Then is finished the mystery of God (1969)
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"THEN IS FINISHED THE MYSTERY OF GOD"
"In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets." Revelation 10:7, American Standard Version.
COPYRIGHT, 1969 by WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA
First Edition 2,000,000 COPIES
PUBLISHERS WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC. INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
DEDICATED to the "GOD OF PEACE"
Who at the Critical Time Finishes His Long-kept Sacred Secret for the Perfect Government of All Mankind
CONTENTS
SUBJECT PAGE
1 The Reporter of Mysteries Sees God in Vision . . . 7
2 The Opener of the Scroll of Mystery . . . . . . 24
3 Breaking Seals of the Mysterious Scroll . . . . . 37
4 The Opening of Seals Two, Three and Four . . . . 46
5 The Opening of Seals Five and Six . . . . . . 61
6 The 144,000 Sealed Ones . . . . . . . . . . 77
7 Congregations Producing 144,000 Sealed Ones . . . 93
8 To the Angel in Ephesus . . . . . . . . . . 105
9 To the Angel in Smyrna . . . . . . . . . . 117
10 To the Angel in Pergamum . . . . . . . . . 128
11 To the Angel in Thyatira . . . . . . . . . 140
12 To the Angel in Sardis . . . . . . . . . 154
13 To the Angel in Philadelphia . . . . . . . 165
14 To the Angel in Laodicea . . . . . . . . . 180
15 Earthly Survivors of “The Great Tribulation” . . . 194
16 The Blowing of the First Four Trumpets . . . . 209
17 The Blowing of the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets . . . 231
18 “There Will Be No Delay Any Longer” . . . . . . 248
19 Death and Resurrection of the “Two Witnesses” . . 259
20 The Seventh Angel Blows His Trumpet . . . . . 283
21 The Heavenly Birth of God’s Messianic Kingdom . . 297
22 Earthly Foes of “The Mystery of God” . . . . . 323
23 “The Image of the Wild Beast” . . . . . . . 342
24 The Finished “Mystery of God” and You . . . . . 355
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 CHAPTER 1
The Reporter of Mysteries Sees God in Vision
HE MYSTERY of mysteries—that is "the mystery of God." We people have a vital stake in this mystery. Just why so? Because it is tied in with the greatest issue of all times: the future rulership of our earth as well as heaven. All of us long for life and happiness, peace and prosperity. Well, all of this hangs on the settling of this crowning issue. This "mystery of God" should therefore arouse more than mere idle curiosity. It should arouse the warm interest that it so richly deserves. It should stir us to make an honest investigation that will not stop short of the goal of knowing and understanding the "mystery of God." That mystery, when finished and revealed, will win the highest admiration for its author and will result in endless good for all mankind. All the righteous desires of our hearts will be completely satisfied. This will make plain to us ever so many things that now baffle and mystify us.
An aged man of almost nineteen centuries ago heard the thrilling announcement of "the mystery of God." Later he saw the finishing of it, in prophetic vision. Not only that, but he also saw, in miraculous vision, the glorious God of this fascinating mystery. From this vision of God alone we have reason to believe with all our hearts that "the mystery of God" is for our eternal benefit. The man who saw that vision reported on a number of mysteries and considerately gave us the explanations of them. The man was John the son of Zebedee, formerly a fisherman at the Sea of Galilee in the Middle East.
At the time of the vision he was a prisoner of the Roman Empire on the penal isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, not far from the city of Ephesus, then the capital of the Roman province of Asia. But why was he now a prisoner? Nothing strange about why—then. It was for being a Christian, for this aged man was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.—Revelation 1:9-11.
The pagan Roman Empire might isolate him as a dangerous criminal on a forbidding penal isle and limit his free movement, but it could never limit the power of John's God from lifting him by the spirit of inspiration to realms of vision far beyond even those of scientific men in this nuclear space age. In this almost unbelievable experience John was highly honored with seeing, in miraculous vision, the Author of "the mystery of God," even God the Almighty himself, in a different setting from what earlier men such as Moses, Isaiah, Daniel and Ezekiel had seen in a vision of God. As if to photograph for us what he saw, the apostle John wrote down under inspiration the account of his awe-inspiring vision. But could the aged apostle John describe with words of human language the glorious sight so as to aid us weak-eyed humans to get some idea of what he saw?
Yes! By the spirit of inspiration John was able to do so, in simple words: "After these things I saw, and, look! an opened door in heaven, and the first voice that I heard was as of a trumpet, speaking with me, saying: 'Come on up here, and I shall show you the things that must take place.' After these things I immediately came to be in the power of the spirit: and, look! a throne was in its position in heaven, and there is one seated upon the throne. And the one seated is, in appearance, like a jasper stone and a precious red-colored stone, and round about the throne there is a rainbow like an emerald in appearance." Revelation 4:1-3.
The visionary "opened door in heaven" was awaiting the entrance of someone, and that one was the apostle John. This was made certain by what was now said by a voice, possibly speaking to John in the common Greek of the first century of our Common Era, if not in John's native tongue, the Hebrew of that day.
No mere human voice was it, for, without the aid of modern-day electrical loudspeakers, that first voice from heaven that John heard was "as of a trumpet." It could have reminded John of the sound of the trumpet that became continuously louder and louder, pealing forth from Mount Sinai at the time that the Ten Commandments were declared by Jehovah God there to the nation of Israel. (Exodus 19:19; 20:18, 19) And yet no one else on the island of Patmos heard that awe-inspiring voice, for only John had the vision given to him by the invisible active force or spirit of Almighty God. Thus in powerful tones that conveyed the message an invitation was given to John to enter through the door in heaven: "Come on up here, and I shall show you the things that must take place."
Only by the active force or spirit of God could the human creature John respond to an invitation such as that, one that the astronauts of this twentieth century have never received and could never fulfill in their man-made space suits. Not launched into outer space by a titanic rocket, but elevated in vision by the spirit of God, the apostle John was ushered through the "opened door in heaven" to behold a vision of the royal Ruler of heaven and earth. The setting in which this majestic Ruler throned had some features that could remind the apostle John of God's temple that once stood in old Jerusalem. For a most holy place, how fitting was all this! In the Most Holy of the temple, Jehovah God had been symbolized by the Shekinah, the miraculous light, Jehovah thus throning in the midst of ancient Jerusalem.
