Focus: Meekness Exalts!

Text: Rev.5:6

"Lo, in the midst of the throne ... stood a Lamb as it had been slain."

Who is found at the center of the heavenly throne? Even from a distance it is not in doubt who sits on that throne. For your information, the one sitting on that throne is not the LION of the tribe of Judah, but the LAMB of God. Just imagine a lion and a lamb! Any resemblance between the lion and the lamb? Are they of equal strength and smartness? The answer is capital no! The person who died on the cross for man's salvation was not a lion, but a lamb. 

When John wept so hopelessly and helplessly because there was no man found worthy to open the scroll and break the seal on it, one of the elders calmed him down and said to him, "Weep not: behold, the LION of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof" (Rev.5:5). The elder presented the Lion of Judah to John as the worthy one, but when he lifted his eyes to see the worthy Lion, behold, he saw someone else. John writes, "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth" (Rev.5:6). John saw a Lamb, not a lion. Interestingly, the lamb had been slain, but now He is alive again from the dead.

The Lion will not take the glory of the Lamb. The Lamb, who died, is the one now sitting on the throne of glory, exalted above all others. Paul tells that "he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil.2:8). 

He was humble and obedient even to the point of dying on the cross. That is, His death was in obedience to His Father's will.

There is something majestic about meekness, and humility comes before honor. He never struggled against His Father's purpose, and that purpose meant that He would die to save humanity. He did not oppose His Father. He did not argue with His Father. No debating with His Father. No questioning of His Father's logic behind His death-inclusive mission. No altercation between Him and His Father. No strutting or any iota of rebellion in Him. 

He simply surrendered to His Father's will, trusting His judgment and the ultimate good of His redemptive mission through the cross.

Now we can see that the Lamb, who died on the cross, is forever sitting on the throne. His scars are still showing so that no one would be in doubt of His identity and how He got there. Beyond the cross is the crown. The Lamb died, and now the Lamb also reigns. He is the worthy one, and the only one in all the universe capable of opening the scroll and reading from it.

God honors the humble and exalts the meek. Meekness speaks of might under control, not lack of power. Meekness is not weakness but maturity. It is ability that has been tamed. Moses was a mighty man, but he was meeker than the meek. Meekness is never involved in showmanship or personality cult. It pays to be meek. The Scripture declares that the meek shall inherit the earth. Child of God, humble yourself, and God will exalt you in due season.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter