The Lion and the Lamb
Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord;
may your love and your truth always protect me.
Psalm 40:11
Truth and love are obviously not opposites. But our presentation of Christ to others sometimes makes them so. Up one end are those whose emphasis on truth is so extreme that their gospel presentation becomes a black and white demand for repentance and change. At the other end are those whose love emphasis is equally extreme and their message reflects wonderfully on Christ’s character but gives the listener no content and usually no challenge.
Christ presented perfectly God’s unchanging truth, but He reflected it through God’s unchanging love. In Revelation 5, John is called by an angel to “see the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (v.5). But when he turns around he sees “a Lamb looking as if it had been slain” (v.6). The Lion is also the Lamb. Truth and love came together perfectly in Christ. The Lion of truth is the loving Lamb.
Our uncompromising message has to be presented so graciously and carefully that the world is drawn both to Christ and to us. All love and no truth may draw others initially to us but not to Christ. All truth and no love may draw some to Christ but generally turns people away from both Christ and us. It’s not an either/or choice. We need both. God’s people are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). We’re to boldly share Christ, but to do so in a way that nothing of our manner detracts from the gospel’s truth and power.
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