Holy Scripture describes for us a certain scroll of God in which all human beings have been written down. Perhaps it calls the scroll figuratively God’s record of us, except that the prophet names it a little scroll, saying, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in your little scroll all people will be written.” On the other hand, Moses the most wise, pleading for Israel, who had sinned, wept aloud to God and cried, “But now, if you will forgive their sin, forgive—and if not, blot me out of your scroll which you have written.”
This is the scroll which the divine evangelist sees written on the inside and outside. Inside would be those people of Israel written down as God-fearing by their keeping of the law. On the back, and in a worse fate, would be those of the gentiles who were idolatrous before believing in Christ.
The little scroll was in the right hand of God; it refers, I imagine, to the ways of the saints who were triumphant in the old covenant. The little scroll had been shut and sealed with seven seals. The number seven, being a perfect number, indicates that the little scroll had been truly and very securely shut and sealed up.
What does it mean that the little scroll had been closed? That nobody was considered to be worthy of the vision of God, except a very few. For in view of the transgression of Adam, how could what had been closed ever be seen? More people through their sins had caused the little scroll to be closed— and their number was innumerable—than those very few who were well-pleasing to God for it to be opened, and so the general free access to God had to be barred against those who were written within it, since “all had turned aside and had become corrupt,” according to the prophet. For even if a very few in number had triumphed in the old covenant, since they were but human beings, they were not considered worthy to regain for everyone the freedom which had been lost by sin.
So since the prophet understood this, he addressed God, “In the morning you will hear the voice” of my supplication, “and in the morning I will stand beside you and you will behold me.” By the spiritual morning he means the appearance of Christ, “the sun of righteousness,” which put an end to the gloom of ignorance, as though in this way, and not otherwise, humankind might acquire freedom, so that God could both listen to those praying, and find them worthy of his regard, once Christ had abolished the wall of sin which separated us from God. Before his visitation to humankind, “every mouth” had been stopped, “and the whole world had been put under God’s judgment,” according to Scripture. So the fact that the scroll was closed and sealed indicates, as has been said, the lack of a free approach [to God] by those whose names were written in the scroll.
He says, I saw a strong angel proclaiming, “Who is worthy to open the little scroll and break its seals?” “No one, most divine angel,” one would say to him; only the incarnate God, who took away sin and who canceled “the bond which stood against us” and with his own “obedience” healed our “disobedience.”
He says, And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the little scroll. For neither did an angel accomplish this for us, as Isaiah says, “Not an envoy, nor an angel, but he himself saved them because he loved them,” neither a living man, nor even one of the dead. “A brother cannot ransom himself—a man cannot ransom himself,” as it is written somewhere.
And why does he say, “I tell you to open the little scroll,” when no human being was strong enough to look into it? For how could anyone of those filled with the mist of sin look into it in the presence of the divine throne, on which the scroll was laid? “The unworthiness of all of them caused me to lament.” But one of the elders encouraged me, pointing to the one who had opened it. For he says to me, See, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the little scroll and its seven seals. He, he says, who has conquered our conqueror, the Devil, is he who opened the little scroll and its seals.
And who was the lion of the tribe of Judah? Certainly the Christ, about whom the patriarch Jacob said, “He stooped down, he couched as a lion and as a lion’s cub. Who will raise him up?” That the Lord according to his humanity arose from Judah, the divine apostle is witness when he said, “For it is evident that our Lord Jesus” Christ “has arisen from Judah.”
One might be surprised that he did not say of him, “A shoot from the root of Jesse,” or “A flower sprung up from the root,” as Isaiah said, but he called him a root of David. He says this to show that according to his human nature he was a shoot sprung from the root of Jesse and David; but according to his divine nature, he himself is the root, not only of David but of all visible and invisible creation, since he is the cause of the universe, as was also said earlier.
