Seven Seals, Rev, 5:1-5

We'll be digging this morning into Revelation 5, 1 through 5. As we approach this section of scripture, I find myself just with a growing sense of excitement just about what the Lord is revealing in this passage and in the verses and the chapters that lie ahead of us. This is exciting and momentous stuff. We're going to be looking as we continue on through the book of Revelation at still, there's more than a hundred verses in the heavenly scene. left ahead of us, actually far more than 100 verses.

This is the place where those who have placed their faith and trust in Christ for salvation are now seated. We have been seated and we are now seated with Christ. We've been positionally seated with Him. We're there by having placed our faith in Him. Revelation is the only book in the Bible that gives a substantial amount of narrative account of this heavenly scene, and that makes it a precious and valuable book.

We'll be digging in in the next weeks and months ahead into just some of the choicest meat of it. Right now, let's take a look at this very first verse, okay? He starts off breaking into the fifth chapter. I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.

Now this is one of 50 times in the book of Revelation that John says that he saw or looked. So this is a frequent reference, and this is one of those. What this is telling us, this is an eyewitness account. This is a powerful testimony that what we're getting is not something that he just sort of made up, but this is what he saw. This is eyewitness testimony, someone who was there on the scene, granted special permission to come up to the heavenly scene and write down precisely as he saw as a first-hand witness. This is written by John. He's the one hand-picked by the Lord to do this. Notice it wasn't, hey, y'all come up here and one of you write this. It was, John, come up here. An invitation to him. So this is deliberate.

This is something God specifically intended to be written for us by John the eyewitness. Furthermore, John is writing what would become the very last book of the New Testament and of the entire Bible. So we've got some very special things that we're reading here, okay?

Now, the thing to take a look at, this seven-sealed book is in the right hand of him who sits on the throne. Now, the right hand, as you know, is that's the hand of power and authority in those days, right? It wasn't by accident that he just lifted the right hand. Matter of fact, it's so important, this phrase, the right hand, shows up 126 times in the Bible, okay? So this is a very deliberate, specific reference. It has to do with, this is the right hand of power and authority.

Now, I have to tell you that, being a lefty, okay? The left hand, on the contrast, is only mentioned 12 times in the Bible. So there's some kind of comparison there. As a matter of fact, strangely enough, I think that's about the ratio of lefties to right-handed people. Interesting. What's that? Not America, okay. We're a little strange here. Now, this choice of hands, the right hand, indicates that what he is giving is of power and authority and significance. Then we've got to take a look.

Him who sat on the throne. Who is this who sat on the throne? We know from verses 5 and 7, that's a sneak peek. We know from verses 5 and 7 who the book is being handed to, and that's Christ. Christ the Lord. Therefore, this book is being held at the moment and handed to Christ by God the Father. Now this makes sense because Acts 1, 6, and 7, Christ is responding to a question from the disciples.

The disciples are asking, is now the time that you're going to set up your kingdom? And Christ says, it's up to the Father to determine those times. It's not up to me. It's up to the Father to determine those times. So guess what we're about to witness, folks? This is the time. We're about to see the narrative description of the time that Christ spoke to the disciples about almost 2,000 years ago. We're just about to see the moment. It is the Father who sets the times. And He is about to hand this critical book off.

Now, sitting on the throne, let's not move on too quickly from that. Sitting on the throne meant having the power and authority based on a rightfully held position. God the Father sits here on the throne because He has the power and the authority. He is eternal and He is rightfully holding this book and rightfully sitting on this throne. He is also, to be noted, sitting on this throne because this is a time for judgment. Remember, looking in chapter 4, this throne was set up as a time and place for judgment. the father was shown wearing on the throne was symbolic of the time for judgment. The breastplate of judgment is described as being what he's wearing at that point in time. So this isn't just sitting on any throne. He's sitting on a throne of judgment.

