Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #17 of Revelation, chapter 7, and we are going to be looking at Revelation 7:17:

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.

We had been discussing the fact that Christ, who is the Lamb, will feed the great multitude and we saw how that happens to be the plan of God during this time period.  We learned this from John 21.  This was one of the first bits of information that God opened up to us after May 21, 2011, did not occur as we had previously thought it would.  It just so happened that Mr. Camping, while he was still teaching for a little while after May 21 (and he was still healthy enough to teach because he had not yet had a stroke), had begun to understand that we were living in a time when God had already accomplished the salvation of all of His elect.  Therefore, God had found the lost sheep of the house of Israel and now it was time to “feed the sheep.”  This was something that Mr. Camping realized, as God opened up his eyes relatively quickly after the date of May 21, 2011 came and went. 

And, here, in Revelation, chapter 7, as we have been going along in our study of the Book of Revelation, we have seen that God saved a great multitude and they come “out of great tribulation.”  Now we have left that period of time.  The Great Tribulation was a 23-year period that went from May 21, 1988 through May 21, 2011, and now we have come out of it and we are still on the earth, living in the time of judgment – the worldwide judgment of the unsaved people of the earth.

As we have seen in Revelation 7, all the Biblical language of this great multitude being “before the throne of God” and serving Him “day and night,” is a time reference, which means that there is still “time” taking place on earth.  We serve Him in His temple, as the spiritual temple comprised of only God’s elect, has been completed.  God says that they will not hunger or thirst any more and we have seen how it points to obtaining the righteousness of Christ – all have obtained salvation whose names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Also, the sun and heat will not fall on them because they are not being punished for sin (because their sins were paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ), although they are before the judgment seat of Christ, as they are still here on earth while God is actively judging every unsaved inhabitant of the world. 

Therefore, we are “appearing” or “making manifest” that we have already been judged in the Lord Jesus from the foundation of the world.  And it is “made manifest” because we are not destroyed and we are not burned by this “fire” that God has kindled in His anger; but we will be purified through it, and that is only because we have already experienced the judgment in the Lord Jesus.

And, now, “the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them.”  And that is our instruction.  That is the commandment of God to His people at this time: “Feed my sheep.”  It really is a beautiful and harmonious relationship between what we read in John 21 and what we  read here in Revelation 7, concerning the great multitude that have come out of great tribulation.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 7:17:

…and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters…

Now, let us think about this.  You know, there is some language in the Bible that indicates (and we will take a look at that) that on the very last day, Christ will be encouraging people that thirst to come and drink.  And, here, we have a very similar statement in an unusual context because, one thing is for sure regarding this great multitude that the Lamb desires to feed and to lead to living fountains of water (whether people think this is speaking of a great multitude in heaven, or whether they recognize that this is the great multitude still on earth) is that this great multitude in view in these verses is already saved.  If we look at Revelation 7:13-14:

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

That is unmistakable language indicating they had become saved, as the “white robes” are the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and they have been made “white in the blood of the Lamb.”  All their sins have been expunged and all iniquity taken away; they are holy and without sin in the sight of God.  Only someone who has had the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ applied to them is in this spiritual condition.  These are the only ones in view in Revelation 7 as we continued on toward verse 17.  There are no others in view; there is no other group.  The “144,000” were mentioned earlier, but they were also saved.  They had received the “seal of God in their foreheads,” indicating their salvation. 

So, you see, when God says, “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters,” we can only come to the conclusion that this is speaking of saved individuals being led to living fountains of water.  That might disappoint some people that have the idea that if God is calling you to drink of “living fountains of water,” that He is calling you to “become saved,” but that is not the case here at all; and it is also not the case in Revelation 21:5-6:

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Again, if we look at the context of Revelation 21, verse 1 speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, “for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away,” and this language certainly indicates that these people that God are referring to must already have experienced salvation.  And, yet, He is encouraging them and He is still using the language that they are “athirst” and that He will give those that are “athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”

Now that helps us a great deal when we do go to John 7, as I mentioned earlier, which is referring to the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.  It says in John 7:37:

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

There have been some that have said, “You see, EBible is teaching that God ended His salvation program on May 21, 2011, and you are saying that 1,600 days after this is Judgment Day and God is not saving anyone, and it falls on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.  And, here, on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus is encouraging people that thirst to come and drink.  Therefore, He is encouraging sinners to come and be saved.”

