Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Revelation 5

(Artwork by Jason Engle. © Crossroads Gaming LLC) 
"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth."
{Revelation 5:6} (NIV)

 

John hears that the Lion has triumphed and he turns to see a Lamb! Not a healthy Lamb even, but a Lamb that looks like it had been killed. In this revelation we have the hardest truth for Christians to understand. Our triumph comes through suffering; our triumph comes through death. Our Lord Jesus is the Lion of Judah who triumphed and who is worthy because our Lord Jesus is the Lamb who was slain! 

Triumphant living, according to the world, is victory over our enemies, victory over disease, and victory over death. Triumphant living according to the Word of God and the testimony of our Lord, is putting our trust in God as we walk through whatever He has laid before us. This is what Job tells us in 13:15; this is what Daniel did in the lion’s den (Dan. 6:23). It is what the Pharisees mocked Jesus for doing on the cross (Matt 27:43). It is what David declared emphatically in Psalm 23. 

What does it mean to you and I this morning that our Lord, the One who is greater than us, triumphed through suffering? I trust that it encourages us, and causes us to fix our eyes on Him, the Author and Perfector of our faith. 


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