

The word 'drove' in Greek is 'ekballo', which is to cast out. It is used when Jesus cast out demons (Matt 8:16; 9:34). Since all kinds of fear (and bondage) come from the enemy, Jesus had to drive them out.

𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 (‘ballo’) 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. (1 Jn 4:18)

Today, there are many kinds of peddling activities in the world. The peddling of fear is a lucrative business.

How do we deal with fear? The love of God (1 Jn 4:18) ---- both the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God.

For the Spirit which God has given us is not a spirit of cowardice, but one of power and of love and of sound judgement. - 2 Tim 1:7 (WNT)