THE FACE OF A LION..

The Face of a Lion

Ezekiel 1: 10 ‘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’. Revelations 4:7. ^‘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.’ The Cherubims had four faces, the face of a man, the face of a Lion, the face of an Ox and the face of an eagle. These four faces represent the faces of our Lord Jesus. Love is the face of Jesus as revealed as a man, as men we are to show true love to one another and also love God with all our heart, might and soul.

The Lion is the King of the jungle, the strongest amongst animals, they are bold and courageous and when they roar their victims tremble. The Lion symbolises strength, courage, and leadership, they are not afraid of any other animal. The way the roaring Lion devours its prey is similar to the way the Lord devours his enemies. How can our lives be a reflection of Jesus’ life revealed as a Lion;.

Strong and courageous. 1 chronicles 12:8 ^8’ And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains;’ Lions are brave and courageous, they are always prepared for warfare. The wicked are constantly afraid but the righteous are as bold as a Lion Proverbs 28:1. Lions are fearless, like Lions we must fear no one but God, we must be courageous enough to share the gospel, and stand up for the truth everywhere and anywhere we find ourselves. When God appeared to the children of Israel on the mountain they were very afraid when they heard and saw the thundering, lightning, earth quake, smoke etc so they pleaded with Moses to talk to God instead and not to them Exodus 20: 18-29. Like Lions we ought to be bold enough to daily enter into Gods presence and commune with our maker. Sin drives people away from the presence of God, just like Adam and Eve after they had just eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they hid themselves from God. Oftentimes we feel so condemned we prefer not to go to church or to pray because we feel we have sinned too much. God is always willing to forgive us if only we have the courage and boldness to come to him and genuinely repent and ask for forgiveness. God gave Joshua a charge to be strong and very courageous to ensure that he obeys all the law and avoid living in sin Deut 31: 6-7. We need strength and courage to make a decision to live a holy life and once we have made the decision to do so God makes his grace sufficient enough for us to do of his good will.

Protecting the Pride: Lions work together to defend their territory and hunt, we have the job of protecting our family, loved ones and brethren in the Lord, not by fighting flesh and blood but through the pulling down of strong holds, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5  We must know when to be lambs and when to be Lions, there is a place for a tender heart, love and kindness and there is a place for bravery, and there is a time to roar at the enemy. There should be a righteous anger in us when we see a fellow Christian being attacked by wolves we should rise up to defend and fight to protect our pride.

Terrific Night vision: Lions are rarely taken as preys because they have a terrific night vision which enables them to foresee danger and to find a prey. In the same way we need to have our spiritual eyes and ears opened at all times so that we are always steps ahead of the enemy. We should have a sneak peak of events to come that others have no knowledge of, this helps to plan, strategize and execute accurately. This is God’s strategy for survival here in wild, without our spiritual eyes and ears open we are susceptible to becoming preys. We need to be discerning and walk circumspectly, most especially in this perilous times we live in now.

Focus: the Lion is focused on its goal at all times, if it wants to hunt a zebra it focuses all its attention on it. If we must gain eternal life then our eyes must be focused on Jesus at all times and we must not get distracted by the many things that the world throws at us which takes our eyes away from Jesus. If we must get to our final destination we need to be focused on Jesus, if we must survive in the wild then we have to be focused, the Lioness has no choice but to be focused because if it doesn’t hunt down its prey it would not have food to eat and to survive and her family and will die focus is therefore a means of survival in the wild.

Jesus is the King of all Kings, he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, he is the one who lives in us and because he lives in us we are Fearless, we are like Lambs with faces of Lions.