The First Reading of Thursday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time (Year II) (Revelation 5:1-5) is about Christ the Lamb of God receiving the scroll with the seven seals from the right hand of the Father. And the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders sing a doxological hymn. The scroll is apocalyptic, as its content is progressively revealed as Christ breaks the seven seals one after another.
The revelation of the content of the scroll are as follows:
First Seal (Revelation 6:1-2): The question about the rider of the white horse, Christ or Anti-Christ. It is likely that the rider is anti-Christ, cleverly mimicking Christ. Christ, indeed, will come, riding on a white horse (Revelation 19:11). It is probably that the first seal revelation warns us that anti-Christ with his power will come as if he were Christ. This certainly calls our increased alertness so that we will not be fooled.
Second Seal (Revelation 6:3-4): The rider of the red horse represents those who are at war, killing each other, perhaps, kings on earth.
Third Seal (Revelation 6:5-6): The rider of the black horse holds a measurement scale, and this indicates economic hardship.
Fourth Seal (Revelation 6:7-8): The rider of the green pale horse represents death, followed by hell. This indicates suffering and death will come with wars, making the scene hellish.
Fifth Seal (Revelation 6:9-11): The souls under the altar are martyrs, those who are killed by the forces of anti-Christ because of their faith in Christ. As they are heroic victors in faith, they are given white robes (Revelation 6:11; 7:13-14).
Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12-17): Series of cataclysmic events, as manifestation of Christ’s wrath, and an indication of the nearness of Christ’s return (i.e. Mark 13:24-27; cf. Jeremiah 10:2; Ezekiel 32:7-8; Joel 2:30-31; Joel 3:15).
Seventh Seal (Revelation 8:1) the silence in heaven before the appearance of the seven angels with trumpets (Revelation 8:2) for further unfolding of the tribulation.
It is noted that there is an interlude (Revelation 7:1-17) between the Sixth Seal (6:12-17) and the Seventh Seal (Revelation 8:1). This interlude gives a glimpse of God’s care for those who are bound to be in heaven. In this, we see the saints from all nations in heaven.
What follows the revelation of the scroll upon Christ breaking the seven seals (Revelation 6:1-17; 8:1) is the seven trumpet are blown by the seven angels to alert the coming of God’s judgement (Revelation 7:2-9:21; 11:15-19). Through the first six trumpets, the coming of series of cataclysmic events are announced (Revelation 8:7-9:21). Then, the seventh trumpet is blown to announce the coming of the Kingdom:
The Kingdom of the world now belongs to our Lord and to his Anointed, and he will reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15).
This announcement is followed by a hymn of thanksgiving to God sung by the twenty-four elders (Revelation 11:16-18). Then, flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm, will come, as the Temple is opened and the Ark of the Covenant can be seen (Revelation 11:19).
This is how the content of the scroll the seven seals that Christ received from the Father’s right hand is revealed and announced by the seven angels, blowing their trumpets.
The First Reading of Friday of the 33rd Week (Revelation 10:8-11) is drawn .from the second interlude (Revelation 10:1-11:14) between the sixth trumpet (Revelation 9:13-21) and the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15-19).
After the sixth trumpet’s announcement of plague to wipe out infidels (Revelation 9:13-21), which marks the initiation of the second woe (i.e. Revelation 11:12), another mighty angel from heaven brought the small scroll and handed it to John (Revelation 10:1-11).
This angel must be closely associated with Christ for he is wrapped in a cloud, with a halo around his head and his face is like the sun and his feet were like pillars of fire (Revelation 10:1). The fact that his right foot is on the sea and left foot is on the land indicates his authority over the earth, and the small scroll held by him is already opened (Revelation 10:2). His loud voice is like a lion’s roar and the seen thunders raise their voices as he raises his (Revelation 10:3), affirming that he is a powerful messenger from God.
Being astonished, John tries to write it down but the voice from heaven says:
Seal up what the seven thunders have spoken, but do not write it down (Revelation 10:4)
Perhaps, it is because what the seven thunders have spoken is too frightening for humans to take. Then, this angel says:
There shall be no more delay. At the time when you hear the seventh angel blow his trumpet, the mysterious plan of God shall be fulfilled, as he promised to his servants the prophets (Revelation 10:6-7).
This means that the coming of what the seventh angel announce by blowing the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15), the eventual coming of coming of the Kingdom is truly at hand without any delay, as the judgement is being carried out rather swiftly, for the Temple in heaven to open up and the new Ark of the Covenant (Revelation 12:1-2) is to be seen (Revelation 11:19).
In order for this eschatological plan of God to be carried out, the voice from heaven command John:
Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land (Revelation 10:8).
Accordingly, John goes to the mighty angel who holds the small open scroll and receive it (Revelation 10:9a). And the angel says to John:
Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey (Revelation 10:9).
First, ingesting a scroll signifies being commissioned to prophesize, as it was the case with Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:3). And Jeremiah found devouring the words of God to fill his heart with joy and happiness amidst facing enormous adversity (Jeremiah 15:16).
What s revealed to John now is the imminent coming of the great tribulation as God’s judgement, which is too traumatic to be even written. Therefore, for him to make sure that he is not overwhelmed by the magnitude of God’s wrath against the anti-Christ, who imposes himself to be Christ (i.e. Revelation 6:1-2), God commands him to eat the small scroll given to him from the angel.
At first it tastes sweet in the mouth but them it turns sour in the stomach, because the Word of God is sweet to those who are faithful and bound to be taken by Christ into the Kingdom (i.e. Mark 13:27) but can be as sour as corrosively sour as sulfuric acid to those who are infidel to be destroyed in the unfolding judgement.
Upon eating the small scroll, which is actually sweet in his mouth but sour in his stomach (Revelation 10:10), John is commissioned to prophesize in all nations on earth (Revelations 10:11), to make sure that everyone knows the coming of the judgement, followed by the Kingdom, with the opening of the Temple in heaven and the exposure of the Ark of the New Covenant. So, this is why John penned the Book of Revelation.
For us, what John has prophesized, which is what Christ has unveiled, by breaking the seven seals of the scroll handed by the right hand of the Father, (Revelation 5:7) as written in the Book of Revelation, helps us prepare ourselves to endure the tribulation and meet our King, Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, as he returns (Revelation 19:1-21).
The Gospel Reading (Luke 19:45-48) describes Jesus’ powerful condemnation of the Temple corrupted by religious leaders, being turned into a den of thieves (Luke 19:46). In response, those who robbed the sanctify of the Temple began thinking to find a way to kill him.
This reflects what the scroll opened by Jesus, breaking the seven seals, reveals, namely, a war waged by the anti-Christ (fake-Christ) on the white horse (Revelation 6:1-2), leading to God’s severe judgement against him and his infidel associates, which is announced progressively by the first six trumpets (Revelation 8:6-12; 9:1-21), following the openings of the scroll with the seven seals by Christ (Revelation 6:1-17 ; 8:1–6). By eating the small scroll from the mighty angel from heaven, John is commissioned to prophesize what is unveiled upon the scroll being opened by Christ and what is announced by the first six trumpets (Revelation 10:8-11).
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