In Revelation 5:1-7 “him that sat on the throne” had a book in his right hand, sealed with seven seals.
Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, the lamb as it had been slain, took the book from the right hand of “him that sat on the throne”.
Only Jesus was worthy to loose it’s seven seals.
This takes us back to Revelation 1:1
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass…
3…for the time is at hand.
According to Revelation 1, God the father (Yahweh) gave the revelation of Jesus Christ to Jesus Christ to show unto his servants.
That’s what we see being played out in Revelation 5.
WHAT IS THIS BOOK WITH SEVEN SEALS?
Let’s take a look at Daniel…
Daniel 12
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end…
9 Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Daniel’s vision was sealed “till the time of the end”.
Jesus had authority to loose the seals set upon Daniel’s vision because the time of the end was “at hand” (Rev. 1:3).
What did Daniel prophesy?
Daniel 9
26…the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary…
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate…
The Greek word for week שָׁבוּעַ šāḇûa’ can mean seven years, therefore “the midst of the week” denotes a three and a half year period beginning when “the sacrifice and the oblation” ceased.
A similar passage is found in the last chapter of Daniel
Daniel 12
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
1290/360=3.58 years
Again, Daniel described a three and a half year period beginning when the “daily sacrifice” was “taken away”.
WHEN DID THE SACRIFICE CEASE? WHEN WAS IT TAKEN AWAY?
In around August of 66AD Eleazar Ben Ananias, Governor of the temple, refused to receive sacrifices from the Romans.
According to First century historian Flavius Josephus, “this was the true beginning” of the Roman-Jewish war.
WOJ 2.17.2
…Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high priest, a very bold youth who was at that time governor of the temple, persuaded those who officiated in the divine service to receive no gift or sacrifice from any foreigner. This was the true beginning of our war with the Romans for they rejected the sacrifice of Caesar on this account.
I just want to mention that a few months prior to this event some very important things happened.
In April-June of 66AD (during Passover and Pentecost) several miraculous signs were witnessed, for example “chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor…running about among the clouds". (Wars of the Jews 6.5.3)
Also around April of 66AD Gessius Florus (the 7th Roman procurator of Judaea) sent soldiers to confiscate money from the temple treasury. They was met with resistance and as a result Florus ordered 3600 Jews to be killed.
WOJ 2.14.6-9
6…Florus…sent some to take seventeen talents out of the sacred treasure, and pretended that Cæsar wanted them…Some also of the seditious cried out upon Florus, and cast the greatest reproaches upon him, and carried a basket about, and begged some spills of money for him, as for one that was destitute of possessions, and in a miserable condition. Yet was not he made ashamed hereby of his love of money, but was more enraged…
9…and called out aloud to the soldiers to plunder that which was called the upper market-place, and to slay such as they met with. So the soldiers…did not only plunder the place they were sent to, but, forcing themselves into every house, they slew its inhabitants; so the citizens fled along the narrow lanes and the soldiers slew those that they caught, and no method of plunder was omitted: they also caught many of the quiet people, and brought them before Florus, whom he first chastised with stripes, and then crucified. Accordingly the whole number of those that were destroyed that day, with their wives and children, (for they did not spare even the infants themselves), was about three thousand and six hundred.
This was the unofficial start to the Jewish Revolt.
However it wasn’t until August 66AD that the sacrifice ceased, as prophesied by Daniel.
In Matthew 24 Jesus warned his disciples…
Matthew 24
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet…
16 …let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:
WHAT WAS THE ABOMINATION DANIEL SPOKE OF?
It was (at least in part) Eleazar's refusal to receive sacrifices from the Romans for in doing so he “invited" Rome to “make war upon them”. Furthermore Eleazar had no authority to introduce “novel rules”.
The “high priests and principle men" of the city tried to convince Eleazar to “not omit the sacrifice” but to no avail.
