By Victor Bireaud, mp3

Scripture reading: John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.

We have a need to be acquainted with certain traits of character which it is right for the Christian to possess, and we now want to begin our meditation by focusing on the perfect pattern for our character development.

Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

This book is containing the history of the world, the development of the great controversy, and here the strong angel is proclaiming, Who can open that book?

Revelation 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. 4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. 5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. 6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

Now you will ask me, Why are we reading this? What does this have to do with my character development? I have asked myself this question as well. But read carefully what it says in verses 5 and 6. The scroll needs to be opened, and this scroll contains the secret counsels of God, His omniscience. Who can open the omniscience of God? Then one the elders is saying to Apostle John, Do not weep, look at the Lion. And then, in verse 6, it says, There stood a Lamb as it had been slain. He is saying, Look at the Lion. But when he looks, he sees a Lamb. Now already you can see something beginning to dawn upon your mind, as we are entering into this meditation. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is pictured before our mind’s eye as a Lamb slain. This scripture is referring us directly back to

Jacob’s Prophecy

In the following scripture Jacob is here talking about one of his sons, and he is prophesying about the fate of the tribe of Judah and of all the descendants of Judah. But in this prophecy he is also prophesying of the Messiah. He says:

Genesis 49:9 Judah [is] a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him [shall] the gathering of the people [be].

This was simply saying that the kingdom of Israel would remain to a certain degree, until Shiloh come. There would remain some people to direct the government of Israel until Shiloh come, and then it would cease. This is exactly what happened, because the Roman delegates came and started to oversee the government of Israel. But before the sceptre departed from Judah, someone was born.

The Lamb

John the Baptist spoke concerning this Shiloh. This Peace-giver came to make peace between God and man by His own sacrifice:

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

We are trying to gather different elements to help us see the bigger picture as we continue. You can see that Shiloh, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, is the Lamb of God. We are given another description of what this Lamb did and how this Lamb behaved. This is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world:

Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Jesus Christ is both a lion and a lamb. As you ponder about what this is saying, does this mean that Christ’s followers are to be lions as well? It’s a good exercise of the mind. There is an interesting prophecy which is given to us in regards to this very question.

The Prophecy of Micah

Micah 5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

Is this strange language? Are you trying to understand what this is saying? Is it a bit hard to know what this is saying? It is very hard. If you don’t look at other scriptures you will never know what this is saying, and you will make up conceptions of your own and think, I want to be a lion, and I’m going to be very rude. But the Scripture actually give us a wonderful explanation of what this is saying. The remnant, God’s remnant people, lions? That doesn’t sound right. They are to be kind, aren’t they? Yet we will see as we progress that there is something here which is delineated for us to take into our own personal lives, because this is very relevant for our time now.

What is the meaning of this verse 8 in practical reality? Before we explore the meaning of this, we want first to look at what it does not mean. In the following scripture we are here given a definition of

The Wrong Kind of Lion

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Obviously, we know that God’s people are not to be assimilated to the devil. So we can be safe in our understanding of the Scriptures, that the kind of lion that they are, is not the lion that he is. Because he is a roaring lion; he walketh about seeking whom he can devour, that is, whom he can trap into his own ways. God’s people are not like that. They do not go after other people to trap them into situations that they are not supposed to be in.

What more can we learn as to what these lions of the remnant of Jacob do not mean? We are given a very clear description of the seed of the serpent, the seed of this roaring lion:

Psalm 10:2 The wicked in [his] pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. … 4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek [after God]: God [is] not in all his thoughts. … 6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for [I shall] never [be] in adversity.

Remember this element. This is a lion which will not be moved. But he will not be moved from what? From his hardness of heart.

Psalm 10:7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue [is] mischief and vanity. … 9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.

This is simply saying that what Satan does, the people who follow him will do the same thing. This is the kind of lion that God’s people are not. They do not lie in wait to catch the one who is poor in spirit. They do not use things to their own advantage.