We're seeing a major corner in time here. This is huge. This is momentous. This is an incredible turning point in not just human history, but in divine history. And we're about to witness it. And one of the things to note is he doesn't just hit it with a couple of verses and turn on. Instead, what we see is the whole chapter is now taken up with this single event. The intent is for us to dwell on it a bit, to look at it, to examine it and behold it.

Now, the next thing, and this is something we don't want to miss out on, the Greek word translated books, book here rather, that's the Greek word biblion, it actually means a scroll rather than a bound book. Sewing the pages together to get it bound on one side is something that didn't show up until about the time that John wrote this book or a little bit thereafter. people wrote on rolled-up scrolls. So when it says here, book, it actually is talking about a scroll. That's what they would call a book in those days. And let me give you an example.

This is the Codex Sinaiticus. This is a copy found in a monastery at the base of Mount Sinai. The monks were using ancient New Testament documents to start their fires because they didn't know what it was. Count Tischendorf found, as they were taking these pieces of paper to start the fires, he found this book among the things that they were ready to burn. And this is the oldest known copy that contains the entire New Testament.

But notice it was all bound on one side. This is a book in approximately the style we're accustomed to and we think of as a book. But that's not what he's referring to. Here's one that's more in the right example. This is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is the book of Isaiah. Several copies of the book of Isaiah were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. And why the word scrolls? Because they were all scrolls. There were none of the bound books like we're accustomed to.

So here's an example. They would have a scroll and it would be rolled up. And that's the form that he's talking about. So you can see, here's the father with this scroll in his hand and he's about to hand it off. He's got it, okay? Now, the next thing to take a look at here, John tells us that this book, a scroll, was written inside and on the back. That would tell us that even though the scroll was sealed, that John could see some evidence that there was writing on both sides of it, okay?

It was typical to have the writing on the inside of whatever you wrote. or if they would write something, roll it up so that the writing was on the inside. That would kind of help protect it. To have it written on both sides may mean that it was full of judgments. Full to overflowing to the point where you're going to write on both sides of this thing.

And there may be some other indications too, which we'll see in a little bit. We'll get to that. In our day, how would we describe it? We might say that the book was really heavy or thick. That's the kind of thing he's conveying here. This thing is written both sides. And that's notable because it wasn't typical in those days. If something was written both sides, it has writing on one side and on the other, that was a bit unusual. But I think there's some good reason for it. We'll see in a little bit. Now, the next thing. John tells us that the book has seven seals. And notice he doesn't beat around the bush, he just tells it right out. This book has seven seals.

Now, we have some instances And you've got a copy of this on your handout, but I want to get it up here, too. This is a document that has four seals, just to give you a sense of what this might look like. This has four seals, and this particular one, by the way, is really an interesting historical item. This particular document, what they would do is they'd use clay or wax. This particular one was done in clay. The seals are, in this case, are unopened.

Three of the four are marked by people that are mentioned in the Bible. This confirms the historicity of Scripture, even aside from the fact that it's an example of a multi-sealed scroll. Now, this is similar to what would have been handed off there. Then, there's something else to take a look at. I made sure you had it on your handout as well. This is in sort of an outline form that I've got here, so it'll vary differently, but it contains the same information.

There were two customs about seven-sealed scrolls in those days, and as it turns out, both of them are very significant. First, let's take a look at the Roman custom, Roman custom and law, and how you would do a seven-sealed scroll. First, the Romans would use a seven-sealed scroll to make a will.

They'd have a ceremony, and they'd have a person who was making the will. This is a person who, if they died, would pass things on to the next people. And the way they would do it is they would have a very reliable friend, because this reliable friend would be relied upon to pass everything on that was in the will on to the next people.

They would have seven witnesses come about, and these witnesses would, as they went through and wrote a part of the will, they would stop, they'd have one witness put a seal in there, and then they would continue on to the next part. And then they'd write some more, and then they would put another seal in there so that by the time you got through to the end, there were seven seals through the book. And then as you opened the seals one at a time, you'd break each of the seals and read a little bit more.

