|
|
|
| .2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, | The
little book
We realize that, with eternal certainty, Christ had ordered the book sealed for a specific length of time. Now he holds it open. By reading the drama there in Daniel's chapter 12, we could see that the "book" is a prophecy he wrote out but couldn't understand. It is the book in the hand of the mighty angel. And it was about a terrible and long experience of God's people which was not explained. The Greek term translated "little book" is biblaridion which is the diminutive form of biblion which itself is the diminutive of biblos which means scroll or book. Our word "bibliography" comes from this Greek word. The book of Daniel with only 12 chapters is not a large book. The little, little book could be a part or parts of Daniel's writing. Much of what Daniel had written was understood at the time, but one part in particular, the prophet himself did not understand. We may assume that to be the sealed portion, the biblaridion da0826f. Daniel did not understand the part about the 2300 evenings and mornings (8:14) but there were also the 70 weeks and the "time, times and half a time." He must have asked himself how they could relate to the time before his people could return to Jerusalem after the captivity. Understanding the "wonders" Daniel was told to shut up the words and seal the book — those "wonders" would involve a period of "scattering" or "shattering" of God's true followers. Let's back up just a bit to see what the wonders were. If you want to take your Bible and look backwards from Dan. 12:5, you can discover that an angel had been giving Daniel a prophecy. It was a very long discourse beginning at the end of chapter 10. Daniel had been wanting to understand and the Gabriel had come to explain da1011ff. Let's look at his introduction to the long discourse: da1020-1102. We may understand the "scripture of truth" (writing of truth) as prophecies Daniel had previously recorded on scrolls (or books). At least one part was not understood, the vision of the 2300 days da0814, da0826f. The angel's explanation runs through all of chapter 11 and continues on to verse 4 of chapter 12. As before, if it answered some of Daniel's questions, it certainly introduced plenty more which begged for explanation. When Daniel heard the conversation from the riverbanks da1205ff and was told by the man in linen above the river to seal the book which he could not understand, he begged to know but was told that the words were hidden and sealed until the "time of the end." If, as I believe, we are now in that "time of the end" we should be able to understand. |
| .3 And [the mighty angel] cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. | The
voice thundered seven times
I believe the thunders told the events that would lead up to the book experience that turned bitter and that those events were foreshadowed by Psalm 29 ps029. More on this later r10o. As we noted with v3 on the main page, the sealing or secluding of the messages of the thunders characterizes the problem of the book seeming sweet but being bitter. That disappointment could have been avoided had the people known what the thunders said. The angel's telling John not to write shows a specific hiding of the information by heaven. God does not lie nu2319 but He does keep secrets de2929. He allowed the disappointment of 1844 for a reason. I believe it was (a) to provide the urgency that invited study of the Bible to find more truth including the reason Jesus didn't come then and (b) to take the searchers beyond the accumulated tradition of Christianity to the Scriptures themselves. Remember that the ministry wasn't a failure. It did accurately announce the judgment, as symbolized by the message of the first angel of chapter 14 1406me. |
| Daniel
12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even
to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall
be increased. . . .
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.... 10 . . . the wise shall understand. 13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. Revelation 10:3 And [the mighty angel] cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. . . . 8 ¶ And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book. . . . 10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. |
Pattern
from Daniel
Rev. 10:4 leads us to another remarkable parallel with Daniel 12. Daniel was told to seal up the book until the time of the end (Dan. 12:4). He was disappointed in not being given understanding (v.8). Then, in the last verse of the chapter, he was told he would act in his post at the end of the days. Notice the promise: "But go your way till the end; and you shall rest [in the dust, v2], and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days." (Dan. 8:13, RSV) Daniel's lot, or allotted place, was as a prophet of the Lord with understanding in visions and dreams (Dan. 1:17; 2:23). His job was to tell the Lord's secrets. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7) A sequence in Daniel's experience
(Dan. 12):
Several patterns in this chapter
|
| 5 And the angel which I saw
stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: |
Unsealing
the book after the wonders
Now, realizing that the man in linen who told Daniel to seal his book was Christ, we turn back to the mighty angel — also Christ, according to our context. He lifts one hand to heaven and swears by the one who lives forever and ever. The man in linen had done the same, lifting both hands. The mighty angel lifts only one hand because his other hand holds the book. In the earlier scene, Daniel had been told to seal the book which he was, no doubt, holding. Thus the man in linen had both hands free to raise. From Daniel's pen, we heard this man in linen declare that the book was to remain sealed until the time of the end when knowledge (from Daniel's book) would be increased (The book John saw was open). Furthermore the unsealing would be at the end of the "wonders" which would last for 3½ times. We understood that the wonders would be the time of oppression of God's people. This period is also described in da0725. Considering a "time" to symbolize a year of 360 days, we can figure the number of total days in 3½ "times." (360 x 3 + 180 = 1260 prophetic days re1305a2. John, in his vision, saw the book open in the angel's hand (re1002). He saw it in its unsealed state — the "time of the end." |
| 6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: | Time
no longer - translation note
Most modern translations use a phrase like "no more delay " The Greek word is chronos which is correctly translated in all other occurrences in Revelation 0221, 0611, 2003. "Delay" would be correct if the word had been chronizo. In our text (verse 6) "delay" gives a different and incorrect meaning. "Time no longer" could mean the end of the world except that the seventh trumpet, which is clearly the end, only starts to sound. The mystery is finished before the actual sounding in 11:15. |
Message
given to the prophet (chapters 8, 9).
