Unsealing the Scroll

An angel commanded Daniel “to close the words and seal the Scroll until the season of the end.” In contrast, the Scroll is open in the Book of Revelation, and its contents are unveiled by the Lamb. Daniel was told to “seal the Scroll,” but the angel commanded John NOT to do so. The verbal parallels are deliberate. Thus, the Book of Revelation demonstrates that the time of fulfillment has arrived.

The first word in the Greek text of Revelation is apokalupsis (Strong’s Concordance - #G602), meaning an “unveiling, disclosure, revelation.” God gave the visions to Jesus TO SHOW His “servants what things must come to pass soon,” not to conceal the information. The visions of the Book disclose previously hidden information.

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Daniel “wondered but no one understood” his visions. Their significance remained a mystery even to the prophet. In contrast, anyone who hears and heeds the “prophecy” of Revelation is pronounced “blessed” since in it the “things that must come to pass soon” are disclosed.

• (Daniel 12:4) – “But you, Daniel, close up the words and seal the book until the time of the end; many will run to and fro, and knowledge shall abound.”

• (Revelation 1:1-3) – “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to point out unto his servants THE THINGS WHICH MUST COME TO PASS with speed… For THE SEASON IS NEAR.”

The Book’s purpose is declared in its first paragraph - To “show God’s servants by signs WHAT THINGS MUST COME TO PASS soon.” These “things” include the events depicted in the visions received by John “on the isle of Patmos.”

The plural Greek noun translated as “servants” refers to the “Seven Assemblies of Asia.” The first echoes the interpretation of the dream of the “great image with a golden head” provided to King Nebuchadnezzar by Daniel: “There is a God in heaven that reveals mysteries and has shown the king WHAT THINGS MUST COME TO PASS in latter days” - (Daniel 2:26-28).

In the Septuagint version of Daniel, the Greek clause is a match with the parallel clause in Revelation, except the original term “LATER DAYS” is changed to “SOON.” What was in the remote future for the Prophet Daniel was imminent for John and the “Assemblies of Asia.”

The declaration that “THE SEASON is near” echoes the angel’s instructions to Daniel: “But you, Daniel, close the words and seal the book until the SEASON of the end. In both Daniel and Revelation, the English term “season” represents the Greek noun kairos (Strong’s Concordance - #G2540).

The commandment in Revelation changes the time reference from “END” in Daniel to “NEAR” or engus in Revelation (Strong’s Concordance - #G1451), the Greek term for something that is “near, imminent, proximate; that which is at hand.” What was in Daniel’s future was imminent if not already underway for the first readers of the Book of Revelation.

DO NOT SEAL

The angel told John at the end of Revelation NOT “to seal the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for THE SEASON IS AT HAND.”

This is a deliberate contrast to what Daniel was told. The time of disclosure had arrived by the time John found himself exiled to the Isle of Patmos - (Revelation 22:10).

Jesus is the “Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the Dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the Earth.”  He became the “Faithful Witness” in his Death, the “Firstborn of the Dead” through his Resurrection, and he has been the “Ruler of the kings of the Earth” ever since his exaltation to the Throne of God.

With his Death and Resurrection, the period known as the “Last Days” commenced, which is why the “Dragon” has been expending his energy waging war on the saints ever since. Satan is enraged, knowing that he has only a “short time” remaining before he will be cast into the “Lake of Fire.”

In Jesus of Nazareth, the “season” of the “end” dawned, the time to unseal the “words of the Scroll.” Because of his Death and Resurrection, the Sason of Fulfillment, the “Last Days,” arrived, and it is underway even now.

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RELATED POSTS:

• What Things Must Come - (From the start, Revelation declares its purpose is to show God’s servants what things must SOON COME TO PASS – Revelation 1:1-3)

• The Season is Here! - (In Revelation, the period known as the Last Days began following the death, resurrection, and enthronement of Jesus)

• Revelation of Jesus - (The Prologue of Revelation presents themes of the Book and declares that the season of fulfillment has arrived – Revelation 1:1-3)