How could the human creature John describe God, or even the visionary picturization of God? Did John see some three-headed personage, representing the trinitarian deity of religious Christendom? No; nothing like that idea of pagan imagination!
The God whom John saw was like the gleaming of a beautifully cut jasper and of a precious red-colored stone (possibly a carnelian). How appropriately John could later write, in 1 John 1:5, these words that reflect what he had seen in vision: "God is light and there is no darkness at all in union with him"! God is just glorious, that is all! The gleaming glory of his person can be compared only remotely with the dazzling gleam of precious cut gemstones that entrance the human eye. How impossible it is, then, that he could be the source of immoral, untrue, deceptive things that are pictured by darkness! How worthily he is called "the Father of the celestial lights"! (James 1:17) How suitable that he should be the One to say, when starting the preparation of this earth for the habitation of man: "Let light come to be"!—Genesis 1:3.
Always master of every situation throughout all creation, this glorious Ruler of heaven and earth thrones in perfect sereneness and composure. See, as a soothing, calming suggestion of this, the "rainbow like an emerald in appearance," round about his throne. How restful-looking that emerald-green color of the rainbow! How a rainbow is produced is a mystery to man, but this One on the heavenly throne knows. Over twenty-four centuries earlier, that is to say, after the earth had dried off from the rainfall of forty days that caused a global deluge, God said to Noah and his family who survived the flood in the ark: "My rainbow I do give in the cloud, and it must serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. And it shall occur that when I bring a cloud over the earth, then the rainbow will certainly appear in the cloud. And I shall certainly remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living soul among all flesh; and no more will the waters become a deluge to bring all flesh to ruin." (Genesis 9:13-15) How we would like it if that rainbow about God's throne betokens the coming of endless peace for us!
God the Creator is King Supreme. This fact is illustrated by what is next disclosed to the apostle John with regard to God's throne.
John says: "And round about the throne there are twenty-four thrones, and upon these thrones I saw seated twenty-four older persons dressed in white outer garments, and upon their heads golden crowns. And out of the throne there are proceeding lightnings and voices and thunders; and there are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, and these mean the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there is, as it were, a glassy sea like crystal."—Revelation 4:4-6.
Could that part of the vision portray that God the heavenly King is surrounded by a body of twenty-four counselors or advisers with whom to consult on any problems or new purposes concerning what he should do? Not at all! The apostle Paul quotes from the prophecy of Isaiah 40:13, 14 and asks: "O the depth of God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments are and past tracing out his ways are! For 'who has come to know Jehovah's mind, or who has become his counselor?' Or, 'Who has first given to him, so that it must be repaid to him?' Because from him and by him and for him are all things." Romans 11:33-36.
THE TWENTY-FOUR ENTHRONED OLDER ONES
Who, then, are those twenty-four older ones, dressed in white outer garments and with golden crowns on their heads and seated upon twenty-four thrones about God's throne?
A clue as to who they are or whom they picture is given earlier in the Revelation by John. After addressing himself to the "seven congregations" of real Christians like himself, he speaks of Jesus Christ as "The Ruler of the kings of the earth" and adds: "To him that loves us and that loosed us from our sins by means of his own blood—and he made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—yes, to him be the glory and the might forever. Amen." (Revelation 1:4-6) And just before John describes his vision of God on his heavenly throne, he quotes Jesus Christ as saying to the "angel of the congregation in Laodicea": "To the one that conquers I will grant to sit down with me on my throne, even as I conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne."
(Revelation 3:21) The twenty-four crowned and enthroned older persons must therefore be the entire body of the faithful, conquering Christians whom he finally makes priestly kings with him in the heavenly kingdom of God.—Revelation 20:4-6.
These were foreshadowed by the faithful priests of ancient Israel. Those Israelite priests were divided up into twenty-four courses or divisions for appointed terms of service at God's temple. (1 Chronicles 24:5-19; Luke 1:5) The number twenty-four would thus be appropriate for the faithful Christians in the new covenant, to whom the apostle Peter says: "You are 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies' of the one that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9) Besides this, the final number in the "royal priesthood" or "kingdom of priests" will be one hundred and forty-four thousand. (Exodus 19:6; Revelation 7:4-8; 14:1, 3) And 144,000 is a multiple of twenty-four, this number being the product of 6,000 times 24. Further details, given later on in the Revelation, add to the proof that the twenty-four older persons stand for the 144,000 conquering footstep followers of Jesus Christ.
These one hundred and forty-four thousand conquerors as pictured by the twenty-four older persons were not always sitting enthroned around the heavenly throne of Jehovah God. Remember that the fulfillment of the vision of these symbolic twenty-four older persons dates from a certain time future from the apostle John's own day. Remember that the trumpetlike voice that invited John to "come on up here" added: "And I shall show you the things that must take place." Consequently, the vision of these crowned, enthroned twenty-four older persons was a prophetic preview of the arrangement that was to be set up in heaven with respect to God's throne.
It was a disclosure of God's purpose to have 144,000 priestly kings associated with Jesus Christ the Chief Priest and Messianic King of God. So at the time of John's vision those who were pictured by the twenty-four older persons were not then seated on thrones around God's throne in heaven, for the faithful apostle John himself was to be among those symbolic twenty-four older ones; and certainly at the time of John's vision he was not actually among them in heaven.
