The Lamb of God

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And at this point, this is a one-night stand for me.
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So yeah, I get to do that, which I have a tendency to do anyway.
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So what I want to do is just really consider something for a few minutes as a meditation, certainly not to try to exegete a whole passage or anything like that.
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But I wanted to, in this, I began to think about this.
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And so hopefully we'll encourage at least some of our thoughts.
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And you know, the psalmist says that the heavens declare the glory of God.
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And the firmament shows forth its handiwork, as many of us have remembered that from Psalm 19.
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And as you begin to think about that, one of the thoughts that should come out of it is that there is nothing that's been created by God, as God has created everything.
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But there's nothing that's been created without a purpose.
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And I would think we would all admit we sometimes struggle with the purpose.
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Fire ants.
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I mean, I know there's a purpose for fire ants, but I don't understand it.
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Because they do no good.
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They just do harm, in my mind.
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But when you think about that, you think about how the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth its handiwork, and how even though we don't understand, we should be able to look at God's creation and be instructed by it, at least in certain ways, up to the point where finally one day, someday, God's going to explain why he created fire ants.
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And you know what fire ants eat? People.
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Termites.
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There you go.
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OK.
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Well, then why do they bite people's feet? Because it's an appetizer.
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Well, you see, now there's a man of wisdom.
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I don't know about the second part, but the first part.
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That's one blessing I have to consider now.
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Thank you, brother.
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But as you think about that, God, in his wisdom, it teaches us the creation to a certain extent, although it will not bring us into a saving relationship.
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And Paul deals with that in Romans 1, and the whole creation, and the conscience.
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But God does use the creation and the things in the creation to teach us in part of both himself and ourself.
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And I think that we would be able to consider that, and again, under that thought of the heavens declare his glory and the firmament shows forth his handiwork.
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I thought about it in the Gospels, because you could hardly read through the Gospels and not find the Lord Jesus, as he teaches, as he preaches, as he comforts, as sometimes he rebukes, that the Lord Jesus Christ many times used the things of creation as instruments, as tools to teach, and that he was, being the creator of all things, he was so in union with those things, and he used them in a way in which it was most instructive.
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I mean, I thought about how Jesus used so many different things.
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He used the stars.
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He used the sky.
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He talked to them, and he said, you can discern the sky in the morning, reddened morning, sailor's morning, and all that.
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Jesus used plants and trees, didn't he? He said, look at the fig tree.
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He talked about plants.
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He talked about the root system.
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He talked about trees.
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He talked about so many things in the creation, and he used them in his infinite wisdom to give us understanding of certain things, and not only about ourselves, but about him.
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And the reason why I say that is because in many ways, the birds, the fish, the animals of the creation have been used to demonstrate the outworking of God.
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And I wanted you to know, I did a little research on this.
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I want to know how many animals were mentioned in the Bible.
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Anybody want to take a guess how many there would be? OK.
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As I was able to do some research in front of, there's 120 different animals mentioned in the Bible.
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Some of them are mentioned over and over again, but it goes all the way from the vulture, to the ox, to the cow, to the deer, the badger, and on and on and on.
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And if you begin to think about that, it's amazing how God has incorporated within his word his creation, and in a way, again, to give us understanding.
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And he says that.
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He says one of the things that is beyond understanding is what? It's the way of the eagle in the air.
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And so when you think about that, as Jesus taught, and as we are to learn, we are not only to behold God's creation and praise him for it, but we are to gain understanding as we go along.
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And I wanted to say this because I want to consider two scriptures tonight.
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And they are going to be very familiar scriptures.
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I doubt any of us do not know them if we do not know the chapter and verse that they are to be found in.
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But I want to use two verses and look at them where Jesus himself is considered under the imagery of an animal.
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Again, don't misunderstand me.
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I'm not trying to be irreverent or anything like that.
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But I want to look at it, and I want us to consider how he even uses the creation to describe himself to us.
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And the two scriptures, and we'll look at them in more detail in a moment, but the two scriptures are when, if you remember, in the very beginning of John's gospel, that John the Baptist, as he sees the Lord Jesus coming, remember what he says? Behold what? The Lamb of God.
