Rev.5: 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.�
So not only are there seven seals but the book has writing on both sides, which is why I say it must be a scroll. Now this writing on both sides provides us with a link to other scriptures. The other passages we shall inspect will show us what the purpose of this scroll is, and how it will impact G-d�s chosen people, the Jews and the other tribes of Jacob. Ezekiel is given a similar book at the beginning of his ministry.
Ezek.2: 9-10
9) �And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
10) And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.�
This book is very similar to the seven-sealed book of Revelation, interestingly, in the very next verse Ezekiel is told to eat the book and go speak to the house of Israel. Now John also, in Rev.10, is told to eat a little book and is told that he must prophesy again,
Revelation 10:8-11
8) �And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go
and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9) And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
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.�
Now back to Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 3:1-7
1) �Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
2) So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
3) And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
4) And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
5) For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6) Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
7) But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.�
There is a key clue here, for if the prophet eats the book that G-d gives him, it may be sweet as honey in his mouth, but as it is chewed and swallowed it becomes bitter in the stomach. So then, chewed and swallowed would mean, �understanding the book.� That is what we do when we eat, we break the food apart in our mouth, and then we consolidate it in our stomach, only to be further broken down in our stomach. Now if the prophet eats the book, and then has the word of G-d for the people, the book must be the word of G-d. Now, we are told in, Rev.19: 10; �The testimony of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of prophecy.� So then, the book is the word of G-d, and the word of G-d is Jesus Christ, the word who became flesh, and the Spirit of prophecy is his testimony to us. The reason it becomes bitter in the stomach is because when the word of G-d is understood, we realize what is to come, and what G-d expects from us. This is what Jesus meant when he took the bread at the last Passover and gave it to his disciples, saying, �Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.�
The bread represented the word; the word is Jesus Christ! This is also the reason why the Passover Lamb was to be completely consumed; none of it was to be left until the next day. It represented the word, Jesus Christ! We are to break apart the word of G-d and put it back together until we understand it, until it becomes a part of us, part of our very being. There is a whole sermon that could be preached on this topic, and it is a sermon I have never heard from the shepherds. Remember when you first came to know Christ? Remember the joy, the excitement, and the newness of life? Then you moved on and began to understand the gravity of what G-d had done for you, the price that he paid. Then you began to understand, by his word, that he wants us to follow in his footsteps; this is the bitterness in the stomach of understanding prophecy, but not that the joy should be gone. Here are some scriptures that are good examples of the will of our L-rd:
John 15:18-20
18.) �If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19.) If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20.) Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.�
Matthew 16:24-25
24.) �Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25.) For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.�
Does Christ say this to all of us, or just the apostles? Does he say this to just the early church, or to all of the church? What do you think?
So G-d told Ezekiel that the house of Israel would not listen to him because they did not listen to G-d, (Ezek.3: 7). What does this say about the book sealed with seven seals? It is the final book of Woe�s and lamentations for the Jews, and at the end of it the Jews will hearken unto the word of the L-rd, and the word of the L-rd is Jesus Christ! It is specifically for his chosen people, and the Lamb of G-d is the only one who can open the book for the Jews to finally understand, this is why John wept in Rev.5: 4 when none could open it, he thought his nation would never be saved. This final book of prophecy will not only reclaim the earth to G-d and his Messiah, but it will also reclaim the Promised Land and G-d�s chosen people to the Messiah.
The prophet Zechariah was also given a vision of a similar book. His vision gives more information on how G-d will use this seven-sealed book. Zechariah was given three visions in a row that help interpret Revelation five and six. It is of note that Zech.5 & 6 helps us to interpret Rev.5 & 6. Let us begin with the first four seals of the book of the Revelation, then follow with Zechariah�s three prophecies.
Revelation 6:1-8
1.) �And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2.) And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a
crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
3.) And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4.) And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
5.) And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6.) And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7.) And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8.) And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.�
Now we shall take a look at the three prophecies in Zechariah that run back-to-back and see how they help to interpret Rev.5 & 6.
Zechariah 5:1-11
1.) �Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
2.) And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
3.) Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
4.) I will bring it forth, saith the L-rd of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
5.) Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.
6.) And I said, What is it? And He said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
7.) And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
8.) And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9.) Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10.) Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11.) And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.�
Zechariah 6:1-8
1.) �And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
2.) In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;
3.) And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.
