The Shepherd in the Midst by Woodrow Kroll

The Shepherd in the Midst by Woodrow Kroll Today s Radio Study: Woodrow Kroll: 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 (Revelation 7:17). Let me go back and summarize what chapter 7 is all about so we can put this verse in the right context. Chapter 7 is in the midst of the wrath of God. In Chapter 6 there were six seals of judgment opened. There are seven total. But before the seventh seal was opened, John was told that there would be this little interlude. Before the seals were opened, the angels at the four corners of the earth, representing North, South, East and West were told to hold back the winds of judgment until God could seal His people during this period of time so that judgment would not fall on His own people. Now, these [His] own people are not the Church; the Church is already gone. These people are 144,000 Jewish believers, people who have come to faith in Jesus Christ in the Tribulation period. They were not believers when the Tribulation period started, but they are now. As a result of being a believer in the Lord Jesus, He says, I want to seal them and keep the judgment of God away from them because judgment doesn t fall on believing people. So, He seals them. In the process, when you get to verse 15, it says, Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them, (and then verse 17) for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them (Revelation 7:15, 17). This brings us to the whole concept of the Gospel of Jesus being a Lamb that was slain as the Lamb that was a sacrifice for the sins of people. So you understand what the whole process of the lamb being slain is. Without the slaying of the lamb, there was no payment for the sins of the people in the Old Testament. To start out, there was a lamb for a whole family. There was a lamb for the nation. There was a lamb for the individual. And isn t it interesting? In the beginning of recorded history, the question is asked and it s asked in Genesis 22, asked by Isaac, the son of Abraham, Father, where is the lamb? See, they go to sacrifice. They have the wood. They have the fire. They have everything. But they don t have a lamb. Isaac asks what I think is the most pertinent question he can ask, Where is the lamb? At that point, Abraham doesn t have all the answers but he knows enough to say this: God will provide a lamb. That s faith. 1 The Shepherd in the Midst

Then we get to John 1. You see Jesus coming to His baptism and John the Baptist is out by the Jordan River. When John the Baptist sees Jesus, at verse 29 he says, Behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. The question all the way through the Old Testament is, Where s the Lamb? The answer in the New Testament is, There s the Lamb. Jesus is the Lamb. Now you get to this chapter; and you see the Lamb in the midst of the throne of God and in the midst of the people of God. And, He, as a Lamb, is shepherding the people of God. That shows the full range that you can use with regard to a shepherd and His sheep, the full range of activity on Jesus part, with regard to us. He not only is our sacrifice; He s our shepherd. But what I want you to see is He s also our center. See where He is here? The Lamb is in the midst of the throne. Genesis 2 is the story of the Garden of Eden. What I want you to see in Genesis 2, and I m going to trace this all through the Bible, Genesis 2, beginning at verse 8, is this: It says, The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:8-9). Where is the Tree of life? It s in the middle of the Garden with all the other trees around it. He says, You may eat of any tree that you want but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you may not eat. At the very first book of the Bible, in the second chapter of the first book, we already see God is in the midst of mankind. He s right there in the middle, right where we need Him. There are lots of people today who are looking for God and can t find Him, when He s right there. Lots of people are undergoing stress today or they re undergoing physical affliction today or they re undergoing financial reversal today or they ve just been through a divorce or some horrific thing has happened in their lives; and they re saying, Where is God in the middle of all this? And the fact is God is in the middle of everything. In Genesis 2, we see the Tree of life in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Go with me to Exodus 3. Exodus 3, you recognize as the story of Moses being called by God to go lead the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Exodus 3, let s start at verse 1: Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in the flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed (Exodus 3:1-2). Now, you know the rest of the story. He s goes over, and he takes a look at the bush. The bush is burning. God speaks to him out of the bush. Did you notice that it s not an angel of the Lord here, but it s the Angel of the Lord? That s usually a designation for Jesus in the Old Testament. This is a pre-incarnate, before He became in flesh. This is an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament. He is the Angel of the Lord. Notice where the Angel of the Lord is, He is in the midst of the bush. Just like the Tree of life was in the midst of the Garden, Jesus is in the midst of the bush calling Moses to service. You see a pattern developing here. Let me take you to Daniel 3. You know, when I was a little boy I knew all of the Bible stories because my mother was a Bible teacher; my father was a pastor. I guess I knew a lot of Bible stories most kids don t ever get told to them. But everybody knows the story of Daniel and the Lion s Den. Isn t that true? 2 The Shepherd in the Midst