And that is completely incorrect.  Again, as has been a problem in the past, some individuals are not careful in searching out the language.  If you follow this language, it will lead you to Revelation 7:17 and Revelation 21:6 and it will lead you to instances in which God’s people are already saved, yet, they are being beckoned by the Lord to “come and drink.”   We will try to explain, hopefully, if we have time today, what is actually in view, but it is enough to realize this: Just as in Revelation 21:6, this could very well be referring to the last day of earth’s history and Jesus is not beseeching people to come and be saved, but He is calling to His elect to now come and enter into “eternity future” to drink of the “living water of life” anew in an ongoing and continuous way (as they had already begun to drink), but in a vastly different way because now their salvation will be complete and they will drink of that water for evermore.

We have to say, that as we look at this language, God does not just have the “water of His Word” available only for this world, but the language of the Bible teaches us that the water of God’s truth – of the Word of God – can give drink to thirsty souls in this world as they become saved and it can continue to give drink to souls that are athirst into “eternity future.”  In other words, when the world ends on the last day, God is not going to stop giving the souls of His people “living water.”  The “living water” will continue to nourish them.

It goes on to say in John 7:38-39:

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

So the “living water” has to do with the Holy Spirit – with the Spirit of God.  And that is interesting, because in our verse in Revelation 7:17 the Lamb upon the throne “shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters.”  Now the Greek word translated as “lead” is found translated as “guide” back in John 16, in a setting where the Holy Spirit is in view.  It says in John 16:12-13:

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Now I think we need to make some correction because I previously taught that God revealed “some truth,” (and this is true) during the church age and during the Old Testament time.  There was “partial truth,” because the Word of God was still “sealed.”  But at the time of the beginning of the Great Tribulation, when judgment began at the house of God, God greatly expanded the “truth” that the Holy Spirit was leading His elect into and much more was revealed. 

Now the correction comes because I said that God would guide us into “all truth” and I would explain that by adding, “that is, all truth that God wanted His people to know.”   God had measured out a certain degree of understanding and knowledge and truth concerning Himself and His Word; He filled it to a certain level and He would give the fullness of that knowledge and understanding to His people – not that we would know all things.  And I think that was a mistake.  God is talking about exactly what He says, here in John 16:12: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.”  And God means “into all truth;” that is, to a perfect and complete understanding of the whole of the Word of God.  If we had a complete and perfect understanding of the whole of the Word of God, then we would have a complete and perfect understanding of God Himself. 

So, as God revealed Himself through His Word, at first there was partial understanding, as He moved prophets of old to write and there was the Old Testament.  Then God increased that understanding with the New Testament and, yet, it was still “partial” because He had sealed the Word until the time of the end.  Then He opened the Scriptures at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and He guided His people into greater truth.  Then since the Great Tribulation period ended and Judgment Day began, God has guided His people into even more truth, as we read in Romans 2:5, that Judgment day is the “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”  We are continuing to learn; the Holy Spirit is continuing to lead His people “into all truth,” and this will continue throughout the period of Judgment Day.

Again, the mistake was in thinking that all truth referred to this life and this world – to the limits that “time” has placed upon us – and it does not.  The Holy Spirit is going to continue to lead God’s people into “all truth” in the coming world – the new heaven and new earth – and into eternity future.  The Holy Spirit will continue to feed us and give us drink.  We will continue to “thirst,” in that sense, and He will continue to lead us “unto living fountains of water,” which is the truth of the Word of God, as we will learn of God more perfectly. 

We will, of course, be able to plumb depths never before reached in this world – and never could be – because we will have much greater knowledge and understanding of the Person of God.  He will be in our very presence to teach us and guide us and we can ask all sorts of questions (however that will work out).  All we know is that God loves to teach and His people love to learn about Him; and that will be one of the wonderful future joys for each one of God’s elect.  It will be like a glorious Bible study where the opening of our eyes never ceases and we can joy over a “new truth” again, and again, and again, as the Holy Spirit leads us “unto living fountains of waters.”

And that is what Jesus is crying out on that last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (as we look ahead) and it appears there is excellent evidence that there is a good possibility that October 7, 2015, will be the 1,600^th day (and 10,000^th overall day) of judgment, and also the last day of Tabernacles, and it is as though Christ is exhorting and crying out to all the great multitude: “Come now!  Come now! and let us leave this world and leave this sin-cursed earth and creation and all of the wicked.  Let us turn our attention and turn our focus upon this wonderful, beautiful, glorious eternity that lies in front of us.  Come and drink, and come and learn, and come and may your soul experience a quenching that it never was able to have in this world.”  Christ will teach us.  The Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us into “all truth.”  Is this not magnificent?  Is this not a wonderful expectation, as we look ahead to the future that awaits each child of God?