LAMB OF GOD – MINISTRY FLOWED FROM HIS SUFFERING REV 7

LAMB OF GOD – MINISTRY FLOWED FROM HIS SUFFERING REV 7

One of the elders answered, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and wherte did they come from? ( 7:13) They answered, ‘These are the ones, who come out of the great tribulation, , and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ They are seated around the throne, ‘ They are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. Then this amazing Fact, ‘And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. ‘ Every provision was made for them, ‘They shall neither hunger any more , nor thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them , nor any heat.’

The source of all these blessings was, ‘The LAMB who, in the midst of the throne, shall shepherd them, and lead them to living fountains of waters. And GOD shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ (v17) God’s Lamb has a three-fold ministry, to lead or shepherd, to feed, and to console, or dry the tears of the weeping. He has enriched our lives in this remarkable pastoral care. The Lamb is our Pastor!

All this flowed from the Lamb ( the little One ) and His suffering. We can never fully estimate what the Son of God achieved for us as our Substitute on the cross. The lamb is shown to be little; that is, not of stature, but humble, lowly, led as a Lamb to the slaughter, as Isaiah 53 showed, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth, He tberefore attracts the down-trodden, despised, meek

The Lamb feeds us as a Shepherd . Psalm 23 tells of the ’The Lord, who is My shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters’. The pattern of the leading, feedding and consoling is prophesied in this beautiful song. The shepherd psalm followed Psalm 22, which told of the calvary sufferings of the Son of God. His passion was the foundation for all the blessings that flowed, as the 23^rd psalm clearly showed.

Psalm 28 tells us ‘The Lord is their strength, and He is the saving refuge of His anointed. He continues ‘ Save your people, and bless your inheritance, Shepherd them also and bear them up for ever.’ (v9) Out of His saving refuge, shepherding and sustaining forever flow.

Isaiah followed the theme, ‘ He will swallow up death for ever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from, all faces. The rebuke of his people He will take away from all the earth: for the Lord has spoken.’ ( 25:8) Our Lord Jesus tasted death for every man’, that He might swallow up death for ever. Now ‘death has lost its sting.‘ None other than the Lord God will bend over us and gently wipe away tears from all faces. Further, He comfort us in that He has taken away Satan’s disapproval.

Isaiah continued to amplify the work of the Lamb, ‘ He will feed His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs in His arms; And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young. ( 40:11) .This precious scripture greatly comforted my dear wife Gwenda and me when our infant son, Philip, battled with a failing heart, before the days of open-heart surgery. The night Philip was called to his heavenly Father’s side, we understood, ‘He will gather the lambs in His arms’. And He did! He comforted our 2 year-old Priscilla, our four year-old Elisabeth, our nine- year-old Miriam and the three older children. Each dropped tr sleep with wet eyes, dried by the lamb Himself. He gently led them with young. My bible was marked at this verse. 40 years have not obscured the heavenly calm and healing balm of that hour.

Isaiah is the gospel of the Old Testament, ‘ They shall neither hunger nor thirst, Neither heat nor sun shall strike them, For he that has mercy on them will lead them. Even by the springs of water He will guide them.’ ( 49:10) The Lord supplies our food and drink; and will much more meet our deepest spiritual need. He will guard us from sun-stroke, and will show mercy to us. He directs us to the waters springing from the hidden streams. Even in the desert.

Ezekiel supported the writer of the revelation, when he wrote, ‘ I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them – my servant David. He shall feed them, and be their Shepherd.’ ( 34:23 ). God appointed the shepherd for one purpose- to shepherd, that is, to feed, guide and protect them. Twice he writes’ He shall feed them,’ for the child of God receives nourishment for growth and development and health.