The Lion and the Lamb

We read very early in Genesis that Abel (whom Cain slew) was a keeper of sheep, It is presumable that Seth who compensated for the loss of Abel was also a keeper of sheep, because his successors from generation to generation, have offered up lambs from their flocks. In fact they were a sheep raising, sheep sacrificing, sheep eating people.

These people possessing definite Nordic characteristics were the Habiru or Hebrews of early archaeological and Scriptural history who stemmed from Seth, through Noah and Shem in their dynasties, and were a nomadic shepherd people. Abraham, of this genealogical succession, was referred to in his day as clan commander of the Habirus, Hebrews, Hibernians. He is referred to in the Bible as the father of the Hebrews.

These people through Isaac and Jacob Israel and his twelve sons and their descendants came in the course of time to Mount Sinai and were there Divinely constituted God’s Kingdom on earth, and referred to as the Children of Israel, later the whole House of Israel. They were given laws, statutes, judgments and ordinances to live by. God frequently referred to them “as the sheep of his pasture.” Isaiah 40:11 reads: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in His bosom and shall gently lead them that are with young.”

When Jesus entered upon His active ministry, he said, “I come not but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Israel was then in dispersion among the Ethnos.

When the forerunner of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, was baptizing in the Jordan, he saw Jesus coming towards him and exclaimed “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.”

Jesus was likewise a Lamb of the Israel flock, a Lamb without blemish. I Peter 1: 18 19. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

As the Lamb of God and because it was necessary that one should die for the sins of the people, He willingly gave Himself, a ransom for many, and thus Redeemed Israel. Thus in His person He fulfilled and finalized the sacrificing of Lambs from the foundation of the Age.

With His resurrection He became the Great Shepherd of the Israel sheep.

Our National Liturgy (as modern Israel) in the Book of Common Prayer reads in the Venite: “For He is the Lord our God and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” In the General Confession, we say, “we have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lostsheep, we have offended against Thy Holy Laws.”

Rev. 5:2 “And I saw a strong angel, proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, 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 (i.e. of Israel) stood a Lamb as it had been slain And He came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, and they sang a new song, saying: Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us (i.e. 12 Tribed Jacob Israel) to God, by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation. And hast made us (Israel) unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.”

Yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God, but you will notice a few lines back that He is also the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David. In the blessings of Jacob to his twelve sons, (Genesis chapter 49) we read that “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?” “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.”

We are Israel, the sheep of His pasture, and Jesus the Great Shepherd of the ‘sheep’, is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The British Royal House can claim descent from King David of old and Shiloh (or Jesus) will take over that throne when He comes according to the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it, with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.”

The Lord sent a word upon Jacob and it hatb lighted upon Israel. Israel heraldry predominates throughout Anglo Saxon Israel. The Lion of Scotland, the Bull of England, the Harp of Ireland, are an ever present reminder that these heraldic insignias mean something and definitely point the finger backward over the years, to our forefather Abraham, the Man of Faith.

Isaiah 51:1 “Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged, look unto Abraham your father and unto Sarah that bare you.”