Last week we began the process of putting on our spiritual 3D glasses by looking at John’s vision of heavenly worship that began in Revelation 4. We’ll complete that process this morning as we examine the continuation of that vision in Chapter 5. As I pointed out last week, the vision recorded in chapters 4 and 5 is the key to the rest of the book. It is only by looking through the lens of this vision that we will be able to properly understand everything else that we’ll see in our journey.
Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Revelation 5. But before I read the passage I want to remind you again of an important principle that we’ll need to keep in mind as we look at this passage together. The book of Revelation is not written in a chronological, or linear, manner. This is especially true for chapters 4 and 5. Just because John’s vision occurs after the messages to the churches in chapters 2 and 3 does not mean that the heavenly worship pictured in chapters 4 and 5 doesn’t begin until after the church age ends. And as we’ll clearly see this morning, it doesn’t mean that all aspects of the heavenly worship described in those two chapters occur prior to the events in the rest of Revelation. In a sense, the heavenly worship that John sees in his vision is timeless. Let’s keep that in mind as we look at our passage this morning.
Like last week, the greatest danger this morning is that we’ll get so caught up in the details that we’ll miss the big picture. However, that doesn’t mean we’ll ignore those details because they do have significance. So I’m going to go through the passage in sections to facilitate our examination of the passage. But as I do that let’s make sure that we also keep the big picture in view.
1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it,
Once again, we see God seated on His throne. But now the attention shifts from God and all that is around the throne to something that He is holding in His right hand – a scroll. So the first question we need to answer this morning is…
WHAT IS THE SCROLL?
Like with many of the other objects in Revelation, there are a number of opinions regarding what the scroll represents. But in this case, with the text itself, other relevant Bible texts and some historical background, I think it we can be pretty confident in identifying what this scroll is.
Let’s begin with the text itself. There we find these characteristics of the scroll:
• In the right hand of God
Obviously God the Father does not have human form, and as we saw last week, John does not describe Him in human form. But in the Bible, when the term “the right hand of God” is used, it is always a picture of His power and authority. So whatever the scroll represents, God the Father has authority over it and the power to ensure that its contents are carried out.
• Written on front and back
We have both Biblical and historical references to scrolls which have writing on both the front and back. The relevant Biblical reference is found in the context of God’s call to the prophet Ezekiel:
“But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.
Ezekiel 2:8-10 (ESV)
Since this is the clearest Biblical reference to a scroll with writing on both sides, it may also give us some clues about the contents of the scroll here in Revelation 5. Ezekiel’s scroll contained words of lamentation, mourning and woe. And that certainly describes, at least in part, what we’ll find in the remainder of the Book of Revelation.
• Sealed with seven seals
The concept of a sealed scroll is found in two Old Testament passages. The first is from the prophet Isaiah:
And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
Isaiah 29:11 (ESV)
This passage makes it clear that whatever is recorded on the scroll can’t be read until the seals are broken.
Daniel chapter 12 is even more directly relevant to the sealed scroll here in Revelation. At the conclusion of his final vision regarding the end times, Daniel is given this command:
But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end…
And a few verses later, Daniel is given some further clarification:
I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.
Daniel 12:4, 8, 9 (ESV)
So what we find id that Daniel is told to record that which he sees in his visions, which by the way, is exactly what John has done in the book of Revelation. But He is then instructed to seal the book, or the scroll, because his visions concern the end times. John is given an entirely different command at the end of his visions:
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.
Revelation 22:10 (ESV)
When we put all this together, it is clear that whatever is on the scroll is connected with the Day of the Lord and the ushering in of the kingdom of God that will occur in the end times.
But why seven seals? Some historical background is helpful here. In John’s day, Roman wills and other legal documents such as contracts were written on one side of a scroll with a summary written on the outside. Then the document had to be attested to by seven witnesses who would indicate they had witnessed the execution of the document by sealing the scroll. The document was then only unsealed when the contents of the document were about to be executed. So the seals prevented the document from being altered in any manner.
We also know that in the Bible, the number seven represents completeness. In this case the seven seals provide complete protection against any attempt to change the contents.
• It requires someone who is worthy to open it up
Although it’s just not possible to identify the “strong angel”, we see that he is unable to find anyone “in heaven or on earth or under the earth” who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. The triplet that he uses emphasizes the fact that he has searched far and wide, from the heavens to under the earth, and there is absolutely no one worthy to open the scroll.
Again the historical background regarding Roman legal documents is helpful. A will could only be opened upon the death of the person who had written the will and it could only by the one who had been named as the executor of the will.
Conclusion:
We’ve really only scratched the surface here, but I think we have enough to draw some valid conclusions about the scroll.
The scroll represents:
1) God’s plan of judgment and redemption
The scroll contains God’s plan of judgment and redemption that was set in motion by Jesus’ death and resurrection, but has yet to be fulfilled completely. Although the seals conceal the details, there is enough writing visible on the outside to discern the overall nature of those contents. Perhaps there is even a parallel there to the Old Testament prophecies which dealt with the Day of the Lord, but which require the breaking of the seals to understand them more fully. The breaking of the seals would also connote the execution of the details of the events that are contained within the scroll.
If the scroll is indeed God’s plan of judgment and redemption, then it helps us more fully understand Jesus’ command to John back in chapter 1:
Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
Revelation 1:19 ESV)
If the scroll contains God’s plan of judgment and redemption which was set in motion at the death and resurrection of Jesus, then what we see here in chapters 4 and 5, as well as in the remainder of the book of Revelation is not merely the things “that are to take place after this”, but also contains the things that John “has seen” and the things “that are”. In other words, we find past, present and future aspects of God’s plan intertwined throughout the book.
2) God’s last testament and will
The scroll also serves as a will that describes the inheritance that is to be received by God’s children. We’ll deal with the nature of that inheritance more fully when we get to verse 12.
Let’s continue reading…
4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
In our Monday Bible study, we talked about why John would have wept when there was no one worthy to open the scroll. But once we understand the nature of the scroll more fully, it seems clear that John was weeping because he could understand the general nature of what was contained in the scroll from what he could see on the outside of the scroll, but he knew that if the scroll couldn’t be opened, its contents couldn’t be executed and the final culmination of God’s kingdom would not be fulfilled.
But one of the elders assures him that there is indeed one who is worthy to open the scroll…
THE WORTHY ONE
The elder uses two well known descriptions of the Messiah to describe the one who is worthy. Both are based on Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah:
• Lion of Judah:
Judah is a lion
