Revelation 7:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

NIV: 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 away every tear from their eyes.''

NASB: for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.'

CSB: For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

NLT: For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.'

KJV: For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

NKJV: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Undoubtedly, believers in the tribulation will mourn the loss of their martyred fellow believers. They will shed tears as they suffer at the hands of their persecutors. However, in the kingdom reign of Christ on the earth the survivors will never hunger or thirst again. Further, God will wipe away the survivors' tears. The Lamb will be the survivors' shepherd, and He will lead them to springs of living water.

Perhaps the springs of living water allude to the river that Ezekiel saw flowing from the millennial Temple (Ezekiel 47:1). Wherever the river flowed, everything lived (Ezekiel 47:8–9). The survivors will understand by personal experience what the psalmist David wrote in Psalm 23:1–3: "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

Revelation 7:9–17describes an innumerable multitude standing before the throne and the Lamb. They ascribe glory to God and the Lamb, affirming that salvation belongs to God and the Lamb. This sets off a crescendo of praise from all the angels, the elders, and the four living creatures, all of whom prostrate themselves before the throne and worship God. John is not able to identify the multitude or indicate where they came from, but an elder identifies them as saved survivors of the great tribulation, Further, he explains they are now safe in God's presence, and will never again hunger or thirst or be scorched by the sun. The Lamb, the elder says, will be their shepherd, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Revelation 7 occurs after the opening of the sixth seal, and before the seventh. John sees four angels standing at the four corners of the earth and another angel ascending from the rising sun with the seal of God. He seals 144,000 saved Jews on their foreheads. These 144,000 sealed servants of God are instrumental in leading a great number of people from all parts of the world to faith in Jesus Christ. This multitude of believers have passed through the tribulation and will serve God perpetually in the millennial temple. Their troubles and tears will be behind them.

The last and largest section of Revelation began in chapter 4, where John is shown events yet to come (Revelation 1:19). Chapters 4 and 5 describe what John saw in heaven, including a scroll of God's judgments. Chapter 6 focused on the events that transpire when Jesus opens six of the seven seals on that scroll, one at a time. Now, in chapter 7, an interlude occurs between the opening of the sixth seal and the seventh seal. In the interlude an angel seals 144,000 saved Jews as God's servants. Chapter 8 will describe the seventh seal, and the beginning of the ''trumpet'' judgments.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''