They Which Follow the Lamb

Alexander Smellie again, priceless thoughts:

"These are they which follow the Lamb, whithersoever He goeth.”  Rev. 14:4

"What of the Leader?  He is the Lamb, the Lamb of God.  He is the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord Jesus Christ in a special aspect of His character and work—Christ the Sufferer, Christ the Sacrifice, Christ the Savior.  I behold Him offered up for me on the shameful altar of the Cross, a Lamb without blemish, a lamb led dumb and uncomplaining to the slaughter.  Nay, I behold Him offering himself up with all willingness and all majesty of self- surrender and self-dedication.  There is the spectacle which constrains me.  There is the Leader who casts His spell over me, so that I am ready to go with Him and for Him to the world’s end.

What of the March?  They follow the Lamb, the verse says; and it is a significant verb.  It depicts my Christian life from its outset to its close.  It is not a life of self-reliance.  It does not glory in mapping out its own road and in accomplishing its own purpose.  It is subservient to Christ and fashioned in accordance with His will.  At His lips I receive the commandment which orders and directs me.  From his perfection I catch the glory which captivates my soul and lures me on.  My humble and utter trust in him I renew day after day and hour after hour.  I grow up into Him in all things who is my Head.  I do not originate; I follow.

What of the Path?  My Leader is to be followed whithersoever He goeth.  It is a startling and testing word. 

His whithersoever may take me far afield, to a heathen land and a savage people; or may compel me to part with early convictions which once were dearly cherished; or may conduct me to strange and unexpected trial.  But the word is as comforting as it is exacting.  For He is Himself beside me, with me,   the strife.  I can hear His voice in the night and in the storm, “It is I, be not afraid.”  Whithersoever He goeth I may be glad and proud to follow.

And what of the Result?  These are they, writes St. John, “which follow”.  These the victors, the knights who have found the Grail, the pilgrims who have come to the new Jerusalem.  These, who have left the difficult road, who have escaped from the cloud, who stand in the personal presence of Christ. These, who know now that every step of the way, every steep ascent, every roughness, every hardship, was best for each of them.  These, whose mouth is filled with laughter and their tongue with singing.  God points me to them, tells me to consider their blessedness, rouses me to covet their weight of glory.  And when “the shore is won at last”, so supreme a shore, “who will count the billows past?”