The Lion Who Was a Lamb

Jacob spoke two kinds of words in his last days. Over Judah he spoke of a lion, a scepter and a ruler’s staff, the line of rule. Of his own life he spoke of the messenger who had redeemed him, the line of the goel. In Genesis the two stand a chapter apart. In the book of Revelation they stand one verse apart, in a single scene, and the way that scene is told keeps them distinct while showing that they belong to one Person.

A Scroll No One Could Open

The scene opens in heaven, before the throne. John sees a scroll in the right hand of the One seated there, and a question is put to all creation.

Revelation 5:1-4 And I saw in the right hand of the One seated on the throne a biblion βιβλίον bib-lee'-on(scroll) written on the inside and on the outside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, "Who is worthy to open the biblion(scroll) and to break its seals?" And no one in heaven above or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the biblion(scroll) or to look into it. And I was weeping greatly because no worthy one was found to open the biblion(scroll) or to look into it.

No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth is able to open the scroll, and John weeps greatly.

One word governs the whole question: worthy. The angel does not ask who is strong enough to break the seals, or who has the right tools. He asks who is worthy. That word will come back at the climax of the chapter, and when it does, it will be given a reason.

What John Heard

Into John’s weeping comes the voice of one of the elders.

Revelation 5:5 And one of the elders says to me, "Do not weep; behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome — the One who opens the biblion(scroll) and its seven seals."

The elder speaks of “the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David.” Every part of that title belongs to the first of the two lines. The lion is Jacob’s own picture: “A lion’s whelp is Judah” (Genesis 49:9). The tribe is the tribe over which Jacob said the scepter would not depart. And David is the king who came from that tribe.

So the question of the angel has an answer: someone has been found.

What John Saw

Then John looks. What he had heard announced was a lion. What he actually sees is this.

Revelation 5:6 And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as though slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven pneumata(spirits) of God sent out into all the earth.

The Greek for “slaughtered” here is esphagmenon, a perfect passive participle of sphazo, “to slay, to slaughter.” A Greek perfect speaks of something done in the past whose result still holds. So the slaughter is not something that is happening in front of John, and it is not something that has been undone. It was done, and the Lamb still stands in that state. The word for Lamb is arnion. The verse sets two things side by side that would never meet in an ordinary life: “standing” and “slaughtered.” The Lamb has been slain, and the Lamb stands.

So the elder announced one thing, and John saw another. The announcement belonged to the line of rule. The sight was of a Lamb that had been slaughtered, and, as the song three verses later will show, what that Lamb did belongs to the line of the goel. Revelation does not tell us that the lion turned into a lamb, or that the lamb took the lion’s place. It simply places the two one verse apart and lets the reader see that they are spoken of the same One.

The Same One Takes the Scroll

How do we know that the lion and the Lamb are not two figures? The next verse settles it.

Revelation 5:7-8 And He came and took it from the right hand of the One seated on the throne. And when He took the biblion(scroll), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a kithara(harp) and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.

The elder had said that the lion is “the One who opens the biblion(scroll).” Now the Lamb comes and takes the scroll from the right hand of the One on the throne, and the living creatures and the elders fall down “before the Lamb.” The one announced as the lion is the one who acts as the Lamb. There is one figure in the scene who takes the scroll, and the chapter calls Him by both names.

Jacob’s last words keep the same two lines apart: the scepter over Judah and the messenger who redeemed him. Genesis does not write the sentence that makes the One who comes to Judah and that messenger one Person. But the messenger spoke as God, and Revelation shows the lion of Judah and the Lamb who paid the price to be one, so reading Jacob’s two words as pointing to the same One is a very persuasive interpretation. Revelation shows that unity without mixing the two lines into one.

Heard and Seen

John heard “lion,” and he saw a Lamb, and the deed the song of Revelation 5:9 gives to that Lamb is the paying of a price. The chapter moves from what was announced to what was seen, and from what was seen to what was done.

The question in heaven was who is worthy to open the scroll. The answer was not given by describing strength alone, though the lion is strength. When the reason for His worthiness is finally sung, it does not speak of the scepter at all. It speaks of slaughter and of blood. The lion has overcome, and He has overcome as the Lamb that was slaughtered.

Why the Two Lines Must Stay Two

It would be easy to blur the lines, and to say that the lion and the Lamb are simply two pictures of the same truth. They are pictures of the same Person, but they are not pictures of the same truth. The lion answers the question of where He comes from and who rules. He comes from Judah, and the rule is His. The Lamb answers the question of who may redeem and with what price. He was slaughtered, and the price is His own blood.

Keep the lines apart, and each verse says what it says. Genesis 49:10 says the scepter will stay with Judah until Shiloh comes. Revelation 5:5 says the lion of that tribe has overcome. Genesis 48:16 says a messenger redeemed Jacob from all evil. Revelation 5:9 says the Lamb bought a people for God. Run the lines together, and the scepter begins to look like a price, or the price like a scepter, and neither verse is heard clearly.

Scripture does not hand rule to one person and redemption to another. It gives both to one. But it writes each with its own words, so that the reader can see what each one means. In this scene the elder speaks the language of rule, John sees a Lamb that was slaughtered, and the song that follows speaks the language of the market, and it turns on one decisive verb.