The Lamb will Shepherd Them - Amos 4-6 and Revelation 7

God's desire is to have a personal relationship with each of us so that He can lead us through life along the best possible path which is His will for us. Jesus came into the world to die for us and rise again, so that the greatest impediment to this relationship could be taken care of once and for all. Sin is what prevents or destroys that relationship, and Jesus dealt a death blow to the power of Satan and to sin. Therefore, the choice is with us. Will we be shepherded by Jesus or will we be scattered by Jesus? In Amos God was having to scatter His people as a punishment for their rebellion against His direction. He sought them over and over, but they rejected, so He finally scattered them like sheep with no shepherd. Then, He waited for them to come back to Him. Amos makes that very clear. Revelation 7 has the opposite picture. The multitude in heaven is from every tribe and tongue. They are the ones who remained faithful through great times of tribulation, and they had their sins washed by the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, God had been leading them, but now they would be shephereded by the Lamb for eternity. What security and peace! That is God's will for all of us. He wants to shepherd us here and for eternity. Are we following or not? Why would we run from the Great Shepherd? It is only pride and rebellion that would lead us not to follow the Lamb, and that pride will lead us to great hurt.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Amos 7-9 and Revelation 8.