What Child is This?

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
(Revelation 19:11-16 ESV)

Today I finished my 5 month read through of the Bible. It was a 6 month plan, but I stayed ahead so that I could use the month of December to concentrate on Messianic prophecies, incarnation passages, and the gospel narratives during the Christmas season. The above text was the perfect way to end one "cycle" of reading and begin another. When I read the above passage and others like it in the book of Revelation, I tremble in [holy] fear of such a glorious and omnipotent ruler. Who wouldn't after a description like John gives us? And yet, almost immediately, my mind shifts gears (though it's really not so much a shifting of gears as it is a gradual slowing down) to passages like this one:

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:4-7 ESV)

All of that power, that kingship, that righteousness...swaddled up and lying in a manger. He's helpless, just like I was when I was a newborn. Like my son was just a year ago. Can you even fathom such a thing? It's hard for me to do so - near impossible, in fact, if it weren't for my confidence in the Scriptures. If anything, the claim supports my belief in the Bible's teachings. No mere man would make up something like this. 

Next in my mind comes this verse from Isaiah:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
(Isaiah 53:7 ESV)

The Lion of Judah, a condemned lamb. What is going on here?  

The answer of course, is far simpler and at the same time far more complex than you would think. Because the second person of the trinity, the warrior-king of Revelation 19 is who he is, he alone can and does willingly give himself up to live the life we were meant to live and die the death we were meant to die. As the second Adam, he is the humanity redeemed we must find ourselves in union with. However, it is because he is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1: 29) that he receives the honor and glory and blessing of every tongue and tribe and nation at the end of all present things. Because he dies, he lives in victory. 

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
(Revelation 5:9-10 ESV)

He is a Lion because he is a lamb. He is the only acceptable lamb because he is the Lion. As Jonathan Edwards puts it, "...there is an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies in Christ." This is such a beautiful and wonderful understatement. The darling of Heaven just a hungry, sleepy, tiny babe on earth. What child is this? He is the Savior of the world. He should and will be worshiped.