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So I want to look at that scripture and make a couple of remarks about that.
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And then I want to look at a scripture in Revelation chapter 5.
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And that's when the apostle on the island of Patmos has his vision, and he hears the things that are to come to pass shortly.
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And he says that as he heard the voice of who was able to open the seals of the judgment of God, you remember what he said? He said, behold, the lion from the tribe of Judah is worthy.
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So I want to look at those two verses, and I want us to think about some things about that, about the lamb and the lion.
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And I'll say this, because I'm not sure, in my own understanding, if we could find a bigger contrast than a lamb and a lion.
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Just think about that for a minute.
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Think about how far to one extreme, if you will, you would consider the thought of a lamb, and all the way to the other extreme, as you would consider the thought of a lion.
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And yet, Jesus is spoken of as both lamb and lion.
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I would think that if we were to think about it, which one of us would be afraid to approach a lamb? Now, there might be some, but I doubt there would be too many.
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I can remember when my kids were young, we used to take them to a little petting zoo.
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It was this little thing.
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It wasn't very big, but they were able to feed the little goats, the little lambs, and all that.
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So none of us would really be afraid of approaching a lamb, but which one of us would not fear approaching a lion? See, the extremes of this is amazing.
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You go from something that, in so many ways, demonstrates innocence, demonstrates meekness, demonstrates, if you will, tenderness, and then you go to the complete other extreme, and you consider the lion.
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And as I said, the lion poses a great deal of danger, doesn't he? And I want to look at that a little bit.
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I thought of it this way.
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One seems to be the slaughterer, and the other one is the slaughteree.
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So you kind of got the extremes going, right? The lion and the lamb and the lamb and the lion, and you think about these things, and the lamb speaks so softly, right? But as I've heard, not physically, audibly heard, but I've heard that a lion's roar travels for miles, and that that voice of that lion is really the voice of the king, at least in the surrounding that he's in.
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So you go from this extreme of an innocent, meek, mild, soft-spoken lamb to a roaring lion.
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And again, did God not give that to us to teach us some of the characteristic of the Lord Jesus Christ? I hope we would say yes.
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I mean, in other words, you think about it, you can remove the wolf from a sheep, I would think, right? I've never done it.
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But which one of us would go up to a lion and grab him by the beard or by the mane and try to take care of that? Again, there's such a dichotomy of this, and it's so big, and it's so immense.
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And so again, as we think about when John the Baptist says, behold the lamb, and then the apostle John says, behold the lion, that it is something to really consider.
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Now, I want to make a side note, not my main point tonight, but I want to make a side note, and I want to ask you a question.
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When you consider Israel of old, when you consider Israel as a nation brought out and their journey into the promised land, and then all the issues that came up with the nations that surrounded them, do you think that Israel was expecting in the Messiah the one that God had promised to bring forth? Do you think that they had more anticipation of a lamb or a lion? Why? They wanted a fierce king that would overthrow the Romans and put them back on the top of the game there.
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Yeah, they wanted a conqueror.
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They wanted someone who was going to come in raw and bring everything else into submission, just as a lion rules its pride or the area in which it inhabits.
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They were certainly looking for a lion.
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And rightfully so, don't get me wrong, because I'm going to show you, and probably familiar again, but that was part of the great prophecy that the lion would come forth.
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So certainly, that's something to consider.
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And they did.
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They did seek a conqueror.
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They did seek someone who was weak and powerless.
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But they sought someone who was able to subdue the enemies.
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Now, they understood the lamb.
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They weren't ignorant of the symbolism and the reality of the use of the lamb, specifically and especially as you consider the sacrificial system, where they used lambs and animals and sacrifices.
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And so they had familiarity with the lamb.
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And we'll talk about that a little bit.
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But again, from a progressive unfolding standpoint, I would submit to you that Israel had more desire and anticipation of the lion.
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And even in Jesus's day, what was one of the arguments that was presented against him is that he wasn't portraying to them that he came to subdue everything, although he did.
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Right? But ultimately, again, that would be drawn out after the cross.
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So I do want to look at these two verses.
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And I think it's right for us to, at least for me, to say this.
