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)
Revelation 7
1
After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.
2
I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea,
3
saying, "Don't harm the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!"
4
I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:
5
of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,
6
of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,
7
of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,
8
of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
9
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
10
They cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
11
All the angels were standing around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before his throne, and worshiped God,
12
saying, "Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
13
One of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are arrayed in white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?"
14
I told him, "My lord, you know." He said to me, "These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb's blood.
15
Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them.
16
They will never be hungry, neither thirsty any more; neither will the sun beat on them, nor any heat;
17
for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shepherds them, and leads them to springs of waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
