For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will lead and guide them to springs of the waters of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:17.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
I am your Shepherd, I am your guide, your life can be wondrous with Me at your side, come to Me, run to Me, truth I’ll impart, and you will gain wisdom and joy in your heart. And when you see Jesus you see Me. He is the fulfillment of the psalms and the prophets.
Jacob spoke of the Shepherd who led him, David sang of the Shepherd who took care of all His needs and directed his paths, and I told My prophet Ezekiel of the good Shepherd who sees to the care of the sheep: For thus says the Lord (Adonai (אֲדֹנָ֣י)) LORD (Yahweh (יְהוִ֑ה)), “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord (Adonai (אֲדֹנָ֣י)) LORD (Yahweh (יְהוִ֑ה)). Ezekiel 34:11-15.
You see My Son (Adonai) and I (Yahweh) are speaking as One. We shepherd you as One with our Holy Spirit to lead and guide you.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.” John 10:27-30.
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. John 16:13-15.
The Good Shepherd. I, the God who is peace and whose plans for you are peace, raised My Son from the dead as the great Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep in the blood of the new and eternal Covenant that He sealed with you and with Me, and in Him I equip you in every good thing to do My will, your path of life, working in you that which is pleasing in My sight through Jesus Christ, who is My gift to you to be with you as your great good Shepherd. Christ in you, your hope of glory.
Now, you may be wondering where the great good Shepherd is leading you on your path of life. And today I will show you. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail. Habakkuk 2:3.
He is leading you to joy unspeakable filled with glory.
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you don’t see Him now, you trust Him and are filled with joy unspeakable and filled with glory, receiving the outcome of your faith—the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8-9.
And how does He do this? My Word gives you the answer:
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will lead and guide them to springs of the waters of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:17.
He leads you to living waters—to the spring which is the source of living waters. There are rivers, which flow, but if they depend on ground water they can dry up at certain times of year, but a spring has an underground source that continues to leap up, to bubble up, even in time of dryness on the ground.
So let us see what the source is to which He is leading you. First, I identify who your Shepherd is that you should follow: the Lamb in the center (midst) of the throne.
He is the Lamb who was slain and by His blood released you from your sins and made you a kingdom, priests unto Me. He is humble and gentle of heart, and yet He is the Shepherd who goes after you to recover you from the wolves and leads you out of the dark valley of death, as He protects you with His rod and His staff, to set before you a table of plenty and guide you home to My house now and forever. He came to serve and not to be served, He came to undo the works of the devil, and He loves you. His delight is to be with the children of men, so much so that he emptied Himself and became like you to bring you out of the prison of sin and death into the beauty of eternal life
He is also the lion of the tribe of Judah, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the root, God according to the Spirit, and the offspring of David, Man according to the flesh. From David came the line of kings from whom came forth the eternal King who reigns forever on the throne of Heaven and the throne of David. And what did I call David to do as king? SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.
Previously, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and in. And the LORD said to you, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be a ruler over Israel.’ 2 Samuel 5:2.
And Jesus I raised up to Shepherd My people as your King and Lord.
Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’” Matthew 2:4-6.
In Him you have found your peace.
But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity . . . And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace. Micah 5:2-5.
Peace with Me, for He has reconciled you to Me by becoming sin for you and making you righteous with My own righteousness, and peace with your fellow man by the Blood of the Cross. The Prince of Peace.
He proceeded forth from My bosom, John 1:18, My secret place deep within, and He returned there drawing you all in with Him to the very center of the throne. He opened the way, a new and living way, for you, preparing a place for you in Me and in Him as one.
I go to prepare a place for you . . . I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:2-3.
The Shepherd then is Jesus in the center of it all, for where two or three gather in His Name there He is in the midst of you, the very center, and He takes you into that center of the continuum as well, so that as He is, so are you in this world. But let us go on. Where does He now guide and lead you? To My Promise that He died to give you.
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will lead and guide them to springs of the waters of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:17.
The springs of the waters of life. Of what am I speaking? The source of eternal life. The source of regeneration. The source, the fountainhead of living water.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She said to Him, “Lord, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? . . . Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life.” John 4:10-14.
A never-ending source of water not of this world, from deep in your spirit, flowing into you from My throne of grace, springing up with eternal life.
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2.
Bubbling, leaping, springing up to turn your mourning into dancing and quickening your mortal body. And Jesus told you who it is.
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39.
The Holy Spirit that Jesus, when raised from the dead and glorified, poured out on you who believe from My throne as My gift and promise to you of eternal life, springing up in you to create rivers of living water pouring out of your spirit, from the Spirit living in your spirit, to a thirsty world. And note is not just one river, it is plural. You see, He leads you to springs of waters and each one becomes the source of a river out of you. Nine rivers for the nine gifts and the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit covering the earth from each believer, from His Body, the Church, with the knowledge of My glory as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14.
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. Revelation 22:16-17.
Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters. Isaiah 55:1.
Like a good Shepherd, He feeds, clothes you, and leads you to life giving water. He feeds you with My Word, He clothes you in Him with the garments of Salvation and the robe of righteousness, and He leads you to the source of regeneration and power—My Spirit.
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7.
He is leading you to joy. With joy you shall draw water at the springs of Salvation (Yeshuah). I am your strength and song and I have become your Salvation. He inherited My Name.
And what happens when He leads you to the springs of living waters?
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will lead and guide them to springs of the waters of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:17.
I wipe every tear from your eyes. And the word translated “wipe” there is the Greek word “exaleiphó (ἐξαλείφω),” which means to wipe out, erase, obliterate, it is from “ek,” which means to remove totally, and “aleíphō,” which means to smear, i.e. completely remove (wipe away); obliterate; remove totally from a previous state with the outcome of being blotted out (erased). It also refers to “wiping out” in the sense of “to cancel” (rubbing out a writing or seal impression left on a wax tablet). Thus ekaleíphō was used for canceling obligations or liabilities. I use this same word for wiping out your sins.
Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. Acts 3:19-21.
Times of refreshing. Times of restoration. Sounds like the good Shepherd.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside restful waters. He restores my soul. Psalm 23:1-3.
So I now know you know where Jesus is leading you—to the source of joy unspeakable full of glory. Yes, to the fellowship of the Holy Spirit so that you may have eternal life. And eternal life is this: to know Me, the one true God, and the One I sent, Jesus Christ your Lord. And He is your Shepherd King. And it is the Holy Spirit that knows My deepest thoughts and shares them with you. And He testifies that your sins and offenses I remember no more. I wiped them out and that wiped every tear from your eyes.
You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; this I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Psalm 56:8-11.
I love you. Do not live in fear, little flock, it has pleased Me to give you My Kingdom and a great good Shepherd to lead you there.
“Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper.” You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever. Psalm 30:8-10.