Quotes & Notes
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John Wesley's Notes:
For the Lamb will feed them-With
eternal peace and joy; so that they shall hunger no more.
And will lead them to living fountains of water-The
comforts of the Holy Ghost; so that they shall thirst no more.
Neither shall they suffer or grieve any more; for God "will wipe away
all tears from their eyes."
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
* in the. Re 5:6
* feed. Ps 22:26; 23:1,2; 28:9; 36:8; Song 1:7,8; Isa 25:6; 40:11; 49:9
Eze 34:23; Mic 5:4; 7:14; Mt 2:6*marg:| Joh 10:11; 21:15-17; Ac 20:28;
1Pe 5:2
* shall lead. Re 21:6; Ps 36:9; Isa 12:3; 30:25; 35:6,7; Jer 2:13; 31:9;
Joh 4:11,14 Joh 7:37,38
* God. Re 4:11; 21:4; Isa 25:8; 30:19; 35:10; 60:20
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Adam Clarke's Commentary:
The Lamb The Lord Jesus, enthroned with his Father in ineffable glory.
Shall feed them Shall communicate to them every thing calculated to
secure, continue, and increase their happiness.
Living fountains of water A spring in the Hebrew phraseology is termed
living water, because constantly boiling up and running on. By these
perpetual fountains we are to understand endless sources of comfort and
happiness, which Jesus Christ will open out of his own infinite
plenitude to all glorified souls. These eternal living fountains will
make an infinite variety in the enjoyments of the blessed.
There will be no sameness, and consequently no cloying with the
perpetual enjoyment of the same things; every moment will open a new
source of pleasure, instruction, and improvement; they shall make an
eternal progression into the
fulness
of God. And as God is infinite, so his attributes are infinite;
and throughout infinity more and more of those attributes will be
discovered; and the discovery of each will be a new fountain or source
of pleasure and enjoyment. These sources must be opening through all
eternity, and yet, through all eternity, there will still remain, in the
absolute perfections of the Godhead, an infinity of them to be opened!
This is one of the finest images in the Bible.
God shall wipe away In the most affectionate and fatherly manner, all
tears from their eyes-all causes of distress and grief. They shall have
pure, unmixed happiness. Reader, this is the happiness of those who are
washed from their sins. Art thou washed? O, rest not till thou art
prepared to appear before God and the Lamb.
If these saints had not met with troubles and distresses, in all
likelihood they had not excelled so much in righteousness and true
holiness. When all avenues of worldly comfort are shut up, we are
obliged to seek our all in God; and there is nothing sought from him
that is not found in him.
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Family Bible Notes:
Wipe away all tears; remove all sorrows, and
fill them with perfect joy
for ever.
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People's New Testament Commentary:
God and the Lamb shall bestow
upon them every blessing and remove every sorrow.
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Robertson's Word Pictures:
In the midst (ana meson). In Re 5:6 we have en mesôi tou thronou as
the position of the Lamb, and so that is apparently the sense of ana
meson here as in Mt 13:25, though it can mean "between," as clearly so
in 1Co 6:5. Shall be their shepherd (paimanei autous). "Shall shepherd
them," future active of poimainô (from poimên, shepherd), in Joh 21:16;
Ac 20:28; 1Pe 5:2; Re 2:27; 7:17; 12:5; 19:15. Jesus is still the Good
Shepherd of his sheep (Joh 10:11,14). Cf. Ps 23:1. Shall guide them (hodê
gêsei autous). Future active of hodêgeô, old word (from hodêgos, guide,
Mt 15:14), used of God's guidance of Israel (Ex 15:13), of God's
guidance of individual lives (Ps 5:9), of the guidance of the Holy
Spirit (Joh 16:13), of Christ's own guidance here (cf. Joh 14:4; Re
14:4). Unto fountains of waters of life (epi zôês pêgas hudatôn). The
language is like that in Isa 49:10; Jer 2:13. Note the order,
"to life's water springs"
(Swete) like the Vulgate ad vitae fontes aquarum, with emphasis on zôês
(life's). For this idea see also Joh 4:12,14; 7:38; Re 21:6; 22:1,17. No
special emphasis on the plural here or in Re 8:10; 14:7; 16:4. And God
shall wipe away (kai exaleipsei ho theos). Repeated in Re 21:4 from Isa
25:8. Future active of exaleiphô, old compound, to wipe out (ex), off,
away, already in Re 3:5 for erasing a name and in Ac 3:19 for removing
the stain (guilt) of sin. Every tear (pân dakruon). Old word, with other
form, dakru, in Lu 7:38,44. Note repetition of ek with ophthalmôn (out
of their eyes). "Words like these of vv. Re 7:15-17 must sound as a
divine music in the ears of the persecuted. God will comfort as a mother
comforts" (Baljon).