He says, And I saw in the midst of all those around the throne of God a lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth, and he came and took it—that is, the little scroll—from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. He called the Lord a lamb on account of his guilelessness, and his ability to provide. For just as the lamb is the provider with its yearly production of wool, so also the Lord “opens his hand and fills every living thing with delight.” This at least is what prophecy calls him, saying through Isaiah, “like a lamb he was led to slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearer he was dumb,” and through Jeremiah, “I did not know I was like a guileless lamb led to be slaughtered.”
But the lamb is described not as slaughtered, but as though it had been slaughtered. For Christ came to life again, trampling death underfoot, and despoiling Hades of the souls in its possession. For the death of Christ was not an absolute death, but as it were a death cut short by the resurrection. But since the Lord after his resurrection continued to bear the symbols of death, the print of the nails, having his life-giving body stained red by his blood, as Isaiah said, speaking in the person of the holy angels, “Why are your garments red, and your clothes like one who comes from the full-trodden wine-press?”—on account of this he was as one who had been slaughtered in the sight of the vision.
The seven horns bear witness to his great strength, as the number seven, being the perfect number, often indicates, as has also been said earlier. The horns are the symbol of power, according to the prophet who said, “And all the horns of the wicked I will break off, but the horn of the righteous shall be exalted,” and Habakkuk has, “there are horns in his hands.”
The seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth, Isaiah interprets for us, saying, “And there shall rest upon him a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and reverence; a spirit of the fear of God will fill him.” These spirits, that is, spiritual gifts of grace, have been sent to everyone from God, but no one ever received them in the same way as they rested upon Christ in their work among practically all people. And he grew stronger in word and understanding. For the spirits which he himself as God sent from above, these he himself received below as a human being. For he was both a human being and God.
"Lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed." We read in Genesis that this lion of the tribe of Judah hath conquered, when the patriarch Jacob says, "Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee; thou hast lain down and slept, and hast risen up again as a lion, and as a lion's whelp." For He is called a lion for the overcoming of death; but for the suffering for men He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. But because He overcame death, and anticipated the duty of the executioner, He was called as it were slain. He therefore opens and seals again the testament, which He Himself had sealed. The legislator Moses intimating this, that it behoved Him to be sealed and concealed, even to the advent of His passion, veiled his face, and so spoke to the people; showing that the words of his announcement were veiled even to the advent of His time. For he himself, when he had read to the people, having taken the wool purpled with the blood of the calf, with water sprinkled the whole people, saying, "This is the blood of His testament who hath purified you." It should therefore be observed that the Man is accurately announced, and that all things combine into one. For it is not sufficient that that law is spoken of, but it is named as a testament. For no law is called a testament, nor is any thing else called a testament, save what persons make who are about to die. And whatever is within the testament is sealed, even to the day of the testator's death. Therefore it is with reason that it is only sealed by the Lamb slain, who, as it were a lion, has broken death in pieces, and has fulfilled what had been foretold; and has delivered man, that is, the flesh, from death, and has received as a possession the substance of the dying person, that is, of the human members; that as by one body all men had fallen under the obligation of its death, also by one body all believers should be born again unto life, and rise again. Reasonably, therefore, His face is opened and unveiled to Moses; and therefore He is called Apocalypse, Revelation. For now His book is unsealed-now the offered victims are perceived-now the fabrication of the priestly chrism; moreover the testimonies are openly understood.
The Lord says, “All things are delivered to me by the Father.” … But in the “all things” [it is implied that] nothing has been kept back [from him], and for this reason the same person is the Judge of the living and the dead; “having the key of David: he shall open, and no man shall shut: he shall shut, and no man shall open.” For no one was able, either in heaven or in earth, or under the earth, to open the book of the Father, or to behold him, with the exception of the Lamb who was slain and who redeemed us with his own blood, receiving power over all things from the same God who made all things by the Word, and adorned them by [his] Wisdom, when “the Word was made flesh”; that even as the Word of God had the sovereignty in the heavens, so also might he have the sovereignty in earth, inasmuch as [he was] a righteous man, “who did not sin, neither was there found guile in his mouth”;21 and that he might have the preeminence over those things that are under the earth, he himself being made “the first-begotten of the dead”; and that all things, as I have already said, might behold their King; and that the paternal light might meet with and rest upon the flesh of our Lord, and come to us from his resplendent flesh, and that thus humanity might attain to immortality, having been invested with the paternal light.
