The Lion and the Lamb

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 13, 1903

The Lion and the Lamb

There is no more vivid and striking illustration of the power in weakness, which is the characteristic of the gospel, than that presented in Rev. 5: 5, 6. When no man in heaven or earth could open the sealed book, one of the elders said to John, “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah . . . hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” In accordance with the elder's words, John “beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne . . . stood a Lamb as it had been slain.” There was “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” John looked for the conquering Lion, and he beheld a slain Lamb! A more striking contrast, and greater seeming contradiction, could not be imagined; yet the two are one and the same. In the slain Lamb which is the conquering Lion, we see how God ordains strength out of the most abject weakness; and thus we have “strong consolation.”—Selected.