The Victorious Shepherd

The kings and nations of the Earth are found in New Jerusalem because of the Lamb’s redemptive work.

The Apostle Paul describes the proclamation of “Christ crucified” as “God’s wisdom and power.” The proposition that God overthrew Sin, Satan, and Death through the execution of a lowly man from the small village of Nazareth is “foolishness” to men and contrary to this world’s “wisdom” and ideologies. Even the spiritual “powers and principalities” did not understand what God was doing and sealed their fate by crucifying the “Lord of Glory.”

These hostile forces were defeated decisively on Calvary, and now, Jesus will consummate that great victory by the time he returns at the end of the age. However, his victory will be achieved through unexpected ways, and from this world's perspective, subversive practices and ideas.

To borrow a phrase from Paul, the “enemies of the cross of Christ” will never understand, and will always hate, the Jesus portrayed in Scripture. 

[Photo by joseph d'mello on Unsplash]

The New Testament presents the picture of Christ triumphing over his enemies in several ways. Yet too many churches and pastors demonstrate their misunderstanding or even rejection of what Jesus accomplished at great personal cost when they employ the ways of this fallen age to advance their agendas rather than deny themselves, take up the Cross, and “follow the Lamb wherever he goes.”

It is preposterous to believe that God's righteous Kingdom can be implemented through the corrupt political systems and sinful cultural institutions of a world that remains under the dominion of the same spiritual forces that conspired to nail Jesus to the Roman Cross. Will the Creator of all things not bring what He started on Golgotha through the self-sacrificial death of His Son to its intended completion?

The Book of Revelation provides a graphic illustration of this. The sacrificial “Lamb” brings God's redemptive process to a dazzling conclusion by “shepherding the nations” and thereby populating the “City of New Jerusalem” with the “Nations” and “Kings of the Earth.” Revelation presents jarring and paradoxical images that do not conform to our popular expectations and desires.

Christ’s goal in subjugating His enemies and judging the nations differs radically from traditional notions and human understanding. Just as his contemporaries did not understand Jesus of Nazareth, we fail to comprehend the “Slain Lamb” who reigns from the Messianic Throne as the “Shepherd of the Nations.”

For example, in the vision of the “Rider on a White Horse,” the figure’s robe was “sprinkled with blood” before he engaged in “combat” with the “Beast from the Sea” and its allies. Whose blood was it, and how did it get there?

His only weapon was the great “sword” that “proceeded out of his mouth.” However, rather than a bloodstained blade hanging from his belt. On his thigh was written the phrase, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Jesus is the “Word of God” sent to “make war in righteousness,” not vengeful violence. His “army” was “clothed with fine linen, white and pure” with no weapon in sight. His “sword” was used “to shepherd the nations,” not to grind them to powder.

At first glance, the Lamb's war appeared to destroy the “nations” and the “Kings of the Earth”  although the passage never explicitly states this. Regardless, both groups reappear in the vision of New Jerusalem where the “nations” walk in the Lamb’s light, and the “Kings of the Earth bring their glory into” the city. Rather than the aftermath of a great slaughter, a life-giving river flowed from the Throne. It was bordered on either side by the “Tree of Life,” and “its leaves were for the healing of the nations” - (Revelation 21:24-26, 22:1-4).

RULER OF NATIONS

Jesus is identified as the “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth.” By his sacrificial death, he redeemed and made us a “Kingdom of Priests.” This statement uses past tense verbs to describe things achieved by his Death and Resurrection. Even now, the “saints” reign with him as “priests,” not soldiers or conquerors – (Revelation 1:4-6, 5:9-11).

Instead of slaughtering their persecutors, his “royal priests” mediate his light to a dark world. They “overcome” and reign as he did - by self-sacrificial service, perseverance, martyrdom, and “through the word of their testimony.” There is a reason why Satan wages war against those men “who have the Testimony of Jesus” - (Revelation 1:4-6, 3:21, 12:11, 12:17).

Jesus is also called the “Faithful Witness,” and if we have any doubts about what that phrase means, we need only read of “Antipas, my faithful witness, “who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” We overcome and reign with Jesus just as “I overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne” - (Revelation 2:13, 3:21).

From the fifth chapter of Revelation until the end of the Book, Jesus is the slain “Lamb” who “overcame” through his death. That is how he became the “Faithful Witness.” He now reigns supreme over kings and nations. He is the “King of kings” and the Messiah of Israel, but he fulfills both roles as the “Slain Lamb.”