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In order for us to rightly understand God, rightly understand the work of Christ, both in his person and his work, rightly understand ourselves in relationship to the person and work of Christ, that you and I should have a good understanding of both lamb and lion.
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Because again, the scriptures give that to us.
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Right? They tell us that he is both lamb and lion.
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And so I hope that this will at least encourage us to think about these things, and not only in a way of thanking God for giving us these visible, tangible illustrations, but also that we would make use of them in their proper place.
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And that you cannot, and I want to try to emphasize this for a second, you cannot separate the lamb from the lion.
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Because the Lord Jesus Christ is both lamb and lion.
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And so again, we need to have a whole understanding of who Christ is.
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And again, praise God, he's given to us many ways in which to understand it.
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It doesn't discount the other thoughts of how Jesus says, I'm the door, or I'm the good shepherd.
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All those illustrations, right? And even that in the creation helps us to understand that.
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So let's first look at the lamb.
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And I want to say this before we go to John.
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And it's in John 1, so if you didn't know that, that's where we're going to start.
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And I want to say, there's a reason why I want to look at the lamb before we look at the lion.
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Number one is because I think that's how God discloses it to us, progressively, historically, in the works and the prophets.
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But I also want to add that I understand in the first coming of Christ that he comes in many outworkings as the lamb.
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And that in his second coming, that he is portrayed as the lion.
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Now, there's something to add to that.
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And that's all I understand, by the way, of the comings of Christ.
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First the lamb, then the lion.
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Not excluding all the things that he did.
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But I only see, I only understand from the word of God two comings of Christ.
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First coming and second coming.
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I'm just not able to find the third coming, or the rapture, or the millennium.
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I mean, I wonder if Revelation 20, verse 5, wasn't in the Bible, if we would ever have such a thought of a third coming of Christ.
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So that's why I want to look at it, because I do believe the first coming, he is in many ways displayed as the lamb.
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And then in his second coming, he is displayed, although we'll see it in Revelation, both as lamb and lion.
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So John 1, verse 29.
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Again, I'm not trying to look at the whole chapter, or even a number of verses.
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Just want to focus in on verse 29, with some thoughts for our meditation.
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John says this, I'll read verse 29.
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The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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This is he who I said after me, comes a man who was before me, for he was before me.
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Behold, the lamb of God.
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What a richness there is in the word of God concerning the lamb.
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The lamb in the sacrifice was to be without blemish, was it not? It had to have no imperfection.
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It had to be pure.
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It had to be absolutely spotless to be used, particularly in the day of atonement, when the high priest would go in and offer the sacrifice.
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Now, does that not speak of the Lord Jesus Christ? That he was the sinless one? The holy one? The one with no blemish? You know, it comes to my mind, many verses, but he made him who what? Who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
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The lamb of God, the sinless one, one totally pure, without any defect, the lamb, the meek and lowly lamb.
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Was not our Lord Jesus Christ meek and lowly? Does it not say that even as he walked by, he would not even bruise or read as he walked by? And very, very seldom do we see him raise his voice other than specifically when he went into the temple, right? And they were dishonoring his father's house, and he made the court and he drove them out of the temple.
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But as you read through the gospels, there we see Jesus, when he was reviled, what does it say? He reviled not again.
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Again, picturing that lamb, the one who would be the substitute, the great substitute, the great substitute for the sins of many.
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And again, just let that run through your mind of how in that day that lamb was used, his blood was used to cover up until the true lamb of God would come, right? For the blood of sins, the blood of bull and goats can what? Never take away the guilt of sin.
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But Christ is the lamb of God, the pure one, the holy one, the righteous one, the one without blemish, the one perfect in all his ways.
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So Israel had an understanding of that, didn't they? I mean, they went all the way back to Egypt, and you can understand that.
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Remember what was done.
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It was the emblem, if you will, of deliverance.
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Was it not? Were they not instructed that when Moses went before Pharaoh and Pharaoh's heart was so hardened and he was told that the plague that was going to come upon him was to be the loss of the firstborn among men and cattle and everything else? And you remember what the instruction was from God, that they were to take the lamb and that they would spill his blood and that they were to sprinkle it on the doorposts and on the lintels of the house and that when the angel of death passed over, he would see the blood and he would pass over them.
