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‘The Lamb Which is in the midst of the Throne shall be their Shepherd.’
Rev_7:17 (R.V.)
I. Jesus is the Good Shepherd Who, like Moses of old, leads His flock to the mountain of God and ministers to them there.—When the evening of the present age shall be here, He will come as a Shepherd to gather His flock together. What ‘a gathering of the flock’ will that be! The waiting sheep in Paradise will come forth from their pastures at the call of the Shepherd’s voice and rally round Him ‘in the air.’ The faithful in the earth will undergo their change from corruption to glorification, and, thus set free to respond to the attraction of our Lord, will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord. Thus the two flocks will become one visibly, as before they were one in inner reality.
II. It is not on earth or in Paradise, but in heaven, that this ideal is fully expressed.—Only in heaven does Jesus fully satisfy the hunger and thirst of His people. ‘In Thy presence is fulness of joy, and at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.’ But what is this life of heaven? I ask, What is the heavenly life, not where is heaven? A threefold bliss marks this heavenly life.
(a) There is the bliss of realised personal perfection. Imperfection marks Christian life here.
(b) There is the joy of perfected union and communion with our fellow-citizens in the heavenly city.
(c) There is the joy of perfected union with God in Christ through the Holy Ghost. This is an essential condition of the life of perfect satisfaction.
III. Thus Christian life, from the font to the throne, is a life lived under the pastorate of the Risen Jesus.—It is a life lived in His one Holy Catholic Church under its various conditions as militant on earth, expectant in Paradise, glorified in heaven.
Rev. Canon Body.