Apocalypse Revealed # 383
383. "For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them." (7:17) This symbolically means that the Lord alone will teach them.
The Lamb in the midst of the throne symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity in the inmost of heaven and thus in everything connected with it (no. 44). The throne is heaven (no. 14), and the Lamb is the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity (nos. 269, 291). And He who is in the inmost of heaven and thus in everything connected with it is the only one who shepherds all people, that is, who teaches them.
If a question is raised as to how He alone can shepherd all, be it known that it is because He is God, and because He is present in the whole of heaven like the soul in its body; for heaven, arising from Him, is like a single person.
To shepherd means to teach because in the Word the church is called a flock, and the people in the church are called sheep and lambs. Therefore to shepherd means, symbolically, to teach, and the shepherd one who teaches, and this in many places, as for example:
On that day your flocks will graze in a broad meadow. (Isaiah 33:23)
He will feed His flock like a shepherd. (Isaiah 40:11)
They shall graze along the roads, and have their pasture on all the hillsides. (Isaiah 49:9)
(Israel) shall graze on Carmel and Bashan. (Jeremiah 50:19)
...I will seek out My sheep... I will feed them in good pasture, and... in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. (Ezekiel 34:12-14)
You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, it is a small thing that you are among the thousands of Judah. Out of you shall come forth to Me One who will be Ruler in Israel... He shall stand and graze in the strength of Jehovah... (Micah 5:2, 4)
Feed Your people... Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead... (Micah 7:14)
The remnant of Israel... shall graze and lie down... (Zephaniah 3:13)
Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in pastures of tender grass. (Psalms 23:1-2)
(The Lord) chose David... to shepherd Jacob... and Israel... and he shepherded them... (Psalms 78:70-72)
Jesus said to Peter, "Feed My lambs." And a second and third time He said, "Feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17)
Micah 5
1
Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
2
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
3
Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.
4
He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
5
He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight leaders of men.
6
They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he invades our land, and when he marches within our border.
7
The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from Yahweh, like showers on the grass, that don't wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men.
8
The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.
9
Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.
10
"It will happen in that day," says Yahweh, "That I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots.
11
I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down all your strongholds.
12
I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; and you shall have no soothsayers.
13
I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
14
I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; and I will destroy your cities.
15
I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations that didn't listen."