Unlike the prophet Ezekiel, the apostle John did not describe God's throne as having the gleam of a "sapphire stone." (Ezekiel 1:26) Yet to John it was more awe-inspiring, for "out of the throne there are proceeding lightnings and voices and thunders." (Revelation 4:5) Flashes of dazzling enlightenment do indeed dart forth from God's heavenly throne, but his lightnings could also be employed like fiery arrows or missiles to strike his enemies dead instantly. Voices also issue out from the throne of the One who is the Creator of all speech, voices not talking meaninglessly, but conveying messages in agreement with one another and in harmony with the light of truth. Thunder follows lightning, and the peals of thunder out of God's throne pound into the senses of the people who behold and hear the meaning of the lightning flashes of divine revelation. These things proceeding out of God's heavenly throne betoken that he is on his throne at this time for a spectacular event to occur, just as when lightning flashes, thunder peals and sounds as of a horn accompanied his presence at Mount Sinai to give the Ten Commandments.—Exodus 20:18.
Necessarily God's invisible active force, his spirit, must be in heavy operation at the time his purpose is revealed. The full measure of operation of his forcefully active spirit is portrayed to us, in that "there are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, and," says the apostle John, "these mean the seven spirits of God." (Revelation 4:5) Lamps lighted are for the purpose of giving light to persons in a room or in a certain area.
The perfect number of lamps—seven of them—would shed a fullness of light, enlightenment that is due to the operation of God's spirit in a sevenfold way, in the fullness of its force. (1 Corinthians 2:10) Those seven symbolic lamps suggest that, in the fulfillment of John's vision, God is throning in his heavenly temple in behalf of pure, clean worship, inasmuch as in God's earthly tent or temple at Shiloh before King David's day there was a lampstand with seven branches, to provide seven lamps for illuminating the Holy Place.—Exodus 25:31-40; 40:1-4, 24, 25.
A further indication that the scene here presented is that of God in his heavenly temple is the fact that "before the throne there is, as it were, a glassy sea like crystal." (Revelation 4:6) In God's ancient arrangement among the Israelites there was a laver or wash basin, placed between the copper altar and the sanctuary (Exodus 30:18-21; 40:7, 11, 30, 31); and, later on in King Solomon's temple at Jerusalem, this laver or basin was so large that it was called a sea. 1 Kings 7:23-44; 1 Chronicles 18:8.
The molten sea in Solomon's temple was made of copper, but the sea seen in John's vision was glassy, "like crystal," transparent. As in ancient Israel the temple sea was for the sacrificing priests to have plenty of water to wash hands and feet, the "glassy sea like crystal" suggests purity, cleanness, on the part of those who approach God. John's fellow apostle Paul, in Ephesians 5:25, 26, speaks of the cleansing of Christ's followers "with the bath of water by means of the word." True to the picture, God keeps his "glassy sea like crystal" filled with the purifying water of his Word of truth. For those who approach God acceptably, cleansing is needed by means of his Word. John 15:3.
THE "FOUR LIVING CREATURES"
Still another feature of John's vision suggests the temple of God and the proper surroundings of his heavenly throne.
John describes this feature, saying: "And in the midst of the throne and around the throne there are four living creatures that are full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature is like a lion, and the second living creature is like a young bull, and the third living creature has a face like a man's, and the fourth living creature is like a flying eagle. And as for the four living creatures, each one of them respectively has six wings; round about and underneath they are full of eyes. And they have no rest day and night as they say: 'Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah* God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming.'"
The "living creatures" thus described in Revelation 4:6-8 picture the cherubs of God, the first appearance of whom to human eyes is described in Genesis 3:24, after the expulsion of sinful Adam and his wife Eve from the Garden of Eden. In Ezekiel 1:6, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 10:15, 18, 20, the cherubs that moved alongside the tremendous wheels of God's throne chariot are called "living creatures," and Ezekiel 10: 1-22 directly calls the living creatures "cherubs." Whereas in Ezekiel's vision each cherubic living creature has four faces, namely, those of a man in front, of a lion to the right, of a bull (cherub) to the left, of an eagle to the rear, the cherubs seen in John's vision have each an individual face, each one having respectively one of the four faces seen in Ezekiel's vision. (Ezekiel 1:5, 6, 10, 11; 10:14, 20-22) Thus each one of these cherubs or living creatures would give particular prominence to the special distinguishing quality that was represented by the face.
In having a man's face the third living creature in John's vision made outstanding the quality of love, especially love founded, not on passion, but on principle, a love that man has in marked contrast with brute beasts.
"God is love," and man, who was made in God's image and likeness, was likewise to be marked by the display of Godlike love. (1 John 4:8, 16; Genesis 1:26-28) Hence the "greatest and first commandment" of God's law given through the prophet Moses was, "You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind" (Deuteronomy 6:5); and the second main commandment was, "You must love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18) So said the Son of God himself. (Matthew 22:36-40) Cherubs in the spirit realm, being also made in God's image, should also themselves possess the divine quality of love. In John's vision they show a love of Jehovah God as holy.
The first living creature, in being like a royal lion, gives prominence to the divine quality of justice, courageous justice. As respects courage, the Bible expression "the valiant man whose heart is as the heart of the lion" points up the fact that the lion is courageous. (2 Samuel 17:10) It takes courage to exercise impartial justice, and the combining of courage and justice is played up in Proverbs 28:1 (Dy) : "The wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth: but the just, bold as a lion, shall be without dread." Justice is fundamental with Jehovah God, and he rules in justice. In addressing him, the psalmist sings out: "Righteousness and judgment are the established place of your throne." (Psalm 89:14) In a song to Jehovah God the prophet Moses links the nicety of God's justice with his perfectness, saying: "The Rock, perfect is his activity, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he." (Deuteronomy 32:4) God's love did not set aside his justice in ransoming humankind from sin, condemnation and death. God's love provided a perfect human sacrifice that met all points of justice.
The second living creature seen in John's vision was like a young bull, and in this respect it features the power, the dynamic energy of God.
The bull, in the wild state, is fearless, because it is aware of its formidable horns and its tremendous strength. Rightly, God, who created the bull with such power, asked his pupil named Job: "Does a wild bull want to serve you, or will it spend the night by your manger? Will you bind a wild bull fast with its ropes in the furrow, or will it harrow low plains after you? Will you trust in it because its power is abundant, and will you leave your toil to it?" (Job 39:9-11) Logically, then, God would use the figure of a bull in a vision as a symbol of power, which comes from him. "Strength belongs to God."—Psalm 62:11.
