Worship the Redeember Part 3

We have been examining the throne room of God with John's help. John Saw a door open in heaven and he was invited to take a closer look and we with him into what is on the other side of that door. He saw the throne and One sitting on it (God of course) like jasper and sardius, with an emerald rainbow around it and a sea of glass before it with the 24 elders who are the church around it and the 4 living beings around it praising the one who sits on the throne and lives for ever.

We are still in that scene before us. Only now John sees a little closer. Or at least, he sees the one sitting on the throne holding something. God has in his right hand a book written inside and outside., sealed with seven seals. This book is lying upon (epi) the right hand of God. He doesn't grasp it or clasp it in His grip. It is on an open hand for any who is worthy to take it. He does not refrain from giving it or hold it from the authorized one. He is not withholding his purposes contained in the book.

God is shown here in an anthropomorphism. God is Spirit, but here has a hand and is sitting upon the throne.

Notice the scroll, which we will speak of in a minute, in upon His right hand. In his day the right hand was the hand of honor. It is in our day as well. We give the right hand of fellowship in our churches. We normally shake with the right hand in greetings or agreements. In Scripture preference is always given to the right hand, Matt. 25:33 the sheep are placed on the right hand, goats on the left. When both hands are mentioned the right hand is always mentioned first ( Rev. 10:2 speaking of the angel who had a book in his hand, "he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth" ), both when the division is unimportant (Matt. 20:21, 23 when the mother of James and John asked Jesus if "my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in they kingdom" [ Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.] The point is the right hand is the hand of honor.

God is said to be at the right hand of the person whom He helps as the enemy is to the right of him whom he seeks to overcome and the accuser to the right of the accused. By the right hand the whole man is claimed, whether in action or in suffering (Ps. 109:31 God "stands at the right hand of the poor, so save him from those that condemn his soul" Acts 2:25 quoted from Ps. 16:8 David said God "is on my right hand that I should not be moved." ; A person of high rank who puts someone on his right hand gives him equal honor with himself and recognizes him as of equal dignity (Matt. 22:44; speaking with the Pharisees asking about the Christ said, "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him YHWHLord, saying, 44 The YHWHLORD said unto my YHWHLord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him YHWHLord, how is he his son? "

Thus you see the right hand of God is significant here. Jesus is at the right hand of the father even right now making intercession for us, Romans 8:34 This is the place of honor. It stands to reason that a scroll, the title deed to the world as shall see, would be upon His right hand and not His left. It is such a significant scroll.

In addition, we note that John can see that this book/scroll is written inside and outside/backside.

They didn't have books as we do now that are bound leafs of paper. They used parchment or papyrus and would roll it up from both ends to the middle. This one was written inside and outside . It was full in other words.

May signify completeness in terms of the topic or contents of writing. It is completely filled out. That is God's counsels completely filled out. It is complete. Because it was completely filled out nothing more could be added to it.

It was also sealed with seven seals- this was like a Roman will. What was written was complete and final. Like a will the seal could only be broken by the one who is authorized to break the seal.

In Roman law seals were proof of protection and guarantee, placed on property or wills, etc. They served as proof of identity. Both the testator and the witness sealed the wills. All six witnesses had to break their own seals to open the will. Seals were used in weights and measures to insure accuracy and in government. The King had a seal of authorization. Seals made documents valid, eg. marriagees, bill of sale, etc.

Dr. Robert Thomas writing in his commentary on Revelation has written this, "This kind of contract was known all over the Middle East in ancient times and was used by the Romans from the time of Nero on. The full contract would be written on the inner pages and then sealed with seven seals." Not just a will but various kinds of contracts. "Then the content of the contract would be described briefly on the outside."

In other words, it was very important once it was sealed multiple times and couldn't be opened by any unauthorized person to write on the outside of the scroll something that would describe what was in it. And so there would be the inside with all of the fullness of what needed to be in the contract and the outside would be a summary of what was on the inside without the details.

Dr. Thomas goes on to say, "All kinds of transactions were consummated this way including marriage contracts, rental and lease agreements, release of slaves, contract, bills and even bonds. Support comes also from Hebrew practices. The Hebrew document most closely resembling this scroll was a title deed which was folded and signed, requiring at least three witnesses. A portion of text would be written and then sealed with a different witness signing at each sealing and a larger number of witnesses meant that more importance was assigned to the document." (GTY, sermon by MacArthur on this verse.)

