Enjoy seeing this baby lamb’s first steps:
Watch a Baby Lamb Take Its First Steps
He’s so gentle and wobbly that even the smallest toddler wouldn’t hesitate to hug him. Yet, Scriptures tell us that God chose a lamb to symbolize His Son who through death on the cross, holds power over all sin, death and chaos in our world and universe. This symbol makes us do a double take — How could God use one of the most disarmingly, adorable, vulnerable and common baby animals, sacrificed to symbolize the greatest power in the universe? Humans long for a world of gentleness and justice, but we are steeped in a world where strength and violence dominate. It’s difficult for us to understand this symbol.
To help us, the gospels record Jesus demonstrating His power over terrifying forces of chaos — death, hunger, mental illness, physical handicap, violent forces in nature and disease. He turns water into wine, forgives sins, heals a man with leprosy and a centurion’s servant, feeds five thousand with a small boy’s lunch, calms a storm, walks on water, restores a demon possessed man, and raises the dead. (Matthew 8-9; John 2-6). These incidents could be read as a laundry list of Jesus’ powers. It’s more accurate to see them as His ability to subdue all chaos and danger — and to do so simply by His presence and will. Paul describes the nature of Jesus’s power so beautifully in Colossians:
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17
Jesus doesn’t need to dominate or overpower. He Himself is the order that holds everything in our world together.
Jesus’ gentle ways are a model for all believers. Matthew records many of Jesus’ miracles in his gospel, right after introducing the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5. Jesus addresses the marginalized and common persons, not mighty leaders. In Jesus, the blessed are not the powerful, but those who are meek, poor in spirit, the merciful and peacemakers. Jesus thus paints a picture of the character He wants of those who follow Him, still showing examples of healing, and bringing order to creation rocked by forces of chaos. I love how Revelation 12:11 describes how believers will triumph:
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;…” Revelation 12:10-11a
As we walk in the ways of Jesus, with His heart, we can overcome chaos as He did, and we will have “the word of (our) testimony” to share. Jesus did not come to bring abstract truths; He brought power in Himself to help us in everyday challenges.
Think back on your life to times when you didn’t have the ability to overcome chaos in your life but could prevail with God’s help. Remember that we can triumph as long as we depend on Jesus and remain gentle, just as He was.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/lamb-of-god/956026099?i=956026102
by Sherry Sommer
