Bible Gem 2234 – How Was The Scroll Sealed? (Revelation 5:1)

¹Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. ²And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?” ³But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. ⁴Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it.. ⁵But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Revelation 5:1-5

¹Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. 

It is not stated how the seals were attached to the bulk of the scroll. Throughout the centuries since John wrote this letter there have been many suggestions or interpretations as to how the scrolls were attached. What is clear is that John saw a scroll with seven seals attached to it. They were attached in such a way that each seal closed one part of the volume. When one seal was broken that portion which the seal encompassed could be unrolled and read. The next portion was sealed with a separate seal. This has led many commentators and experts to puzzle over how that could be achieved.

Some suggest the seven seals were seven strings placed around the outside of the scroll and sealed by wax at the junction of the extremities of each string. But did each separate string meet its opposite end on the outside of the scroll? Or was the end of the string which marked the finishing point of that section attached inside the scroll? Some argue that all points of attachment were on the outside of the scroll. Others suggest the strings marking both the beginning and the end were on the outside surface of the scroll. Others suggest the strings were attached on the outside edge of the scroll on both sides. Now that results in a very complicated arrangement. The practicalities of the sealing boggle the mind.

Add to this complication the fact that we have been told the scroll was written on both sides. If that did include the whole text of the scroll, in order to make clear to us the complexity and the fullness of what was recorded, it leaves us with a conundrum as to how this all worked out in reality.

What constitutes the contents of this scroll John saw in the heavenlies? Is the book of Revelation, the revelation of the scroll John saw? I don’t believe so. John would have had to have read the scroll in order to be able to write the contents of the scroll. Yet only the Lamb was worthy to look inside the scroll and EVEN READ it? Therefore John was not privy to the contents of the scroll he saw in the unfolding vision and what he heard. John would certainly have been able to read the notes on the back, be they [mezuzah], “doorposts” or interpretive summary notes written on the back. However I don’t think he even got to see anything written on the outside of the scroll. Much is made of the fact that no one in all the universe: no being in heaven, on the earth or under the earth was able to even have a peak. Effectively then, this was a scroll closed to all humanity, angels and demons of every created kind. The dramatic nature of the unfolding announcement of the contents of the scroll requires more than what is recorded in the Book or the Letter of Revelation.

There is a further complication that no commentator or Bible expert has commented on. That concerns the contents of what is recorded in Revelation. I have drawn your attention before to something that stood out to me in Gem 2231. I hinted at a further complication which I don’t see anyone has addressed.

• What was the content of the sealed scroll?
• To answer that question we have to look further on in the text of Revelation. Hint: Revelation 6:1,3,5,7,9,12 and 8:1-2.

• Rev 6:1-2
• Rev 6:3-4
• Rev 6:5-6
• Rev 6:7-8
• Rev 6:9-11
• Rev 6:12-17
• Rev 8:1-5

Each of these portions of scripture record: When the Lamb broke the first, second, third and fourth seal I heard one of the four living creatures say . . . “Come” 4 times! After each of which John wrote “I looked and saw . . .” Then notice after the Four Living Beings have each made their call to ‘Come’, John continues with a different pattern.

• When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar . . . (Rev 6:9)
• I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal . . . (Rev 6:12)
• When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. . . (Rev 8:1-2)

If the contents of the scroll was the book of Revelation as we have it in our Bibles, doesn’t that leave you with a significant question? The question that came to my mind was: If what we have in our Bibles is the complete text which covers the opening of the seals, how would the seals have been attached? That would result in 2 verses within the 1st seal, 2 verses within the 2nd, 2 verses within the 3rd, 2 verses within the 4th, 3 verses with the 5th, 7 verses within the 6th and 5 verses within the 7th.

The Resultant Content within the Seven Seals

First Seal

As I watched, the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll. Then I heard one of the four living beings say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked up and saw a white horse standing there. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed on his head. He rode out to win many battles and gain the victory. (Rev 6:1-2)

Second Seal

When the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Come!” Then another horse appeared, a red one. Its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere. (Rev 6:3-4)

Third Seal

When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, “A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day’s pay. And don’t waste the olive oil and wine.” (Rev 6:5-6)

Fourth Seal

When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a horse whose colour was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals. (Rev 6:7-8)

Fifth Seal

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them. (Rev 6:9-11)

Sixth Seal

I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places. Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?” (Rev 6:12-17)

Seventh Seal

When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake. (Rev 8:1-5)

How were the seals attached in order to separate out two verses at a time and yet allow the rest of the text to be read? Or alternatively, was the portion of chapter 6 and five verses of chapter 8 the only content of the scroll to be sealed? If so how do you single out two verses to the exclusion of others on the same part of the scroll and do that multiple times. I suspect we have a summary of what John saw and heard and the purpose was not to disclose the full nature of what was sealed at that point.

Does it strike you as being somewhat light on content? It certainly strikes me that way. After all the long build up, is that all there is? With perhaps the exception of the impact related to the Seventh Seal. That is what I would have expected, don’t you agree? Notice too, how the associated text expands after the first four seals and what was heard and seen after each disclosure. It is fitting that there is silence in heaven for about a half an hour after the Lamb had broken the seventh seal. That is appropriately something we might expect. Notice too, the expansive nature of that which accompanied the breaking of the seventh seal. Oh you won’t see that from the text I have given you in this Gem. Look at the text of your Bible. The contents of the seventh seal is expressed in the blowing of seven trumpets. Thus the ‘contents’ of the seventh seal is unfolded from Revelation 8:1 to 11:19. The results of the seventh seal are seen in the aftermath of the blowing of the seven trumpets.

But just re-read sequentially each one of those “announcements”. Are you satisfied that you now know what the Lamb revealed after each broken seal? I think not! Surely we would expect far to made known from what had been sealed. How would you imagine these short 2 verse segments would be sequentially sealed within the main scroll? I cannot conceive of how such short little segments would be sealed off discretely one from another in a single scroll as I wrote above. Neither can I conceive that each short segment might make up a separate scroll all on its own as some commentators have suggested. It makes no logical sense.

My fellow Bible translator and friend, Michael Martens, wrote to me and said, “The text doesn’t say that He unrolled any of the scroll. In fact, the text doesn’t say that the scroll was ever unrolled AT ALL.” Yes Michael, I agree, I thought that too. The build-up to the moment of the scroll being opened SEQUENTIALLY is far more monumental than what we read here. I think what we have in the text of the book of Revelation is a precursor of what is in store for us. Surely there is more to what is labelled as the outcome of the opening of the seal than what is recorded in John’s Revelation. And don’t forget this revelation and the breaking of the seals was communicated primarily in the form of pictures or visions.

Of course there is more to come in the next Gem, but for the moment it is sealed.

A picture is worth a thousand words. (Used at a convention of journalists in 1911)

Arthur Brisbane

Revelation is apocalyptic genre, the language of dreams and visions using imagery that is essentially cryptic and symbolic.

Gordon Fee

This is a more difficult book than any of the others, a peek behind the scenes through what John saw rather than what he read or heard.

David Pawson

The message of Revelation is communicated less by the words on the page and more by the word pictures which John has used to describe what he saw. Allow your reading to peel back the diorama John has created.

Ian