Revelation 1:1-3 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants--things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, (2) who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. (3) Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
The subject matter of this series deals mainly with events that will take place on the earth during the period between the rapture of the church and the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Because the church will be absent during that period, the events discussed in this series describe the wrath of God finally being poured out on the earth, beginning with the sounding of the seven trumpets and ending with the pouring out of the seven bowls of God’s wrath. Nevertheless because we begin this series with the opening of the seven seals of the scroll, we will see that the church is present on the earth for the opening of the first five seals. And so in this section we want to discuss the event of the Lord Jesus taking the scroll from the Father’s hand, and how the opening of the seven seals of the scroll initiate events that occur in the earth. The above quoted passage of scripture is the opening account recorded in the Book of Revelation which is the final book in the bible. This is the last time that Jesus communicated to His church through His written word, and He chose the apostle John to communicate that word to us. Most bible scholars agree that it was approximately in the year 95 AD that John received his revelation, having been banished by the Romans to the island of Patmos. And so being eighty five years old at that time, he was the last of the twelve apostles of the Lamb that was still alive. The first three chapters of the book deal with the Lord’s communication to seven specific churches that existed in Asia at the time, and the fourth chapter describes John’s experience of being taken up into heaven where he was shown the throne room of God.
Revelation 5:1-14 “And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. (2) Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?" (3) And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. (4) So, I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. (5) But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals." (6) And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. (7) Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. (8) Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (9) And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, (10) And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth." (11) Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, (12) saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honour and glory and blessing!" (13) And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honour and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!" (14) Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.”
The fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation quoted above reveals the main reason why Jesus took John into heaven on that occasion. It was so that John could record the future events which were shown to him, and communicate those events to the church. This passage reveals to us that God had recorded on a scroll all the future events that He wanted the saints to see and understand. We also see in this passage that in all of God’s creation, no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was worthy to open the scroll or to look at it. Nevertheless this passage reveals to us that there was one who was counted worthy i.e. the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. And so we see that Jesus is the one who took the scroll out of our Father’s hand and opened its seals, because of which Jesus could reveal to the church the future events that God wanted the saints to see and understand.
2 Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
Before we examine the events revealed on the scroll however, it is necessary for us to understand an important spiritual truth; which is that the spirit realm is very different to the natural realm in which mankind resides. For example, in the natural realm we experience both distance and time. In the spirit realm however, there is no such thing as either distance or time. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Peter reminds us about the fact that the spirit realm exists outside of time. Because mankind is constrained by time however, timelessness is a difficult concept for us to understand. In this passage Peter attempts to explain the concept of timelessness to us by telling us that in the spirit realm, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. And so it is precisely because the spirit realm exists outside of time that God could show the apostle John events that had not yet taken place in the natural realm. There is another aspect to this spiritual truth which we need to understand; because there is no time in the spirit realm, prophetic events revealed in scripture are not always recorded in a natural chronological sequence, but rather as God chooses to reveal those events to us. That concept will be very clearly illustrated when we examine the opening of the seven seals of the scroll. For although the scripture refers to the seals being opened in a chronological sequence i.e. the second seal and the third seal etc, the corresponding events that occur in the natural realm do not take place in the same chronological sequence as the opening of the seals in heaven. For example when the seventh seal is opened; we will see that it corresponds to events that will occur in the earth long before the events that will occur in the earth when the sixth seal is opened. Understanding this principle helps us to place the various visions shown to John into their correct chronological sequence, thus enabling us to get a clearer picture of future events that are revealed to us in scripture. As we examine the opening of the seals of the scroll there is one further important truth which will be made clear; the church will be present on the earth when the first five seals are opened, however when the sixth and seventh seals are opened, the church will no longer be present because the Lord would have removed the church by that time.
Michael E.B. Maher
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