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Albert Barnes' Commentary:
For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne. See Barnes for
Re 5:6. He is still the great agent in promoting the happiness of the
redeemed in heaven.
Shall feed them. Rather, shall exercise over them the office of a
shepherd--pomanei. This includes much more than mere feeding. It
embraces all the care which a shepherd takes of his flock--watching
them, providing for them, guarding them from danger. Compare Ps 23:1-2;
36:8. See Barnes for Isa 40:11
And shall lead them unto living fountains of waters. Living fountains
refer to running streams, as contrasted with standing water and stagnant
pools. See Barnes for Joh 4:10. The allusion is undoubtedly to the
happiness of heaven, represented as fresh and ever-flowing, like streams
in the desert. No image of happiness, perhaps, is more vivid, or would
be more striking to an Oriental, than that of such fountains flowing in
sandy and burning wastes. The word living here must refer to the fact
that that happiness will be perennial. These fountains will always
bubble; these streams will never dry up. The thirst for salvation will
always be gratified; the soul will always be made happy.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. This is a new image
of happiness taken from another place in Isaiah, (Isa 25:8) "The Lord
God will wipe away tears from off all faces." The expression is one of
exquisite tenderness and beauty. The poet Burns said that he could never
read this without being affected to weeping. Of all the negative
descriptions of heaven, there is no one perhaps that would be better
adapted to produce consolation than this. This is a world of weeping --a
vale of tears. Philosophers have sought a brief definition of man, and
have sought in vain. Would there be any better description of him, as
representing the reality of his condition here, than to say that he is
one who weeps? Who is there of the human family that has not shed a
tear? Who that has not wept over the grave of a friend; over his own
losses and cares; over his disappointments; over the treatment he has
received from others; over his sins; over the follies, vices, and woes
of his fellow-men? And what a change would it make in our world if it
could be said that hence forward not another tear would be shed; not a
head would ever be bowed again in grief! Yet this is to be the condition
of heaven. In that world there is to be no pain, no disappointment, no
bereavement. No friend is to lie in dreadful agony on a sick bed; no
grave is to be opened to receive a parent, a wife, a child; no gloomy
prospect of death is to draw tears of sorrow from the eyes.
To that blessed world, when our
eyes run down with tears, are we permitted to look forward; and the
prospect of such a world should contribute to wipe away our tears
here--for all our sorrows will soon be over. As already remarked,
there was a beautiful propriety, at a time when such calamities impended
over the church and the world--when there was such a certainty of
persecution and sorrow--in permitting the mind to rest on the
contemplation of these happy scenes in heaven, where all the redeemed,
in white robes, and with palms of victory in their hands, would be
gathered before the throne. To us also now, amidst the trials of the
present life--when friends leave us; when sickness comes; when our hopes
are blasted; when calumnies and reproaches come upon us; when, standing
on the verge of the grave, and looking down into the cold tomb, the eyes
pour forth floods of tears--it is a blessed privilege to be permitted to
look forward to that brighter scene in heaven, where not a pang shall
ever be felt, and not a tear shall ever be shed.
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Jamieson-Faussett Brown:
in the midst of the throne--that is, in the middle point in front
of the throne (Re 5:6).
feed--Greek, "tend as a shepherd."
living fountains of water--A, B, Vulgate, and CYPRIAN read, (eternal)
"life's fountains of waters."
"Living" is not supported by the old authorities.
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