We could go to Jeremiah 32:6 ff for illustration of this type of document in the OT. you can see here that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah to do this. His cousin Hanameel wants to sell him his property. It would be worthless to him in occupation so he wants to get something out of it. Jeremiah does something even crazier. He buys the property (that was from God too). Notice v. 10,11 He has the contract signed and sealed by witnesses. It was title deed to the property he bought. Then he gives it to Baruch to place in a jar and probably bury. Later, his heirs could dig it up and the rightful heir lay claim to the property, because Jeremiah will not be alive to reclaim it.

So this is what we have here. God has title deed to heaven and earth and only the heir has authority to open the seals and activate the document.

typically in a title deed it has the name of the owner and a description of the property. We don't have a description of the property but rather a description of how it is going to be taken back and put into possession of the rightful heir.

Now look at Ezekiel 2:9,10 where a similar scroll is seen by Ezekiel as to the same thing here in ch.5

and then look at Daniel 12 where Daniel is given revelation about the end times and is told to seal it up in a scroll til the end of time. Notice the one who is above the river, refer back to Dan. 10:5 and we see his description and it looks like Jesus in Rev. 1 . Daniel sees Jesus here who holds the scroll and has the authority to open the seals at the appointed time. Back in Revelation the Lamb/Jesus takes that scroll as the rightful heir and will open the seals in 6:1.

So it appears that this is same scroll that Ezekiel and Daniel see.

This book does contain the seven trumpets and the seven vials/bowl judgments as well. - the seventh seal opens to the trumpets, Rev. 8:1ff, this after an interlude where the 144,000 are sealed, and the great multitude our of tribulation are before the throne of God and the lamb. The seven trumpet judgments expand into chapter 15:8. The seventh trumpet opens into the seven bowls of God's wrath, 16:1ff with the seventh bowl opening with "It is Done" and a great earthquake, huge hailstones and plague. that ends the judgments contained in the book.

All this leads to this question, 'why is it important for us to know these things?' More than knowing the future is to ensure the present that we do not turn away in the face of persecution. Listen to these stats from Michael Youssef's book "End Times and the Secret of Mahdi"

"Every year, more than one hundred thousand Christians around the world are martyred martyred for their faith. More Christians have been martyred for Christ in the past hundred years than in the previous nineteen hundred years of Christian history combined. . . . ." One Christian man in Iraq told him about twelve year old Christian boys ordered by ISIS to recite the Shahada, the islamic declaration of faith. they refused saying "No, we love Jesus!" they were crucified in front of their parents. In Feb. 2015, kidnapped 21 Coptic Christians and beheaded them by the seashore in Libya. The news is full of these sorts of events, though not much of this is covered by American news media. The point is that those people like in John's day are living through tribulation now. The believers in John's day were being killed in droves. they needed to be encouraged and strengthened in their faith to continue on despite the dangers, much as believers need that today. You need this today. It is not just a book about the future.

Notice too, that as the seals are opened you will find that the book is not being read. WE are not reading the book, but rather events are played out. Remember this is symbolic explanation of what is going to happen.

Now we are ready to examine this chapter further.

I think an easy way to divide up this chapter is to look according to the following outline:

I. The search for the heir, v.2-4

II. The revealing of the heir, v.5-7

III. Praise to the heir, v.8-14

So let us look into this first part,

I. The Search for the Heir, v.2-4

It is time for the opening of the book, the will. So a strong angel calls with a loud voice "who is worthy to open the book and loose the seals. "

He is 'heralding' this call. Who is this strong angel? Is it important to know? c.f Rev. 10:1; 18:21 for the only other occurence of this phrase. It is quite possible that it is Gabriel or Michael for they are both actively involved the affairs of heaven both in announcing the birth of the Savior and wrestling with the devil in heaven. What is important is that his voice be a strong voice. He would have to possess a strong enough voice for it to be heard all over the universe.