Jesus actually experienced what it meant for Him to encounter those kinds of lions:

Psalm 22:12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong [bulls] of Bashan have beset me round. 13 They gaped upon me [with] their mouths, [as] a ravening and a roaring lion.

These were the Pharisees and Sadducees of His time. They were roaring, doing the same thing that the devil does as the enemy of souls. It is not really comfortable to look at that, but we needed to go into that so that we can picture the meaning of the scripture of Micah 5:8.

We now want to look at what is of interest to us in the personal application of the Scriptures. We want to look into

The Nature of God’s True Lions

I am really enjoying this meditation because you will see that it is very practical, and it is really helping us. We are given in Proverbs a simple description of what that strange prophecy of Micah actually means.

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Now we are getting some understanding of what that prophecy means. The righteous are bold as a lion. The apostle Paul tells us that we are to be bold in going to the throne grace. They are bold so that their feelings do not retain them from going to God to receive forgiveness. But there is something else in that boldness which is very significant to us. To be bold in meeting both inward and outward obstacles. We have a need to put on boldness to be able to be confident in the mercy of God; and as we enter into this confidence, we also need to be bold in facing the outward opposition. The description of this nature of the good lion is again enlarged in Proverbs:

Proverbs 30:29 There be three [things] which go well, yea, four are comely in going: 30 A lion [which is] strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;

The remnant of Jacob are as a lion, and this lion, the nature of the lion which can be assimilated into our character, is that it turneth not away for any. That means that I am not turning away from my own steadfastness for anyone or anything. Anyone is out there, and anything is in there. So that if sin wants to get the better of me, I am not turning away from faithfulness to Jesus in myself. And if someone outside wants to turn me away from Jesus, I am not turning for him. Not for anything. That is the bold lion. And this is scriptural, you can base your faith on that. And you say, Yes, I can be bold as a lion. But we will continue our meditation to get the balance of that as well, because the natural man will take that and do something wrong with it.

A Glorious Prophetical Description and Promise

The story is that Balaam was urged by God to prophesy good things, and as he looked at the beautiful organisation of Israel in the wilderness, he said:

Numbers 24:5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, [and] thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6 As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, [and] as cedar trees beside the waters.

Cedar trees – they go very straightly upward. It doesn’t wind, it goes upward and always upward. And if it deviates, it’s because something went wrong. It naturally goes upward. It is very straight.

Numbers 24:7 He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed [shall be] in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. 8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce [them] through with his arrows.

The following words are what we really want to focus upon, because this is so strong. There is such a depth of meaning in that that we want to really pick up what this is saying to us personally:

Numbers 24:9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed [is] he that blesseth thee, and cursed [is] he that curseth thee.

This is why I am saying it is a prophetical description and a promise at the same time. It may only be a prophetical description if we don’t enter into that experience. But if I enter into this, it becomes a promise. God is saying to us, to you, to me, “He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a great lion; who shall stir you up?” because you are seeing what Jesus did. He couched, spiritually speaking of course. He lay down as a lion. You know what lions do? They just couch, and no one can stir them up. They’re just sure of themselves. It’s a very strong animal. He is the king of the jungle; that is what they call him. It’s amazing the meaning of this. Who shall stir you up if you are looking to Jesus with this meditation? You are looking, and God is saying into your ears, This is a terrible circumstance, and you hate to be there, but who shall stir him up? It is so strong. I don’t know if you can see how strong it is. But when people try to draw you away from your faithfulness to Jesus, whatever may be the circumstances, God is whispering into your ear, “He couched, he lay down as a lion, who shall stir him up?” No one. If your mind is on Jesus, no one can stir you up, whether inside or outside. This is a beautiful promise. This is God’s assurance and His enabling promise that His people can confidently couch and lay down as a lion, and remain absolutely undisturbed by the claims that the world is trying to place upon them. This is the spiritual meaning of this verse. Obviously this is not a physical lion.

