September 14, 2008
The seal of the Moravian Church is “Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow him”. This seal was first used in the 16th century. It was transferred to the Bishops of the Renewed Church when David Nitschmann was consecrated and it is in general use today as the Moravian emblem. The motto surrounding the Victorious Lamb expresses the Moravian conviction that Christ the Lamb of God is at the centre of our faith.
The Moravian Church is a bible based, spirit filled Church that is built on Jesus Christ. The foundation of the Moravian Church is therefore Jesus Christ himself. The Victorious nature therefore speaks of the Jesus Christ who overcame sin, death, hell and the devil and stands supreme as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Lamb represents Jesus Christ who carries a flag declaring that he is victorious inspite of the challenges that he encountered. The Moravian Church, acknowledging its allegiance to Jesus Christ, declares emphatically, “our Lamb has conquered let us follow him”. We follow him because he is our all in all; we follow him because he is our champion and great commander. We follow him because he is our healer and great deliverer. We follow him because he is the lover of our souls. We follow him because he is our risen and ascended Lord. We follow him because he is our only hope. John declares, “Look the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world”. (John 1: 29) We follow him because he is the rose of Sharon, the bright and morning star. We follow because for Jesus the Lamb at the centre of the throne is our Shepherd and he will lead us to springs of living water, and because of the victory he has won for us, our tears will be dried and we can live a victorious life.
As Moravians and more-so the people of God, our hope and expectation is in Jesus Christ. There are times in life when we will be dragged through the fire; face trials which seem to overwhelm us; encounter burdens which seem too heavy to bear; face our accusers whose only aim is to see us fall and be destroyed; times when even those we consider to be our friends secretly seek to destroy our character and good name. At those times it is good to be reminded that we are over-comers, for Christ has already won the victory for us. The Prophet Isaiah, crystallizes this point when he declares; “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” (Isaiah 43: 2.)
You are encouraged therefore to cling to that hope in Jesus Christ, no matter what and remember, Our Lamb (who is Jesus) has conquered, let us follow him. Moravians everywhere have a mandate to invite men and women to follow Jesus Christ, for we have a testimony of what he has done for our Church and in our lives personally. Let the over-comers shout, Amen, Hallelujah!