The Symbolism of the Lamb & the Lion

The Symbolism of the Lamb & the Lion - Printable Version

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The Symbolism of the Lamb & the Lion - Stone - 05-03-2025

The Symbolism of the Lamb & the Lion
Adapted from Dom Gueranger’s The Liturgical Year, vol. 7, Easter Monday

TIA [slightly adapted] | May 2, 2025

To understand Easter we must first understand the mystery of the lamb. In the Early Church we often find on frescos in the Basilicas the Lamb, standing in a green meadow with the four rivers of Paradise flowing from beneath its feet, signifying the Four Gospels that spread the glory of His name to the four corners of the world.

The lamb was seen often in the early Basilicas; later, holding a banner with the Cross

[Image: F051_Lam.jpg]

Later the Lamb of God would hold a cross with a banner, which is more familiar in our days. As we know so well, the Lamb is Christ Who shed His Blood on Calvary and in a bloodless way renews His sacrifice daily on the altar.

Without this sacrificial Lamb, man could not enter into Heaven and eternal happiness. From the very beginning of the world Abel drew down upon himself the mercy of God by offering on his altar the fairest lamb of his flock; then Abel himself became a prefigure of the Divine Lamb when he was cruelly slain by the hand of his brother.

There have been other types of the future Lamb: Abraham who was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac on an altar to God, but God, pleased with his obedience, accepted a ram in the youth’s place. There was Moses to whom God spoke and revealed the Paschal meal: a lamb without blemish that was to be slain, its blood sprinkled as a protection against the Destroying Angel and its flesh eaten before the flight out of Egypt. Each year this ritual was observed by the Jews and represented the type of a future Lamb who would be the Messiah.

In the age of the Prophets, Isaias made this fervent appeal for the long awaited Messiah: “Send forth, O Lord, the Lamb, the ruler of the earth!”

A medieval manuscript depicting John the Baptist with the ‘Lamb of God’

Then, when the fullness of time came and God sent His Son upon our earth (Is 16:1), this Word made Flesh manifested Himself to men after 30 years of private life in communion with His Holy Mother. When He came to the River Jordan where John was baptizing, the holy Baptist called out without hesitation: “Behold the Lamb of God! Behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world!”

With these words the Precursor proclaimed the new Pasch, for he was announcing the arrival of the true Lamb of God for whom the world had waited four thousand years. The Lamb was fairer than the one offered by Abel, richer in mystery than the one slain by Abraham, and more spotless than the old paschal lamb that was sacrificed each year.

The shedding of this redeeming Blood was needed for our Pasch. Unless we had been marked by it, we could not have escaped the sword of the Destroying Angel. It has made us partake of the purity of the God who so generously shed it for us. The baptismal candidates on Holy Saturday have risen up whiter than snow from the font wherein that Blood was mingled. Poor sinners who had lost the innocence received in their Baptism have regain their treasure, made white in the Blood of the Lamb. (Cf. Apoc. 7:14)

Indeed on this new Pasch we are all invited to a great banquet, where we find our Lamb. He himself is the food of the happy guests. The great Apostle St. Andrew, when confessing the name of Christ before the pagan pro-consul Aegeas, spoke these sublime words: “I daily offer upon the altar the spotless Lamb, of whose Flesh the whole multitude of the faithful eat, the Lamb that is sacrificed remains whole and living.”

A Lamb & also a Lion

But the mystery of the Lamb does not end here. Isaiah besought God to “send the Lamb” who was to be the “ruler of the earth.” The Lamb comes, therefore, not only that he may be sacrificed, not only that he may feed us with His sacred Flesh, but likewise that the may command the heart and be King.

The book ‘sealed with seven seals’ on an altar being opened by the Lamb & the Lion of Judah

This also is our Pasch. The Pasch is the announcement of the Reign of the Lamb. The citizens of Heaven thus proclaim it: ‘Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David hath conquered.’ (Apoc 5:5).

But, if He is the Lion, how is He the Lamb? Let us enter into the mystery. Out of love for man, who needed redemption and a heavenly food that would invigorate, Jesus Christ deigned to be as a lamb. But He had, moreover, to triumph over His own and our enemies. He had to reign – for all power was given to Him in Heaven and on Earth (Mt. 28:18). In His triumph and power, He is a lion. Nothing can resist Him. His victory is celebrated on this Paschal Day throughout the whole world.

Listen to the great deacon of Edessa St. Ephrem: “At the twelfth hour, He was taken down from the Cross as a lion that slept.”

“Yea, verily, our Lion slept, for His rest in the sepulcher was more like sleep than death,” as St. Leo remarks.

Was not this the fulfillment of Jacob’s dying prophecy? Speaking of the Messiah to be born of his race, this patriarch said: “Judah is a lion’s whelp. To the prey, my son, thou art gone up! Resting thou has couched as a lion. Who shall rouse him?”

He has roused Himself by His own power. He has risen, a lamb for us, a lion for His enemies, thus uniting in His Person gentleness and power.

This completes the mystery of our Pasch: a Lamb, triumphant, obeyed, adored. Let us pay Him the homage so justly due Him. Let us, then, with the millions of Angels and the four-and-twenty Elders in Heaven, repeat on earth the hymn they are forever singing: “The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and benediction.” (Apoc 5:12).

Christ: the Lamb but also the Lion of Judah