Apocalypse Revealed #241
241. The first living creature was like a lion. (4:7) This symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its power.
A lion symbolizes truth in its power, here the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its power, as can be seen from the power of the lion, which surpasses that of every other animal on the earth. It can be seen as well from lions in the spiritual world and the fact that they are images representative of the power of Divine truth. And it can be seen, too, from the Word, in which lions symbolize Divine truth in its power. The nature of the power of Divine truth in the Word may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture 49, and in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 228-233.
So it is that Jehovah or the Lord is likened to a lion, and also called a lion, as in the following passages:
A lion has roared! Who does not fear? The Lord Jehovih has spoken! Who does not prophesy? (Amos 3:8)
I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim... They shall walk after Jehovah. He roars like a lion. (Hosea 11:9-10)
As a lion roars, and a young lion..., so Jehovah... will come down to fight upon Mount Zion... (Isaiah 31:4)
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed... (Revelation 5:5)
Judah is a lion's whelp... He bowed down, he lay down... as an old lion. Who rouses him? (Genesis 49:9)
[2] A lion in these passages describes the power of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord. Roaring symbolizes His speaking and acting with power against the hells, which try to carry off a person as a lion does its prey, but from which the Lord rescues him. To bow down means to put Himself into a condition of power. Judah, in the highest sense, symbolizes the Lord (nos. 96, 266).
(The angel) cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. (Revelation 10:3)
He bows down, he lies down... as an old lion. Who rouses him? (Numbers 24:9)
Lo, the people rises like an old lion, and like a young lion lifts itself up. (Numbers 23:24)
This last declaration is said of Israel, which symbolizes the church, whose power, which lies in Divine truths, is thus described.
So likewise:
The remnant of Jacob shall be... in the midst of... peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep... (Micah 5:7-8)
And so on in many other places, as in Isaiah 11:6; 21:6-9; 35:9; Jeremiah 2:15; 4:7; 5:6; 12:8; 50:17; 51:38; Ezekiel 19:3, 5-6; Deuteronomy 33:20.
Isaiah 22
1
The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
2
You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
3
All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They fled far away.
4
Therefore I said, "Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
5
For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains."
6
Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield.
7
It happened that your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
8
He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.
9
You saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10
You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
11
You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn't look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who purposed it long ago.
12
In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth:
13
and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die."
14
Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, "Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
15
Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, "Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,
16
'What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?' Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!"
17
Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly.
18
He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord's house.
19
I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.
20
It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21
and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22
I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.
23
I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father's house.
24
They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers.
25
"In that day," says Yahweh of Armies, "the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it."