But you also know the story of the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. Now, I want you to look with me at chapter 3 of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. Now, a cubit is about 18 inches. So, you get a good sense that this is a pretty tall statue. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then a herald cried aloud: To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at a time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up (Daniel 3:1-5). Now, you know the story. The three young teens, Jewish teens, carried off into captivity said, We re not going to do that. So, he throws them into the middle of the fiery furnace, and you see down there at verse 14 it says, Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Well, of course, it s true; they re not going to do that. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace (Daniel 3:14, 20-21). Now, notice the word midst, right in the middle of the furnace. Therefore, because the king s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound in the midst of the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:22-23). Now, when you get to the end of the story, King Nebuchadnezzar looks in the fiery furnace; and he says, There are too many people in there. Verse 24, he says Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. Look! he answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God (Daniel 3:24-25). Now, we saw the story in the Garden of Eden. We saw the story of Moses and the burning bush. Now, we re seeing the story of the three men in the fiery furnace. There are lots of other stories I could go to and show you that all the way through history, when people needed God to be there, He was always there for them. And you know what? He s there for you today too. You may be in your fiery furnace. But I have to tell you, there aren t three in your fiery furnace, there are four. God is always there. Tami Weissert: Whatever trial or tribulation we face, knowing that God is right there with us is pretty comforting. So I hope you don t mind sharing, because I m going to ask you, how have you seen that promise work out in your own life? WK: I ve seen this too many times to recount. Let me just share one story with you. I was in Indonesia a couple of years ago in Jakarta actually. And when I entered the country, it was through Bali. The customs official saw that I was flying from Bali in just a couple of days so he gave me a three-day visa. 3 The Shepherd in the Midst

Well, I did fly from Bali but not to another country. I flew to Sumatra and Jakarta, the capital of the same country. I was there preaching about a week. When I went to leave the country, the official at the airport wouldn t let me out of Indonesia because I d stayed longer than my visa allowed. It was their officer that gave me the visa, but no matter what I said, he refused to allow me to leave the country. And I have to tell you, I needed help. And that s when I felt the peace of God flood my heart. I prayed. I asked God to work in this Indonesian official s heart. And finally, he allowed me to pay a fee and board a plane. But there s no worse feeling than being alone in a distant place and encountering trouble just like this. And there s no better feeling when you re alone than to know that God is right there with you behind the scenes working everything out. Chapter 1 of Revelation shows us that God doesn t leave us when we need Him the most. When the question is always asked, Where was God when this happened? the answer is always, God was right there when it happened. These things don t take God by surprise. God is just going to work out, in our lives, His will. And, sometimes, His will takes more time than we want it to take. But look at this: Revelation 1, at verse 11, says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, and What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia [Minor]. Then he lists the churches. But I want you to see down farther, where it says, verse 18, I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches (Revelation 1:18-20). And where is Jesus in all of this? He is in the midst of the seven churches. So, Jesus presence in chapter 1, verses 11-18, Jesus presence here is to show us that even in the future, Jesus is going to be right in the middle of our need. And you get to these seven churches which were, by the way, seven historical churches. These places really do exist. There s no church there anymore, but you can see remnants of churches there even if you visit them today. Jesus was right there when they needed Him. Now, skip over just a couple of pages to Revelation 5. We re working our way to chapter 7 to conclude today. Revelation 5, the first verse, I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Now, you remember the scroll. We looked at this, in fact, studied this chapter earlier this week. There s no one worthy to open the scroll. In fact, a search is taken of all of heaven; and a search is taken of all the earth and even the netherworld, the world under the earth. They can t find anyone worthy of opening this scroll and revealing the future. But then you get to verse 11: I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing! And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and as such are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! (Revelation 5:11-13). So, where is God in the midst of heaven? The answer to that is God, wherever He is, that is heaven. We talked earlier in this week about the throne of God, is it a real throne or not? Well, 4 The Shepherd in the Midst

wherever God is, the throne s going to be there. Wherever God is, that s where heaven is. He is in the midst of everything you and I need. He is in the midst of heaven. The shepherd has not abandoned these people, these 144,000 Jewish believers who have come to Christ in the Tribulation. Six seals have already been poured out upon the earth. Six judgments have already come upon the earth. But before the seventh comes, God says, Hang on a minute; I want to make sure I take care of My people. The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:17). So, where is Jesus in the Tribulation? Well, I ll tell you where He is for these people: He s right where they need Him. He s in the midst of the throne. He s right there for them. The last chapter of the book, verses 1 and 2. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month (Revelation 22:1-2). Now, you remember where we started our study today? Genesis 2, the Tree of life in the midst of the Garden. Now, we ve gone all the way to the Book of Revelation, the last chapter. The Tree of life is in the middle of the street. Life that God brings to us through His Son Jesus Christ is never a peripheral thing. God never stands on the outside and watches you go through the fire on the inside. God stands with you on the inside as you go through the fire. That s what Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego learned. God was there for Moses when He spoke to him out of the fire. God doesn t call you to do work and then not go with you to do that work. And if you re going through Tribulation today, like these people are in chapter 7, you need to know God doesn t abandon you in Tribulation. Jesus is always right in the middle of everything because Jesus is always right in the middle of everything. That s where He belongs. He belongs in the middle of your life and in the middle of my life. I don t want to go through trouble, trial, persecution, tribulation, death, disease; I don t want to go through any of those things without Him. And the good thing is, I don t have to because there was a day I came to trust this Jesus as my own Savior. So, I can look forward to the future with great confidence. Unless otherwise indicated, scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 2012 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Back to the Bible P.O. Box 82808 Lincoln, NE 68501 1-800-759-2425 backtothebible.org 5 The Shepherd in the Midst