In John's vision, the fourth living creature was "like a flying eagle" and thus gave due prominence to the divine quality of wisdom. (Revelation 4:7) Divine wisdom is lofty, just like the eagle in its nesting and in its flight. Proverbs 30:18, 19 speaks wonderingly of "the way of an eagle in the heavens."
God referred to how marvelously he created the eagle by asking Job: "Is it at your order that an eagle flies upward and that it builds its nest high up?" (Job 39:27) It knows where to fly for its food, for God gifted it with remarkable farsightedness. On this fact, the God of wisdom remarks: "On a crag it resides and stays during the night upon the tooth of a crag and an inaccessible place. From there it has to search for food; far into the distance its eyes keep looking. And its young ones themselves keep sipping up blood; and where the slain are, there it is." (Job 39:28-30) Jesus Christ must have had these words of God in mind when, in his prophecy on the "conclusion of the system of things," he said: "Wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together."—Matthew 24:28; Luke 17:37.
Discerning its objective clearly, the eagle can fly swiftly and in no uncertainty to its prey, for God has given it also wings of great power. Habakkuk 1:8 makes a fine comparison when it says: "They fly like the eagle speeding to eat something."
In a reference to strength of wing and lofty flying, Isaiah 40:31 remarks: "They will mount up with wings like eagles." God likens himself to an eagle as regards the way that he brought his people, whom he rescued out of Egypt, to the place that he had chosen for them, by inspiring the prophet Moses to say, in Deuteronomy 32:11-13: "Just as an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its fledglings, spreads out its wings, takes them, carries them on its pinions, Jehovah alone kept leading him, and there was no foreign god along with him. He kept making him ride upon earth's high places." In agreement with all this, Jehovah God possesses the quality that is symbolized by the swift, high-flying, far-seeing eagle, namely, wisdom, in its perfection.
The Most High God, who is like an eagle, not only possesses wisdom; he is the Source of all wisdom for all creation. "For Jehovah himself gives wisdom; out of his mouth there are knowledge and discernment." (Proverbs 2:6) Because he is superior in wisdom to all his intelligent creatures, the Christian apostle Paul closed his inspired letter to the congregation in Rome with the words: "To God, wise alone, be the glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen." (Romans 16:27) Since his possession of wisdom is so prominent, wisdom's presence before God's heavenly throne is shown in that the fourth living creature "is like a flying eagle."
The apostle John observed in his vision that the four living creatures were "full of eyes in front and behind." Also, "each one of them respectively has six wings; round about and underneath they are full of eyes." (Revelation 4:6-8) Their being thus full of eyes on both body and wings, if not also denoting their being awake all the time, would denote the ability of seeing all things. How fittingly the inspired psalmist ascribes this ability to God, saying: "Look! He will not be drowsy nor go to sleep, he that is guarding Israel." (Psalm 121:4) The wisest man of ancient times says: "The eyes of Jehovah are in every place, keeping watch upon the bad ones and the good ones."
(Proverbs 15:3) Over a thousand years later an inspired writer says: "There is not a creation that is not manifest to his sight, but all things are naked and openly exposed to the eyes of him with whom we have an accounting." (Hebrews 4:13) Add to this the divine ability pictured by the eye-loaded wings, six in number, or three pairs on each living creature. The number three being emphatic, in the Bible, the three pairs of wings stand for the high rate of speed to reach what is seen.
These outstanding features would make the cherubs equal to the continued service that the apostle John saw them rendering: "They have no rest day and night as they say: 'Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming.'" (Revelation 4:8) Their repeatedly saying "Holy" three times adds emphasis to the holiness of Jehovah God the Almighty. He is in fact the Most Holy One, no one else being so clean, pure, sacred as He is, absolutely removed from being tempted by any evil thing.
Glad we can be that holiness goes along with his being the Almighty, for it makes sure that He will never misuse or abuse his almighty power. He has ever been holy and ever will be, for he is the One "who was and who is and who is coming." Without beginning and without end is he, the God immortal, incorruptible, the Lord of all for all eternity. (1 Timothy 1:17) Since heavenly cherubic living creatures continually show regard for the holiness of the Lord God Almighty, certainly we inferior human creatures should do so.
POSITION OF THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES
As respects the four living creatures, the apostle John says that they were "in the midst of the throne and around the throne." (Revelation 4:6) How is such a thing possible when the Lord God the Almighty is himself seated upon the throne? In this way: The four living creatures were in the midst with the throne, for the throne occupied the central position, and the four living creatures were at the center with it.
Farther out from the throne of God and all around it on four sides were seated the twenty-four older persons on their thrones. (Revelation 4:4) The expression "in the midst of the throne" could also mean that, when the throne was looked at toward each of its four sides, a living creature was at the middle of that side of the throne. In other words, the four living creatures were not at the four corners of the throne or its platform, as was the case with the four cherubic living creatures whom the prophet Ezekiel saw, one each at one of the four wheels on which the platform of God's throne chariot rode.—Ezekiel 1:15-22.
How well, then, Jehovah's position among these living creatures fits the words of Psalm 99:1! They read: "Jehovah himself has become king. . . . He is sitting upon the cherubs."
In the vision the presence of the four living creatures together with the seven lamps of fire and the glassy sea like crystal before God's throne strongly suggests that the apostle John is seeing Jehovah God enthroned in his heavenly temple some time after the setting up of his promised kingdom. Call to mind the temple that wise King Solomon was commanded to build in the capital city of Jerusalem for the worship of Jehovah God:
In its courtyard before the temple sanctuary there was the huge basin of copper that was called "the molten sea." Inside the first holy compartment of the sanctuary there were golden lampstands, ten of them, five to the north side and five to the south. But inside the second compartment of the sanctuary, its Most Holy, there were solid images of four cherubs. Two of these were of solid gold and were of one piece with the golden lid of the sacred chest, the Ark of the Covenant, over which the miraculous light, the Shekinah, hovered to represent God's presence. The other cherub images were of an olive-wood base, but were overlaid with gold, and were ten cubits (about fourteen feet seven inches) in height.
