Tuesday
Tuesday
John’s Vision of a Scroll
Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.
Revelation 5:1
Looking now more closely at the throne and its occupant, John notices in his right hand a scroll that is covered with writing and closed with seven seals. John does not tell us what it is, but from what follows when the seals are broken we see that it is the book of history, the sealed record of the unknown future, “what must take place after this” (4:1).
In John’s vision a mighty angel appears and asks in a loud voice exactly what all of us would like to ask, namely, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (5:2), that is, to disclose the future, let alone control it? There was no answer to this challenging question. So John says, “I wept and wept” (v. 4). He was overcome with emotion, with deep disappointment that nobody was fit to open the scroll or even look inside it. Nobody could supply a clue to the mystery of history.
Then one of the elders came forward and spoke up. He told John not to weep and added, “See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David [that is, the Messiah], has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals” (v. 5) and so to reveal the contents and the meaning of history.
It was a dramatic moment. John looked to see this triumphant Lion, but to his astonishment he saw instead a Lamb, looking as if it had been slaughtered and yet standing in the very center of the throne, sharing it with God (see 3:21). In this central position he is surrounded by the four living creatures (nature) and by the elders (the church). He is also described as having seven horns and seven eyes, which are identified as “the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (5:6), probably symbolizing the Holy Spirit in his sevenfold operation.
Thus our attention is redirected first from the throne to the scroll and now from the scroll to the Lamb.
For further reading: Revelation 5:1–6