Rising Lion

Part 2 of 2 in Worship

Parte 2 de 2 de la serie Worship

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Brian Hunter · June 15, 2025

Scripture Referenced

Recap

Brian opened by naming what was in every headline that week: on Friday, June 13, Israel had launched a preemptive military strike against Iran, named Operation Rising Lion, targeting Iran’s nuclear weapons program after intelligence indicated Iran was close to producing a weapon it had stated it would use against Israel and, ultimately, the United States. Brian also noted the “No Kings” protests happening around the country that same week, pointing out how heavily loaded words like king, lion, war, and armies were suddenly showing up together in the news, and titled the message “Rising Lion” after the Israeli operation’s own name.

He traced that operation’s name back to Numbers 23, where Balaam, hired to curse Israel, instead speaks a Spirit-inspired blessing describing God’s people rising like a lion. Brian used that ancient image as a bridge into Revelation 5, walking through the throne-room scene where no one is found worthy to open a sealed scroll until an elder announces that the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” has triumphed: only for John to turn and see not a lion, but a slain Lamb. He connected the moment’s unsettling backdrop directly to Revelation’s own imagery of trumpet blasts and end-times upheaval, telling the church he didn’t know where the Israel-Iran conflict fit into God’s prophetic timetable, but that he did know the church in the generation of Christ’s return would be marked, like a rising lion, by worship rather than fear.

Brian spent time addressing the natural hesitation many believers feel toward the book of Revelation, arguing that its name literally means an unveiling of who Jesus is, not a puzzle to fear or avoid. Rather than getting lost trying to decode every detail or every headline, he encouraged the church to sit with the plain, central truth of chapter 5: every tribe, language, and nation being ransomed by the Lamb’s blood, and to answer the uncertainty of war and unrest with worship rather than panic.

Touch Points

1. Brian named the Israel-Iran strikes and the “No Kings” protests directly from the pulpit that week. How do you feel about current events being addressed head-on in a Sunday message, rather than avoided?
2. Brian said he doesn’t know where the Israel-Iran conflict fits in God’s prophetic timetable, but he does know how the church should respond. Are you comfortable holding uncertainty about “what it means” while still being clear on how to respond?
3. Revelation 5 pictures the “Lion” turning out to be a slain “Lamb.” What does that reversal tell you about how God’s power actually works?
4. Brian described worship as the church’s answer to war and unrest. What would it look like to bring your specific worries about world events into worship this week rather than carrying them alone?

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