With backs to the sanctuary's western walls, they faced eastward and stretched out two of their long wings toward each other, thus overshadowing the Ark of the Covenant, which was only a cubit and a half (about two feet two inches) high and was surmounted by its two cherubs.—2 Chronicles 4:2-7, 9-22; 3:10-13; 1 Kings 6:19, 25-28; Exodus 25: 10-22.
In notable respects, then, Jehovah's envisioned throne in heaven is given a temple setting or surrounding. This emphasizes the holiness of Jehovah God and fits in agreeably with the constantly repeated words of the four cherubic living creatures: "Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming." (Revelation 4:8) In themselves these four living creatures make plain why He is exceptionally holy. By their distinguishing appearance, in being like a lion and like a young bull and like a man in facial features and like a flying eagle, the living creatures put into bold relief the four basic qualities of the Most High God, namely, justice, power, love and wisdom. Which of all the false gods of the religions of the world is marked by the possession and manifestation of all these four qualities in their perfection, in perfect accord and cooperation? Not one! The one and only God of perfect justice, power, love and wisdom deserves nothing less than worship by all his intelligent creatures in heaven and on earth.
THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS
Look further at the miraculous vision given to the apostle John and behold also how the highest-ranking ones seen at the heavenly temple are overwhelmed with the strong urge to yield to this God of perfect justice, power, love and wisdom all that is due him. John writes: "And whenever the living creatures offer glory and honor and thanksgiving to the one seated upon the throne, the one that lives forever and ever, the twenty-four older persons fall down before the one seated upon the throne and worship the one that lives forever and ever, and they cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 'You are worthy, Jehovah, even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.'" —Revelation 4:9-11.
The apostle John himself felt that way toward the enthroned Jehovah God the Almighty. John was one of that faithful "little flock" who are called according to the divine purpose to be one of those 144,000 loyal worshipers who will be enthroned by the King of eternity, "the one that lives forever and ever," after he sets up his promised kingdom in the heavens and comes to his spiritual temple. (Revelation 1:6, 9) Jehovah God the Almighty is the one that promised and arranged to give such called and faithful worshipers a share in the heavenly kingdom; and when they come into that kingdom over the world of mankind, they will be willing to yield over their kingdom, their sovereignty, to the one Source of it, the ever-living Almighty God. They will be willing to come down off their thrones and cast their crowns before him, thus disclaiming any independent rulership. They bow and worship before him as his lowly undeserving subjects. To him belong the glory and the honor and the power. What they themselves have of these things, they accredit to him. They want him to have all these things as belonging to him, he being worthy of them all. Let all the glory, honor and power go to him!
Why do these symbolic twenty-four older persons in this way acknowledge Jehovah God the Almighty as the Universal Sovereign? It is because they recognize this ever-living One as the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth. No modern-day evolutionists are they, but with accurate knowledge and conviction they confess to him: "You created all things."
God willed for these things to come into existence and he had the ability to carry out this will. Hence they say further to him: "Because of your will they existed and were created."
He is thus their Creator and the Creator of their white outer garments, their crowns and their thrones, things representing their heavenly kingship. What reason is there, then, for them to do anything else but join the four living creatures in offering to Him glory, honor and thanksgiving? This they do, in a very demonstrative way, completely unlike the human kings and rulers of mankind today. Happily these symbolic twenty-four older persons portray the kind of heavenly rulers that Jehovah God will appoint over all mankind. He created them according to his will, in evidence of what kind of God he is.
This is the God of the mystery! This is the God of whom a few men, mere human creatures such as the inspired prophets Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, have had visions miraculously. When we consider just by itself the meaningful vision to the exiled Christian apostle John, the last man on earth to have a miraculous vision of Jehovah God, we are deeply impressed. We have not been dealing with human imaginations. Rather, through the authentic record of an inspired vision, written down by a truthful man who was suffering imprisonment for being a faithful apostle of Jesus Christ, we have gained a deeper, broader insight into a real divine Being, the one living and true God, the lone One responsible for all creation, including us ourselves.
Since this glorious One is the God of this greatest mystery of all, how could we be anything but benefited, blessed, comforted, revived, joyful by pursuing our investigation of this mystery to its amazing solution under the blessing and help of this God? On, then, with our investigation of "the mystery of God"!
CHAPTER 2
The Opener of the Scroll of Mystery
ASCROLL of mystery is being unrolled, and its contents of secrets for our days are being revealed. They are being expressed in dramatic action, made to come alive, in our marvelous twentieth century. Someone worthy has been found competent, suitable, to open this scroll of mystery and to explain its secrets to us with exciting events on the world stage of action. Who is this expert opener of the scroll, and how did he get hold of it? Why was he entrusted with its execution? The Christian apostle John of nineteen centuries ago was greatly interested in these same questions. These questions are worthy of our interest above all other interesting marvels of modern times, and we shall be hugely rewarded for making it our business to get them answered. Let us join the apostle John in learning the answers.
The vision that John was invited to come up to heaven in spirit to see did not end with merely seeing Jehovah God the Almighty on his heavenly throne, seated in glory and receiving the praises of heavenly creatures. Out of the glow of beautiful light that represented God seated upon his flashing throne there was a hand extended. It was the right hand, and it held something! The apostle John, who was put under obligation to make the revelation known to us, tells us about it, in these words: "And I saw in the right hand of the one seated upon the throne a scroll written within and on the reverse side, sealed tight with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice: 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and loose its seals?'
But neither in heaven nor upon earth nor underneath the earth was there a single one able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I gave way to a great deal of weeping because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it."—Revelation 5:1-4.
