The Lamb as a Shepherd.
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Literature.
Body (G.), The Good Shepherdy 96.
Bradley (C), Sermons, i. 22.
Carpenter (W. B.), The Revelation (Ellicott's New Testament Com- mentary), 104.
Cooper (T. J.), Love's Unveiling, 137.
Foote (J.), Communion Week Sermons, 245.
Fry (J. H.), Tears, 65.
Gibson (E. C. S.), The Revelation of St. John the Divine, 108.
Greenhough (J. G.), The Gross in Modern Life, 209.
Hall (N.), Gethsemane, 323.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year : Miscellaneous, 340.
Lewis (F. W.), The Work of Christ, 23.
Mackennal (A.), The Life of Christian Consecration, 266.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Psalms i.-XLlx., 365. „ „ Last Sheaves, 116.
Matheson (G.), Searchings in the Silence, 16.
Morrison (G. H.), The Unlighted Lustre, 259.
Nicoll (W. R.), The Lamb of God, 37.
Scott (C. A.), The Book of the Revelation, 190.
Selby (T. G.), in The Divine Artist, 73.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xi. (1865), No. 643 ; XXX. (1884), No. 1800.
Christian World Pulpit, xii. 191 (T. de W. Talmage) ; xiii. 148 (J. C. Gallaway); xvi. 191 (W. Graham); xxiv. 75 (H. W. Beecher) ; IvL 356 (J. M. Jones).
Church of England Pulpit, Ixi. 642 (W. H. M. H. Aitken).
Plain Sermons, by Contributors to " Tracts for the Times," viii. 228.
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The Lamb as a Shepherd.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life : and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. — Rev. vii. 17.
1. The seventh chapter of the Apocalypse contains the vision of the " multitude which no man could number," which is among the most familiar and most highly treasured passages in the book. The meaning of the vision stands little in need of explanation ; its value is not to be enhanced by exposition. It speaks straight to the heart of every Christian. The picture of the Church triumphant, drawn "out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues," offering the praise of heaven to God and the Lamb ; the question, " Who are these ? " and its answer ; the description of their privileges as the flock shepherded by the Lamb, the people of God's own care — these things speak for themselves. It is one of the many beautiful glimpses of the heavenly life which St. John gives us in this book of celestial visions. For a moment the veil is drawn aside, and we see the white-robed ones who have passed through great tribulation to their rest and reward. The figures used are suggestive of perfect and uninterrupted joy. The toils and pains and weariness of our mortal life have no place in the " land of pure delight." Hunger and thirst are unknown. There is no want or unsatisfied desire. No sleep is needed, for the day's work never tires, and the night is bright and animated as the day. The sunlight never burns, and there is no hot fever in the blood. The eyes are never dim with sorrow, for all tears are wiped away, and the purest and deepest longing of the religious soul is realized, for He whom they have loved dwells among them, and they do always behold His face.
2. The passage from which the text is taken is to a great
extent made up of citations from the Old Testament. Isaiah
furnishes St. John with his imagery and his language. "They
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2o8 THE LAMB AS A SHEPHERD
shall not hunger nor thirst ; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them : for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them " (Is. xlix. 10), and " the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces " (Is. xxv. 8). But the quotation is wonderfully elevated and spiritualized in the New Testament vision; for instead of reading, as the Original does : " He that hath mercy on them shall lead them," we have here, " the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd," and instead of their being led merely to " the springs of water," here we read that He leads them to " fountains of waters of hfe."
I.
The Lamb's Place of Honour.
1. Not in the confines of heaven, not on its distant borders, does the Lamb stand who shall pasture the redeemed. In the very centre and seat of power He has His place : He is the Lamb in the midst of the throne. There are few grander pictures in the Bible than St. John's conception of the heavenly Kingdom. It is like one of those drawings by Dor6 of the Paradise of Dante, in which there is circle within circle of wheeling angels. That is the kind of vision which St. John had of glory, as if from its utmost and dim verge it were filled with ranks and choirs ; and as the circles drew nearer and nearer to the centre, they were composed of nobler and more glorious beings. In the very centre of that mighty confluence was a throne — it was the throne of the immortal and eternal God. And in the very centre of the throne, standing in front of it, there was a Lamb. And not any angel from distant rank or choir ; not even the flaming cherubim or glowing seraphim — not these, but the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall feed them. That means that the redeemed shall be fed not only gently, but by one who stands in the place of sovereign power. None can gainsay Him there ; none can with- stand Him ; none can contest His access to green pastures. The Lamb who feeds them is in the midst of the throne — the sceptre of universal power is His now.