A. The Unopened Book (5:1-4.)
A. THE UNOPENED BOOK (5:1-4.)
1. John saw a scroll (‘book’) on (not in ; Gk. epi) the right hand of him who sat on the throne. This seems to mean that the scroll lay on the palm, not that it was held in the hand. A scroll would be made up of sheets of papyrus joined edge to edge until the length required for the book was reached. The papyrus sheet was made by placing thin strips of papyrus in two layers at right angles to one another, and joining them with glue, Nile water and pressure.82 The side with the horizontal strips provided a better writing surface than that where they were vertical. Generally this side alone was used. But if space was important it was quite possible to write on the other side also. This was the case with the roll John saw, for it was written on both sides. It was as full as it could possibly be. Some have identified the book with the Old Testament, others with Revelation itself. This approach is perverse. The book surely is that which contains the world’s destiny, and its contents are revealed to us pictorially as the seals are broken. The book was sealed with seven seals. Ladd and others hold that all seven seals were on the outer edge so that no part was opened till all the seals were broken, but this is hard to square with what happened as successive seals were broken (ch.6). Rather each part of the scroll was kept in place with an individual seal, so that it could be opened one section at a time.
2. John sees a mighty angel (cf. 10: 1; 18:21); only one supremely strong could issue a challenge to all creation (his voice penetrates heaven and earth and what is under the earth, v.3). The angel asked for someone worthy to open the book and break its seals (NIV has reversed the order into what seems more logical; John put the end first, then the means). His concern is with worthiness, not naked power. The book records God’s judgments and these are moral. Knox translates, ’Who claims the right to open the book ...?’ but this is not the thought. The angel’s concern is with goodness, not legal rights.
3.
No-one ... could (oudeis edynato) signifies complete impotence. The possibility is reduced to vanishing point as region after region is found wanting. No angel in heaven, no saintly man on earth, no prophet in the realm of the departed was sufficient for this. Cf. Torrance, ‘The secrets of the world belong to God and no man can pry into them. Who knows what a day or a night may bring forth? Who knows what this year holds in its dark unknown future? Even the strong angels of God are unable to open the book. Only God can unseal the seals and read the secrets of men.’
4. John wept and wept (his word means a noisy grief, a wailing), perhaps because he found it depressing that no-one was found . . . worthy for the task. More probably his distress was connected with the contents of the book. He had been promised that he would see things that would happen (4:1). Would he after all fail to see the revelation? Would God’s purpose not be worked out?