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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 5:1, sealed with seven seals
The seven seals merge Daniel's order to keep the book sealed until the end with Isaiah's sealed book that no one can read.
Revelation 5:1; Revelation 5:2, in every translation this tool compares.
An envelope marked do not open until a certain date tells you the news inside is waiting for its moment. The scroll is sealed with seven seals. Daniel was told to seal up the book until the end, and was told again that the words stay sealed until then. Isaiah spoke of a sealed book that even a reader cannot read. John joins the two, and now the question is who can break the seals.
A sealed book that hides God's plan. The Greek of Daniel 12:4 has sphragison to biblion, seal the book, and 12:9 has the words sealed (esphragismenoi). Isaiah 29:11 has the words of this sealed book (esphragismenou). Revelation 5:1 has a book (biblion) sealed (katesphragismenon) with seven seals.
Daniel's book stays closed until the end. In Revelation the time to open it has come, and the question is who can do it. John adds the number seven, the number of fullness in his book. Isaiah's sealed book stands for a people who cannot understand. Beale says John brings the texts together for their nearly identical wording and their shared idea of hidden judgment.
Daniel was told to close the book until the end. The Lamb now opens it. Beale reads this as a sign that Christ's death and resurrection have begun to fulfill Daniel, so the end time is underway. Heiser adds that the sealing may mean the wicked are blind to what is coming, while the righteous are told.
Not a quotation of Daniel or Isaiah. John borrows the sealed book and joins the two texts for their wording. He adds the number seven, and he makes the opening of the book the Lamb's task alone.
Beale says the phrase sealed with seven seals appears to merge Daniel 12 and Isaiah 29:11. He compares Daniel 12:4 (Theodotion) sphragison to biblion, Daniel 12:9 esphragismenoi hoi logoi, and Isaiah 29:11 hoi logoi tou bibliou tou esphragismenou toutou, which the vault's Septuagint confirms. The texts are joined for their almost identical wording and their common idea of a sealed book that hides revelation and is tied to judgment. Sealing and opening books in connection with end-time events, he says, occurs in the Old Testament only in Daniel 12 and 7. Isaiah 29:9-12 develops Isaiah 6:9-10, and in Isaiah 29:11-12 and Revelation 5:3-4 no one can read the sealed book. Comparing Daniel 12:4 with Revelation 5:9b, he argues that Christ's death has begun to fulfill Daniel, so the seals are now removed. Walton notes that official scrolls were rolled and sealed with string and a clay or wax seal. The CSB Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible cross-reference Isaiah 29:11 and Daniel 12:4. The grade is drawn here: Daniel's sealing is close in wording, Isaiah's less so.
Heiser reads Beale's point that sealing and opening books tied to the end time is unique to Daniel 12. He weighs two forces: Isaiah 29:11, where the sealed book pictures blindness, as in the Isaiah 6 council scene, so the wicked are blindsided by judgment; and Daniel 12:4, 9, a book sealed so its contents stay hidden until God reveals them to the righteous. He suggests it may be both. He adds Aune's parallel in 1 Enoch 89:71-77, a sealed book of deeds opened for punishment.
Fekkes, as Beale reports, rejects an allusion to Isaiah 29 here. Schlatter and Sweet hear Ezekiel 2 and Daniel 12 working together. Beale keeps Isaiah 29 for its almost identical wording. Heiser leaves open whether the sealing means blindness or concealment. Beale reads the opening of the seals as Daniel's end time begun through the Lamb's death. MacArthur reads it as the start of judgments still to come: each seal lets loose a judgment of the future tribulation.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 5:1, 5:2 and The Book
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, on Isaiah 29:11
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 5:1
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 5:1
- Septuagint, Daniel 12:4, 12:9 and Isaiah 29:11, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 5:1-2
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 5: The Scroll and the Lamb Who Is Worthy, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), notes on Revelation 5:1 and 6:1