You get the picture? So this is the way the Romans would do it. It could only be opened by the person who had proper authority to open the seal. Roman penalty, and we don't know that it's the case in every instance, but Roman penalty for breaking the seal without proper authorization in many cases was death. So you did not violate this requirement. You must have the right person opening the document.

In addition to the Roman customs, we have a Jewish custom. They also have a seven-sealed scroll. And the way it would work is this. If a Jewish family went through some hard times, maybe it was a famine, some kind of a disability or an accident, whatever it was, they might come into a place of losing possession of their property.

If that were the case, what would happen is they would lists all the property that was being taken inside the scroll. And then they would have on the outside of the scroll, and remember the scroll we're reading about is written inside now? The outside of the scroll would have the conditions written under which you would release the contents that are listed on the inside. Okay?

Then what would happen is they would have a kinsman redeemer. If the kinsman redeemer could come up with the money to buy this back or meet the conditions written on the outside, then they could get their property back. But because of the Law of Jubilees, a maximum of seven years was allowed and then this property had to be returned anyway. Seven years? Where have we heard that? Isn't that interesting?

Now, the person, this kinsman redeemer who would do the redeeming was the only one authorized to open the scroll. Only one authorized to open the scroll. It had to be him according to the Jewish law. Do you get the picture there? Now, it took someone qualified to open the scroll or it could not be opened.

This particular example fits the bill in terms of both sides. It fits the bill in terms of the seven seals. It fits the bill in terms of this is the case with the Jews. It also fits in that the seven years was the max, and that's the time of the tribulation, right?

So amazing parallels here. The truth is, though, No matter whether you were Jewish or not, you would understand that this seven seal document was critical. And you would understand why you had to have the right qualified person to open this document.

You see that? Alright. Let's move ahead here. Now we see that what John describes for us fits very well. This is truly a majestic masterpiece. Let's look at verse 2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is ready to open the book and to break its seals? This is the first time that John will use the word pair strong angel. That's a new phrase we've come across here. In none of these cases are we given a name for the strong angel.

Some people, based on some verses in Daniel, 12.4 to be exact, have guessed that this must be Gabriel, because Gabriel told him to seal up the book, so it must be Gabriel. Others have guessed that it must be Michael. But you know what? It doesn't say it, so I'm not going to guess.

Revelation just tells us that it's a strong angel and nothing more, so we'll just leave it at that. We're also not told, of those three instances, we're not told that it's the same strong angel. So it's possible we've got multiple people with that description, or multiple angels, rather, with that description. Now, but what we are told, we're told that this angel is indeed strong. And the Greek word communicates that he's being very forceful and deliberate. That's one reason when I made his announcement, I made it with volume. He's being forceful. He's being deliberate. He is laying out this challenge.

This is something that must be told and proclaimed. In those days when a proclamation was to be made, they didn't go to the town square and just whisper it, did they? They would go and make a proclamation that was loudly read and heard so that everybody who had an ear to hear could hear. And that's precisely what he's doing here. He's making a public proclamation before everybody. And that's the next point.

John tells us that the strong angel is proclaiming with a loud voice. Now the strong angel's question is to fulfill a well understood requirement that the opening of the seals absolutely must be done by the one qualified. He's essentially asking Is anyone qualified to open this scroll? Is anyone qualified to break the seals? Public proclamation. It must be known. It must be opened. But only the right person, the right one, the qualified one, can open it.

So it isn't some sort of a casual wondering or pondering or question. It's deliberate. It's very forceful. One other thing, he uses the phrase loud voice. This is one of 19 times in the book of Revelation that that phrase loud voice is used. The phrase loud voice, as we mentioned before, always comes from heaven.

Every one of the 19 times you see it, it always comes from heaven. It never comes from the earth. Never. It is always a heavenly voice. I think that's underscoring something, that it is heaven that will have the voice. Heaven will have the loud, deliberate voice, and never earth. Things on earth may be earth-shaking, but they're not heaven-shaking. The loud voice comes and emanates from heaven.

Something else to note, too, is John is just very consistent. He's a very consistent writer. It's one of the things, as I read through this piece, I am increasingly and repeatedly reminded this is a prophetic masterpiece we're looking at here. John is amazingly consistent. Here's these 19 times, and it's always from heaven. Okay.