No one could wrest that scroll forcibly out of the right hand of the Almighty God to break its seals and look inside. Only of his own accord would God's right hand, which especially symbolizes power, hand that scroll to the one whom He deemed worthy, suitable. He himself had written the contents of that scroll, inside and outside. He thus recorded exciting prophecies of events that were linked with the finishing of the mystery of God. These prophetic matters were sealed perfectly against detection by any undeserving creature in heaven and earth, the seven seals picturing that fact. But would Almighty God tantalize all who beheld the scroll by merely allowing them to see it in his right hand but never providing some worthy one to break all seven seals and make known the prophetic contents of the scroll? No! He would not have brought the mysterious scroll to the view of his creatures unless he had purposed to satisfy their proper interest and to reveal to them the sacred mystery of his will. In his due time he would reveal his mystery by his worthy one.
By proclaiming with a loud voice the gripping question, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and loose its seals?" the strong angel induced a search to be made among the persons living in heaven and on earth, and among the dead underneath the ground, for someone worthy in God's estimation. The apostle John himself was not worthy, and when it appeared to him that no other creature was worthy, he burst into tears. His great eagerness to have the mystery of the scroll solved accurately foreshadowed the intense eagerness of true Bible-studying Christians in our twentieth century to understand what was meant by the symbolic things that John saw as the seven seals were finally opened, one seal after another.
Explanations given to these earnest Christian Bible students prior to the end of World War I in the year 1918 failed to satisfy them. But just as God tested out the degree of John's interest, so he tested out the degree of interest of twentieth-century Christians.
Our tears of long-tested interest and anxiety can be dried just as were John's burning tears nineteen centuries ago. But by means of whom? One of those twenty-four older persons who had cast their golden crowns at God's feet helped John, making known a vital discovery to him: "But one of the older persons says to me: 'Stop weeping. Look! The Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so as to open the scroll and its seven seals.'" (Revelation 5:5) The Jewish Christian apostle John well knew who is "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David." John recalled the prophecy that was pronounced back in 1711 B.C.E. by the dying patriarch Jacob upon his fourth son, named Judah, as recorded in Genesis 49:9, 10:
"A lion cub Judah is. From the prey, my son, you will certainly go up. He bowed down, he stretched himself out like a lion and, like a lion, who dares rouse him? The scepter will not turn aside from Judah, neither the commander's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him the obedience of the people will belong."
According to this uncovering of part of the mystery or sacred secret of God, "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah" was to be a just king, a king fearless like a lion in executing divine justice. The scepter of kingly rule was at last to come to him without fail; God himself would never turn aside nor would he let be turned aside from this Lion the royal scepter of world rule, for to him the obedience of all the peoples of earth belongs. Bound to come to him is the "commander's staff," which is to rest between his knees and feet as he sits upon his throne of world rulership.
When he comes, "Shiloh" comes, this name signifying his divine right to rule, for Shiloh means (in Hebrew) "To Whom It Belongs," "The One Whose It Is." The tribe of Judah would exist from 1711 B.C.E. onward for 1743 years, or until 33 C.E., and yet, without being turned aside, the scepter and commander's staff would unerringly come into permanent possession of "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah." God has willed it.
Out of this tribe of Judah came David the youngest son of Jesse of the town of Bethlehem-Judah. While still a shepherd boy David was anointed by the prophet Samuel at God's command to be the future king of all twelve tribes of Israel. In the year 1077 B.C.E. David was anointed at the city of Hebron to be king over the tribe of Judah. Seven and a half years later, or in 1070 B.C.E., he was finally anointed as king over all twelve tribes of Israel. He moved his capital city to Jerusalem, and there Jehovah God made a solemn covenant with him, that the kingdom of God over His chosen people should always remain in the family line of David. (2 Samuel 7:8-29) This family line of King David would end up in a permanent heir to the royal throne, and this everlasting heir would be "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah." He would be the one whom God would use to revive the kingdom of David, which was overthrown in the year 607 B.C.E. by the pagan Babylonians. After that this final heir would become "the root of David." As a "root" he would give new life to the Davidic kingdom and keep it going forever.
To prove worthy to receive the mysterious scroll at God's hand and to open its seven seals, this "Lion that is of the tribe of Judah" first had to conquer. But conquer what, and how? His forefather David had conquered and had thus with God's help subdued all the Promised Land for the nation of Israel. How would his permanent heir conquer and prove worthy? Our making certain who this permanent heir is will help us to discern how he "has conquered so as to open the scroll and its seven seals." This worthy one has been found!
The apostle John had a vision of his coming on to the heavenly scene at the tense moment. What does he look like? A lion? Tell us, John! Answering our request, John writes:
"And I saw standing in the midst of the throne [or, in the center of the throne] and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the older persons a lamb as though it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which eyes mean the seven spirits of God that have been sent forth into the whole earth. And he went and at once took it out of the right hand of the one seated on the throne."—Revelation 5:6, 7.
Instead of seeing a symbolic lion, the apostle John saw, probably to his surprise, a symbolic lamb that "had been slaughtered" but that had been brought back to life by the power of the Almighty God "seated on the throne." Ah, now the identity of "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah" becomes unmistakable. The apostle John, in the year 29 C.E., had heard the messenger, John the Baptist, say, as he pointed to the nearby Jesus, who had been baptized in water and then anointed with God's spirit from heaven: "See, the Lamb of God!" The previous day John the Baptist had said within the hearing of bystanders: "See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world! . . . I viewed the spirit coming down as a dove out of heaven, and it remained upon him. Even I did not know him, but the very One who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'Whoever it is upon whom you see the spirit coming down and remaining, this is the one that baptizes in holy spirit.' And I have seen it, and I have borne witness that this one is the Son of God."—John 1:29-36.
THE "LAMB" THAT CONQUERED
About three and a half years later, on Nisan 14, the Passover day of the year 33 C.E., the apostle John himself saw this "Lamb of God" slaughtered, murdered, by being nailed to a torture stake outside the walls of Jerusalem to die, outwardly like a cursed criminal, but really as a symbolic passover lamb "that takes away the sin of the world."
