Why is Christ Called The Lion of Judah?

Non Christians certainly don't understand the metaphors we use to express gospel truths. Having explained about the Lamb of God, I now want to write about the Lion of Judah.

The last book of the Bible holds the answer. In the vision of the future which Jesus' disciple saw, nobody was worthy to open a scroll in heaven. Revelation 5:5 (BBE) tells how an angel named Christ as the only one who could break the seals and open the scroll. "And one of the rulers said to me, 'Do not be sad: see, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome, and has power to undo the book and its seven stamps.'"

Another title Christ has is the Son of David. Though King David died long before the birth of Jesus, he descended from him. That's why we read what we read in Matthew 9:27 (BBE) about him. "And when Jesus went on from there, two blind men came after him, crying out, 'Have mercy on us, you Son of David.'"

Of course the temple rulers didn't believe for a minute that Jesus was heir to David's throne. Matthew 21:15 (BBE) relates, "But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the works of power which he did, and the children crying out in the Temple, 'Glory to the son of David,' they were angry and said to him, 'Have you any idea what these are saying?' And Jesus said to them, 'Yes: have you not seen in the Writings, "From the lips of children and babies at the breast you have made your praise complete?"'"

Jesus himself knew that he was of royal blood and God-given power. Revelation 22:16 (BBE)says, "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give witness to you of these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star."

Furthermore, Muslims wonder how we could call Christ the Son of God when the Quran teaches that Allah has no partners. They don't understand that "son" means that he has the top rank and is chief over all creation.

God, the real one, said of Christ at his baptism in Luke 3:21 and 22 (BBE), "Now it came about that when all the people had been given baptism, Jesus, having had baptism with them, was in prayer, when, the heaven being open, The Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove, and a voice came from heaven, saying, 'You are my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'"

I could point out other scriptures which use metaphors but I'll save that for my next book, You Think You're Going to Heaven? We Christians need to realize that these terms we use sound like nonsense to today's unchurched masses.

On Thursday, unless Christ returns first, I hope to post about why Christianity and western culture matter. What a cruel world it would be without both of them.