The strong angel is heard to proclaim with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals? See, he's reinforcing this question. Who is worthy? Who is fully and uniquely qualified? The book must be opened. See, that's for certain. There isn't any question that this book needs to be opened. But who is qualified is a critical question to ask. Its contents must be revealed. That's imperative. But breaking the seals is only to be done by the one who is qualified, by the one worthy. No substitutions, no compromises, No shortcuts. Absolutely must be the one qualified.

Now, verse 3. John is recording for us a realization that he was coming to. Verse 3 says, and no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or look into it. Not even the fact that the angel himself, think about this, Not even the fact that this strong angel is without sin qualifies him. Is that something? This angel is not a sinful creature.

He is still not qualified. That's not enough. How about that? Not even the fact that he is described as strong. So opening these seals is not a question of, boy, this requires some immense strength. No. Strength is not the issue either. So sinlessness is not the issue. Strength is not the issue. This angel very apparently cannot. Otherwise, why would he be asking the question? As we'll see, he ends up not being the one that can do it anyway. Being sinless and powerful is not enough.

And now John is here writing in a dramatic form. He's writing in the extreme and to the exclusion of all, so that it'll be apparent that there is only one qualified. Now, something else I think to understand How many of you have ever been to heaven before? Well, guess what? John hadn't either. This was all new to him. Now, how would you respond if you went to heaven for the first time? Well, you'll find out, but anyway... The thing that John is writing here is something... This is a totally foreign place to him. You have to understand that. He's coming into the heavenly scene. He's never seen a strong angel before. At least not like this. He's never seen a heavenly proclamation before. So this is a completely foreign place to him.

Now, here on planet Earth, we get used to the idea of sorting out what's important and what isn't. You ever think about that? We'd go crazy if we thought everything was important, right? What we learn to do here on planet Earth is we learn to figure out what's important and what's not. What can I ignore and set aside, and what do I need to remember? I don't try to memorize every license plate on every car that goes by each direction. Heaven help us during a rush hour traffic jam, right? I recognize what's important and what isn't and I sort that out.

Here's John stepping into the heavenly scene and everything's important. He has no idea what to throw away and what not. The reality is there's no basis on which for him to cast anything away. It's all important. So here's John in a realm that's just totally outside anything he's experienced before. What do I do in a place where everything's important? This is pushing him to the limits, but notice one other thing.

The search was extensive. In heaven, on the earth, under the earth, and still the answer so far comes, nobody, nobody, nobody. None. Nobody's able. And it's apparent that the weight of this is just bearing down on John. It's overwhelming. He can't stand it. Here's this book. It's imperative. It's heavy. It's in the hands of the Father. And so far, nobody is qualified. He's overcome by this. Let's look at verse 4 and see how he responds. Then I began to weep greatly, because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it. Imagine if you were there in the heavenly scene and here's this momentous book. There is no book like this anywhere. He's never seen anything like it. Now he's in a place, here's a place where everything is important, and this proclamation has gone forth, Who is worthy? And so far he's not seen an answer. And it's just devastating to him. It's overwhelming. John is evidently just gashed to the heart over this thing.

Now, the Greek word for weep here is the same word used, like in the Gospels, for the mourners. Those who would just mourn greatly at the death of someone. That kind of mourning. John is not just slightly dripping at the eyes, he's wailing out loud. He is really crushed by this. Weeping greatly.

John sees the cosmic importance of what's in this book. He also sees something that I'm sure he can't quite figure out. It seems like God's purpose is being frustrated. Do you see that? John is living in this moment of intense tension. He's weeping out loud. Something else to note, this is the only place in the whole book of Revelation they find weeping in heaven.

Not like this, anyway. Isn't that something? John is out of place. John's behavior is kind of odd. He doesn't understand. And that's why there's an insightful elder, probably one sitting next to him. There's an insightful elder that kind of clues him in.

