The leopard is a member of the “big cat” family. Some others are the lion, panther and jaguar. A full-grown leopard is a beautiful animal, tawny-white in color with black circular spots shaped like roses all over its body. Both its teeth and claws are long and sharp. It weighs up to 180 pounds and can be more than seven feet long from its nose to the end of its tail.
The leopard’s strength is unbelievable! When cornered it can fight well beyond its weight and size. This was seen in an incident in one of the zoos in Chicago.
At this zoo in the “lion house” a pair of large leopards had a cage with both an inside and outside area. Beside the leopard cage was a cage with three young lions in it.
One day while the leopards and lions were outside, the keeper was cleaning the inside cages. When he finished he forgot to close the door between the two inside cages.
When the animals went back in, the lions found the door open into the leopards’ cage and attacked the leopards. A terrible fight began!
The three lions charged the two leopards. The attack was met by the male leopard. Keeping his body between his mate and the lions, he fought savagely. The snarling and growling of the leopards mixed with the roars of the lions increased as they sparred and tore at each other until the building almost shook with the noise of the battle.
The keepers tried to stop the fight by spraying water from fire hoses directly at the fighting animals. Finally, with the help of the hoses the keepers forced the lions back and into their own cage. The door was closed and locked.
The noise ended; the battle was over. But it was too late for the male leopard. His back was broken during the fight, and he lay helpless and died shortly after. Yet he had fought so strongly, defending his mate, that the keepers found she was almost unharmed.
The male leopard died defending his mate. In a far more wonderful way the Lord Jesus Christ died to save all who would believe in Him. There on the cross He endured Satan’s power, but more important, He endured God’s punishment against sin -our sins. The Lord Jesus did not sin and could not sin. He died for sinners like you and me. How great His love is! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:1313Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13).
We did not love Him - He loved us. For those of us who know Him, that love came to where we were and saved us. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8). Will you let Him be your Saviour?
ML-01/02/1994