REVELATION SIMPLIFIED

 

CHAPTER 5.1

Gleanings from the Book of Revelation:

A Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series

 

The

REVELATION TO JOHN

(The Apocalypse)

 

Chapter Five

 

Introduction

Chapter 5 is not only very significant but also the climax of God's redemptive plan for human history. When the book of Revelation was written, there were no chapter breaks. The very first word and, of Chapter 5, is a conjunction and it connects with the previous chapter. *

 

Therefore, the focus is still on the Throne Room of God. The body of glorified believers is already in Heaven, Christ is seated on the Throne, and the key event of Chapter 5 is about to transpire, the opening of the seven-sealed scroll followed by the unleashing of God's wrath.

 

*Note: Chapter and verse divisions of the Bible were developed for convenience by Cardinal Stephan Langton of France -- Archbishop of Canterbury, England -- circa A.D. 1205 to 1227. If no chapter break occurred between 4 and 5, allowing for 21 chapters instead of 22, the book of Revelation would then be divisible by three and adhere to God's perfect numerical pattern of sevens. [For further study, the History of the Bible is suggested.]

 

 

(Verse 1)

 

And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the Throne a book (scroll) written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

 

Giving an eyewitness account, John, completely occupied by the splendor of this vision, is now seeing the prophecy of future events taking place in the present. In God's powerful hand, John sees a scroll (seven parchments rolled into one) inscribed on both sides and each individually sealed on the backside with seven seals.

 

The right hand of God Him (God) that sat on the Throne

 

Dextera Domini is an expression in Latin signifying the right hand of the Lord. In a biblical context, it is always used as a symbol of God's omnipotence, divine power, and a designation God is in total and complete control, especially over His enemies in the weight of judgment. After conquering death, the place of honor is always ascribed to Jesus Christ seated on God's right side.

Exodus 15:6 - Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: Thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

 

Psalm 110:1 - The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.

 

Matthew 26:64 - I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

 

 

A book (scroll) written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals

 

A Book

Definition: The word scroll is biblion in Greek (pronounced bib-lee'-on). Properly, the inner bark of the papyrus plant is (by implication) a sheet or scroll of writing or book. [Strong's G975]

 

The seven-sealed scroll is the vital key to understanding the remainder of Revelation. It is a document that determines the climax of human history. The entire picture of the Great Tribulation Period is wrapped up in this scroll God is holding in His right hand. From Chapter 6 to Chapter 19, the unfolding or opening of each scroll discloses how man's day culminates as the Messiah, Jesus Christ, establishes the millennial Kingdom on earth.

 

An important clue is prophetically presented in the book of Daniel:

Daniel 12:8-9 - And I (Daniel) heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And He said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

 

During the prophetic history of man, God revealed everything to Daniel except the prophecy of the end times, which was reserved for the church and to be written by John. Those things were secretive to Daniel and sealed. Now, the entire scenario of the Great Tribulation Period is in the right hand of God. In Chapter 5, God is ready to unroll and reveal the scroll's contents, for the time is at hand. A similar scroll was also given to Ezekiel.

Compare:

Ezekiel 2:9-10 - And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto Mme; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And He spread it before Me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

 

Every time this scroll appears; it is always connected with the unveiling of God's purpose at the end of man's day.

 

As a sidebar, another interesting scroll was given to the prophet Isaiah. Each time God gave Israel the truth, she kept rejecting it. In Isaiah Chapter 29, Almighty God attempted to warn Israel that the final siege on Jerusalem would be the worst of all (also found in Zechariah 14). But Israel's apostasy, the hardness of heart, and their unwillingness and failure to study Scripture kept them from understanding God's revelation.

 

Scrolls of Antiquity

Throughout the first and second centuries, scrolls were the accepted form of literary works. Later they transitioned to a codex (notebook), a precursor to our present-day book. The great libraries of the Ancient Middle East were famous for housing such collections:

1.  The Royal Library of Alexandria, Egypt

2.  The Library of Pergamum, Asia Minor

3.  The Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Asian Minor

 

Papyrus

Papyrus was generally used for approximately three thousand years. The writing material substance pith was extracted from a bulrush that grew in the Nile Delta area of Egypt. This was a costly process of cutting piths into thin strips with a sharp knife and crisscrossing them by another layer of strips, pressed and glued horizontally together. The writing surface was beaten with a mallet and then smoothed with a pumice stone (similar to brown paper).