As we go deeper into this to get a broader understanding of this prophecy of Micah, what is the bigger activity of this lionlike remnant people in the last days? We are still looking to understand correctly what those lions are doing, this remnant people of Jacob. What are they doing in treading down and tearing in pieces? Surely God’s people won’t do that. But this has a spiritual meaning to it, and we need to read the Scripture to understand what the Lord is meaning by this strange language:

Amos 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done [it]? … 8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

The lion roars, the Lord speaks, a man prophesies in the name of God – this is the activity of this lionlike remnant. Can you see that this is what this is saying? When these people are behaving like lions, what are they doing? This roaring of these lions is a speaking of the words of God; it is a faithful adherence to the words of Inspiration. This is the meaning. These lions roar, but they are not being rude. They are actually being invested by the roar of the Lord. And through their calm, quiet, steadfastness and faithfulness to Jesus, they are actually letting the Lion of the tribe of Judah roar through them, simply by being faithful.

In the following verse we are using the marginal reading:

Isaiah 21:8 And he cried as a lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: 9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, [with] a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. 10 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

He cried as a lion – he is watching upon the watchtower, watching what is happening, praying and watching. This means that he has heard the Lord of hosts, and he has declared that which he has heard.

Isaiah 21:11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.

In order to be actually able to do this, you have to be on the right side yourself. You have to be absolutely transparent before God, absolutely in harmony with Him, and absolutely ready if you have failed to come to Him straight again, and always having that precious communion with God, so that, if you find yourself in a situation where someone is willing to hear, the words of your heart, it may not be the literal words, but the words of your heart will be these, “The morning cometh and also the night: if ye will inquire, if you have a question, the answer will be, Return, come. Babylon is fallen.” The condition of the churches. It is not Bible-bashing people around the head and saying to them, That church is wrong and that church is wrong. It is just living the right way; and “Babylon is fallen” will come out by the silent preaching, especially in this time when the prudent has to keep silence (Am. 5:13). The lions are faithful watchmen in the midst of spiritual darkness.

We have looked at the aspects of these lions, but in order to get it correctly so that it can actually sink properly into our character, we need

The Heavenly Balance

To correctly understand these lionlike traits of character, we must first learn to appreciate the beauty of the lamblike attributes; and having understood and appreciated that, we then need to have into our own lives this twofold mixture of the Lion and the Lamb. This is exactly what Jesus said. It is very comforting for me to know that I am not bringing up any kind of personal ideas, and especially when this is so clear in the word of God. This is what Jesus said to His disciples when He appointed them:

Luke 10:3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

In Matthew we see that He says something else as well:

Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Now that is a very strange equilibrium. To be wise as serpents – bold as lions – and then at the same time harmless as doves – gentle as lambs. Can you see something really important here? I hope we can see it because often we either fall on one side or the other. It’s always this side, that side, this side, that side. Either I am too rude, or over righteous. And we always look to do the right thing, but without the understanding of what Jesus is purposing for us through what we have meditated upon until now, we always fall into the trap of being over rude, or being so kind that it’s not kindness anymore – it becomes emotionalism. This is not kindness. Because when you get emotional, you find yourself in straight places.

Jesus has said that we need to be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But the only way to really, correctly assimilate those traits of character is to go to His example.

Jesus’ Example

Isaiah 50:5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

This is the Lamb. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. This is a right attribute of character to possess. This is safe. If you do that, this is safe. It’s always about going back to the blueprint. If you do according to the blueprint, this is safe. If I err in some way from what the blueprint is saying, then I know that I am not walking on a safe path.

Isaiah 50:7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

This is really amazing to me because there is here an intricate mix of a softness of heart and a confidence in God; there is a spirit of repentance and a bold assurance against opposition. You can see it here:

Isaiah 50:8 [He is] near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who [is] mine adversary? let him come near to me.

