During the Communist era the state had ruthlessly harassed and marginalized the small Methodist community in Prague, Czechoslovakia. They were denied all publicity, even to a sign outside their building that indicated that it was a church. Then in 1989 the Communist government suddenly collapsed. Just as swiftly, a message was posted outside the little church announcing movingly to every passer-by: “The Lamb Wins.”1 The message must have bewildered most of those passing by. Lambs are timid animals; they are not lions, and they are not ferocious. In no contest known to me do the lambs win. Foxes, wild dogs, and eagles always win. Ask any sheep farmer.
Rebirth of an Image
That’s what makes John’s image so surprising and so bewildering. John began to weep bitterly when he heard that there was no one either in heaven or on earth worthy to open the scroll with its seven seals (Rev. 5:1-4).2 “Do not weep,” one of the 24 elders comforts him. “See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (verse 5). The “Root of David” refers to a descendant of the mightiest of the Judean kings. And Jesus Himself has already claimed the awesome title: “I,” He announces, “am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star’ ” (Rev. 22:16).
The “Lion of the tribe of Judah” is a fitting title for the Davidic kings. No doubt John expects to see an image of a powerful lion with a mighty golden mane, but alas, no. What he sees is “a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered” (Rev. 5:6). The elder’s description and the actual sight are in confusing contradiction. Is this some kind of cruel joke? A once-dead lamb instead of an image of a powerful king! Austin Farrer refers to “the unforgettable and emphatic equation of the Lion and the Lamb” as a “rebirth of images.”3 The gospel abounds with such confronting contradictions: weakness is strength (2 Cor. 12:10), folly is wisdom (1 Cor. 3:18), humility is greatness (Luke 22:26), poverty is wealth ?(2 Cor. 6:10), death is life (2 Cor. 6:9), ?loss is gain (Phil. 3:8), suffering is joy (James 1:2), and the least of these is King of kings (Matt. 25:40).
That a slaughtered lamb wins is, to say the least, a shock. Yet the Bible is full of such surprises. A single stone smashes an image of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay and reduces it to chaff, while the stone grows into a great mountain that fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). A lad with a sling fells a giant armed with a spear, javelin, and a sword (1 Sam. 17:45). A band of 300 routs an army (Judges 7:7). A mustard seed becomes a kingdom (Mark 4:30-32), and a crucified Jew is the Savior of the world (John 4:42).
“Here Is Your King”
One of the most powerful and ironic examples of a rebirth of an image occurs during Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate. The Fourth Gospel differs slightly from the other Gospels in the sequence of events it reports at Jesus’ trial before the Roman governor of Judea. Though minor, these differences enhance the drama as John unfolds it. Matthew and Mark do not mention Jesus’ interrogation after His flogging and the soldiers’ mockery. These first two Gospels describe Him being led away to the cross immediately following these abuses (Matt. 27:26-32; Mark 15:15-21). Luke climaxes the enquiry before Pilate with the Barabbas episode, and the narrative then moves directly to the journey to Golgotha (Luke 23:18-26). Only John shows Pilate continuing his interrogation following Jesus’ flogging and the soldiers’ mocking (John 19:1-16). John alone records Pilate’s interaction with the Jewish leadership while the spectacle of Jesus’ brutalized form was standing before them (verses 5, 13).
The effect on the reader is dramatic. As Jesus comes out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, the reader sees what the crowd saw: a pathetic, lacerated figure, weak and helpless from His torture (verse 5). The power of Rome has reduced Him (John 1:49; 12:13) to awkward ridicule. With intended insult to the Jewish leadership, Pilate says to them, “Behold the man!” (verse 5, KJV). Since these are the identical words that God used to Samuel when referring to Saul, Israel’s first king (1 Sam. 9:17), the chief priests and their guards are incensed, for they hear these words as “Here is your king.”
Who would want such a pitiable figure as their king? Certainly not the Jewish leadership, for they react immediately with the cry “Crucify him! Crucify him!” (John 19:6). Pilate continues to mock the Jewish leadership, “Here is your King!” (verse 14). “Shall I crucify your King?” (verse 15). Pilate is provoking the Jews by offering them the broken figure of Jesus as their king. They refuse and declare: “We have no king but the emperor” (verse 15). It’s game over now: with this confession of fidelity to the emperor, Pilate immediately hands Jesus over to be crucified (verse 16). Adding further insult, he places on the cross an inscription in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages proclaiming: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (verse 19). His intentional offense has the desired effect. The Jews are even further incensed (verse 21).
