The images of Christ as God's Lamb and as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah seem to be in conflict. But further issues are raised by God's warning against Israel taking a king - that he would be rapacious and ruthless and take away their property and liberty.
How then can Christ be King, like a lion, yet possess the character of a lamb towards His people?
The Lord Jesus is, in fact, the resolution of the rebellious desire of Israel for a king. When Israel demanded a king, she was rebelling against God's rule over her.
But with Christ's rule over us, we are reconciled to God's reign, first, because Christ has taken away the dispute between His people and God.
By His sacrifice, He brings us back under God's rule by discharging the judgment against us for our rebellion against God. Sinners oppose God because of sin, and God is full of wrath against them. Lost men seek refuse in an earthly king, but none is found to rescue them from God's anger.
But King Jesus reconciles us to God in the body of His flesh! Thus, Christ as our king accomplishes what no other king could - He takes us away from God's wrath by His bloodshedding at Calvary! In His obedience as our Lord, we are judged obedient to God.
Israel rebelled against the Savior, but God appointed Him our prince anyway! Christ gives us repentance to cause us to submit to God's reign.
Thereby, God has turned the contest between God's rule and man's desire for a king on its head, by appointing Jesus our King, to bring us back to God. In Christ, God's rule and man's king are joined together, because Christ is the Son of God and God of very God!
No king ever died for His people like Jesus did for us!
John Pittman Hey was born in 1961 in Jackson, Mississippi, to Godly parents who from the beginning raised him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. With child-like faith he came to Christ on his fourth birthday at his mother's knee. He received his education at church school,...
Email Sermon
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