He proclaims with a loud voice because he wants his voice to carry throughout the universe. What is he calling? Who is the heir the one who is authorized who is worthy to open this scroll, to break the seals? Only the one authorized to break the seals is able to legally do so. He is calling for anyone who thinks they are authorized to take the scroll from the palm of God. No one dare step forward if they are not truly the heir. Not even Satan.

v.3

no one is found in heaven, on earth or under the earth to open the book or to look into it.

The universe has been searched from top to bottom. There is no one found who is the heir. This simply means that there was no one at all in all of God's creation who was the rightful, legal heir.

What is meant by 'under the earth'? and why even look there? Some suggest that it refers to those in the grave, OT saints. But in Jewish thought it refers to the underworld, "the 'abyss' of 9:2, 11; and 11:7 where demonic forces dwell" (NAC)

v.4

John's response was to weep profusely throughout the search because no heir was found to open the book. The same word is used for Jesus weeping over Jerusalem in Luke 19:41. And Peter after his denial of Jesus, "he wept bitterly" Matt. 26:75. or the kind of weeping that goes on at the death of a loved one. It speaks of unrestrained emotion.He had been promised to be shown the future events. With no one worthy to open the book it must have seemed hopeless to reach that end. thus, to him the plan of redemption could not be fulfilled. The inheritance could not be doled out.

Caird is to the point when he remarks as follows:

These are not the tears of the prophet, thwarted in his expectation of seeing into the future. His frustration goes deeper than that. Until the scroll is opened, God’s purposes remain not merely unknown but unaccomplished. John has been brought up on the messianic hope of the Old Testament, which promised that one day God would assume his kingly power and reign openly on earth, punishing the wicked and redressing the wrongs of the oppressed. Especially in persecution God’s people had longed for that day to bring an end to their sufferings, but also to vindicate their faith. For there is a limit to the capacity of faith to survive in the face of hostile fact; unless in the end right obviously triumphs over wrong, faith in a just God is utter illusion. God must “vindicate his chosen who cry out to him day and night” (Luke 18:7). John weeps with disappointment because the hope of God’s action appears to be indefinitely postponed for lack of an agent through whom God may act. Patterson, P. (2012). Revelation. (E. R. Clendenen, Ed.) (Vol. 39, p. 164). Nashville, TN: B&H.

In Short, his weeping is because God's plan of redemption cannot continue until the book is opened. The opening of the book is crucial to comprehending how God will work out his plan of redemption.

But his tears were not fitting for the moment. They were misplaced tears, they were uninformed tears, they were tears of ignorance, they were premature tears. Why?Because Jesus was going to act. One of the elders incredulously says to him, "do not weep." ie. don't keep on weeping. There is no need for tears here.

In Luke 8:52 we have the record of a young daughter that had been thought dead and Jesus coming and seeing her parents and friends weeping said, "weep not: she is not dead, but sleepeth." no need for weeping here because she is not dead as you mistakenly think. it is so here with John. You mistakenly think there is no one here to open the scroll. But you are wrong.

He was wrong because Jesus was going to act. We often find ourselves in a self made quandary, worried about some dilemma in our lives because we fail to get all the information. We find our tears are premature because if we just hold on a while longer we will find ourselves overjoyed at the turn of events.

Tears will be wiped away in heaven for the joy that we will share on being there. God is working. I remember attending a funeral of a friend of mine years ago. I noticed that his son was not weeping like the rest. I thought, well maybe the shock and pain of his loss hadn't set in yet. So I waited. I never saw him shed a tear. I was shocked, because I know I would have shed lots of tears at such a loss. So, later on, when I had a moment I asked him why he wasn't crying or hadn't cried? You know what he said to me? and I will never forget this. "Why should I cry? I know where he is at. I know he is alive in heaven with the Lord." I was somewhat ashamed of myself at that. here I cry like a baby at funerals of loved ones. It is all I can do to contain myself. I believe the same thing about these loved ones who are believers. I also realize Paul's admonition to the church at Thessalonica 'not to grieve as those who have not hope."

Well that is what the elder tells John. Don't weep. The rightful heir is on the move. He is worthy to take the scroll and open the seals and take title deed to his property.

We too don't need to weep, but rejoice. Notice what they heavenly audience does. They sing and praise the Redeemer.

Let us rejoice today as we get a glimpse of our Redeemer, the Lamb who was slain and who has purchased us and has made us kings and priests who reign with Him.

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