The Sealed Scroll

"And I saw at the right of Him seated upon the throne a Scroll that had been written within and on the outside sealed up with Seven Seals." - Chap. 5:1

It is scarcely necessary to remark that the occupant of the throne is the Deity, likened in chapter 4:3, to a jasper and a sardine stone, emblematic of Spirit manifested in flesh. That chapter gives no intimation of this flesh having ever tasted of death; but in the fifth this great fact is brought out in connection with the scroll, as we shall see hereafter.

On the right of the manifested Deity was a scroll. It was written within and on the outside; and was sealed up. This was, doubtless, related to the same document as that referred to in Dan. 12:4,9 where it is written, "Shut up the words, and seal the book till the time of the end;" and "the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Daniel was not informed with how many seals, or if by one only it was sealed up but simply that it was sealed. It was all the same to him whether it was sealed up with one seal or many; for a scroll closed and sealed up is unreadable till unrolled, and the sealing is opened. The catastrophe, or final series of events, revealed to Daniel belonged "to the time of the end." He was instructed to look forward to that period, to which pertains the apocalyptic "hour of judgment," for the termination of the wonders and times treated of in his book, or scroll. What had been communicated to him was principally concerning his people and his holy city. He had heard that the Saints were to be overcome by the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast that has Eyes and Mouth; and that their subjugation was to continue until the Ancient of Days came with a cloud of attendants numbered by "a thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand," when the judgment would sit, and the fourth beast in body, head and horns should be destroyed by the burning flame of wrath proceeding from the cherubic throne of Deity. All this he had heard; nevertheless, there was a mystery closed up and scaled against his scrutiny that needed explication. What did that Little Horn with his Eyes like a man, and a mouth speaking great words against the Most High signify? Was the Ancient of Days by whom they were to be destroyed, Deity or angel; if the former, how manifested? If the latter, who was he? Who was that Son of Man brought before the Ancient of Days, to whom universal dominion upon earth is given? How could the conquered saints take the Kingdom under the whole heaven from the four beasts? These, and many other questions would suggest themselves to Daniel, which would only put him to grief, and place him beside the apostle John, who "shed many tears because no one was found worthy (and therefore able) to unroll and to read the scroll, nor to see it"- ch. 5:4. When Daniel saw the vision of his seventh chapter he said he "was grieved in spirit in the midst of the body, and the visions of his head troubled him;" and even after the meaning of what he saw was interpreted, he says his cogitations still troubled him much, and his countenance was changed. Thus if John and Daniel had been both in Patmos together studying "the matter" they would have been companions in tribulation consequent upon their fruitless investigations, and endeavors to unclose the words, and to unseal the scroll seen by the prophet in the first and third of Belshatzar's reign, and in the third of Cyrus the Persian King. Nor would their grief have been assuaged until this day had the scroll at the right of Deity manifested in flesh, and occupying the throne, been withheld. John could have instructed Daniel concerning the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man; he could have enlarged his views concerning the Saints; and have given him skill and understanding in the mystery of the gospel preached to Abraham; but as to the relations of the saints to the then existing government; the taking out of the way that which hindered the revelation of "The King who should do according to his own will," and in his empire should honor a blaspheming god unknown to his pagan predecessors; as to the rise of the ten horns; the development of the Saracen and Turkish powers; the pouring out of that determined upon the desolator of the Holy Land and City; the coming of the Ancient of Days in power; the resurrection; the war of the great day of the Omnipotent; the co-operation of the Saints; the establishment of the Kingdom; and so forth; as to all these things John could give Daniel no connected and intelligible account. They were all written within and on the outside of that notable scroll on the right of the throne, or place of almighty power. In vision, or spirit, John looked wistfully upon that scroll, closely rolled up and exuberantly sealed. Daniel would have looked wistfully at it too; and so would all the saints, both their contemporaries and ours. And if all this company could have occupied synchronously with John his position in the vision, and their feelings could have been simultaneously expressed, on hearing the question "Who is worthy to unroll the scroll, and to loose its seals?" unreplied to by a solitary response; there would have been a universal lamentation and shedding of tears abundantly. In saying this, I speak of the Saints of all ages and generations who are such in reality, and not merely in pretense. The saints of the Deity, or "his servants," who are such in deed and in truth, like John, take a deep interest in "the things of the spirit," and earnestly desire and diligently endeavor to "know the truth" of all "matters" the Deity has condescended to reveal. They seek to know the true import, the real meaning, of them all; and if they do not succeed, it is a source of much anxiety and restlessness of mind. But saints so called who have a name like many in the ancient Sardis, "that they live, but are dead," would have seen the scroll at the right of power. and though they should have heard with John, "that no one was able in heaven, nor upon the earth, nor under the earth, to unroll the scroll, nor to see it," would have been far from joining him in "shedding many tears, because no one was found worthy to unroll and to read the scroll, nor to see it." Saints of this sort flourish in overwhelming multitudes in the present time. They might possibly so far have respected the presence of the apostle as not to have laughed at his "weakness;" but behind his back, they hesitate not to laugh to scorn those who are interested in this scroll, and seek to understand, or "see it." They regard such as hairbrained and frantic fanatics, and exclaim in vast astonishment at their presumption. To them the scroll is "covered with a dense and thick veil of ignorance," which only the presumptuous and reckless would essay to lift or put aside. In holding these sentiments they condemn the weeping of the apostle. What sense in his shedding many tears because no one could interpret such a document as they esteem it - a book calculated only to addle or dement the brains of all who try to understand it? Certainly none. In effect, then, they condemn the lamentation of the apostle: and prove to a demonstration, that they are not in fellowship with him; nor, by consequence, "with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ,"- 1 John 1:3. Hence, the apostle in the vision does not represent saints of their class. In the apocalyptic drama he symbolizes no such impious professors. If a multitude of weepers had been introduced into the scenic representation instead of one tear-shedding apostle, the apocalypse-despising crowd would have found no standing room among them. Such profane and scoffing pietists could have no more place there, than as cherubic eyes in the four Living Ones, when the unrolling of the scroll, and the unloosing of the seals, will be complete. No, not these, but his own class, is symbolized or represented by John in the vision of this fifth chapter. He acts for those in fellowship with the apostles and prophets as these would have acted had they heard the proclamation of the vision in the time before the Lion of Judah's tribe was renounced as the unroller of the scroll and looser of the seals. His dramatic weeping argues, and indeed indicates, "the joy unspeakable and full of glory" characteristic of his class, the saints, in their "full assurance of faith and hope" that "all power has been given to him in heaven and upon earth" to unroll the scroll, and to loose the seals thereof: and that consequently, there is no throne, dominion, principality, nor power in the political firmament that can successfully contend against him; nor kindred, tongue, nation, tribe nor people, that can preserve their independence of the sovereignty of Judah and Israel's King. In the ratio of the lamentation is the intensity of the joy by implication. Sensible men do not "shed many tears" over trifles. Hence though it is not said that John was glad with exceeding joy when he heard that one was found who was able to unroll the scroll, read and see it, it is nevertheless implied, seeing that he was so movingly affected on the contrary supposition. That scroll, symbolical of its contents, must certainly have been inestimable which could be unrolled only by one in all the Universe deemed of worthiness sufficient by the Lord of heaven and earth. Its denouement, or unraveling of its subject matter, was to put John and all in fellowship with him, in possession of the great salvation - of the kingdom promised to those who are "rich in faith;" hence, to understand this denouement and to know that the Lord Jesus will carry it through, and establish it so that "it cannot be moved," would develop the voices of this fifth chapter which are expressive of loud shouting for joy on the part of all who utter them.

(By Dr. John Thomas)