Recently I have noticed the use of the image of Jesus as a lion in a number of Spirit-filled worship songs. Most of the time, these lyrics depict God or Jesus as the lion with the idea of conveying strength, victory, and warfare. Consider the following examples.

In “Lion” by Elevation Worship featuring Chris Brown and Brandon Lake, the song depicts the “God of Jacob” and the “Son of Man” referring to God. It then has a powerful chorus: “Hail, Hail, Lion of Judah, Let the Lion Roar.” The song even climaxes with repeating the word “roar” as the apex cry of the song, where the worshipers are essentially roaring like the lion.

The lion of Judah appears in another song called “Lion and the Lamb” by Benton Brown, which draws from Revelation 5 of the Lion and the Lamb. This song uses both images by saying “Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah. He’s roaring in power and fighting our battles. And every knee will bow before Him. Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain. For the sins of the world.” It ends with “Every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb.”

Another older song is “Victory Chant” by Bob Fitts, which extols Jesus with the chorus “Hail, Hail, Lion of Judah, How powerful you Are.”

In each of these songs, the image of the lion is used to denote Jesus’ power and strength to fight our battles. These songs are filled with power and make the singers feel empowered for victory.

The motif of power and victory is very common in Spirit-filled circles. But the appeal to the “lion of Judah,” like in the Elevation song, is also seen in Christian churches that place Israel as a central of their eschatological beliefs. The image below is an example of the lion as an image that portrays God as the defender of Israel. No doubt, this is drawing from the lion of Judah from Genesis and Revelation.

The images of a powerful lion are also seen in some nationalistic circles in the U.S. that place God as the vindicator of the political process. Some even equate conservative former President, Donald Trump, as the “lion” that will give victory over evil forces at work in the U.S. as a quasi-messianic figure.

In each of these examples, the lion is an image that portrays a warrior-leader who is fighting against and will conquer all of God’s enemies. In most cases, this is applied to Jesus, but the lion also shows up in military and political images. Is that what Revelation intends to communicate? Is Jesus the Lion?

The Lion in Biblical Literature

The use of the “lion of Judah” as an image of Jesus has caught the attention of scholars such as Brent Strawn. Researching the origin of the lion of Judah in Biblical literature, Strawn points out the while most people point to the references in Gen 49:9 and Numbers 24 for the origin of this image, the lion actually has a variety of connotations throughout biblical literature, both positive and negative.

As an image of power, there are far more references to lions as being a threat to Israel than an image of salvation of Israel. Perfect examples are Daniel and the lion’s den or Babylon depicted as lion that will tear Judah to pieces. Strawn also notes that in the inter-testamental period, the lion was often a sign of the judgment of God (Babylon) and denotes the actions of wicked people.

But in today’s pop Chirstian culture, the lion is always fighting on God’s side. Strawn notes, “It is always a matter of how the image is appropriated. If ‘we’ (the insider group) are lion-like, this is good for us and bad for our enemies; if ‘they’ (the outsider group) are lions, it is bad all the way around.”

Interestingly, the image of the lion is not associated with Jesus in the New Testament, except in Revelation. Everywhere else, the lion is associated with the Devil or persecution. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Paul testified to being “rescued from the lion’s mouth” (2 Tim 4:17). Of course many martyrs died by lions at the hands of the Romans. Even in Revelation, the lion is associated with both good and evil characters. One of the living creatures was “like a lion.” (Rev 4:6). The locusts had teeth like lions (Rv 9:7-9). The evil riders had heads “like lions heads” (9:17). And the Beast had a “mouth like a lion’s mouth” (Rev. 13:2).

What do we do with the Lion of Revelation 5?

One of the origins of the lion of Judah image is found in the messianic images used by Jewish people for their belief that a conquering warrior would come to their rescue. Judas Maccabeus, the liberator of Judah from the Hasmoneans in 160s BC, was a pre-messianic military figure that was referred to as a lion. Strawn quotes 1 Maccabees 3.4: “He [Judas Maccabeus] was like a lion [ώμοιώθη λέοντι] in his deeds, like a lion’s cub [cos σκύμνος] roaring for prey.” It was this conquering deliverer who became a prototype for the Jewish people of the Messiah. So it is no surprise, then ,that this image appears in the Book of Revelation. It was Judah’s hope of a victorious, warrior king (lion) to exact punishment on the occupying enemies (Romans).

It is here that we must understand what Revelation is doing with the image of the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” of Revelation 5:5. Is Jesus the Lion? Is Jesus the Lamb? Is he both, Lion and Lamb, as the song mentioned above?

To understand this, we must begin by recognizing that Revelation is filled with OT prophetic images of the messiah. I contend, as do many other scholars, that the purpose of Revelation is to re-interpret these messianic images in light of the coming of Jesus. This is why the book begins with “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” rather than a revelation of the “end times.” The book is not simply a prophecy of the future, rather, it is a revelation (apocalypsis) of who Jesus is in light of the messianic expectations about his coming. As the angel says, “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10)

I Heard/I Saw

To understand the Lion & Lamb imagery in Revelation 5, one needs to first recognize there is a literary devise at work that intends to draw a contrast between what John heard and what he saw concerning this messianic image of the lion of Judah.

The passage begins with the question of who is worthy to open the scroll. The answer John hears is “Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David. . . has triumphed…” These both are messianic OT titles and represent the expectation of what the Jews thought the Messiah would be.

So John hears “the Lion of Judah has conquered.” But what John sees is very different from what he expected to see when he turns to look. John does not see a Lion, he sees a Lamb who had been slain.

This image of the lamb conveys the reality of how the Messiah actually came. Jesus came as the Lamb who conquered on the cross, not the Lion who conquered in battle. His victory was not achieved militarily; it was won sacrificially. What the Spirit of God was revealing was a reinterpretation of the Messianic expectations of the Jewish nation. They expected a Lion, God provided a Lamb.

The contrast is stark between these two images. The Lion is powerful, tears apart prey, and is feared. This is the image that makes for good songs about God’s power and victory. The Lamb, on the other hand, is an image of docility, of vulnerability, and sacrifice. We alway prefer the image God that destroys enemies. Like the first century Jews, we want God to conquer our enemies. But the Jesus of the New Testament is one of love, peace, and sacrifice for others.

In this way, in Revelation, the Lion image is re-interpreted and replaced by the Lamb image. After all, Jesus conquers not by military might or battling enemies, he conquers by his sacrifice as the Lamb of God. Jesus is the Lamb of God “who takes away the sins of the world.”

In the midst of a world of violence and evil, it is easy for the church to appeal to this image of the Lion to conquer the enemies we see in the world. Yet, Jesus, the Lamb of God, provides a very different path to victory, one that loves enemies and lays his life down for those enemies. But the world needs the Lamb, not the Lion.

To me, the clear message of Revelation is that the only image of Jesus that will open the scroll to reveal what God is doing in the earth is the image of the Lamb of God who was slain. This is the only Messiah that has power to redeem the world and will establish his kingdom on earth, not through military or political power, but through sacrifice and salvation. We need the Lamb, not the Lion.

“Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals,  because You were slain, and by Your blood. You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom  and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.” (Rev. 5:9-10).