This is amazing. When you feel like the world is so opposed to you, the natural response is, Get away from me. Get as far away from me as possible, because you are dangerous to my spirituality. And it is right not to place ourselves in positions where we are brought under the influence of people who are working according to the ways of the world. And yet, to some degree, there are times and places where it is right to associate with people of the world; but we feel like, No! Not too close. But Jesus Christ, because He had this boldness of a lion associated with this meekness and gentleness of the Lamb, actually said to His opposers, Come near, I am not afraid. Why? Is it because I am so bold that I don’t care about anyone? No. It is because I am confident in God’s acceptance of me. This is the boldness of being confident in God’s acceptance of me. It’s really beautiful because this is the harmony of the character of Jesus. This is the life that He lived, and we are really inspired by the statements which define very concisely His life. Because through His life we are made righteous, and through His life we are sanctified. But not as a magical snap of the finger. It is because there is something there which is so special that I am really being changed.

Isaiah 50:9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who [is] he [that] shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

The word of God says somewhere else, Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? The boldness of the lion comes because I have a confidence, through the inspiration of Scripture, which tells me that people who oppose me, they all shall wax old as a garment. It’s nothing. And this is always to remain attached to my personal relationship with Jesus.

The Saviour is presented before John under the symbols of “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” and of “a Lamb as it had been slain.” Revelation 5:5, 6. These symbols represent the union of omnipotent power and self-sacrificing love. The Lion of Judah, so terrible to the rejectors of His grace, will be the Lamb of God to the obedient and faithful. The pillar of fire that speaks terror and wrath to the transgressor of God’s law is a token of light and mercy and deliverance to those who have kept His commandments. The arm strong to smite the rebellious will be strong to deliver the loyal. Everyone who is faithful will be saved. {AA 589.2}

This is the world in which we are living at this present time, and as we see the circumstances it inspires us to find the remedy to deal with them:

The world is full of false teaching; and if we do not resolutely search the Scriptures for ourselves, we shall accept its errors for truth, adopt its customs, and deceive our own hearts. The doctrines and customs of the world are at variance with the truth of God. Those who seek to turn from the service of the world to the service of God, will need divine help. {RH, February 7, 1888 par. 3}

This is what we want. How does this divine help come into my personal picture?

They will have to set their faces like a flint toward Zion. {Ibid.}

There is that lion again.

They will feel the opposition of the world, the flesh, and the Devil, and will have to go contrary to the spirit and influences of the world. Since the time when the Son of God breasted the haughty prejudices and unbelief of mankind, there has been no change in the attitude of the world toward the religion of Jesus. The servants of Christ must meet the same spirit of opposition and reproach, and must go “without the camp, bearing his reproach.” {Ibid.}

[Jesus] had declared himself to be the Messiah, but the people would not receive him, though they saw his wonderful works and marveled at his wisdom. He did not meet their expectation of the Messiah. They had been instructed to look for earthly pomp and glory at the advent of their Deliverer, and they dreamed that under the power of “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” the Jewish nation would be exalted to pre-eminence among the nations of the world. {RH, February 7, 1888 par. 5}

Inspiration is confirming to us that people had a wrong understanding of what a spiritual lion is supposed to be. And because they had a wrong understanding of that, then when the true Lion came into the picture, they said, That can’t be a lion. That’s not the Lion of the tribe of Judah, because the Lion of the tribe of Judah is going explode everyone, He’s going to destroy everyone. But the Lion of the tribe of Judah was a Lamb, and He is a Lamb; and He is calling upon us to do the same thing that He did, to behave as He behaved, and to have the same character that He had.

