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The Lion of Judah…

By March 9, 2017August 30th, 2022Lost in Translation

How many times have you heard the adage for the month of March, “In like a lion and out like a lamb…?” Or other sayings about the month of March? Such as “March winds and April showers bring May flowers…” or even “As it is in March, so it is in June…” For some reason, our late winter and spring months seem to have numerous sayings about the weather associated with them. And then, there’s always February and Groundhog Day – the six more weeks of winter thing…

Whether you believe these sayings or not, the truth of the matter is that March really did come in like a lion. And a week later, we are still experiencing strange weather. It has been warm, cold, wet, dry and above all, windy here in the midwest. We have suffered pretty severe wind damage and have even filed an insurance claim. Beyond that, the small body of water behind our home has white caps and it is too windy to even fish.

Yesterday, I parked the car in the driveway and while unloading several parcels, the door was blown shut by the wind. It has been an unusually windy month so far. The thought about March and the lion is that as the month continues, things will get progressively more mild so that by the end of the month, going out like a lamb, we will be ready for a gentle entrance into April.

The Bible uses many references to animals to get a point across as well. Of course, Jesus Himself is referred to as the “lion” of Judah and also the “lamb of God.” The lion has to do with the strength and power of Jesus as a descendent, in an earthly sense, from the line of Judah, one of the sons of Jacob. The fact that He has conquered sin is an illustration of the conquering hero. On the other end of the spectrum, Jesus was also the perfect sacrifice – the unblemished lamb led to be crucified on the cross.  So both the lion and the lamb have references to our Savior.

However, people think in the endtimes that “the lion will lay down with the lamb” and there is even some speculation that the references to March had this passage in mind – the strength of the lion and the submission of the lamb. But the truth of the matter is that the passage is so mis-quoted that people don’t know the real verse. It’s not what most people think it is… So… that’s our verse for this evening – the prophecy of Isaiah.

The words were first uttered by the prophet Isaiah as he was writing about the future. Isaiah was one of the first to predict the entrance of Jesus and so many of the things that He would do. Tonight’s verse is no exception. We are told by the prophet, in Isaiah 11:6, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.”

Notice that, according to Isaiah, the wolf (not the lion) will lay down (some versions say “live”) with the lamb – and something we thought was in the Scripture is nowhere to be found in it’s pages. But that doesn’t diminish the intent of Isaiah – the fact that a little child, Jesus, will lead them – as well as all of us – as the end of the verse reveals.

The passage seems to indicate that everybody and everything will get along – that’s something that we can all get behind, I hope. My encouragement this evening is that God wants us to love one another and to co-exist in unity. My prayer is that we can put all the partisan bitterness behind us and that our elected officials can put their differences aside and start acting in the best interests of the citizens of this great country. Then we all can move ahead toward living a life worthy of the calling we have received. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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