Of Lions and Lambs

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Lions and lambs are fitting images to consider as we approach Resurrection Sunday in this calendar. Although the Jews wanted their Messiah to come as a lion to destroy their enemies and free their nation, Jesus came as the Lamb of God and sacrificed His life to free all nations from The Enemy. He came then in the power of humility and vulnerability and was led as a sheep to the slaughter. But in the future, He will come in the power of the Lion of Judah with authority to unleash the travails leading to the end of the world as we know it. (Revelation 5) At that time the Lamb will receive glory, and in the new world the lamb and the lion will lie down together in peace with little children playing nearby. (Isaiah 11:6-9)

Back in January, my first grandchild was born. We celebrated his birth for barely one day before a doctor gave us the devastating news that Soren had a congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot: he was born with anomalies in his heart that had to be corrected if he was to live. There followed a hasty flight to Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI, and a week of tests, diagnoses, and plans. The Lord was very gracious to us and allowed Soren to remain stable as these considerations were being made with the end result that in one amazing surgery all of his anomalies were addressed. (He’ll need more surgery, but hopefully not for some years.)

This was medicine at its best – God-gifted doctors, nurses, and technicians, resources and technological development, available, quality health care – medicine focused on saving lives. It stands in stark contrast to the miserly culture of death being preached by Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. They would have us believe that one life is worth more than another life, that quality trumps viability, that the value of life is relative to its utility. In truth, the value of life, even of one little life – Soren’s little life – is immeasurable in God’s sight, so valuable that He gave His One and Only Son to die in his place.

Like good medicine, pregnancy care centers focus on saving lives, healing hearts torn by abortion, and guiding clients toward healthy life choices. But they do even more by bringing the gospel of eternal life in Christ to those living in the shadow of death.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Cor. 15:26) As we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, we’re reminded that death has no power over Him and therefore none over we who are in Him. Some day soon the Lamb of God will return as the Lion of Judah, and we will be with the Lord forever! Encourage one another with these words! (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Sue Ellen Doenier, PCC liaison
Baptists for Life / Partners in Ministry
PO Box 3158
Grand Rapids, MI 49501
616.257.6800 / 800.968.6086
suellen@bfl.org

Access BFL's March-April Prayer Calendar here!