4.) Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5.) And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the L-rd of all the earth.
6.) The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country.
7.) And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.
8.) Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.�
Now here in Zechariah, we have the vision of the �flying roll� written on both sides and it goes over the face of the whole earth as a curse, this is the seven-sealed book mentioned in the Revelation. This first vision, and the two after it, gives us the sequence of events that follow Rev.5 & 6, only the horses are in different order. (Revelation gives us the proper order of the horses.) Notice the second vision is the revival of Babylon, for the land of Shinar is Chaldea of Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq. The ephah, mentioned here, is a measurement and has economic implications. Babylon will become the seat of world economic power in the time just before the end. Remember, Zechariah prophesied during the rebuilding of the second temple, the Medes and Persians had already taken possession of Babylon, (they did not destroy it).
We now come to the third back-to-back vision that Zechariah received. To recap where we stand, and to make it clearer, first Zechariah sees the flying roll that is the seven sealed book from the book of the Revelation. Then the wicked woman is set back up in Babylon, now he sees two brass mountains from which come the four different colored sets of horses, which represent the four horsemen of Revelation, and the four headed kingdom of Greece in Daniel. What else can they represent? Where else in G-d�s word does he mention black, red, white, and grisled or dappled horses together? Now we are told where the horsemen go by Zechariah, and the places where they go are in accordance with what we learned in Daniel.
Another important part of this vision is the two Brass Mountains from where the chariots come. I was always told that this represented the judgment of G-d, and this is partially correct, but G-d uses nations to judge other nations as well as his own. What do we know that mountains represent, from Rev.17? (�There are seven mountains upon which the woman sitteth.�) Mountains represent kingdoms on the earth, when spoken of in scripture, (�Who art thou O great mountain, before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.�) So who are these two mountains? The brass is the clue to what we learned in Daniel! In the great image that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of, the kingdom of brass was Greece. What then, does this vision of Zechariah tell us? The Grecian kingdom of Seleucas, the king of the north, will be revived, thus Zechariah saw two mountains of brass rather than one.
So where do the horses go? The white horses go to the North Country! This tells us that the white horse of Revelation, will go against the North Country! This is not the far north, Russia, etc., it is the Assyrian-Seleucid-Babylonian empire. The white horse is the first seal of Revelation 6: 2, this is the beginning of the 2300 day prophecy. (See: TimelineCharts and Do The Horsemen Yet Ride?) Next comes the red horse of Rev.6: 4, Zechariah does not tell us where he goes; the reason is because the red horseman takes away peace from the whole earth. Next the black horse comes of Rev.6: 5, Zechariah tells us he also goes to the north country, famine is the obvious conclusion of what is said about him in Rev.6: 5-6, but once again we have the economic implications. This time we are told that it will have to do with oil! Do not think the oil mentioned here is the Holy Spirit; the Spirit cannot not be hurt economically. This is the oil that is so abundant in the kingdom of the Antichrist, the territory of the Seleucid, Babylonian, and Assyrian Empires. And certainly the other kingdoms of this modern world do not want to �hurt the oil!�
Zechariah tells us that the white and black horses �quiet� G-d�s Spirit in the North Country. It must be because the Day of the L-rd is at hand and G-d�s great plan of the ages is about to unfold. We read of a similar situation in Rev.8: 1, silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Next come the grisled horses, also meaning the pale horse of Revelation. The name of the one who rides this horse is death, and hell follows him, and he kills a fourth of the earth. Zechariah tells us he rides to the south; this would mean Africa. Doesn�t the AntiChrist overthrow north Africa; the king of the south? Perhaps the modern shepherds are wrong about this prophecy too! It appears, by what Zechariah says, that the grizzled horse is the AntiChrist, not the white horse!
The fifth seal shows us the first wave of Christian and Messianic Jewish persecution, the persecution of those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of the career of the Antichrist. The second half of the seventieth week of Daniel is yet to come.
Next we shall see that the sixth seal is just before the start of the great tribulation, but for now I must say that the modern shepherds need to prepare the flock of G-d for what is coming. We are the flock of the slaughter, the church of the great tribulation. It is time that the shepherds wake up and feed the flock of the slaughter! As Jesus told Peter three times, �Feed my sheep!� The church is unprepared; prepare the flock of the slaughter!