Revelation 7:17

for the Lamb that 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. "Lamb in the midst of the throne ...

Here is the great consolation. "As long as this earth endures, Christ is still at the center of things; and his people are indestructible."[61] Furthermore, as seen above (Revelation 7:1-4), the mighty angels of God preserve the earth itself until God's great purpose is fully accomplished.

Shall be their shepherd ... This is strongly suggestive of John 10, where Jesus revealed himself as the "Good Shepherd." One does not ordinarily think of a lamb as a shepherd, but with this Lamb it is true. Pack pointed out that all of the language of these final two verses draws upon the language of Isaiah 49:10;[62] and Bruce found an echo of Isaiah 26:8, making the whole passage applicable to the new age, "when God will swallow up death forever."[63] Only then shall the redeemed find the fountains of living waters and have all tears wiped away. Even more obvious is the fact of these sentiments being fully in harmony with the great description of the final abode of the saints in the last two chapters of this prophecy. Rist's suggestion that, "John is here indoctrinating prospective martyrs by quoting a hymn"[64] cannot be correct, nor can Moffatt's notion that, "The Apocalypse confines Christ's shepherding to the future life."[65] As a matter of fact, it is only because Christ shepherds his people in the present life that John envisioned his also doing so eternally.

Shall wipe away every tear ... The repetition of this precious promise in Revelation 21:4, where it concerns the eternal state, makes it mandatory to see these verses as a description of the same state in heaven. This final heavenly vision describing the eternal bliss of the redeemed is most appropriate as a sequel to the terrors of the wicked in the final judgment at the end of Revelation 6, strongly indicating that it is the final judgment depicted here, but with the destiny of the righteous in focus, instead of the destiny of the wicked.

It will be noticed that the heavenly scene here follows the scene of the overthrow of the wicked in the final judgment at the end of Revelation 6; and this is exactly the order in which John will give the great white throne judgment of Revelation 20, followed by the heavenly scene greatly elaborated in the final two chapters of the prophecy. Ezell was correct in connecting Revelation 8:1 with this paragraph,[66] and understanding the half hour of silence which follows the opening of the seventh seal "as the full content of that seal."[67] Thus, this whole chapter is intimately related to the sixth seal; and the seventh seal merely shows that God has not revealed anything at all of what will happen after the final judgment. That half hour of silence really rings down the curtain and draws a dramatic line under all that is written through Revelation 7:17, effecting a complete separation of it from what is afterwards written in the prophecy, and compelling us to look for a new beginning in Revelation 8:2.

[61] Ibid.

[62] Frank Pack, Revelation (Austin, Texas: The R. B. Sweet Company, 1965), Part 1, p. 72.

[63] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 646.

[64] Martin Rist, op. cit., p. 424.

[65] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 401.

[66] Douglas Ezell, Revelations on Revelation (Waco: Word Books, Inc., 1977), p. 45.

[67] Ibid.