What is it like for the Kingsman to relate to Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah?
It’s very much like what happens when a man already knows how the fight ends before he’s even walked into it. Everything about how he carries himself in the middle of it changes. That’s the position the Kingsman gets to stand in when he relates to Jesus as the Lion.
Revelation 5 has John in tears because no one is found worthy to open the scroll, until an elder tells him to stop weeping and look — the Lion of the tribe of Judah has already triumphed. Not is about to. Has. That title goes back to Jacob’s blessing over his son in Genesis 49, where Judah is pictured as a lion’s cub that no one dares to rouse. What was spoken over a tribe finds its full weight in the Man Christ Jesus; consider that image — the victory already secured (Rev 5:5), the boldness that doesn’t need to perform (Prov 28:1), the roar that’s meant to be responded to (Hos 11:10), and the confidence that He’ll fight and so the Kingsman never fights alone (Isa 31:4).
The victory already secured (Rev 5:5). This takes the pressure off in a way that’s easy to underestimate. So much of the flesh nature wants to treat spiritual confidence as something a man earns — enough discipline, enough time in the Word, enough getting it right before he’s allowed to walk boldly into anything. But the Lion’s authority wasn’t secured by any track record. It was secured at the cross and in an empty tomb, long before any track record to speak of. So when the Kingsman is sat with something bigger than himself — a tricky conversation that’s been put off, a habit that keeps resurfacing no matter how many times it’s been dealt with — the first move isn’t to go looking for enough of self to throw at the problem. It’s to remember whose authority the Kingsman actually stands under. It’s not about being like the Lion. It’s about living under the reign of One who is. That is a glorious truth worth delighting in.
The boldness that doesn’t need to perform (Prov 28:1). The wicked flee when nobody’s even chasing them, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. Some might think this is a licence for a bit of swagger, but that’s not what this is getting at. The wicked man’s running from shadows because he’s got no covering. The righteous man stands still because he has one. That’s not the same thing as confidence you can talk yourself into. It’s the kind of steadiness that’s regularly needed for the Kingsman — in a hard time with family, in a season where the money isn’t adding up, in a room full of people who didn’t share the Kingsman convictions and weren’t shy about saying so. Becoming bold is not because somehow the Kingsman becomes fearless. Boldness is experienced because the ground is set by the Holy One, and nothing about the circumstances gets to take it out from under the Kingsman.
The roar that’s meant to be responded to (Hos 11:10, Amos 3:8). Amos asks it plainly: the lion has roared, who will not fear? Hosea puts flesh on what that roar is actually for — His people will follow Him, and when He roars, His children come home, trembling but coming home all the same. That’s an evocative image for the Kingsman. A lion’s roar isn’t meant to be background noise, and there’s a real danger in getting comfortable enough in the Christian life that conviction starts sounding like exactly that. Through the Word, through the Spirit, through a friend saying something uncomfortable and challenging — when the roar goes out, the job isn’t to explain it away or ride it out. It’s to come home. It’s crucial to stay tender enough to still be stopped in the tracks by what He says, rather than build up enough callus to stop noticing.
Trusting Him to fight what I can’t (Isa 31:4). Isaiah pictures the Lord coming down to fight for Zion like a young lion standing over its catch, entirely unmoved by a whole crowd of shepherds shouting and waving to scare it off. There is great relief in that picture. There’s a counterfeit roar out there too — Peter’s clear that the enemy prowls about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour — and it can sound fierce enough to make a man flinch. But it’s a costume, not the real thing. The Kingsman need not be intimidated by noise, because the real Lion he belongs to isn’t intimidated by noise either. He’s not asking me for greater bravery than the shepherds shouting at Him. He’s just asking to trust that He’s not going anywhere.
Relating to the King as the Lion has so many great merits to help the Kingsman follow in the way with hope, faith and trust in the One who has conquered all and will take up every battle the Kingsman goes through.
That’s what it means to relate to Jesus as the Lion in the life of the Kingsman.
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
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