St. Augustine on the Lion and the Lamb

I am preaching from Revelation 5 this weekend, and in my prep I was reading through the Revelation (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture) volume on Revelation.  This is a great series highlighting Patristic writing on the Bible.  Below is an extended quote from St. Augustine on viewing Christ as the Lion and the Lamb in chapter 5.

"Like a sheep he was led to be slaughtered, and like a lamb in the presence of the shearer he was without voice, thus he did not open his mouth." Who is this? Obviously the one about whom he goes on to say, "In humility his judgement was taken away. His generation, who shall relate?" I can see this model of humility in a  king of such power and authority. Because this one, who is like a lamb not opening its mouth in the presence of the shearer, is himself "the lion from the tribe of Judah."

Who is this, both lion and lamb? He endured death as a lamb; he devoured it as a lion. Who is this, both lion and lamb? Gentle and strong, lovable and terrifying, innocent and mighty, silent when he was being judged, roaring when he comes to judge. Or perhaps both in his passion lamb and lion, and also in his resurrection lion and lamb. Let us see him as a lamb in his passion. It was stated a moment ago: "Like a lamb in the midst of his shearer he was without voice, thus he did not open his mouth." Let us see him as a lion in his passion: Jacob said, "You have gone up, lying down you have slept like a lion." Let us see him as a lamb in his resurrection.

The book of Revelation, when it was talking about the eternal glory of virgins, "They follow the lamb, it is said, wherever he goes." The same book of Revelation says, what I mentioned just now, "The lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered, to open the book." Why a lamb in his passion? Because he underwent death without being guilty of any iniquity. Why a lion in his passion? Because in being slain he slew death. Why a lamb in his resurrection? Because his innocence is everlasting. Why a lion in his resurrection? Because everlasting also in his might" Sermon 375 A.I."

I love how the Fathers are able to explain scripture from what is called "the mind of scripture", being that they were so read in the scripture that they are able to explain things from the entire canon, reading the Christ event across the whole text.

Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

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I dunno how you feel about Maurice Williams, but I came a cross a kind of "quick sheet" he did about Augustine's general interpretational points on Revelation. Obviously some of his points are debatable (such as whether Augustine was truly amillennial or post-millennial), but it's decently useful.

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?id=30706