2021/11/08

12. The Book of Prophecy 

The Book of Revelation has the worldview of Jesus Christ just because the entire book is devoted to the prophecy of the formation of the New Testament. The letters to the seven churches that the author, filled with the Spirit, wrote down hearing a loud voice like a trumpet on the Lord's day,¹ all have the words, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." They are encouraging the churches to turn their attention to the formation of the New Testament. The things of which the first voice again said, "Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after this,"² testify to this fact. It was self-evident to the author that the four creatures³ in the midst of the throne and around it represented the four Gospels. He writes that full of eyes were both in front and behind them, so we can guess there were more than a few people who had already seen these books. Next, the four Gospels, Acts, and Paul's epistles are introduced in prophetic terms through the scroll with seven seals.⁴ The seal which was last opened signifies the Book of Revelation. After that, when the angel⁵ holding a scroll open in his hand cried out, seven thunders sounded. The voice from heaven commanding, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said,"⁶ suggests that these thunders are the seven Catholic Epistles, which at that time were not yet known if they were to be included in the New Testament. The text states three times that the "scroll that was opened" with the seven seals opened was a "small scroll."⁷ It refers to the New Testament, which is "small" compared to the Hebrew Bible. The author took it and ate it all.

Reference 1. Revelation 1:10, 2. Revelation 4:1, 3. Revelation 4:6, 4. Revelation 5:1, 5. Revelation 10:1, 6. Revelation 10:4, 7. Revelation 10:2, 10:9, 10:10.

Maria K. M.