Let's take a look at verse 5. Here's what he says. And one of the elders said to me, Stop weeping! Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals. Now, this elder knows how to say a whole lot in a few words. And that's good. We're going to be spending actually the rest of our time here this morning looking at the message, looking at the rest of what this elder said. First thing he said, he said, Stop weeping. And that's given in the Greek. This isn't a suggestion. This is given in the imperative mood. It means stop! Stop the weeping! Okay?

I'm sure he had to kind of say it more than just a whisper in part because here's John weeping out loud. Weeping greatly. Wailing as they did in those days for mourners. So here's this elder, hey! Get a clue! Stop the weeping! The next there, it says, Behold.

Remember we looked at this word before? In our modern vernacular, it's take a mental picture. Pause and get the significance of this. So this word behold isn't something we just read and pass on. It's used a number of times and it means to look intently. Focus on what's going on here. John, stop your weeping. Take a look a minute. Take a mental picture, John. I want you to get this. You need to understand something here. Then he gives them two titles.

The insightful elder refers to Christ by these two different titles, and he says, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah and the Root of David. So let's carefully look at those before we proceed ahead. Make sure we understand them, okay? the lion that is from the tribe of Judah. Now it's interesting, the way he puts it, he doesn't say a lion, one of them lions. The lion that's from the tribe of Judah. The Greek has the article in front of the lion here. It is a lion from the tribe of Judah that he's speaking about, and not just anyone from the tribe of Judah is going to do, only the one qualified.

THE one from the tribe of Judah. And this takes us back to Genesis 49. And I think you've got some of that on the back side of your handout there. In Genesis 49, Jacob, also known as Israel, is giving blessings to his sons towards the end of his days.

And so he says there in 9 and 10, Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have grown up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Now, verse 9, is based on a description of Judah himself.

He is indeed the father of his entire tribe, right? But verse 10 kind of turns a corner and makes it very clear that rulership is intended for this tribe. Do you get that from the passage? Rulership is intended for the tribe. In those days, the one who had the scepter had the power. You got the scepter, you got the power. That's the combination. The other thing you get from this, there is a singular man from the tribe of Judah who is to come in the future. And the third thing, this singular man is to be the king who rules. Now, a couple of points to clarify here.

The word Shiloh, as it shows in most of your translations, that comes across as if it were some sort of a proper name, like Vern or something, right? That's not what it's really talking about. Strangely, this proper name Shiloh never shows up as a person anywhere else in the rest of Scripture. So, I think what we need to do is take a deeper look. A number of Hebrew scholars believe, and I think this is truly the case, that this word Shiloh should actually be translated for what it means rather than given as a proper name.

If we do that, it changes something. And so if we substitute the meaning of the name instead of just the name Shiloh, here's what we come up with, and this is what I have down below, and this is the way it's translated in the New International Version.

The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until he comes to whom it belongs. You see the difference there? Until he comes from whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. Guess what? He's come. Now, when we look at it that way, that changes the picture. It's Christ who came. Now, if he has descended through the line of Judah, that's earthly descendancy, isn't it? And guess what? This also is miraculous in this way.

It brackets the time that the Messiah could come. all the records to discern and to be able to tell who was from the tribe of Judah were destroyed when? 70 AD, right? So here's a prophecy given almost two millennia before and now it had to have been fulfilled in order to be evident by 70 AD. So that means that the Messiah couldn't come on the basis of his earthly couldn't come after that time because nobody could confirm it. See, God's always right on time, isn't he?

Now, this insightful heavenly elder that's talking to John, not only tells John that the Lion of Judah, who has now come qualified, is to open the seals, he's also identified as the Root of David. The passage which conveys this truth, aside from Revelation 5.5 that we see here, are several.

These are some passages, you may want to jot those down in your notes for reference later. These are passages where the root and offspring of David shows up in both the Old and the New Testaments. And there are some others as well, but these are some that you might want to take a look at.