 

The writing was done on the smooth surface -- the recto side -- where the lines coincided with the fibers. If there was a great deal of writing to be done, a person would write on the front and the back (the verso).

 

Pages of papyrus were manufactured into sheets approximately eight by ten inches, first sewn together, and then later glued into various lengths. Each roll commonly had a wooden roller held in the left hand and unrolled by the right at each end. As a reference point: The smaller books of the New Testament (Philemon, Jude 1, John, etc.) were written in narrow columns on one roll, while larger books demanded larger rolls. According to historian Pliny, the book of Revelation occupied a length of fifteen feet.

 

Roman Legal Documents

In John's day, during the Roman Empire, Roman law required a person's will to be witnessed by seven witnesses, each one placing their seal upon the document -- relative to ownership -- to prevent it from being opened by an unauthorized person.

 

Archaeology confirms it was written with and without.  Inside, the will from the benefactor spelled out the inheritance and final settlement of affairs to the beneficiary. Without -- on the outside -- were the qualifications for the one worthy to its contents. It thus remained sealed until the original seven witnesses were present, or family representatives thereof.

 

An Old Testament Example

God's prophet Jeremiah lived before the captivity of the southern kingdom of Judah. The ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel had already been taken captive by the Assyrians. As the Babylonian Empire rose to power, they became a threat to the Assyrians who were positioned at the borders of the southern kingdom; thus, causing the Assyrian attack on Judah to be delayed.  

 

It was about this time the screaming prophet Jeremiah, clothed with sackcloth and ashes for fifty-two chapters, in effect kept warning the people of Judah, "If you do not shape up and repent, you are going to be taken into captivity by this new rise of power, the Babylonian Empire. Not only will your city be destroyed, but your Temple will be desecrated, and you will be uprooted out of your homeland."

 

Consequently, no one listened to Jeremiah as history and the Bible record. The Assyrians were leaving Judah alone, mainly because they were too busy warding off the Babylonians. They had their hands full, so to speak.

 

Meanwhile, in Judah, everything was business as usual. Their economy prospered. They were intermarrying with Assyrian women. Idolatry crept in until it became full-blown. Wickedness was rampant. Everyone had money. Everyone was partying and having a good time. Public baths, drunken orgies, co-ed dorms, cannabis shops, and internet pornography were commonplace. Consequently, immorality became the fabric of society, similar to today's times.

 

But the more Jerry preached the more he was labeled an eccentric flower child leftover from the sixties. Besides being a Jesus freak, he was truly a prophet of doom and gloom.

 

The next big event in history's timeline was when Nebuchadnezzar started planting seeds all around Jerusalem until the entire Babylonian army surrounded the city. But Jeremiah kept crying out, "This city is going to fall! It's going to fall!" And the people responded by saying, "Go back from whence you came, you kook!" 

 

The Intersecting of Jeremiah 32 and Revelation 5

Jeremiah had a cousin who owned a worthless piece of property the Babylonian army had occupied by squatter's rights. At this point, the real estate market was too hot for a quick sale. In desperation to sell, Hanameel decided to single out a likely prospect – a preacher.

 

So Hanameel, in effect, says to his cousin Jeremiah, "Jerry baby. How would you like to buy a beautiful little wooded lot back in the hood of Anatoth? But there's onea smalla problem. Righta nowa The Babylonian army occupies it. But nangia you worry. Ima gonna giva ya fabulous price. Ima gonna maka you an offer you can't refuse."

 

As the story goes, Jeremiah fell for it. At the darkest hour of Judah's history, Jeremiah bought and held the deed of purchase (title deed) to a piece of real estate in the southern kingdom of Judah, in the country of Benjamin, occupied by the Babylonians.

 

Question:

Do you wanna know why Jeremiah bought this property?

Answer: Because God told him so.