WOJ 2.17.2&3
2…and when many of the high priests and principal men besought them not to omit the sacrifice… they would not be prevailed upon….
3. Hereupon the men of power got together, and conferred with the high priests, as did also the principal of the Pharisees; and thinking all was at stake…took counsel what was to be done…they did now irritate the Romans to take arms against them, and invited them to make war upon them, and brought up novel rules of a strange Divine worship, and determined to run the hazard of having their city condemned for impiety…unless they grow wiser quickly, and restore the sacrifices as formerly, and indeed amend the injury…
Finally, if we continue reading in `The Wars of the Jews’ Book Two, we find the actual word “abominations” used with regard to Eleazar’s men murdering Roman soldiers on the sabbath day.
WOJ 2.17.10
…Metilius, who was the Roman general, sent to Eleazar, and desired that they would give them security to spare their lives only…but as soon as…they had all laid down their shields and their swords, and were under no further suspicion of any harm, but were going away, Eleazar's men attacked them after a violent manner, and encompassed them round, and slew them…thus were all these men barbarously murdered…the city was all over polluted with such ABOMINATIONS, from which it was but reasonable to expect some vengeance, even though they should escape revenge from the Romans; so that the city was filled with sadness, and every one of the moderate men in it were under great disturbance…for indeed it so happened that this murder was perpetrated on the sabbath day, on which day the Jews have a respite from their works on account of Divine worship.
By August 66AD the city of Jerusalem was “all over polluted” with abominations.
Jesus’s warning to flee Judea in Matthew 24 was recorded a little differently in Luke 21.
Luke 21
20 …when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21…let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains…
Not long after the cessation of the daily sacrifice, around November of 66AD, Gaius Cestius Gallus (Governor of Syria) led a Roman attack upon Jerusalem.
WOJ 2.19.4-8
4….And on the…thirtieth of the month Hyperbereteus, [Tisri], when he had put his army in array, he brought it into the city…
6…had he but continued the siege a little longer, had certainly taken the city; but it was, I suppose, owing to the aversion God…he was hindered from putting an end to the war that very day.
7. It then happened that Cestius…recalled his soldiers from the place, and by despairing of any expectation of taking it…he retired from the city, without any reason in the world…
8 He then made his army march on as far as Bethoron. Now the Jews…covered the Roman army with their darts…till the distress they were at last in was so great, that they betook themselves to lamentations, and to such mournful cries as men use in the utmost despair…
Cestius “put his army in array” against Jerusalem and would have “taken” the city except for several military blunders that, according to Josephus, were “owing to the aversion of God”.
By late November Cestius and his army were completely overcome in the battle of Bethoron.
This shock defeat not only prolonged the Jewish Revolt but allowed many to flee the city.
WOJ 2.20.1
After this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when it was going to sink…
Though Josephus does not specifically mention Christians it makes sense that Christians, recalling Christ’s words on the mount of Olives, may have fled Jerusalem and indeed Judaea at this time.
Interestingly, Revelation 12:6 describes a “woman” fleeing into the wilderness and being fed there for 1260 days which (when we divide it by 360) equals…yes…exactly three and a half years.
1260/360= 3.5 years
The Roman siege upon Jerusalem began in April of 70AD (during Passover) and lasted five months.
From August 66AD when the sacrificed ceased to April 70AD when the siege began is roughly 3 1/2 years.
When did John pen the book of Revelation?
Though the most popular view is that it was penned around 95AD it makes sense to me that it was penned in 6?AD, a short time before the Roman-Jewish war began, which is why Revelation (when written) was about things that would “shortly” come to pass.
Some believe the 3 1/2 years began a little earlier than August, around April or May.
Some believe it began a little later. Whichever way you slice it, Daniel’s 3 1/2 years led up to the Roman Siege of 70AD in which the “city and sanctuary” were destroyed.
Understanding the first few verses of Revelation five is important for understanding chapters six to eight in which the seven seals are opened.
