What is on the sealed scroll in Revelation 5-8?
The purpose of this article is to show that the sealed book is the
book of life.
In His right hand, God had a book that is sealed up with seven seals (Rev 5:1). A sealed book symbolizes things that are not understood.
A search is made everywhere in creation but no one is found “worthy” to break the seals and open the book (Rev 5:3). In other words, nobody in heaven is able to explain this mystery.
This causes John to weep greatly (Rev 5:4). This symbolizes the sorrow of the beings in heaven because they do not understand these things.
But then, Christ’s victory on earth turns the sorrow in heaven into joy for He “has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals” (Rev 5:5). Revelation 5:1-4, therefore, describes the time before Christ's victory on earth. And Jesus "overcame" between verses 4 and 5.
Jesus takes the book (Rev 5:7) but He does not open the book immediately. In Revelation 6, He begins to break the seven seals one by one, causing catastrophes on earth. The sixth seal begins with the signs of Christ's return (Rev 6:12-14) and ends in Judgment Day (Rev 6:15-17). In other words, the contents of the book will only be fully understood when or after Christ returns.
THE BOOK OF LIFE
Revelation mentions the “book of life” 6 times. This book identifies the people who will inherit eternal life (e.g., Rev 21:2, 27; 20:14-15). The purpose of this article is to show that the sealed book is the book of life. This is justified as follows:
1) Both books are written by God:
The sealed book is in God's hand (Rev 5:1; cf. 4:11), implying that He wrote it. Since the book of life contains the names of the redeemed and since God is the judge, He also writes that book.
2) The slain Lamb receives both books:
The full title of the "book of life" is "the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain" (Rev 13:8; 21:27). Since Jesus receives the sealed book when He appears as "a Lamb ... as if slain" (Rev 5:6-7), the two books must be the same.
3) Both books are required for redemption:
Jesus died to save people but since He also died to open the sealed book (Rev 5:5, 9), opening this book is also required for the redemption of God's people. The same applies to the book of life, for it identifies God’s elect.
4) Both are opened AFTER Christ’s return:
Since the sixth seal begins with the signs of Christ’s return (Rev 6:12-14), the sealed book will only be fully open at or after His return. The book of life, similarly, will be opened in the final judgment (Rev 20:12).
5) Both separate the living from the dead.
The sixth seal divides the people of the world between God's people, standing before His throne (Rev 7:9), and those hiding in the mountains (Rev 6:15-17), soon to be put to death by Christ (Rev 19:21). “The book of life,” similarly, determines who will live and who will die (Rev 20:15).
These similarities identify the sealed book as the book of life.
REVELATION 12 EXPLAINS THE SEALED BOOK.
This section shows that the war in heaven in Revelation 12 also identifies the sealed book as the book of life. In brief, this section shows that:
(1) Both Revelation 5 and 12 describe a crisis in heaven and, in both
chapters, the crisis is caused by things that are NOT UNDERSTOOD.
(2) In both chapters, Christ’s death resolved the crisis in heaven BUT
NOT ON EARTH.
For these reasons, it is concluded that these two chapters describe THE SAME CRISIS. And by identifying the nature of the crisis in Revelation 12, this section finds additional support for the conclusion that the sealed book of Revelation 5 is the book of life.
The identification above of the sealed book as the book of life does not explain why nobody is able to open the book, what the seals are, or what breaking the seals means. But Revelation 12 does explain all of these things.
Another article series discusses Revelation 12 in much detail. The following is a very brief overview:
OVERVIEW OF REVELATION 12
CHRIST
Revelation 12:5 describes Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension in a single verse. The dragon attempted to devour Him (Rev 12:4) but Christ escaped and was “caught up to God” (Rev 12:5).
WAR IN HEAVEN
Revelation 12:7-12 describes a WAR IN HEAVEN between Michael and his angels and the dragon and his angels. "The dragon" is identified as "Satan" (Rev 12:9).
The most important point from Revelation 12 is that the nature of the “war in heaven” is indicated by the identification of Satan as “the accuser of our brethren” (Rev 12:10). In other words, he specifically accuses only God’s people, showing that they are sinners and deserve to die.
We see evidence of the nature of this crisis in the universe already in the book of Job - probably the oldest book of the Bible. In that book, "the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them" (Job 1:6). In their presence, God described the man Job as "blameless and upright" (Job 1:8) but Satan accused Job, saying "touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face" (Job 1:11). For a discussion of Job, see - Why Satan thought he could win against God.
Another example is where Satan accused Joshua the high priest before the angel of the LORD (Zech 3:1).
Similarly, in Romans 3:25-26, Paul explains that Jesus died as a public demonstration of God's "righteousness because ... He passed over the sins previously committed." In other words, Christ's death was necessary because God forgave sins. How this works we attempt to explain in the article: In the Book of Revelation, why did Jesus have to die?
The war in heaven, therefore, is CAUSED BY SATAN ACCUSING GOD'S PEOPLE.
It is not directly stated, but we can assume that Satan's goal is to save himself. God condemned Satan (cf. Ezek 28:19). Satan responds by showing that God's elect are sinners and by arguing that, if he needs to die, then God's elect must also die (cf. Rom 6:23; Matt 10:28; Hell). In other words, he argues that God judges unfairly when He forgives some sinners but condemns others. If it can be shown that God’s judgments are faulty, even to the slightest degree, then Satan and his angels would have grounds for their claim that they have been judged unfairly.
Since, in this war in heaven, “Michael and his angels” (Rev 12:7) oppose Satan, they defend God's judgments and protect God’s people (cf. Dan 12:1). The “war in heaven,” therefore, is a dispute between the angels of heaven OVER GOD'S JUDGMENTS.