Jeremiah 32:6 – (Jeremiah speaking) The Word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

 

Jeremiah 32:7 - (God speaking) Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.

 

Hanameel, being a shrewd businessman, asked for the money upfront as he assured Jeremiah the right of redemption one day would be his. So they go out and weighed 17 shekels of silver.

 

The Shekel

Shekels at the time were measured in weight, since no coins, according to archaeology, were minted before 600 B.C. These weights had different values in the ancient world dependent upon the era, government, or region. Therefore, in Jeremiah's day, we cannot speculate about the adequacy or inadequacy of either the price of the field or the weight of the shekel. The first mention in the Bible specifically relating to a coin is found in Ezra 8:27 concerning twenty gold bowls worth 1000 drams which Ezra carried to Jerusalem in 458 B.C.

 

Today's commodities exchange exponentially fluctuates daily. The shekel value of silver as of January 20, 2016, if measured in troy ounces, is approximately $14.23 per troy ounce, 17 shekels $240.72.

 

Continuing…

Jeremiah 32:8 - So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the Word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the Word of the LORD.

 

Jeremiah 32:9 - And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.

 

Jeremiah 32:10 - I signed the deed of purchase, sealed it, and had some men serve as witnesses to the purchase. I weighed out the silver for him on a scale (NET).

 

Observation:

Jeremiah was not stupid. First of all, he already knew Israel would not remain in captivity forever. Only three chapters back in Chapter 29, we know Jeremiah trusted the LORD because here is what the LORD said:

Jeremiah 29:10 - For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good Word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

 

So, God had told Jeremiah that captivity would only last seventy years. And therefore, seventy years from now, the land would have value.

 

Also, Jeremiah wasn't so selfish as to want it all for himself. He figured that whoever his heir would be, that person could go back and redeem (take possession of) the property. And thus, Jeremiah bought the land.

 

Comparison to Revelation Chapter 5

·        Jeremiah owned a field he never possessed

·        He was never going to enter his land

·        He was driven out into captivity

·        He was rejected and set aside

 

With all this in play, Jeremiah trusted the LORD that someday his heir would come back 70 years later and reclaim the property. So he proceeded to take the title deed to his property. And accordingly, Jeremiah wrote the terms of the deed of purchase in the sight of witnesses.

·        It was legal

·        He signed it

·        He rolled it up

·        He sealed it

·        He buried it.

 

The little sealed scroll Jeremiah signed was his title deed to his inheritance, a land that would be restored to him in the future. But in the meantime, it was being occupied by the enemy.

 

Antitype

What a beautiful illustration of what God is holding in His right hand and sealed with seven seals. In God's right hand is the title deed to this earth.

Psalm 24:1 - A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

 

In closing…

Of Jesus Christ:

·        Men have thrown Him out

·        Men have dismissed Him

·        Men have no need for Him

·        Men have rejected Him

 

Presently, according to Scripture, the enemy Satan is the ruler of this world:

John 12:31 - Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

 

2 Corinthians 4:4 -In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

 

Ephesians 2:2 -Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

 

Colossians1:13 -Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.

 

But one day, God's rightful heir is coming back to legally reclaim His earth, restore the land, and set up the millennial kingdom. You will see this come to pass in Revelation Chapter 10.

 

The Restoration

Israel's Law of the Jubilee (more in detail in our next lesson), required the ancient Israelites to honor the terms of any legal agreement and return to their original owner property and possessions during the Year of the Jubilee, every fifty years. Jeremiah subsequently presents a pattern of seventy years, compared to Daniel's Seventy weeks prophecy [70 times 7 parallel's weeks of years (49 years)]. Year Fifty - The Year of the Jubilee.

 

In our next lesson we will discuss:

·        Restoration

·        Redemption

·        The Kinsman Redeemer

·        The Year of the Jubilee

·        The Rightful Heir

 

 

QUESTIONS:

1.  Why is Chapter 5 critical to Revelation as a whole?

2.  What does the right hand signify?

3.  Why is the scroll so important?

4.  Describe a scroll.

5.  What is a deed of purchase?

6.  Why is Jeremiah 32 significant?

7.  Read Psalm 24.

 

 

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