“Like a Lion; Like a Lamb”

One of the signature traits of the month of March is that it “Comes in like a Lion; and goes out like a Lamb”. The first time I heard this concept was when I was a kid in elementary school. I knew what a loin was and I knew what a lamb was. What I didn’t know was how these two animals were applicable to the month of March. Well, it wasn’t long before I posed the question to my teacher, “What does a lion and lamb have to do with March?”

It was then that my teacher, Mrs. Galloway, taught me about the weather patterns of March. She said that at the beginning of March, the weather was still much like winter with the winds blowing fairly hard and the chill of the air was very noticeable and even snow was very possible in the early part of March.

Then, by the end of March, the weather was more like spring. The winds were quieter and the temperature was more like springtime. She then equated the weather like a rough and rowdy lion as March weather started and by the end of the month; the weather is gentle, as that of a lamb. The lightbulb over my head came on and I got what the analogy meant concerning lions, lambs, and the month of March.

Later in life, I came across another analogy concerning the likeness of a lion and a lamb within the same source. The very description of the Lord in the Bible calls Christ “the Lion of Judah”. From Revelation 5:5, it says;

5Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

In fact, many of the prophets give portrayal of the Lord as that of a ‘lion’. Hosea says; 14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah (5:14).

Amos declares; The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken- who can but prophesy? (3:8).

Moses wrote in Genesis; “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? (49:8-9).

The display of might, power and authorization has no greater description than Christ as the “Lion of Judah”. He is the mighty Savior that rules with all authority and total sovereignty.

Then there is the aspect of Christ as the “Lamb”. As we know, the lamb is the sacrificial component for the forgiveness of sins and even though the Law provided a reprieve through the blood of a lamb, it wasn’t until God gave his Son as the ultimate, once and for all sacrifice. Isaiah prophesized about the sacrificial Lamb of God in the Old Testament, saying;

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (53:7)

John the Revelator says of Jesus;

13And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (5:13)

Even before Jesus did his first miracle, John the Baptist saw the Lamb that was to be the supreme sacrice that would bring the ultimate solution for sin. John 1:29 says;

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

So the next time we hear the theoretical depiction of the month of March that “Comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb”, let it be a reminder that Christ, our Savior, has claimed the dual role of both majestic Lion and sacrificial Lamb in our spiritual lives.