Sermon Central
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Revelation Step By Step Series
Contributed by Rodney Fry on May 26, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: This is a study of the book of Revelation Chapter by chapter CHAPTER 5 PART 5
Revelation Chapter 5
There should be no break between chapters four and five.
The same scene of God’s throne is being covered.
God is seen sitting upon His throne and holding a sealed book in His right hand.
The book is sealed. It has never been opened. The importance of the sealed book cannot be over-emphasized.
The book is the key to understanding the rest of Revelation.
The book or scroll is the official document of the last days of human history.
The world’s future is about to be unfolded before one’s very eyes
(5: 1), Book of Destiny:
John sees God holding the book in the palm of His right hand.
The picture is this: God is extending the book outward, poised to hand it to someone if a person can be found worthy enough to open it.
The fact that God Himself is holding the book in His right hand shows us several things:
=> God is the supreme Authority over the end of the world. He governs all the events of history both upon the earth and throughout the universe. God holds the future in His hands, the destiny of the world.
I Tim.1: 17
Rev.19: 6.
Ex.15: 18
ð God is ready to carry out and execute the events.
He is ready for the end time to begin, ready for the end of the world to be launched.
It is simply a matter of finding someone worthy to carry out and oversee the events for God.
2. The book is written on both the front and back of the pages.
The book was actually a roll or a scroll.
Remember there were no printing presses or books, as we know them back then.
They wrote on small sheets of paper (papyrus) about 1 ten inches by eight inches, close to the size of our eleven by eight and one half inch sheets.
If a large amount of writing was to be done, they joined or taped sheets together. When the writing was completed, they rolled the sheets up and tied some thread or ribbon around the roll.
This is what the book being sealed means.
They seldom wrote on the backside, for whatever was written on the backside would be exposed when the last sheet was rolled up and tied.
That the book or scroll held by God was written on both the front and back. This shows us
· That the events of the end time are many and that it will take some time, a great deal of time, for all of them to take place.
· That God is going to reveal a great deal about the end time to man. When? As soon as He can find someone worthy enough to open the book.
The book is sealed with seven seals. This shows us three things.
a. The seven seals show us that the book is the last will and testament of God.
In the Roman world a man’s will have to be witnessed by seven persons, and each attached his own personal seal to one of the threads of the document.
The will could be opened only when the recipient came to claim the will.
This book in God’s right hand may mean that it is His last will for the earth; the book contains what He wills for those who have rejected and cursed Him and what He wills for those who have accepted and worshipped Him.
The book is His last will and testament for the consummation of the world.
b. The seven seals show us that the book is large; it has a great deal of material in it.
It has so much that seven seals are required to bind and hold it together. Again, this means...
· That there are a lot of events that are included in the end time; that many events are to take place.
· That God is going to reveal much to man as soon as someone is found worthy enough to open this book.
b. The seven seals also show us the secrecy of the book.
God has sealed the book with seven seals in order to keep the events of the end time from being known.
They are not to be known by man until God Himself is ready to reveal them. Man can never figure out the events, not by his own intellect.
Rev 5:2-4 Book of Destiny - there is the search for one worthy to open the book. Note four significant facts.
John saw a strong angel - an angel so strong that he could shout throughout the universe and be heard by all in both heaven and earth.
He shouted out the most penetrating question of human history: "Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?"
