Tag Archives: the meaning of the sealed scroll

Ellen White and the Sealed Scroll of Revelation 5 (EWB 12)

One of the most challenging concepts in Revelation is the sealed scroll of chapter five. In researching his dissertation on the sealed scroll of Revelation, Ranko Stefanovic identified more than a hundred different views on the meaning of the scroll in the history or Revelation’s interpretation. As I remember it, he concluded that the scroll of Revelation was the covenant scroll (Deuteronomy) delivered to the king at the time of his inauguration as king of Israel. He saw the time of that event as the ascension of Jesus to heaven after His resurrection. Needless to say, not every scholar of Revelation is fully convinced that Stefanovic has settled the matter.

Ellen White makes a handful of brief statements with regard to the sealed scroll of Revelation 5. In Testimony to Ministers, 115 she appears to suggest that the sealed scroll is the book of Daniel. After quoting Dan 12:8-13 she says: “It was the Lion of the tribe of Judah who unsealed the book and gave to John the revelation of what should be in these last days.” After restating the Daniel passage in her own words for some lines she states: “The book of Daniel is unsealed in the revelation to John, and carries us forward to the last scenes of this earth’s history.” The possibility that John may have intended an allusion to Daniel in Revelation 5 has been discussed by scholars, so such a view of the text is certainly possible. Her main point in these comments is, however, to encourage people to “Read Revelation in connection with Daniel. Teach these things” (last lines of TM 115). Rather than settling exegetical issues in the text, her intention is to encourage direct study and teaching of these texts.

Ellen White’s statement in Christ’s Object Lessons 294, on the other hand, suggests that she understood the scroll of Revelation 5 to contain much more than the book of Daniel. There she describes the scene at the trial of Jesus where Pilate washes his hands and the priests cry out, along with the mob, “His blood be on us and on our children.” Then she writes: “Thus the Jewish leaders made their choice. Their decision was registered in the book which John saw in the hand of Him that sat upon the throne, the book which no man could open. In all its vindictiveness this decision will appear before them in the day when this book is unsealed by the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” Here the scroll contains historical records that will be revealed when it is fully unsealed.

The statement in COL seems to align with volume six of the Testimonies, page 17: “The light we have received upon the third angel’s message is the true light. The mark of the beast is exactly what it has been proclaimed to be. Not all in regard to this matter is yet understood, nor will it be understood until the unrolling of the scroll; but a most solemn work is to be accomplished in our world.” Both statements suggest that Ellen White understood the full unrolling of the scroll as a matter for the future, not the past (such as AD 31 or 1844).

More recently, a letter has come to light which contains a fairly clear statement on the identity of the scroll (letter 65, 1898, manuscript release #667.). After quoting Revelation 5:1-3 she states: “There in His open hand lay the book, the roll of the history of God’s providences, the prophetic history of nations and the church. Herein was contained the divine utterances, His authority, His commandments, His laws, the whole symbolic counsel of the Eternal, and the history of all ruling powers in the nations. In symbolic language was contained in that roll the influence of every nation, tongue, and people from the beginning of earth’s history to its close. This roll was written within and without. John says: (Rev 5:4-5; 6:8-11; 8:1-4).”

This explicit statement about the scroll of Revelation 5 indicates that it contains the entire sum and substance of the Great Controversy as it pertains to the earth, including the acts of both God and His created beings throughout history. It is the record book of heaven. There are only two events in human history which contain in themselves such a summary of all things. One is in Christ at the cross. At the cross Christ embodied in Himself both the character of God and the sins of a fallen creation. The other event is at the close of the millennium, when all of history is laid open to view (GC 666-671). Since the judgment associated with the year 1844 is limited, in Ellen White’s thinking, to those who have professed Christ (GC 483), this statement does not pinpoint the year 1844 as the time when the Lamb took the book.

The most likely reference point for this statement is Christ’s enthronement in heaven in AD 31. Note that the scroll contains “the roll of the history of God’s providences,” an appropriate designation for the Old Testament, and “the prophetic history of nations and the church,” a statement most appropriate at the beginning of the Christian era, not near its close.

Combining all of the above, it appears that Ellen White understood the scroll of Revelation 5 to be the sum and substance of history, prophecy, and the entire plan and purpose of God. As such, it contains that to which both Daniel and Revelation point and more. It is anticipated in John’s vision, but is not fully opened to view until the end of history. It is truly the “book of destiny.” The statements of Ellen White illuminate our reading of Revelation 5, but they are not specific enough in themselves to settle the exegetical issues related to the sealed scroll of Revelation 5.

The Meaning of the Sealed Scroll (Enthronement 5)

Students of Revelation through the centuries have some up with some 125 different explanations for the sealed scroll of Revelation 5. The more solid biblical options include a last will and testament, the constitution of Israel (Deuteronomy), a record of human history, an emblem of the Lamb’s right to rule, a record of human deeds, the Book of Life, and a list of rewards and punishments for human behavior (that would make it a scroll of judgment).

Many Seventh-day Adventists, based on a comment in a letter of Ellen White, suggest that the scroll contains the history of God’s providences, and the prophetic history of the nations and the church. If one takes that approach, the sealed scroll would represent the plan of salvation. John weeps (Rev. 5:4) because the plan of salvation will not be implemented unless someone is found worthy to open the scroll.

My own view, in harmony with Stefanovic, is that the sealed scroll must be understood in the context of an enthronement scene in heaven on the day of Pentecost. In some sense it could have elements of all the above. But in particular it represents God’s covenant with Israel (both OT and NT) that is ratified in the context of the death of Israel’s Messiah, the Lamb, Jesus Christ. Taking the scroll demonstrates the Lamb’s right to rule and to implement the covenant, including its rewards and consequences (further elaborated in the four horsemen of Revelation six). He is in control of history and implements God’s plan of salvation. The acclamation of the heavenly host (Rev 5:12-13) anticipates the great acclamation at the End (Rev 15:3-4) which affirms the character of God as a major element of the plan of salvation.

How do we know the book (Rev. 5:2, Greek: biblion) is a scroll and not more typical of books today? The codex, the form of a book where pages are glued together at one side, was an invention that took place somewhere around the time of Revelation. Before that books were rolled up scrolls or clay tablets. The form of the book in Revelation 5 and 6 is affirmed in Revelation 6:14 where the “sky receded like a scroll (Greek: biblion) rolling up.” For the author of Revelation a book and a scroll were one and the same thing. So sealing the scroll (by wrapping a piece of cloth around it and sealing it with wax) would hide the entire content of the scroll. All the seals would have to be broken before the content would be revealed. That means that the events unleashed when the seals were broken in chapter six are not the content of the scroll but events that are unleashed when each seal is broken. The scroll cannot be opened until all seven seals are broken.