Why is Jesus Called the Lion of Judah? 2024-2025

Why is Jesus Called the Lion of Judah? 2024-2025

Background Text: Genesis 49:9-10 

Devotional Text: Revelation 5:1-14

 

Recently, we have been looking at the sacrifice of Jesus in preparation for Resurrection Day, commonly referred to as Easter. We have also shown Jesus referred to as the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.

 

We read from the book of Exodus 12:1-42 how the blood of a young and unblemished lamb was painted on the door frames of the Hebrew people. The blood of the lamb identified the occupants of the home as God’s people, and the angel of death passed over them.

 

Then, going to John 1:29, we also read how John the Baptist greeted Jesus with these words, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

 

Today, I’d like us to look at another distinction for Jesus, that is, Jesus referred to as The Lion of Judah.

 

Although there are hundreds of mentions of lions in the Bible, there are a specific number that absolutely refer to Jesus. We will be looking at some of them today. Beginning with Jacob’s blessing of his sons found in the Old Testament, we find these verses as part of the blessing given to Judah in Genesis 49:9-10, “You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey my son. Like a lion, he crouches and lies down, like a lioness — who dares to rouse him?

 

”The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.” These, then, are the first reference to Jesus as the Lion of Judah.

 

Before looking at more Old Testament scripture, let’s go to Matthew 1:1-17, where the genealogy of Jesus is listed. We begin with Abraham, the father of Isaac; then Isaac as the father of Jacob; Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

 

Going along the ancestral line, in verse 6 we find Jesse, who was the father of David, who would become king. In verse 16, another Jacob became the father of Joseph, who married Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Messiah. Research shows us that Mary, too, was linked to the tribe of Judah, through her father. In these verses of scripture we can clearly see the ascendancy of Jesus along the line of Abraham, Jacob, Judah and King David.

 

Now let’s go to scriptures that speak of lions, and specifically the Lion of Judah. Beginning with Proverbs 30:30, we find the description of a lion, “a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing.”

 

Proverbs 28:1 tells us, “The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.”

 

We find here the nature of a lion, king of beasts. The lion does not retreat. The lion is bold, and the lion has great strength and courage. In a spiritual sense, those who trust in God are as bold as the lion.

 

Then, reading from the minor prophet Joel, we find this translation from the NIV in Joel 3:16, “The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people ....”

 

In the NCV translation, we read more clearly about the roar, “The Lord will roar like a lion from Jerusalem; his loud voice will thunder from that city, and the sky and the earth will shake. But the Lord will be a safe place for his people ....”

 

How do we describe a lion? Lions are brave; they walk as if they are royal and they have great physical strength. They are known for triumphing over difficult odds. When we think of Jesus, the Messiah, we think of spiritual strength as well as human strength. He triumphed over the devil in the desert and on the cross. He went through torture and great agony in his last days. He could not be tempted by sin, and death could not hold him.

 

Finally, let’s go to the book of Revelation, written by the Apostle John while exiled on the island of Patmos. In Revelation 5:1-14, the lion and the lamb are the focus of the opening of the heavenly scroll. The first verses tell us that no one was found worthy “in heaven and earth, and under the earth, (who) could open the scroll or even look inside it.”

 

As John cried because the scroll could not be opened, one of the elders said to him, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

 

Verses 6 through 10 bring forth the Lamb, standing in the center of the throne, looking as if it had been slain. The lamb took the scroll from the one who held it, and those around the throne sang a song to the righteousness of the lamb:

 

”You are worthy of the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

 

The Lion of Judah was able to open the scroll and the seals because he triumphed over death and rose again, now sitting at the right hand of the Father. The Lamb of God, who is also the Lion of Judah, was equally able to open the scroll and seals because he sacrificed himself for the salvation of all humanity.

 

Therefore, friends, we find in this scripture the use of both names, the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah, as in reference to the Messiah, Jesus. Both names are used as descriptive references to Jesus, both in his work on earth and in heaven.र योजना अच्छे विचार आसान बिजिनेस आइडिया योजना, परियोजना, भारत सरकार योजना ढांचा, मानचित्र, उपाय, मंसूबा scheme योजना,