1 ¶ And I saw in the right hand
of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed
with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to
loose the seals thereof? 3 And no man in
heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book,
neither to look thereon. 4 And I wept
much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. 5 And one of the elders
saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of
David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
God is holding a book in His right
hand. It has writing on both sides and is sealed with seven seals. The right
hand signifies authority and the seals signify that only God knows what is in
the book.
Genesis 48:14 And Israel
stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the
younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly;
for Manasseh was the firstborn…17 And
when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim,
it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from
Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. 18
And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the
firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
Daniel 12:8 And I heard, but I
understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for
the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
An angel, a strong angel, asks in a loud
voice who is worthy to open the book and the seals? This is clearly a
rhetorical question as we can be sure that they know.
Psalm 103:20 Bless the LORD, ye
his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto
the voice of his word.
Five more times in Revelation an
angel with a loud voice proclaims things that will not be good for the people
of the earth.
Revelation 7:2 And I saw another
angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried
with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth
and the sea,
Revelation 8:13 And I beheld,
and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud
voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other
voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
Revelation 14:9 And the third
angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and
his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Revelation 14:15 And another
angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap;
for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Revelation 19:17 And I saw an
angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the
fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto
the supper of the great God;
No man in heaven or on earth or under the earth, in Hell, had any power
to open the book or see what was inside. It is not in man’s vision to open the
book of prophecy. We cannot know what is to take place without God’s words in
His book. No man today claiming to know what is going to happen in the future
is telling the truth apart from what he has read here.
Take a moment and consider under the earth.
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was
three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is
kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume
the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Psalm 86:13 For great is thy
mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
Revelation 20:3 And cast him
into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he
should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be
fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
What is a pit without a bottom? It
is a sphere, like the center of the earth.
Isaiah 14:15 Yet thou shalt be
brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
God’s prophecies are
indecipherable to unregenerate and rebellious man.
Isaiah 29:9 ¶ Stay yourselves,
and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they
stagger, but not with strong drink. 10
For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath
closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
11 And the vision of all is become unto
you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is
learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12 And the book is delivered to him that
is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as
this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me,
but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by
the precept of men: 14 Therefore,
behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a
marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their
counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth
us? and who knoweth us? 16 Surely your
turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall
the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say
of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
John, as a man, is upset that no
man is found worthy to loose the seals and open the book. Judging by the number
of prophecy seminars I’ve read about in the last forty years I would say that
man’s desire to know the future is equaled only by his inability.
This elder names two references to
Christ which are linked also by cross-referencing to His millennial reign.
First look at the root of David, who was the son of Jesse.
Isaiah 11:1 ¶ And there shall
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his
roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD
shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in
the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the
poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the
earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay
the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be
the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and
the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and
the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their
young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on
the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’
den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
10 ¶ And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be
glorious. 11 And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover
the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt,
and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from
Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the
outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners
of the earth. 13 The envy also of
Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim
shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the
Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they
shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey
them. 15 And the LORD shall utterly
destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake
his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men
go over dryshod. 16 And there shall be
an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria;
like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Juda [Judah].
Genesis 49:9 Judah is a lion’s
whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as
a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
As a man, Jesus Christ’s legal descent through His stepfather,
Joseph, and His mother, Mary, was from
Judah.
Matthew 1:1 ¶ The book of the
generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob;
and Jacob begat Judas [Judah] and his
brethren;
Luke 3:33 Which was the son of
Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the
son of Phares, which was the son of Juda [Judah], 34 Which was the son of Jacob,
which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of
Thara, which was the son of Nachor,
Only He is able to open the book
and to loose the seven seals of prophecy.
Revelation 19:10 And I fell at
his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy
fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship
God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
The spirit of prophecy belongs
only to Jesus Christ, not the founder of any other religious or faith
tradition. You think you can figure all of this out? Well, not unless Christ
reveals it to you and to keep you from declaring yourself God-like to many
other people, as well. Don’t get puffed up.
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