A Slaughtered Lamb: Revelation and the Apocalyptic Response to Evil and Suffering by Gregory Stevenson

Author:Gregory Stevenson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: ACU Press
Published: 2013-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

Throne Room, Part Two (Revelation 5)

In Revelation 5 the narrative focus shifts from theology to Christology, from God to Christ. Everything in Revelation 4 revolves around God’s throne, with no mention whatsoever of Christ. That all changes in chapter five as Christ becomes a central player in the drama. This is not to suggest that God somehow recedes from the main stage. The events of Revelation 5 occur within God’s throne room, he holds the all-important scroll in his hand (5:1), and he receives the worship of all creation at the conclusion of the chapter (5:13). Chapter five does not represent a shift away from God to Christ, but a declaration of how Christ fits within God’s sovereign plan for his creation.

With Revelation 4 providing a bird’s eye view of the heavenly throne and the one seated on it, Revelation 5 zeroes in on one specific aspect of that scene—a scroll held in the right hand of the one on the throne. This scroll contains writing on it and within it and is sealed with seven seals (5:1). Identification of the content of the scroll is a matter of much scholarly debate, as Revelation offers no clear description of its content even after the scroll has been opened. The best suggestion for the content of the sealed scroll is that it contains a revelation of God’s plan for his creation, a revelation that is not only about the future, but also the past and present.5 In other words, it contains the content of the visions that follow.

That the image of a sealed scroll was a common prophetic motif may offer some help. Ezekiel 2:9-10 depicts a scene similar to that of Revelation 5: “I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it. He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back, and written on it were words of lamentation and mourning and woe.” Ezekiel’s scroll contains words of judgment on the house of Israel, which suggests that the scroll of Revelation 5 may likewise contain the judgments that unfold in the book of Revelation, either in whole or in part.6 Although judgment is certainly a component of the scroll’s content, other stark differences between Ezekiel’s and John’s scrolls—Ezekiel’s is not sealed with seven seals and John’s is not spread out before him—caution against a specific identification of the two. As with Ezekiel’s scroll, however, John’s scroll functions as a message for his audience and their situation.

The sealing of a scroll or other document would typically occur by pouring wax on the document until it began to harden and then using a “seal”—a stamping or rolling device—to make an engraving on the wax. The seal thus served as a symbol of the document’s author and protected its content from unauthorized eyes. Only those with the proper authority were to break the seals. So, with the introduction of this seal in the hand of God, a mighty angel

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