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Eureka

AN EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE
Sixth Edition, 1915
By Dr. John Thomas (first edition written 1861)

 

 

Chapter 10

Section 5 

The Little Opened Scroll


 
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In the second verse of the tenth chapter, John says: "He had in his hand a little scroll which had been opened," -- biblaridion aneogmenon. This was not like the scroll John speaks of in ch. v, which was closed with a sevenfold sealing; "so that no man in the heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the scroll, neither to look thereon." This "little scroll" in the angel’s hand had been opened before John saw him. The opening had been completed before he took up his position upon the earth and sea. The opening of the little scroll is not represented in this chapter any more than the clothing of the angelic symbol with the cloud. These are processes accomplished in the secret place of the Most High; and before the angel presents himself before the nations as Judah’s lion. The opening of the little scroll, and the clothing with the cloud, belong to "the time of the dead when they are judged and rewarded" -- when they stand before the Deity in the scene exhibited in ch. xx. 12-15. In this scene the three books, or scrolls, are opened. These are the scroll of the Seven Seals, the little scroll, and the scroll of life. Down to "the time of the dead," the first is being unsealed and unrolled, as I have been expounding the operation in this volume. But when the apocalyptic developments reach this extraordinary and notable crisis of the resurrection, judgment, and quickening of the approved, whose names are written in the scroll of life, the mode of apocalyptic development is no longer as during the centuries past. The manner of apocalyptic fulfilment is changed. This change of method will be so demonstrable, that all the Deity’s servants will see it; for they will be a part of it. The Spirit will have prevailed to open the seven-sealed scroll in creating the crisis which crowns the centuries; and in clothing himself with the cloud, or hosts, in, with, and by whom he destroys the Fourth Beast, and takes away the dominion of the other three. The supernatural element is now introduced, which wonderfully quickens and consummates the end. But the infusion of this into the situation does not supersede the free action of the enemy, and the counteraction of him by the symbolic angel upon seemingly ordinary principles. The scroll is opened, not to him, but to the saints, to whom the judgment is given. The Fourth Beast, or Nebuchadnezzar’s Image, which covers the whole area, will contend against them, as if they were a Zinghis or Tamerlane, until defeat and destruction on every side give mankind a practical understanding of the opening of the seven-sealed scroll.

The opening of the seven-sealed scroll in the giving a reward to the servants of the Deity is, to them, also, the opening of the "little scroll of the angel’s hand." It is a little scroll of judgment: the scroll is little, not the judgment. The scroll unrolled is not long. The seven-sealed scroll, extending from John’s day to "the time of the dead," is long. Upon its roll are inscribed judicial events extending over nearly eighteen centuries. This is not a little scroll, but a very long one. A scroll extended gives us the idea of length; and this is representative of time. A little scroll is a short time in which things written therein are to be accomplished -- a period, say of forty years, according to the testimony of Micah vii. 14-17, in which "the nations shall see, and be confounded at all (this angel’s) might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth, they shall be afraid of YAHWEH OUR ELOHIM, and shall fear because of thee." This is a short-time hand to hand conflict between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent, in which he gets bruised on the head (Gen. iii. 15). The rainbowed angel having come to the throne of judgment, and been crowned, received the testimony in receiving this little scroll, in which is written his mission. Being the king’s son, he succeeds to the throne, and is crowned; and the custom established in Israel was, to deliver to the crowned ruler the testimony, according to which he was to execute justice and judgment (2 Kings xi. 12). The little scroll is the finishing of the Mystery of the Deity, as he hath declared, announced, or testified, the glad tidings to his servants the prophets (x. 7); and it is the rainbowed angel that hath to finish it. This short-scroll finishing of the mystery is the completion of the judgments written on the outer side of the seven-sealed scroll. It is, therefore, the concluding part of this scroll that part, namely, which pertains exclusively to the saints, in the execution of the judgment given to them, by which they possess themselves of the kingdoms of the world.

This "little scroll" is the most important fragment of the apocalypse. It contains the catastrophe of the plot, without which all the rest would be of little interest to the believer. By the angel holding the little scroll "in his hand," his power is identified with the execution of its contents, and the character of these is indicated by his voice. They are "the lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and earthquake, and great hail," of ch. xi. 19 -- the judgments of the seventh vial; which exhaust the wrath of Deity, and give victory to the saints, and rest for a thousand years (xv. 2; xiv. 13; xx. 4).

 

 


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