The apostle John, who stood near the torture stake of Jesus, tells us that, just as in the case of the literal passover lamb, not a bone of Jesus was broken before his dead body was taken down from the torture stake to be buried. (John 19:25-37; Exodus 12:43-46) The night before this, the apostle John had heard Jesus say to his faithful apostles: "In the world you are having tribulation, but take courage! I have conquered the world." (John 16:33) On the third day after the slaughter and burial of this world conqueror, the apostle John saw him alive again, resurrected from the dead by the power of Almighty God. On the fortieth day from then John saw this resurrected Jesus ascend from the Mount of Olives toward heaven and then disappear from sight behind a cloud.—John 20:19-25; Luke 24:36-53; Acts 1:1-12.
As a reward for his conquering the wicked world and proving faithful to the Almighty God to the death on the torture stake, this symbolic Lamb of God has become "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David." Almighty God has clothed him with full power, all the power that this once slaughtered Lamb needs to carry out completely God's purpose for him. This full power was symbolized by the "seven horns" that the Lamb had upon his head.
Not alone does he have fullness of power, but he has also the fullness of perfect perception, discernment and knowledge suitable to go with such a tremendous grant of power, this being symbolized by the "seven eyes" of this unusual Lamb. This fullness of perception and knowledge the Lamb received from Almighty God, for which reason the seven eyes are said to be "the seven spirits of God that have been sent forth into the whole earth." Spirit (pneuma, Greek) is active force, and the "seven eyes" or "seven spirits" stand for a fullness of active force from God. This force the Lamb can use in observing from far off in heaven all that goes on in the whole earth and discerning its meaning.—Compare Zechariah 4:10.
Beyond all dispute, this once slaughtered but world-conquering Lamb was "worthy to open the scroll and loose its seals." So past the twenty-four older persons enthroned in a circle about God's throne and past the four cherubic living creatures that were centrally located toward the four sides of the throne, yes, past the lionlike living creature, the Lamb went right up to God's throne and received out of his right hand the mysterious scroll. His being allowed to take the scroll out of God's hand meant his being commissioned to reveal to creatures in heaven and earth the things written upon the scroll. It meant also his being authorized to do whatever might be necessary to see to it that what was prophesied in writing on the scroll came true. Here is where the symbolic "seven eyes," "seven spirits," and "seven horns" of the Lamb would prove to be useful.
Thus this heavenly scene differs in certain respects from the prophet Daniel's vision as recorded in Daniel 7:13, 14. There Daniel saw in vision a heavenly person like a son of man being ushered into the presence of the Ancient of Days to be highly honored. To him the Almighty God, the Ancient of Days, gave rulership, dignity, and kingdom, not just over the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel, but over all mankind, "that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him." The fulfillment of this took place in the heavens at the close of the Gentile Times, around Tishri 15 (October 4/5) in the year 1914 C.E. Since then he has been obeying the divine command, "Go subduing in the midst of your enemies." (Psalm 110:1, 2; Hebrews 10:12, 13) Daniel's vision shows all such enemies on earth being finally destroyed, to clear the way for the Son of man's kingdom to rule all peoples, national groups and languages without a rival earthly government. (Daniel 7:11, 12, 17-26) But this vision to Daniel does not show the Son of man as taking a secret scroll from God's right hand and breaking its seven seals to disclose its mysterious contents.
When, therefore, did the Lamb, who is also "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah," come and take the scroll out of God's right hand and begin to open its seven seals? When, in fulfillment of John's vision, this Lamb does actually appear and take the scroll out of God's hand, it does not mean that first then Jehovah God on his heavenly throne makes his decision and shows to all creation who is worthy to take the scroll and unseal its contents. The apostle John was given his vision apparently near the close of the first century C.E., traditionally about the year 96 C.E. Well, at that time the vision disclosed that there would be such a mysterious scroll and that the honor and authority to unseal it was reserved for the symbolical Lamb, "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah," namely, Jesus Christ, glorified in heaven. Since then Bible-studying Christians have been looking for the heavenly Jesus Christ to receive that scroll at God's hand and to reveal to their understanding the fulfillment of its prophetic contents.
With all that has been taking place on earth from the year 1914 C.E. onward, would it be strange or unreasonable that the breaking of the seven seals of the mysterious scroll has been taking place in this twentieth century? No, and this likelihood should lead us excitedly to examine what takes place in heaven and on earth after the breaking open of the seven seals, one by one. Why, this takes in the finishing of the "mystery of God"! But what did the apostle John see take place when the worthy Lamb got possession of the scroll in vision, and what should we expect to take place in the invisible heavens when this Lamb of God actually takes what is pictured by the scroll and stands ready to open its seals with divine approval? Tell us, John, please:
"And when he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four older persons fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp and golden bowls that were full of incense, and the incense means the prayers of the holy ones. And they sing a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered and with your blood you bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.'"—Revelation 5:8-10.
Even the heavenly cherubs, pictured by the four living creatures, interrupt their continually saying, 'Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming," to do obeisance to the Lamb and to acknowledge this Chosen One of God as worthy. (Revelation 4:8) Those who are pictured by the twenty-four older persons do not cast their crowns down before the Lamb as they did before God on his throne, but they do join in rendering obeisance to the Lamb as being God's worthy one.
According to the Greek language in which John wrote down the vision, the twenty-four older persons, and not the four cherubic living creatures, are the ones that have each a harp and a golden bowl full of incense. "Each of the elders had a harp, and they held golden bowls," is the way the New English Bible renders the text of verse eight in chapter five.* Later on (in Revelation 14:1-3) the 144,000 faithful footstep followers of the Lamb of God are shown as having harps and as singing a new song. They are the "holy ones," who offer up to God "prayers" like "incense" as out of golden bowls.
So the twenty-four older persons, picturing the 144,000, are really singing the "new song" about themselves, when they acknowledge the worthiness of the Lamb and sing to him: "You were slaughtered and with your blood you bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth." Those followers of the Lamb who are made priests and who are to rule over the earth have part in the "first resurrection" to heavenly glory and they are called "holy." (Revelation 20:4-6; 14:4, 5) For such a glorious future the 144,000 (of whom the apostle John was one) are greatly indebted to the once slaughtered Lamb, and most properly they ascribe worthiness to him.
