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I saw a photo recently of a lion roaring and it made me think about Jesus being called the Lion of Judah. I became curious about this and did some digging into lions and their roar to better understand how Jesus was paralleled with this majestic animal. What I found shocked me and I have spent quite some time talking to the Lord about it. A lion's roar can exceed 114 decibels which to most of us means very little but the article I read went on to say that this was over 25 times louder than standing next to a lawn mower. Have you ever tried to get the attention of someone while they are mowing a lawn? Short of jumping up and down in their field of vision you might as well forget it. Imagine what you would have to do to raise your loudest yell by 25 times? It is reported that a lion's roar can be heard for five miles! I knew they were loud but I had no idea! So I then began to think how often do they roar and what reason do they have to roar? Another article stated that studies show that lions most often seem to roar to tell other lions where they are, and to warn lions from other prides to stay away from their territory. I began to understand that lions roar to vocalize their authority and their status as a member of the pride. So when I consider Jesus the Lion of Judah I realized that he roars to establish His authority and to point the way to the Father, the Alpha and Omega.
Yet another study from the National Center for Speech and Voice shows that vocal structure in humans resembles that of lions in that they pass air over vocal folds much like we do over our vocal chords. They further established that humans speak in a range of sound frequencies similar to those of lion roars but obviously our voices are much softer. Amazing that God created lions to use their roar to establish their authority and He calls us to use our voice to speak His authority into the earth. Just as a lion is set apart in the animal kingdom by their powerful roar so He has set us apart to use the power we have in Jesus to point people to Him. The world can bring an onslaught of expectations, trials and even just day to day life events that can take our focus and overwhelm it to the point where we forget we have a roar inside of us. God empowers His people not because they are worthy or have earned it but because He is worthy and He has given us the position to represent Him in the earth.
Ephesians 1:18-23 says,
"18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."
WOW! This passage just wrecked me when I read it. God has not given us a meek, timid and fearful position. He has given us a place where we know the hope to which He has called us, a glorious inheritance and He has filled with His incomparably great power!
The word incomparable means without an equal in quality or extent; matchless. unable to be compared; totally different in nature or extent. This means that He has placed in each of us something that is without measure and completely unique! God has called us to be His witnesses in the earth to speak forth His love and desire for people to know Him. We can not allow the things of this world to silence us. I am not a believer in arguing with someone over faith but I am a big believer in speaking the Word into the world through prayer and as God opens doors of influence to those around us. I believe that God has called us to carry His presence with us as we go through our days, in the stores, in our businesses, at schools and everywhere we go we are called to carry the mantle of a son and daughter of God.
Lions use their roar to be identified. Let's ask God to help us use ours to be identified too, to be marked as one who belongs to the tribe of the Lion of Judah.