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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 5:7, the Lamb comes and takes the scroll
The Lamb comes to the throne and takes the scroll, as one like a son of man comes before the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:13-14 to receive a kingdom.
Revelation 5:7, in every translation this tool compares.
A new chief executive who walks up and takes the keys from the founder's hand has just been given the company. The Lamb comes and takes the scroll from the one seated on the throne. Daniel saw a figure like a human being come before the Ancient of Days and receive authority, glory and an everlasting kingdom. Beale says Daniel's scene stands behind John's.
A figure who comes before God's throne to receive authority. Daniel 7:13 has one like a son of man coming (erchomenos) to the Ancient of Days; John's Lamb came (elthen) and took. Daniel 7:14 has authority, honor (time) and a kingdom given; in Revelation 5:12-13 the Lamb receives power, honor (time) and glory.
Daniel's figure is like a son of man and comes with the clouds. John's is a slain Lamb. Daniel says authority was given; John says the Lamb took the scroll. In Daniel the books open before the figure comes; in Revelation he comes in order to open the book. Heiser and Aune note that in neither text does the figure sit down on the throne.
Beale reads 5:7 as Christ taking up the reign of Daniel 7. He says it began with the death and rising. The power Daniel saw promised is handed over. Heiser and Aune call it an investiture. It shows in public the rule he has held since he rose. The full kingdom is still to come.
Not Daniel's scene repeated exactly. Daniel's figure is like a son of man and comes with the clouds; John's is a slain Lamb who takes a scroll. When the handing over takes place is a separate question.
Beale says Daniel 7:13 is the only Old Testament text where a divine, messianic figure approaches God's heavenly throne to receive authority, and that it should be seen behind 5:7. Both texts show one who comes (erchomai) before the throne to receive authority to reign after books have been opened. He adds the giving (didomi) of Daniel 7:14 and the receiving (paralambano) of 7:18 beside the taking (lambano) of 5:7, and, after Comblin, honor (Theodotion 7:14) and glory (the old Greek of 7:14) in 5:12-13, followed by universal acclaim. The reference results mainly from John's adherence to the pattern of Daniel 7:9ff. The perfect eilephen functions as an aorist. The CSB Study Bible calls Daniel 7:13-14 a parallel account and reads the taking as a transfer of authority. The vault's Greek of Daniel 7:14 has time and basileia. The grade is drawn here from Beale's reasoning.
Heiser, with Aune, reads Revelation 5 as an investiture rather than an enthronement or a commissioning. Investiture establishes someone in an office already held informally. The Lamb never sits on the throne until the shared throne of God and the Lamb in 22:1. Aune notes, and Heiser stresses, that Daniel 7's son of man is given everlasting kingship but never sits down. Heiser places the grant of authority at the resurrection and ascension, an already but not yet.
Beale and most commentators, he reports, read Revelation 5 as an enthronement, already begun, and Beale rejects van Unnik's argument against it. Aune and Heiser read an investiture, since the Lamb is not enthroned until 22:1. Lang and others, Beale notes, see chapter 5 as a second, future enthronement. Beale and Heiser place the handing over at Christ's resurrection and ascension. MacArthur sets chapters 4 and 5 after the church age, and he reads the scene as looking ahead: the new song anticipates the final redemption God is about to begin.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 5:7, and on 4:1-5:14, The Relation of Chapters 1-3 to Chapters 4-5
- CSB Study Bible, note on Revelation 5:5-7
- Septuagint, Daniel 7:13-14, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 5:7
- 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 4:1 and 5:9