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So they had an understanding, but that's what the lamb stands for.
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It stands for purity.
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It stands for holiness.
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It stands for being absolutely perfect.
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It stands for deliverance.
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No wonder why John said, Behold the lamb of God.
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Behold the lamb.
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Remember, you can go back even before that, can't we? Do you remember when Abraham was instructed by God to go up on a mountain and sacrifice his own son? Do you remember as they walked? And that must have been a really interesting conversation.
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To be going there with all the preparations to sacrifice and not be pulling a goat or a lamb behind you on a little rope until Isaac turns around and says, hey Pop, where's the sacrifice? God will provide.
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And God provided.
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Again, brothers and sisters, when we read these things, it ought to at least provoke us to give praise and honor and glory and understanding, not just run through it.
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And again, I was really interested to see how many animals and everything, it goes from the ant, right? In Proverbs, it talks about they go to the ant, you slug it, it talks about the bear, it talks about behold the lamb of God.
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So when John looks out and he sees the Lord Jesus Christ coming and he understands the thought of that behind it all, that this one who was to come.
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And think about this.
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The lamb of God didn't just make sin disappear, did he? Would we be right to say that? That the lamb of God made sin disappear? Yes, no.
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What would you say? I would say no.
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He didn't just come to make sin disappear.
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He was the offering for sin.
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That's a different.
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He didn't just make it go away.
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The lamb of God took that upon himself.
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He made him who knew no sin to what? He sinned for us.
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The lamb is the substitute.
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The lamb of God is the substitute.
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Not the disguise, not the partial fulfillment.
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He is the absolute total substitute.
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Do you remember even in, again, from the imagery of the sacrifice when they would bring the lamb and the goat.
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Remember, they would shed the blood of the lamb.
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What did they do with the goat? They would confess the sins and he was sent out into the wilderness never to return.
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And so when you think about that and when John makes this astounding statement, and by the way, in both these verses, in both these scriptures, it begins with behold.
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It says, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
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Behold, the lion from the tribe of Judah is worthy.
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It's something that we should consider because that's really what it means when it says, behold, it's something that you and I should look at, think about, meditate on, give thanks for, and continually understand.
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That's why, again, learning from the creation is a gracious tool of God.
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It's not just there for filler, it's there to instruct.
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So when John says, and I wonder how they understood this in their understanding.
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Well, we know that they didn't fully understand that, but when he said, behold, the lamb of God, they would have been much happier if he would have said, behold, the lion from the tribe of Judah, but he doesn't.
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Because in Christ's first coming, did he come in that sense to be the conquering lion? But did he come to be the humble, suffering substitute, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Even as in Isaiah 53, he was what? He was led to the slaughter as a sheep to its shearers.
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And when he was reviled, he reviled not again.
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He opened not his mouth.
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Do you remember when he was before Pilate and in that scene of the ugliness of it all? And when Pilate says, do you not know that I have the power to release you? And the Lord Jesus Christ says, you don't have any power.
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Man, I could call 12 legions of angels.
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It was more of a lamb to me than a lion.
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Although I'm not discounting the fact that he was the true lion who braved it all to conquer all.
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But nevertheless, as John looks out at this and says, behold the lamb of God, you and I, we ought to just be so thankful for the lamb of God.
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Because that's not what we very often are.
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At least I know it myself.
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I find myself very deficient in being a lamb.
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And at times I find myself being very proficient in being a lion.
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And we need to be both, the lamb and the lion.
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I mean, we need to contend for the faith, defend our beliefs, our convictions as a lion would of his pride, but at the very same time, our mannerism, our ways should be like the lamb.
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So if you think about it, and certainly don't want, if you want to say, would you characterize yourself more as a lamb or a lion? And I'm not just talking about outward appearance, because I've known some lambs that ain't lambs.
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And I've known some lions that aren't lions.
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But that is to be something.
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So do we ever really ask God, God, give me grace to be like the lamb.
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To be meek, lowly, without blemish in all my relationships, in all my situations.
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Again, there's so many things in the world that are counted to that, aren't they? Well, if you're gonna be a man, you gotta be a man of the world and dog eat dog and that kind of thing.
