For the covenant community of the New Testament era, mention of a "Sealed Book" would have immediately suggested the Book which was given to Daniel to be sealed "until the time of the end." Jesus referred to the Book of Daniel, (Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14), in terms showing that His audience was thoroughly familiar with it.
Many references throughout the New Testament show they expected that the "end" which Daniel had prophesied was near at hand. Since Daniel's book was to be sealed "until the time of the end,” (Daniel 12:4, 9), and knowing that time had come, they would expect the Sealed Book to now be opened. And this is indeed what we see happening in Revelation 5. So the Sealed Book of Revelation can only be properly understood in the context of the Book of Daniel.
Revelation 5 begins with the Sealed Book, which in that era of time would have been in the form of a scroll. This Sealed Scroll is important because it forms the basis for chapters 5 through 11.
Chapters 5-7 describe the opening of the first Six Seals of the scroll.
Chapter 8 describes the opening of the Seventh Seal which contains the Seven Trumpets.
Chapters 8 and 9 then contain the sounding of the Seven Trumpets.
Chapter 10 then describes the last page of this Scroll as “A Little Scroll Open.” This “Little Scroll,” which is the last page of the original Sealed Scroll, is handed over from the Angel to John the Revelator, who was to prophecy to "many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings," 10:11. The final prophecy, specifically to the genetic descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was fulfilled and the prophecy is now for the whole human race.
Chapter 11 brings us to the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet.
All of these details will be studied at length as we get to them in order.
For some further literary context, we will also give the relevant background material from the Book of Enoch, a writing familiar to the Christians of the New Testament era. Here Enoch was seeing in a vision the history of the world from the time of the Babylonian captivity, that is, the 500+ years from Daniel’s time to the New Testament era. Historical records show that Enoch's vision did come to pass.
Enoch sees the Lord call seventy Shepherds and give them each some sheep. The Lord then calls a man, a Recorder, to keep record of how the Shepherds treat the sheep. The cruel Shepherds give the sheep to wild beasts and the Recorder writes it in a book and delivers it to the Lord Who reads it and seals it.
The second part of Enoch's vision covers the time of the return from Babylonian captivity up to the time of Alexander the Great, the cruelty of the Shepherds is again recorded and shown to the Lord, Who again seals it up.
In the third period of the vision, Enoch sees the Graeco-Syrian domination up to the Maccabean revolt; then their last assault upon the Jews, and how the Maccabees were given a “Great Sword.”
The Recorder writes the last twelve of the Seventy Shepherds, who had destroyed more than their predecessors, and delivers it to the Lord Who then smites them in wrath. The Lord then establishes His throne in “the Pleasant Land,” the Sealed Books are opened and the fallen angels, the Shepherds, and the apostates are judged.
This passage from Enoch shows that there was a tradition of historical prophecy where successive eras of time are recorded in sealed books. Just as Daniel prophesied the future historical events, so did Enoch. This gives us a precedent for interpreting Revelation 5:1 and following as the opening of the Book which Daniel sealed, which would be a spiritual record of the historical events that transpired from the time of Daniel to the time of the end of the Nation of Israel, the City, Jerusalem, and the People, the Jews.
Thus we see in Revelation 6:17, after six of the seals of the Book have been opened, “For the Great Day of His Wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?” His wrath came in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem, the slaughter of millions of Jews, and the dispersion of hundreds of thousands.
It might be compared to a court case where the Lord sets an appointed time for the legal hearing, gathers evidence upon the offending servants and seals it until the time of the hearing. At the appointed time the sealed evidence is opened and the Lord’s wrath begins in judgment against the wicked servants.
The Lord set an appointed time for the "end" of the Jewish people, nation and city in Daniel 9:24-27. The Book of Revelation records the evidence gathered during that time and the judgment that followed it.
God then established His kingdom in Christ in the "Pleasant Land," the heavenly city of the New Jerusalem, Revelation 21-22.
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