A vision from Revelation shows a Lion who opens a sealed scroll, then reveals itself as a slain Lamb. Christ embodies both the victorious Lion and the sacrificial Lamb, achieving resurrection through suffering and shame. Believers who want to reign with him must follow the way of the Lamb, embracing sacrifice and humility.
Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. But one of the 24 elders said to me, stop weeping. Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, has won the victory. Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the 4 living beings. The prophetic picture that's being painted is quite clear. Jesus Christ became the reigning Lion by first being the slaughtered Lamb. He is God. Yet he suffers, dies a criminal's death, put to shame, beaten, scarred, slaughtered. But in that suffering, there was victory. In that death, there was life and resurrection power. You want to be a lion? You have to go the way of the lamb.