Now, we know from 2 Samuel 7, 16 that the Messiah must be a descendant of David. The genealogies of Christ in both Matthew and Luke verify that fact, okay? And you can check out the detailed genealogies. Back in the red carpet room, there is a list of genealogies on the wall, and I've marked them with a couple of bright-colored stickies, and you can look at those yourself at some other time and study it and get all the detail. and examine it. It shows the lineage through Mary, and it shows the lineage through Joseph, and you can take a look at each of those.

Now, one of the things that comes out is some of these references talk about the root, and some of them talk about the branch of David. Why this root and branch? What's all this root and branch stuff? What's that talking about? The root is the source of something, isn't it? The branch is something that springs out of the tree at a later time.

So the root means he is the source of David. He's the one who created all things. He is the one from whom David comes. And without whom, David doesn't even come. He is the creator. That refers to his deity. The branch means he is the offspring. He is descended from. refers to his humanity. By both means, the root and the branch, Christ qualifies. He is both deity as well as qualified by his genealogy. He has the right descendancy.

Now notice here something else. The insightful elder tells John that Christ has overcome so as to open the book in its seventh seal. Take note here that Christ is overcome. It's past tense. It's a done deal, right? It's already accomplished. That word overcome has the root word in the Greek, nikao. It was a legal term in those days. And it meant to have legal victory. To win the case.

And is that not exactly what Christ has done for us? We have won the legal victory because of what Christ has accomplished. We've been declared justified because of Christ. He is the one who overcame. And that's why the elder could clearly and unquestionably say, He is the one who has overcome.

Past tense. It's done, folks. Now, in Romans 1 through 4, Paul writes just amazingly parallel verses. Let's take a look at that. Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, So he is a physical descendant, a branch of David, he is qualified. No question about it. Verse 4, "...who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord." That being the Son of God according to his deity, he is by his deity the root or source of David.

He is fully and completely qualified. He is the one qualified and that's why the elder could come to John and say, stop weeping. There's nothing to weep about. Why are you crying? Nobody else in heaven is crying. Do you hear anybody else crying? John, stop weeping. The One who is fully qualified and who has overcome, He can break the seals. You don't need to cry. You don't need to look so strange here in heaven. Nobody cries. Not like that.

But there is a tantalizing curiosity here. We already know from what the elder has told John that Christ is qualified to break the seals and open the book. We know that. But it doesn't happen instantly, as we'll see in the next verses. No, something happens first. We must first see the Father pass the book into the hands of the Lamb. We will also first hear one great song and two declarations in the heavenly scene.

These are not incidental or just added for flourish. What they are is witnesses confirming that this one who is receiving the book, who is going to open the seals, is fully qualified. This is legal testimony, not just praise of the Lord. It is praise of the Lord, but it goes beyond that. It is legal testimony declaring this is the one qualified, no question about it. Therefore, when we hear these proclamations, it is confirming the exact thing that we've been looking for previously by either the Roman or the Jewish custom. No matter which way you look at it, the one who opens the seals and opens the book must be qualified. And they are simply confirming to everyone This one is indeed qualified, no question about it.

Then, what's going to happen, and we're going to see it in the verses ahead, the seals will be opened one by one. And then the contents will be shown for what they are. But to see these, we're going to have to look at the next verses and chapters of Revelation, aren't we? We're going to have to study those in the weeks to come, unless the Lord comes first.

And if the Lord comes first, then you get to watch it firsthand with me. Are you going to be there? Okay? So we'll see. We'll find out whether we get to study this, whether we get to see it firsthand, first person, and watch it ourselves. Let's pray. Lord, we do indeed look forward to your coming. And whether we, with great anticipation, look forward to reading these words and studying them and gaining insight into what you have written and revealed for our benefit, or whether instead we can look ahead to the time of your coming, whether instead we get to watch this with our own spiritual eyes, with our own eyes of a new body, Whether we get to watch this as we're looking at you face to face, Lord, we'll leave that in your hands. And meanwhile, we just want to entrust our thoughts, our values, the things that we treasure, Lord, into your hands and ask that you would teach us in Jesus' name. Amen.