In the Antarctic Ocean, leopard seals are as dangerous as sharks. Many cute penguins and smaller seals are readily consumed by the leopard seal. The video clip below was forwarded to me by Chris—a pastor and precious friend in Tennessee. Chris knows how I long to see the terror AND the gentleness of Jesus united in the Person of Christ. Infinite power plus infinite kindness equals unparalleled SWEETNESS!!!

So often, the Church today greatly errs by swinging to one extreme view of God or the other—the God of burning Hell only or the Prince of Peace alone. This is wrong, dangerously wrong! Jesus is BOTH, at once, terrifying AND caring beyond imagination, not either or. We cannot come to a "god" of our own choosing. If we do, we are like a man in Africa who has been told all his life that lions are safe, and then gets eaten because he approached a hungry lion with this distorted idea in hand. Or we're like people who never savor the view from the mountaintop because we have been told that "the climb is just too deadly!"

Please watch this video. What is represented here is a faint echo of God's awful power and tender care:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxa6P73Awcg

We live in the sea of Christ's glory. Jesus, the Radiance of God, is BOTH Leviathan and Lamb—not either or. If we are to approach our Eternal King we must to do it with fear and joy, trembling and courage; we must know Him rightly. In the end, the one Jesus rejects is the person who does not know Him—the person God does not know (Matthew 7:23). This is His universe and we are invited guests. PLEASE treasure our King (Matthew 6:21) in the entirety of His infinite character.

Now watch the video again and while you view it, please ponder the words spoken by our Lamb-like Lion through His servant Isaiah:
"Since you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life" (Isaiah 43:4).

Our truly terrifying God loves us more than we will ever be able to fully comprehend! Oh, what joy! What Joy!!!