How the Lamb Wins
The reader who accepts John’s affirmation of Jesus from the prologue onward grasps the irony that this broken and wretched figure, humiliated and dressed in the burlesque and mocking attire of a king, is truly Israel’s King. His royal status is not acquired through the pomp of a human coronation, or denied by His tormentors’ abuse. Rather, it is attained through the acclamation of His heavenly Father. God glorifies and exalts Him through the very instrument of human rejection—the cross. John makes it clear throughout the interaction with Pilate that Jesus, not the governor, is the judge; that He, not Pilate, is in control; and that He, not Caesar, is the true king. This brings us back to where we began, with John’s vision from Patmos.
The Apocalypse pictures Jesus as Lord of lords and King of kings, which is somewhat different from the image of a slaughtered lamb. Persian and Babylonian kings were called lord of lords and king of kings (Ezra 7:12; Eze. 26:7; Dan. 2:37). But in the New Testament this title applies only to God the Father and the Son (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16). In the last two of these passages Jesus is no meek donkey rider entering Jerusalem (John 12:12-15), but a mighty monarch on a white horse (Rev. 19:11, 12). No more is he the burlesque king of Pilate’s mockery, but an all-conquering Messiah slaughtering His opponents (verses 13-16). The language is militaristic and graphic: Heaven opens. There is a white horse! Its rider, called Faithful and True, judges and fights fairly. “His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. ?. . . He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. . . . And the armies of heaven . . . [are] following him. . . . On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ ” (verses 11-16).
Has John forgotten the Gospel image of the humble king of the cross, or even his image of the slaughtered lamb in the Apocalypse itself? No, John has not forgotten the humiliated king of his Gospel, nor has he forgotten the symbol of the lamb that dominates the imagery of the Apocalypse. Of the 34 times that the word “lamb” is used in the New Testament, 29 are found in the Apocalypse, and three of the remaining five occurrences are in the Fourth Gospel. Clearly the image is a favorite of John’s. The sacrificial background, as well as the idea of meekness, should ever be kept in mind regarding the symbol of the slaughtered lamb (Ex. 12:21; Lev. 14:13, 25; Isa. 53:7; Jer. 11:19; John 1:29). The forces of evil “will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful” (Rev. 17:14).
What, then, are the weapons of the Lamb and those who triumph with Him? Their weaponry is their faithful witness to the Lamb (Rev. 12:11), by the Word of God (Rev. 19:13), and by the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:9, 14; 12:11). These are the weapons in heaven’s arsenal. Despite the violent language of Revelation 14:10 and 19:11-13, the Lamb wins not with the power of politics, the force of arms, or the might of wealth, which are the weapons of the beast, pagan Rome (see Rev. 13; 18). Rather, victory for the Lamb’s armies is by the Word of God and trust in the Lamb that was slaughtered.
A Surprising Victory
Though it had competed in every Winter Olympics since 1936, Australia had never won a gold medal. Then in 2002, in extraordinary circumstances, Australia won its first-ever gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Carrying the nation’s flag and hopes, Steve Bradbury got into the semifinal via a disqualification. He then snuck into the final because three of his opponents fell. Then amazingly in the final this was repeated when the leading skaters fell within 50 meters of the finish. Bradbury was so far behind that he easily avoided the melee and crossed the line as the winner—or more accurately, as the last man standing. That is the story of Australia’s first gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
As there are surprising winners in sport, so there are in the spiritual arena. Pilate and his soldiers mocked Jesus as an absurd king, but He is the King. The chief priests rejected him as the king of Israel (Jews), but He is their King. The Roman Empire brought its forces against the King and His followers, but the King of kings triumphed over them through the cross. The Lamb wins, and so do all those who follow Him.
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1 Richard Bewes, The Lamb Wins! A Guided Tour Through the Book of Revelation (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2000), p. 9.
2 Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.
3 Austin Farrer, A Rebirth of Images: The Making of St. John’s Apocalypse (London: A. & C. Black, 1949), pp. 13-22.
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Norman H. Young is an honorary research fellow at Avondale College in Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia. This article was published on December 15, 2011.
