GodReflection: Power Words

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; – Psalms 95:6

This city dweller has little knowledge of lambs.

My only close-up encounter was as a young boy visiting the farm of my dad’s cousin Bill. There I learned that the ultimate purpose of a farm was to produce food rather than be a perpetual petting zoo.

Periodically, our old Sears chest freezer reminded us to visit Cousin Bill. (I don’t know what ever happened to that freezer but it must still be running.) When the freezer neared empty, Dad would schedule a slaughter day at the farm to obtain some beef and a lamb.

Sheep provide wool and meat. Those raised for meat are “sacrificed” for sustenance.

Sheep are defenseless. They are small and can run only as far as the fence or the corner of a pen.

It was rather shocking to see Cousin Bill tie the animal’s legs, throw a rope over the barn rafters, hoist the animal from the ground by its hind legs, and end its life with one strong blow of a sledgehammer.

I suspect what caught me off guard was rather common in the life of young Israelites at the time Jesus walked Galilee, Judea, and the streets of Jerusalem.  Surely, the death of lambs was a frequent occurrence in the neighborhood.

The people of Israel received life through their lambs.

A lamb held such value that God judged the hearts of men based upon the willingness to give this valued object as a gift to God.

God chose the imagery of the lamb as the most powerful possible way to communicate the gift of cleansing power through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. God gave His Lamb for the people to assure their eternal sustenance.

And so—taking the imagery from the sacrifice on the cross and from the Throne Room of God, the Lamb becomes a powerful symbol of worship.

In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

. . . the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take 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 . . .”

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.

 They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!”

The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on the Power Word Lamb.

Gary@GodReflection.org             www.MakeYourVisionGoViral.com