If we remember that many of the mighty angels have accepted Satan’s arguments (Rev 12:4, 7; cf. Isa 9:15), we must realize that his arguments are very convincing. Consequently, not even God's loyal angels are certain that God’s judgments are ALWAYS perfect.
CHRIST’S DEATH
But Satan and his angels were defeated, driven out of heaven, and "thrown down to the earth" (Rev 12:9-10). "There was no longer a place found for them in heaven" (Rev 12:8).
The series of articles on Revelation 12 shows that Satan was driven out of heaven as THE DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF and, therefore, immediately after Christ’s victory on earth (cf. Rev 12:13). This means that Jesus died to make an end to this war in heaven and that, without His death, it would not have been possible to refute Satan's objections to God's judgments. (This is also explained in the article, Why Christ had to die.)
WAR CONTINUES ON EARTH
However, His death did NOT make an end to the war on earth (Rev 12:12).
A single error by God or even the slightest doubt about the perfection of His judgments will limit the perfect happiness of the whole universe for all eternity. If doubt remains with respect to only one person, who is condemned to hell, whether that person should have been saved, some sorrow will always remain. Therefore, for as long as even one of Satan’s accusations remains unrefuted, and until all understand that His judgments are always perfect, God delays Christ's return and, therefore, the implementation of His judgments.
The war in heaven is seldomly mentioned from pulpits. The Bible is mostly concerned with things on earth and does not mention the bigger context of the war in heaven much. Consequently, many Christians are not even aware of the war in heaven (cf. Col 1:20; 2:15; Eph 1:10). Nevertheless, it should be clear that evil developed in heaven and was brought to this world (Gen 3:1-5). The crisis, therefore, is MUCH bigger than the sin of mankind. Since an appreciation of the nature of the war in heaven is critical for the interpretation of the sealed book, the reader is advised to read some of the articles in the series - The Origin of Evil; particularly the article - Why Satan thought he could win against God. The series of articles on Revelation 12 is also important.
See the series on Revelation 12 for further discussion.
THE SAME CRISIS
Based on this explanation, it can be shown as follows that Revelation 5 and 12 describe the same crisis:
1) Both chapters describe Christ's death:
In both chapters, (a) the first four verses describe the time BEFORE Christ, (b) the fifth refers to His death, and (c) the rest of both chapters describe the time AFTER His death.
2) Both chapters describe a crisis in heaven because of an inability to understand:
Revelation 5 symbolizes the crisis as a book that nobody is able to open, causing John to weep greatly (Rev 5:1-4).
Revelation 12 describes the crisis as a “war” between the angels of heaven, namely a dispute over God's judgments and an inability to refute Satan's accusations and to show conclusively that God’s judgments are always perfect.
3) In both chapters, Christ’s death solved the crisis in heaven BUT NOT ON EARTH:
In Revelation 5, Jesus "has overcome so as to open the book," turning the sorrow in heaven into joy (Rev 5:4-5) but the war continued on earth, as evidenced by the seals (e.g., Rev 6:9-10).
In Revelation 12, after Christ’s death, Satan and his angels were driven out of heaven (Rev 12:8-9), bringing the war in heaven to an end but the war continued on earth (Rev 12:12-13).
4) In both chapters, the crisis will only finally be resolved through God’s people.
In Revelation 12, to "overcame" Satan, required BOTH "the blood of the Lamb" and the "testimony" of God's people, "even when faced with death" is required (Rev 12:10-11). Similarly, in the vision of the sealed book:
Christ, firstly, became "worthy" to open the book because He
"purchased" people for God with His blood (Rev 5:9).
Secondly, He breaks the seals. The fifth seal shows God's people under
the altar crying to God to avenge their "blood" (Rev 6:9-10). By
implication, it was their blood that was spilled in the previous
seals. Since the book is opened by breaking the seals, it means that
the testimony (and consequential deaths) of God's people are required
for that purpose.
For a further discussion, see - Why has Christ not yet returned? What is God waiting for?
THE SEALED BOOK IS THE BOOK OF LIFE.
For these reasons, the sealed book and the “war in heaven” describe the same crisis. Consequently, the war in Revelation 12 helps us to understand the nature of the concealed information in Revelation 5.
In both Revelation 5 and 12, the crisis is caused by a lack of understanding. What Revelation 12 adds is that that lack of understanding relates to God’s judgments. The sealed book in Revelation 5, therefore, symbolizes a dispute about God’s judgments. And since His judgments are contained in the book of life (Rev 21:27; 20:15; Rom 8:13), the sealed book is the book of life.
FURTHER CONCLUSIONS
The conclusion that the two chapters describe the same crisis also allows us to interpret other aspects of the symbolism of the book with the seven seals:
The seven seals - the barriers to understanding God's judgments -
are Satan’s brilliantly presented and informed accusations against the
people whom God elected to eternal life.
That the book is sealed does not mean that God's judgments were
unknown or not explained but that nobody was able to fully refute
Satan and show conclusively that God’s judgments are always perfect.
John’s tears (Rev 5:4) represent the sorrow in heaven in the time
BEFORE Christ's victory for, at that time, it seemed as if God would
NEVER be able to execute His judgments, that Satan and evil would have
to exist for all eternity, and that God’s people will never be
resurrected.
That Jesus breaks the seals means that He directs events on earth
to obtain evidence that Satan’s objections are false.
To open and read the book does not mean to learn WHO is saved, but
to understand WHY they and only they are saved.
God is unable to open the book Himself in the sense that He created
intelligent beings who are truly free and HE WANTS His creatures to
understand His judgments (cf. John 15:15)! He will not force them to
accept His judgments.
Until all understand that His judgments are perfect, God delays
Christ's return and the implementation of His judgments.
