THEME: The Lamb will be Their Shepherd

TEXT: Revelation 7: 9-17

DATE: 05/02/04

PASTOR:  Rev. Bruce Skelton

I would like to begin with a paraphrase of a familiar Biblical text that was written by an American Indian to be shared with his people.  It is found in the Native American section of the museum in Banff Canada.

The great Father is the Shepherd Chief.  I am his and with him I lack for nothing.

 

He throws down to me a rope, the rope of his love, and he draws me to where the grass is green and the water is good and I go and lie down and am satisfied.

 

Sometimes my heart is weak and falls down, but he lifts me up again and draws me to a place between the mountains.

 

It is dark there, but I will not draw back.  I will not be afraid, for it is there, between those mountains, that the Shepherd Chief will meet me and the hunger I have felt throughout my life will be satisfied.

 

Sometimes He makes the love rope into a whip, but afterwards He gives me a staff to lean on.  He spreads out a table before me with all kinds of food.  He put his hand on my head and all tired is gone. My cup is filled till it runs over.

 

What I tell you is true, I lie not. These paths that are away ahead will stay with me through this life and afterwards I will go to live in the big teepee and sit down with my Shepherd Chief forever.

    It is, of course, a paraphrase of the 23^rd Psalm, but the thing that struck me as I read it was how the comfort and hope of God’s Word reaches to all nations and all peoples.  The images presented strike a similar cord in every human heart.  It is the same with today’s text let me read a portion of it again:

    They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits upon the throne will spread his tent over them.  Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.  The sun will not beat upon them nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

     Every human heart longs for a place of final rest and peace and security, we all long for the protection of a good shepherd, but the problem is that there are none to be had that are of this world.  No, sadly the word that describes our lives in this sin-fallen world from earlier in today’s text is “tribulation.”

     The early Christians that St. John wrote these word to originally knew a lot about tribulation. They were under intense persecution for worshipping Jesus as Lord instead of Caesar.  Doing so often meant the confiscation of their property, banishment, torture and sometimes martyrdom for their faith.  Yes, sometimes they had to pay the ultimate price, the price of their lives for declaring Jesus as their Lord. And lest we think that this was just a thing of the past, we should be reminded that there were more Christians martyred in this past century the 20^th century than in all the previous centuries combined. 

     I would contend that tribulation is upon us as well, though it is certainly not as great as it is in other places, but it is still here and it is getting stronger.  Each and every day it is becoming more of a struggle to remain a confessing Christian in a non-Christian world.  It is so tempting, is it not, to go the way of the world and to forget about God, and his commandments?  The empty pews in our own church toady, which were filled to capacity on Easter and last Sunday, Confirmation Sunday are a testimony to this fact.

    What is the third commandment:  “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.”

    What does this mean? Luther explains: “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.”

     But the Good News of the Gospel is that there is a Good Shepherd, the chief shepherd, who threw his rope of love down to us.  How?  By becoming one of us.  He, who was and is fully God, became fully human.  Our Good Shepherd became a sheep like one of us, but with one great difference.  He was the perfect sheep, a perfect sacrificial lamb, without spot or blemish, who would take away the sins of the world.  That is who Jesus was and that is what He did on the cross on Calvary.  And because he did that, we are now saved, by grace through faith in Him.  We have been rescued from the tribulation of our sins, and from the power of the devil in this sin fallen world.  It is indeed as Jesus states in our Gospel lesson:

 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.

      The essence of God’s Holy Word is that we are not alone in our struggles and trials. The Lamb of God, our Good Shepherd, is looking out for us, saving us even if we do not perceive it.  The reason I mention this is because this Gospel lesson provides such wonderful comfort for us in our tribulation, by simply stating that as believers in Jesus Christ, we are his and that nothing or no one shall ever snatch us out of his Almighty nail-scarred hands. It is the same glorious truth that the Apostle Paul points us to.

     In Romans chapter 8:   Where could you ever find more comfort or hope than that? And that is why beloved it is so imperative that we come to worship and immerse ourselves in God’s Holy Word and in prayer daily.  That we daily remember whose we are, remember our baptism, remember that we belong to the Good Shepherd. Remember him when we partake of Holy Communion where we receive His body and blood, with the bread and wine for our forgiveness and the strengthening of our faith in Him. 

     And not only does the Holy Supper it remind us of what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross and with the empty tomb of Easter, but it points us forward to that glorious feast to come, the feast St. John so beautifully and vividly points to in today’s lesson from his book of Revelation; that glorious high wedding feast of the lamb where all Christians from every nation tribe people and language will worship together as one before the throne of God.

     After coming out of the great tribulation our robes washed white by the purifying blood of Jesus that cleanses us from every sin, we will stand unashamed in the presence of our Holy God singing: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

     Beloved in Christ, how could we ever miss that?  What is there in this life that could ever begin to compare to the joy that awaits us as the sheep of our Good Shepherd the Lamb. 

    He who has promised that he will return and raise the dead just as He has risen. He will put us back together with those we love, who have died in the faith.  Never again will we hunger or thirst, never again will we to suffer, never again will we weep, for every tear will be wiped away from every eye on that day.

     Until then let us repent of our sin and receive the forgiveness he so freely offers us in his Word and Sacraments. Let us put aside all our petty quarrels, our hatred, bigotry and prejudice in preparation for that day, when we are swallowed up by life and we will sing with the hosts of heaven:  Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God and the Lamb (our chief shepherd) forever and ever and ever.  Amen.