The prophet's dictionary guide to the supernatural

communiqué read by anyone other than the intended addressee. However, John saw the scroll of God with writing on both sides, and he understood that it held special significance. Seals, as we have said, held powerful significance in John’s day. To loose them at the appropriate time by the right person was to unleash the fullness of what the writer—usually one in authority—had inscribed within. Such was the case with the event the apostle John witnessed. Initially, he was grieved by the fact that no one in heaven or on earth seemed to be worthy enough to open the seals and read what was written on the scroll. Here is why. According to ancient Asian practices of the day, after writing scrolls, there were many legitimate reasons to seal them. Chief among them was that of the last will and testament. Its seven witnesses were the only ones who could open the scroll, and then only at the death of the testator. The scroll’s opening and reading had to be in the presence of the seven original witnesses to the testament, or their successors. John’s elaborate description of the Lamb who was slain with the seven horns and flanked about by the seven spirits of God was to show that Christ and the Father met the criteria for legitimately opening the seven seal scroll that doubled as a last will and testament. It testified to the death of someone important to those of whom it was addressed. He was slain as the Lamb of God, he rose from the dead to open the seals, He appeared with seven horns on His head as witnesses, and was accompanied by the seven spirits of Almighty God who stood before the Creator’s throne throughout eternity. What marvelous symbolism, and there is more. Double-sided writing on a scroll, such as what the Lord Jesus opened, signified the thorough completeness of what was ordained within. There being no room left for any insertions, the idea of a deletion was out of the question. What the Lord Jesus read aloud at that great heavenly tribunal and celebration connoted the alpha and omega of everything the Father God had ordained for His creation. In such cases, neither the revelator of what was written therein or the herald proclaiming it could add to or take away anything from what was written. They were also not allowed to paraphrase any of it, either, as the task of making the dispatch plain to the hearer was that of the communities’ leaders, teachers, legislators, elders, and authorities. No unauthorized person could undertake the task of interpreting or applying the word sent under threat of imprisonment or death.