^7:17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’^[b]
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’^[c]”

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;

Here are all these horribly persecuted, physically hungry and thirsty saints seeing Christ the LAMB Himself being their SHEPHERD; this isn't assigned to some group of angels; it wasn't part of the 4 living creatures jobs; it is the LAMB Himself to be their SHEPHERD. So what does a shepherd do?

• John 10:1-18, Good shepherd
• Hebrews 13:20-21, Great shepherd of the sheep
• 1 Peter 2:25, ... returned to the Shepherd.

‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’

When these saints were hiding from AntiChrist authorities, they were on their own - intuition was their guide along with a complete faith in Christ. Now their faith yielded results. The SHEPHERD takes responsibility to GUIDE them.

The water of life is a whole topic unto itself. We find it

• at the end of Revelation, Revelation 22:1-2.
• physically flowing at Christ's death, John 19:31-37
• impressing John so much, he wrote 1 John 5:4-8
• described differently by Ezekiel, Ezekiel 47:1-12
• may be the quiet waters in Psalm 23
• is not humanly possible to produce, Jeremiah 2:9-13
• flows continually forever, Zechariah 14:6-8-9

and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes."

These saints must have gone through horrible events: torture, seeing loved ones killed, compassion of others to give them food and water, and on and on. But GOD Himself (not the LAMB) will remove all the tears.

Mercifully, the remembrances of bad times will be removed from their minds. There will be no tears in the new heaven, Revelation 21:4. The Lord God will throw a lavish banquet for all peoples (the marriage supper), Isaiah 25:6-12. Isaiah also reminds us what it will be like in the new heavens, Isaiah 65:17-19-25, where there will be no voice of weeping and no sound of crying. JOY replaces the sorrow and weeping, Psalm 16:5-11.

^[b] Isaiah 49:10
^[c] Isaiah 25:8