Book 4 of Musings Following the Lamb

There are some who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

These are specially close to Christ. Why? Because they are obeying His will rather than their own.

In the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation we read about those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These are the firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

What are they the firstfruits of? They are the firstfruits of mankind.

What is so special about following the Lamb wherever He goes?

The "special" aspect is that very few people are willing to follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

Numerous believers claim to love the Lord. They enjoy church. They believe in the fundamentals of the Gospel. They may be active in ministry, or even go to foreign lands as missionaries.

But it is not always true that they are following the Lamb wherever He goes.

Stop and think about it. What does it mean to follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

It means to move from self-direction to being directed by the Lord.

But aren't all denominations and missionary endeavors operated by people who are being directed by the Lord.

No, they are not. This is evident from the competition among them and the maneuvers so prominent in church politics.

My observation is that few Christians follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

Following the Lamb wherever He goes is an attitude of the heart. It means we have surrendered our life to the Lord that we might do His will in every detail.

It means we wait upon Him constantly. Even when we are working busily we are waiting on Him in our heart.

The moment we come to a point of decision we stop and ask the Lord to guide us. We do not push forward in our own wisdom to accomplish our own objectives even if they are religious objectives. We follow the Lamb.

You would think of the millions of believers who have expressed faith in Jesus Christ throughout the centuries there would be a great number who have followed or are now following the Lamb wherever He goes.

But it is not necessarily so. Christian membership and service are one thing. Following the Lamb wherever He goes is another matter altogether.

We Christians are like everyone else. We are filled with our own ways. They may be religious ways. We pray and hope the Lord will help us in our life, keep us safe and healthy, and enable us to achieve our goals. But the person with the attitude of watching the Lord and doing as He does, speaking when He speaks, is rare.

We can all be this way, but it means giving up our ideas of what should and should not be done. It requires faith to believe if we commit our way constantly to the Lord He will guide us in every detail of life.

But it is more than guiding us in every detail of life. It is following Him.

Did you ever notice that the Lord will have fellowship with us, but He never asks us what He should do. He invites us to pray concerning the burdens we have. But if we only knew it, He has put that burden there because of something He wants to accomplish.

There are many books in the Christian bookstores that tell us how to get the Lord to do what we want? Isn't this foolish, when you think about it? How do we know what is good and right? Only Jesus knows what will bring peace and joy. Why don't we just trust and follow, instead of trying to master spiritual principles?

The Lord Jesus is a mighty King. He has desires and plans that He receives from His Father. He always is busy doing His Father's business. He is not helped when we try to force Him to do what we want. He is blessed when we willingly wait to find out what He wants and then act accordingly.

It is the easiest thing, and yet the hardest thing, to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. It is easy because it relieves us of having to follow our own way in life. It is difficult because following the Lamb wherever He goes requires faith that following Him will be the best course for us to take.

We all believe in praying "Not my will but Yours be done." Now, in the 21st century, it is time to live according to our prayer.

These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4)