(Revelation 5)
These two contrasted animals both have one thing in common: the Lord YAHSHUA, metaphorically speaking, is both of them at different times, work and circumstances. While the lion is strong and ferocious, the lamb is weak and gentle, dependent and vulnerable to danger. The lion has a strong body, weighting from 330 to 550 pounds. None escapes his strength. Proverbs describe the lion as the mightiest among beasts and turns not back before any (30:30). Ezekiel compares the conspiracy of Israel’s prophets as a roaring lion tearing the prey (22:25). The lion’s roar causes fear in all the forest animals; a warning that they heed and flee from his sight. YAHSHUA is both lion and lamb in the fulfillment of prophecy in time past and in future time. In time past He came to be the Lamb of God for the purpose of taking the sins of the world; in future time, as a Lion, He will roar in judgment; He will be King of all the earth.
How do we see Him as a lamb? Many years ago, lambs were used for sacrifice to atone the sins of the nation of Israel once per year. This practice first happened when Adam and Eve sinned against God. It continued throughout the Old Testament. And when He called Israel out of the land of Egypt, He made it official for the people to observe the Passover, based on the day of their freedom from slavery. They were told to sacrifice a lamb or a kid without blemish, a male of the first year; they were to be kept until the fourteenth day of the same month; the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel was [each] to kill [his] lamb in the evening; they were to take of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel on the houses in which they were to eat [the Passover lamb]; the blood was to be for a token or sign upon [the doorposts of] the houses where they were [that] when I see the blood, I will pass over you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt (Exodus 12: 5,7,13). The Passover lamb foreshadowed the crucifixion of the Messiah YAHSHUA. The precursor of YAHSHUA, John the Baptist, introduced Him to the nation of Israel as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). And as he looked at YAHSHUA, he said again, Look! There is the Lamb of God! (vs. 36). He was introduced metaphorically as a Lamb, so the people, familiar with the practice of sacrificing a lamb to atone for their sin, could understand John’s declaration of Whom YAHSHUA was and the purpose for what He had come.
Light from the Word 