Unsealing the Scroll

An angel commanded Daniel “to close the words and seal the Scroll until the season of the end” after the last of his visions. In contrast, the Scroll is open in the Book of Revelation, and its contents are unveiled. Daniel was told to “seal the Scroll,” but the angel commanded John NOT to seal the Scroll. The verbal parallels are deliberate, and Revelation informs us that the time of fulfillment has arrived, and the Book is open.

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 vision. Its 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 noun translated as “servants” refers to the “Seven Assemblies of Asia,” and the first verse of the Book echoes the interpretation of the dream of the “great image with a golden head” provided by Daniel to King Nebuchadnezzar: “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 an exact match to the one in Revelation, only the original term “LATER DAYS” is changed to “SOON.” In other words, 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 (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 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. Thus, the time of disclosure had arrived by the time John found himself exiled on 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” has dawned, the time to unseal the “words of the Scroll.” Because of his Death and Resurrection, the Age of Fulfillment, the “Last Days,” has arrived and is now underway.

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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)

• Overcomers are Blessed - (Through a series of seven beatitudes, Revelation summons believers to faithfulness despite hostility, tribulation, and persecution)

• Priestly Company - (The 144,000 males on Mount Zion comprise the first fruit of the final harvest, the priestly company that follows the Lamb)