Turning power on its head

Can we get our sophisticated twenty-first-century minds around that image of the triumphant Lamb of God, who “was led to the slaughter and did not open his mouth” (Isa 53:7)? Can we envision all the idols of power and deadly force lying silently at the feet of him who was crucified, dead and buried, but now is risen?

We don’t usually attribute victory and power to lambs, do we? Neither does the National Football League. It has Lions, Bears, Bengals, Broncos, Jaguars, Raiders, Buccaneers, Chiefs, Vikings, Cowboys, Giants, and Redskins, to name a few, but no lambs. Arena football, major league soccer, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, and hockey have no team called “the Lambs.” There is no street gang or United States Marine unit called “the Lambs.” Yet, when time is no more and all the books are closed and all the armies and navies of the world are mustered out forever and every government and parliament which ever sat is dismissed for all time, when all the nations gather at God Almighty’s throne to celebrate the final victory, every knee will bow down and fall prostrate before the gentle Lamb that was slain.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 206 (emphasis original)

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Seems an appropriate post for Holy Week, doesn't it? We're celebrating the God who became man, suffered on our behalf (when he could have called a legion of heavenly warriors!), and conquered! And he didn't do it with an AK-47, either. The "Lamb that was slain" is to be our model. The early church got that, why can't we?
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