Lamb Christology in Revelation

My NT 101 students (whom I haven't had a chance to actually instruct yet) have been set an essay on the Christology of the Book of Revelation. Central to that subject must obviously be the Lamb Christology in the book. Steve Moyise has a good section on this in ch. 8 of his Evoking Scripture. Moyise summarizes Thomas Slater's summery (Christ and Community: A Socio-Historical Study of the Christology of Revelation [1999]) of the Lamb image in the book:

• The Lamb is worthy to open the scroll by virtue of its sacrificial death;
• The Lamb inaugurates the events that lead to victory and salvation for the people of God;
• The Lamb makes war on the enemies of God's people and defeats them;
• The Lamb holds the book of life with the names of the 'saved';
• The Lamb protects the community from harm; and
• The Lamb shares divine honours with God.

The theme is introduced in Rev. 5.6 and occurs a further nine times in Revelation 5-7 and seven times in Revelation 21-22. For those interested in the theme further, they should consult Loren L. Johns, The Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse of John (2003).

The Lion and the Lamb

Last sunday morning I preached on Revelation 5. I set out trying to explain and exposit the meaning of vv. 5-6 "Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah ... I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain".

During my sermon I said: "Behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, with the head of a Lion, the body of a Lamb, and the head of Lamb" [those who know their American sitcoms will recognize the Simpson's intertexture, an area of textual discourse as yet uncharted by V.K. Robbins and friends]. My own thinking is that the function of such imagery is rhetorically apologetic and simultaneously ironic. That is, John the Seer argues that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah/Root of David (i.e. the Messiah) is also the Lamb who was slain (i.e. the crucified Jesus). In other words, the crucified Jesus is Israel's Messiah! The messiahship of Jesus (as a crucified messiah) was a point of contention in Jewish - Christian relations and I would be prepared to argue that Mark's Gospel in particular is an apology for the cross (see also Robert H. Gundry, Craig A. Evans and S.G.F. Brandon). I think Rev. 5.5-6 is advocating a similar picture here.