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That wasn't the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And again, I don't care whether you're male or female, young, old, somewhere in between.
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This is a characteristic of the Redeemer.
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And so you and I should consider it.
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Before we move on, questions, comments, input, output? Thoughts? Again, I really don't believe that Israel, they understood the lamb in certain ways, but their real desire was for a lion.
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They still wanted the king that they got, they were asking for whenever they got salt.
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They're still looking for that.
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Exactly right, right? And in that sense, David, when he first appears, appears as what? In that way, he's like a lamb.
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He's coming out from keeping the sheep.
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Although he was no lamb because he already killed a lion and a bear, right? Yeah, I mean, it's just, and even as the prophecies began to unfold, it became clearer and clearer and clearer that before the lion would roar, the lamb would, in that sense, give itself up.
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Now again, whether you agree back with my thought that I only see two comings of Christ, that's certainly your right to believe that, but again, I only see the need, if you will, for the lamb and the lion, and that we don't need an antelope or a gazelle in between.
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All right, so got a few minutes left and we might be able to finish a little earlier.
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Go to Revelation now.
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So you got that thought in your mind.
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We'll go to Revelation chapter five.
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Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the sin of the world.
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I have a tendency to keep saying sins and it's not, it's the sin of the world.
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Okay, Revelation.
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And no, this is not in any way, shape, or form.
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It actually, Jesus is a revelation.
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But I wanna read, I'm gonna read a little bit because we do have an extra minute or two because I want us to see both predominantly the lion at this point, but the lamb.
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So I'm gonna read the whole chapter.
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It's only 14 verses.
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Excuse me.
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So John says this, as he has his vision, I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals.
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And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it.
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So I wept much because there was no one found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it.
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But one of the elders said to me, do not weep.
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Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.
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And I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
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Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.
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Now, when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
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And they sang a new song.
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You are worthy to take the scroll, to open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
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They made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth.
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And I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
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And the number of them was 10,000 times, 10,000 and thousands of thousands.
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Saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
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And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever.
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And the four living creatures said, amen.
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And the 24 elders found out, worshiped him who lives forever and ever.
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Now in this chapter, and again, not trying to open up its meaning as far as prophecy in any way, but in this chapter, brothers and sisters, we get the lion, the worthy one, the one who is alone worthy.
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That's why he says it the way he says it, right? And no one in heaven or under the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it and I wept much because no one was found worthy.
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Well, there is one that was worthy and it's the lion from the tribe of Judah.
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That great prophecy from Genesis 49, right? Remember that prophecy as the sons are being blessed and it says, Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise and your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies and your father's children shall bow down before you.
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Judah is a lion's whelp.
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From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
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He bows down, he lies down as a lion and as a lion, who shall rouse him? And then having said that, he then incorporates the lamb again, right? And notice if you will, we just read these verses.
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Notice the repetition of the word worthy.
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Worthy to open the seals.
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No one was found worthy to open and read.
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And then it says, do not fear the lion from the tribe of Judah has prevailed.
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He is the worthy one and they fall down and they worship and then again, it says in verse nine, and they sang a new song.
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You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seal.
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You were slain, again, alluring back to the lamb.
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And again, in verse 12, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb and every creature in verse 13 in heaven and earth and such are on the sea and all that are in them are heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever.
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Brothers and sisters, we must see Christ as lamb and lion.
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And we must give him the honor and the praise of being both on our behalf.
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The lion in his power, the lion in his majesty.
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Who would rouse the lion? Lion who alone rules.
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Again, this for us is a great comfort, but never at the exclusion of the lamb.
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And again, that's why I said at the beginning, what a dichotomy of the two.
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And yet what a blending of the two.
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Behold the lamb, behold the lion.
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Anyone who wants to understand truth must understand in some essence, in some way, both lamb and lion.
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And again, God has been so gracious to give us these.
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How the lion rules, how the lion roars, how all fear when the lion is aroused.
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The lion, and then you think about it.
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And if I'm right, the emblem for the tribe of Judah was a lion.