ACCLAIMED AS WORTHY BY SUPERHUMAN CREATURES
Even holy angels of heaven who were not bought for God by the blood of the Lamb are moved by unselfish appreciation to join in acknowledging the worthiness of the Lamb, "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah." "And I saw," says the apostle John, "and I heard a voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the older persons, and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: 'The Lamb that was slaughtered is worthy to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.'"—Revelation 5:11, 12.
From that scene in heaven we can imagine what kind of reception in heaven Jesus Christ received when, on the twenty-fifth day of the Jewish lunar month Iyar, 33 C.E., or the fortieth day from his resurrection from the dead, he ascended from the Mount of Olives east of the city of Jerusalem, leaving down below his watching disciples. (Luke 24:50-52; Acts 1:1-12; John 6:62; 20:17; Hebrews 1:3, 4; 1 Peter 3:22) In the heavenly scene that the apostle John beheld, Satan the Devil and his demons are not seen. This suggests that by the time John's vision is fulfilled Satan the Devil and his demons have been cast out of heaven and have been confined to the vicinity of our earth. (Revelation 12: 7-13) This would locate the fulfillment of John's vision after the close of the Gentile Times in 1914 C.E. and after the war in heaven that followed and in which the Lamb, "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah," conquered. (Revelation 5:5) Thus in the cleansed heavens all the spirit creatures acclaim the once slaughtered but now resurrected Lamb of God as deserving power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing as a reward from Jehovah God.
Man is made "a little lower than angels." (Hebrews 2:5-9; Psalm 8:4, 5) Reasonably, then, if the angels who are superior to us humans hail the self-sacrificing Lamb, Jesus Christ, as worthy to receive favor and honor from God to such an extent, ought we here on earth not to show the same appreciation for the Lamb? Ought we not to join with the angels in approving and applauding the glorification of the Lamb Jesus Christ in heaven? Eventually we shall have to do so if we desire to be in the fulfillment of the further part of John's vision. This further part of John's vision looks into the distant future, yes, a thousand years into the future when all living creation in heaven and on earth will be lined up in one under the Lamb as Jehovah God's topmost representative. This will require the future final destruction of Satan the Devil and his demons and of all who wickedly choose to serve him. Giving us good promise of this desirable state of affairs, John writes:
"And every creature that is in heaven and on earth and underneath the earth and on the sea, and all the things in them, I heard saying: 'To the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever.' And the four living creatures went saying: 'Amen!' and the older persons fell down and worshiped."—Revelation 5:13, 14.
What a tingling sensation it gives us when John says that he saw and heard "every creature that is . . . underneath the earth" ascribing blessing, honor, glory and might to Jehovah God sitting on the heavenly throne and to the Lamb of God! Why does this stir us so much? Because such a miracle means the resurrection of the human dead from their earthly graves. On one occasion when he was a man on earth, the Lamb of God said: "Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment."—John 5:28, 29.
The resurrection of the human dead under the heavenly rule of the Lamb of God and his 144,000 glorified followers will allow for all these resurrected human dead to take full advantage of God's provisions for them through his Lamb. Those resurrected ones who finally choose not to ascribe blessing, honor, glory and might forever to God and his Lamb will be destroyed with Satan the Devil and his demon angels. (Revelation 20: 7-15) These will thus prove that their resurrection was not properly taken advantage of and appreciated. They misused the glorious opportunity that this resurrection opened up to them under God's kingdom. They did so by finally going back to the practice of vile things, and for this course Jehovah God executed an adverse judgment against them, this resulting in their everlasting destruction.
The removal of all wicked ones, spirit and human, from all the realm of life and existence is a coming certainty. This will leave all heaven and all earth absolutely clean forever of wickedness. The Almighty God Jehovah is able and has promised to bring about this all-desirable condition in all creation visible and invisible. He will do so at his appointed time, thereby vindicating his word of promise and his might and power. All the cherubic living creatures around God's throne will faithfully agree to this final ascription of blessing, honor, glory and might to the enthroned Jehovah God and to his Lamb; they will say Amen to this.
The 144,000 glorified Christians, who are pictured by the twenty-four older persons and who will be alive at this victorious hour, will likewise be faithful to the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God. They will fall down and worship before the throne of Jehovah God. They will acknowledge his Lamb, "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah," as the beloved one whom the Almighty God used in bringing about this grand, universal result, to last forever.
Overwhelming, therefore, is the heavenly approval that is given to God's choice of the Lamb, "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah," as the one worthy of being the opener of the mysterious scroll in God's right hand.
The weight of the approbation expressed by all those hundreds of millions of superhuman angels and cherubs counterbalances and outweighs all the disapproval, all the indifferent lack of support shown by the thousands of millions of perplexed, misguided humanity. Do we appreciate this true estimate of matters? Then we will join the apostle John and turn our eyes hopefully to the God-honored one, the Lamb. We will watch to see what happens when he breaks the seven seals, one at a time, to open the scroll that he has received from God's right hand. Astounding and intriguing things are due to be revealed to our spiritual vision as the prophetic scroll is gradually opened, till at last it is fully opened and the "mystery of God" is finished.
CHAPTER 3
Breaking Seals of the Mysterious Scroll
INETEEN centuries ago a prisoner on the little island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea wept, because for a moment there seemed to be nobody in heaven or on earth able to open the mysterious scroll in the right hand of Jehovah God, the Almighty.
The scroll was written on inside and on the reverse side, but it was rolled up and sealed with seven seals that could not be broken without the official approval of God. The writing on both sides of the scroll told of things to occur in the future, things that took in, not only the invisible heavens, but also the earth, our dwelling place. The handwritten scroll pictured the fixed foreknowledge and purposes of God as affecting heaven and earth. The scroll set forth what the Almighty God knew regarding the future and what he had decided to let occur and also what he himself purposed to do in the face of things that he allowed to occur. No wonder that prisoner on the Roman penal island, the Christian apostle John, wept at the desperate thought that no creature whatever could break the seven seals and reveal the secrets contained in the scroll that concerned him and us all.—Revelation 5:4.
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