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Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 22:10, do not seal up the words
Daniel was told to seal his book until the time of the end; John is told not to seal his, because the time is near.
Revelation 22:10, in every translation this tool compares.
A sealed letter waits for its day, but an open one is meant to be read at once. Daniel was told to close his words and seal his book until the end came. John hears the opposite command. He must not seal his book, because the time is near. What Daniel had to keep closed is now open.
The sealing of a prophet's words. The Greek of Daniel 12:4 has sphragison, seal; John has me sphragises, do not seal. Both speak of the words (logoi) of a book.
Daniel is commanded to seal; John is commanded not to. Daniel's sealing lasts until the end comes; John's reason is that the time is near (ho kairos engys), the words of 1:3. Daniel did not understand what he saw; John's readers are meant to understand now.
Daniel was told to seal his words until the end; John is told to leave his book open. Beale reads that as a sign that Daniel's prophecies have started to come true through Christ's death and resurrection, so they can now be understood. The churches must hear the book read and obey it.
Not a quotation of Daniel. John reverses Daniel's command in words of his own. The link is the sealing, not a shared sentence.
Beale links the command to Daniel 12:4 (in Theodotion, the words are shut and the book sealed until the end), with 12:9 and 8:26. The Hebrew of 12:4 is setom hadevarim vachatom hasefer ad et qets. In his introduction Beale files the verse under possible indirect fulfillment: the use intensifies 1:1-3 and is tied to the verbatim repeat of 1:1 in 22:6. Keener says some of Daniel's visions applied only to the future, while John's book is for his own generation. Walton notes that in Daniel sealing concerns authentication once the set time has passed. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible, the CSB Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible all name Daniel 12:4 or 12:9. The command reverses Daniel's, but Beale's point is fulfillment, so the reason given here is read as coming true. The grade is drawn here: the sealing of a prophetic book until the end is unique to Daniel 12.
Beale reads the time as near because fulfillment has begun and continues through history. MacArthur reads near as imminence, meaning the end is the next event; the book stays open so that it can be preached and obeyed. The ESV Study Bible says the end is near for every generation because the dragon was defeated at the cross. The CSB Study Bible stresses imminence; the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible says Jesus fulfills what was sealed.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 22:10, and introduction, Possible Indirect Fulfillment Uses
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 22:10
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:10
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:10
- CSB Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:10-12
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 22:10
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, on Daniel 9:24
- Septuagint, Daniel 12:4 and 12:9, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- Hebrew text of Daniel 12:4, Miqra according to the Masorah (Sefaria)
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 22:10
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), note on Revelation 22:10