If Jesus is the “Ruler of the Kings of the Earth,” what kind of king would he be if he allowed Satan to deceive and conquer the “nations” for all time? After all, is he not the one who overcame to “shepherd the nations”? What shepherd allows a predatory beast to slaughter his flock? - (Revelation 12:5, 19:15).

The “nations” are victimized by the “Dragon” and his vassals. “Babylon” is condemned because “she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” She, “by her sorceries, deceived all the nations.” However, how can Jesus “overcome” and “shepherd the nations” if he allows the Devil to keep his ill-gotten gains? Simply punishing Babylon or the Beast will prove insufficient for “healing the nations” and populating the Holy City. More will be required - (Revelation 14:8, 18:3, 18:23, 20:3-8).

Both the “nations” and their “kings” are found in “New Jerusalem,” where they give honor and glory to the “Lamb” and the One who “sits on the Throne.” It seems the faithful “Testimony of Jesus” will not prove futile at the end of the day. This happy result was predicted in the Book:

• (Revelation 15:4) - “Who shall in any way not be put in fear, O Lord, and glorify your name, alone, full of lovingkindness; because all the nations will come and do homage before you because your righteous deeds were made manifest?”

This prediction finds its fulfillment in “New Jerusalem” - “The nations of those who are saved will walk in the light of it: and the Kings of the Earth will bring their glory and honor into it…And they will bring the glory and honor of the nations into the Holy City” - (Revelation 21:24-22:4).

The “Lamb” does have human enemies. There are men and women whose “names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Unrepentant sinners find themselves cast into the “Lake of Fire.” Men who ally with the “Dragon” and give their allegiance to his “Beast” have their names excluded from the “Book of Life.” Revelation does not teach “Universalism.” However, we may find that Jesus will rescue far more human lives for the Kingdom than we expect.

The term applied in the Book to the hardened opponents of the “Lamb” is the “Inhabitants of the Earth.” This group will face the final “Hour of Trial, which will come…to try the Inhabitants of the Earth.” The martyrs that John saw “underneath the altar” when the fifth seal was opened pleaded with God to avenge their blood on the “Inhabitants of the Earth” who had slain them, the same group that rejoiced over the deaths of the “Two Witnesses” - (Revelation 3:10, 6:9-11, 8:7-13).

This group consists of unrepentant men who submit to the “Beast” and embrace its “mark.” Their names are “not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.” Despite the declaration of the Gospel by the saints and the “plagues” sent to correct them, they refused to “repent of their idolatries.”

This group, the “Inhabitants of the Earth,” does not represent all humanity; only those men and women who consciously oppose the “Lamb” and repeatedly reject his offers of salvation made through the testimony of those who “follow the Lamb wherever he goes”- (Revelation 3:10, 6:10, 8:13, 11:10).

The “Inhabitants of the Earth” are never presented in a positive light, and no member of this company is found in the “City of New Jerusalem.” In contrast, the “Kings of the Earth” and the “nations” become citizens and residents of the Holy City.

“New Jerusalem” will descend to the Earth, not to become the home for a tiny “remnant” of believers who make it by the “skin of their teeth,” but to be inhabited by a multitude of men and women from “every nation and tribe and people and tongue” - All standing in worship before the “Throne and before the Lamb” – A multitude of the redeemed so vast that “no man could number them” - (Revelation 7:9-17).

The “Lamb” does not redeem and rescue the “nations” by military conquest but through the perseverance, priestly service, and testimony of his “saints.” They overcome the Devil in the same manner that Jesus did - “By the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and because they loved not their lives even unto death.”

Martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel epitomizes what it means to give “faithful testimony,” and to reign with Jesus. That idea is beyond the comprehension of this world's ideologies and philosophies, its political leaders and parties, and unfortunately, many believers. We have forgotten what Paul called, the “Word of the Cross.”

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SEE ALSO:

• The Age of Salvation - (The Good News announced by Jesus offers salvation and life to men and women of every nation and people)

• His Salvation Offer - (The Gospel message announced by Jesus must be proclaimed to all nations. Is the Church failing to undertake this mission?)

• Only SOME Nations? - (Is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God a message of hope for only SOME nations, or is it Good News for all nations and peoples?)