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And I would think if you wanted to portray majesty and royalty and power and strength, and you wanted to put an emblem up over your country, how many people would have an emblem of a flag of a lamb? But it's a lion who is fearless.
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Lion who is the one who rules.
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Isn't it interesting, and I just wanna mention, isn't it interesting how the scriptures speak of another lion? Do you remember what it says in First Peter? What does it say? Anybody remember? Satan goes about as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.
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First Peter five.
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So even in that thought of the creation and the use of an emblem, there's much to be thought of.
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So there's another lion that goes about as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.
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He's no match for the lion of the tribe of Judah.
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That lion might've thought that he crushed a lamb at the cross, but the lamb is also the lion.
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This lion is the worthy one.
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This is the king of the forest jungle.
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This is the king of kings and the Lord of lords.
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And so certainly he receives the honor that is due to his name.
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So again, I just wanted to try to ask us to think about that in all the different ways.
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A lion is the provider, right? The lion goes out, and I've heard that the females go out and they bring some food home and some lairs or whatever they call them.
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And I don't doubt that, and I'm not undermining that.
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I'm not messing with a bear with her whelps or anything like that.
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But the lion is the one who leads, right? He's the one who's in the front.
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He's the one who's the conqueror.
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He's the one who brings everything else into subjection.
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He's the one that fights off other lions that would come and try to steal from the pride, right? Again, why are all these things in creation? And then why is our Lord Jesus Christ likened to a lion? A lion who will come, and in that day, in that day with that shout of victory, that will be a roar that everyone, everywhere, from every time, in every place, in every civilization will hear and see.
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Every knee shall bow.
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Every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord.
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He's the, behold the lamb, behold the lion.
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And then that lion will expose the thoughts of everyone.
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And that lion will run the judgment.
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That lion will cast out anything that opposes him.
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And that other lion will be what? Cast into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever.
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And this lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, the lion, he will reign forever and ever.
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And we, having been given newness of life through his work as lamb and lion, we will partake of it forever and ever.
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Man, if that does not get your spiritual hair to stand up even a little bit, then you need to go wash your hair.
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Because it ought to.
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I look forward to seeing the lamb of God.
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I look forward to seeing the lion from the tribe of Judah.
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And again, I must admit in my own heart, the thought of both of them is so beautiful, but yet, I just seem to have more of a tendency towards the lion than the lamb.
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So I need to be more of a lamb and be well mixed.
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I love to eat lamb chops, by the way.
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There ain't enough lamb chops in the world for me.
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And I'm not eating no lion, by the way.
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So I'll close with this, friends.
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Worthy is the lamb that was slain.
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Worthy is the lion who overcame.
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And if anyone, maybe that's a good way for us to witness, too.
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That we should talk to people about the lamb.
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And we should tell people about the lion.
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And we need to have it in balance.
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Because some will only talk about the lamb at the neglect of the lion.
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And some will only speak about the lion at the neglect of the lamb.
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But the word of God is given to us in vivid form that he is both lamb and lion.
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So I pray that that'll at least give us some things to think about.
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And that Brother Keith will be back again next week, Lord Willen, and he'll be back in the Gospel of Mark.
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And anyone have any closing thoughts? That's another interesting, there's so many allusions to that, right? That there's, as we would think, and I'm just, as we would think that because of the extremes of it, there can be no union, yet there is perfect union, right? And even the child, it says in that section of Mark, child will lay down next to the asp, the snake.
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Do that one time.
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See how many animals you can name.
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It's interesting.
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I actually have a book that says all the animals in the Bible.
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All right, let's just close the word there.
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Our Father in God, again, we thank you for the ability to come and to worship the lamb and worship the lion.
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And O God, may we not be so foolish to think only in terms of animals and created things, although, Father, you have given us so much to wonder at, and the heavens do declare your glory, and the firmament does show forth your handiwork, but O God, may we see in the things made, the one who came, your only begotten Son, the eternal Son of God, and may we further understand the character of the lamb, being spotless and pure and a substitution and an atonement and a lion, a conquering king, coming to banish his enemies and gather his own around himself to protect them and provide for them forever.
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So bless us tonight, Lord.
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May we grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Son of God who so loved us that he gave himself for us.
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Amen.