With these ideas they were not prepared to receive the humble Teacher of Galilee, although he came just as the prophets had foretold that he should come. He was not recognized as “the truth,” the “light of the world,” although he spake as never man spake; for his appearance was humble and unpretending. He came without attendants of earthly pageant and glory. There was, however, a majesty in his very presence that bespoke his divine character. His manners, though gentle and winning, possessed an authority that inspired respect and awe. He commanded, and disease left the sufferer. The dead heard his voice and lived, the sorrowing rejoiced, and the weary and heavy-laden found rest in his compassionate love. {Ibid.}

The Lion. It’s amazing. He came without attendants of earthly pageant and glory, but He had a majesty in His very presence. His manners, though gentle and winning, possessed an authority that inspired respect and awe. He was the Lion and the Lamb combined in His character. It was harmoniously combined in Him, so that when I look at Him, I can be inspired to have that harmony of character, so that when I come before circumstances which make me feel like I need to be either one side or the other – I need to either completely step back or completely go at people – no, I do not need to be left in a haze as to what is the true pattern of character. He was gentle and winning, but at the same time, He had an authority that inspired respect and awe.

Restoration of God’s Character in Man

There is in Isaiah an amazing element of prophetical description, and at the same time, an intimation of what God purposes to do and the restoration of His character in man as He wants it to be. Talking about the new heaven and the new earth and the everlasting kingdom, the restored Eden, it says:

Isaiah 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

In that picture, which is a literal prophecy of the restoration of the harmony between God’s creatures, there is also an intimation that the traits of character of the lamb and the lion are to be blended together. This is what will happen physically to the creatures, but this is what is first to happen beforehand in our own mind, in our character, in our habits, in our behaviours, in our attitudes. But in order for this to happen in us, we need to take a close look at what it says from verses 1 to 5:

Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

There is this concept of the girdle which as to do with a firmness, an unwillingness to be turned away from anything that is not of God. That description is so broad in its meaning. “With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.” This Lion is a Lamb. But then again, when people will not have received that blend of the lion and the lion in their own characters, they will have to suffer the consequences of their own decisions, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth. What He had prophesied will come true in their own experience, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. But he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. It has to do with that harmony of the character, not to judge after what I am seeing, and not reprove people because of what I am hearing. But that can only be because God makes us of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, so that we can actually do that, not to judge, so that we be not judged. This is the Branch, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

What we read in the beginning we want to examine again, because it continues. The apostle John was asking who could open the book, and then he was told not to weep, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb, Jesus, came and took the book, and here is the continuation:

Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four [and] twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:

Why?

Revelation 5:9 …for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

The reason why He could open this book is because He hath prevailed, He has overcome, He has been slain; and by being slain, He has redeemed me to God by His blood. The Lion made Himself a Lamb for me, and He was slain. And Jesus, in doing that, demonstrated the true greatness of character. What He did was He suffered His omnipotence as the Lion, to be swallowed up in humiliation as a Lamb. For our sakes He became poor, that we might be made rich. And this is the only thing that can really make me a lion. Because if I remember those scriptures, but I do not remember the sacrifice of Jesus, I will not have sufficient incentive to have this boldness; because at some point in time my boldness will transform itself into something which is not of God. But the reason I shared this with you is because it is for us to remember that, when we find ourselves in doubts, in perplexity, in fear, in anxiety, whether it be because the sufferings of our nature are so great, or because the opposition is so strong, we always want to remember the words of Number 24, He couched, he lay down as a lion, and even as a great lion: who shall stirr him up? Who can rouse me up when I’m looking steadfastly to Jesus? My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise! This is what the psalmist said. This is what it means to have this boldness of the Lion. If you ever separate that from Jesus and His atonement for you and me, it will lose its power. It will lose its power. You will ask yourself, It was powerful when I heard it, how come it’s not powerful for me now?? It’s not powerful because I have separated this from the beautiful, heart-breaking commitment of Jesus for my personal salvation.

So I hope and pray that we can really come from this meditation with a stronger purpose, a joyful assurance that whatever happens, inside or outside, I can rely upon the blessedness of the love of God towards me a sinner, so that I can enter into this harmony of the Lion and the Lamb, and truly understand it as to what it really means in my personal experience. May the Lord help us and bless us in this way I pray.

Amen.