End Time Insights

In many interpretations, the forces unleashed by the breaking of the “ Seven Seals ” are linked to the horrific calamities that unfold on the Earth prior to the coming of Jesus at the end of the age, especially so when the first four seals are opened. Apparently, His patience with humanity exhausted, God pours out plagues on the world in a last-ditch effort to bring men to their knees in repentance.

In Chapter 5, John saw the “ Sealed Scroll ” held tightly in the right hand of the “ One Who Sits on the Throne .” A search was made of the entire creation for someone who was “ worthy ” to open the scroll. Alas, no one was found, and this caused John to begin to weep profusely. If the scroll remained sealed, its contents could not be implemented. However, one of the twenty-four “ elders ” tells John to cease weeping, for the “ lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David overcame .”

In Chapter 5 of  Revelation , John saw the Scroll that was sealed shut with Seven Seals and tightly held in the “ right hand ” of the “ One Who was sitting on the Throne .” He dispatched a “ mighty angel ” to discover whether anyone in the created order was “ worthy ” to take and open the “ Sealed Scroll .” Despite an exhaustive search, at least momentarily, no one “ worthy ” could be found.

The vision of the “ Throne ” is the theological center of the Book of Revelation and sets the stage for the visions that follow it. In Chapter 4, John sees the Divine “ Throne ” and the “ One Who Sits on it ” reigning from the center of the Cosmos. In Chapter 5, he sees the “ slain Lamb ” take the scroll “ Sealed with Seven Seals ” from the “ Throne ,” an act followed by all creation declaring the Lamb “ worthy ” to break its seals and open the “ Sealed Scroll .”

The church and its “ messenger ” in Laodicea received no words of praise from the Risen “ Son of Man .” Apparently, this congregation was in poor spiritual condition, and the letter indicates apathy had replaced its original zeal for the Lord. The best if not only hope for this church was to become purified like gold is refined in fire, presumably, by undergoing trials, impoverishment, and persecution.