Lion
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This article is one in a series of studies on animals that are used as metaphors for Jesus Christ - you are currently on the topic that is in bold:
A Lion is a symbol of power and kingship. The patriarch Jacob prophecied that his son Judah was a lion, and that the scepter would not depart from his lineage. Later, the prophet Nathan prophecied that King David's seed would build a temple to the LORD, and that the throne of this son would be established forever.
Joseph and Mary were both of the lineage of David, of the tribe of Judah. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was called the Son of David. Just like David's son Solomon reigned after him, and built a temple to the LORD, so Jesus built a temple to the LORD. The difference was that Solomon's temple was a building, and Jesus' temple was his resurrected body.
| Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:19-21) |
Scriptures
The Lion is a sign of great power
| Scripture | Text: |
|---|---|
| I SAMUEL 17:37 | David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee. |
| II SAMUEL 23:20 | And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow: |
| PROVERBS 28:1 | The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. |
| PROVERBS 30:29-30 | There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going: A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any; |
The Lion of Judah: the promise of the King and the Messiah
| Scripture | Text: |
|---|---|
| GENESIS 49:9 | Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? |
| GENESIS 49:10 | The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. |
| JOHN 7:42 | Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? |
| REVELATION 5:5-7 | And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. |
The Voice of the Lord
| Scripture | Text: |
|---|---|
| AMOS 3:7 | Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. |
| AMOS 3:8 | The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy? |
| REVELATION 10:1-3 | And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. |
The Lion of Judgement
| Scripture | Text: |
|---|---|
| JUDGES 14:18 | And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle. |
| JUDGES 14:19 | And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. |
| I KINGS 13:26 | And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him. |
| PROVERBS 20:2 | The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. |
| ISAIAH 21:6-9 | For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. |
| HOSEA 5:14 | For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. |
| HOSEA 11:10 | They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. |
| HOSEA 13:7-10 | Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? |
The promise of peace
| Scripture | Text: |
|---|---|
| PROVERBS 19:12 | The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass. |
| ISAIAH 11:6-7 | The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. |
| ISAIAH 65:25 | The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD. |
The Lion among the Cherubs
| Scripture | Text: |
|---|---|
| EZEKIEL 1:4-14 | And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. |
| EZEKIEL 10:9-14 | And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone. And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went. And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel. And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. |
| EZEKIEL 10:15 | And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. |
| EZEKIEL 41:16-20 | The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the door, cieled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered; To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure. And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces; So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about. From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made, and on the wall of the temple. |
| DANIEL 7:2-4 | Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. |
| REVELATION 4:6-8 | And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. |