The Son of man is said to have received the book from the right hand of God as both the dispensation from the Father and an arrangement from himself, for each reigns upon the throne with the Holy Spirit. And also here we ought understand the right hand to represent the blessedness of the victory. Nor ought it be understood in a fleshly manner as though he received the book from another hand of the Father, since the self-same is Son of the Father and the self-same the right hand [of God]. But since he who said, “Rejoice, for I have overcome the world,” always conquers in those who belong to him, he also makes his own church to exist as a conqueror, and it is declared of her that she receives the book.
To be sure, the Lamb is the assumed man who for our salvation willingly offered himself over to death. Worthily he received the scroll, that is, the power of all the works of God, and from the right hand of him who is seated on the throne, that is, he received all things from God the Father, as he himself said: “All which the Father has is mine.” Then did he receive this scroll, when rising from the dead he showed the mystery of the Trinity, which had been hidden from the ages, and revealed it to the world.
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. The book from the right hand of God, the dispensation itself of the Incarnation, is said to have been received by the Son of Man from the Father and from Himself, according to what He is as God, because both, along with the Holy Spirit, dwell on the throne. For Christ, who is the Lamb in humanity, is Himself the right hand of the Father in Deity.
[AD 990] Oecumenius on Revelation 5:1-7
This is the scroll which the divine evangelist sees written on the inside and outside. Inside would be those people of Israel written down as God-fearing by their keeping of the law. On the back, and in a worse fate, would be those of the gentiles who were idolatrous before believing in Christ.
The little scroll was in the right hand of God; it refers, I imagine, to the ways of the saints who were triumphant in the old covenant. The little scroll had been shut and sealed with seven seals. The number seven, being a perfect number, indicates that the little scroll had been truly and very securely shut and sealed up.
What does it mean that the little scroll had been closed? That nobody was considered to be worthy of the vision of God, except a very few. For in view of the transgression of Adam, how could what had been closed ever be seen? More people through their sins had caused the little scroll to be closed— and their number was innumerable—than those very few who were well-pleasing to God for it to be opened, and so the general free access to God had to be barred against those who were written within it, since “all had turned aside and had become corrupt,” according to the prophet. For even if a very few in number had triumphed in the old covenant, since they were but human beings, they were not considered worthy to regain for everyone the freedom which had been lost by sin.
So since the prophet understood this, he addressed God, “In the morning you will hear the voice” of my supplication, “and in the morning I will stand beside you and you will behold me.” By the spiritual morning he means the appearance of Christ, “the sun of righteousness,” which put an end to the gloom of ignorance, as though in this way, and not otherwise, humankind might acquire freedom, so that God could both listen to those praying, and find them worthy of his regard, once Christ had abolished the wall of sin which separated us from God. Before his visitation to humankind, “every mouth” had been stopped, “and the whole world had been put under God’s judgment,” according to Scripture. So the fact that the scroll was closed and sealed indicates, as has been said, the lack of a free approach [to God] by those whose names were written in the scroll.
He says, I saw a strong angel proclaiming, “Who is worthy to open the little scroll and break its seals?” “No one, most divine angel,” one would say to him; only the incarnate God, who took away sin and who canceled “the bond which stood against us” and with his own “obedience” healed our “disobedience.”
He says, And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the little scroll. For neither did an angel accomplish this for us, as Isaiah says, “Not an envoy, nor an angel, but he himself saved them because he loved them,” neither a living man, nor even one of the dead. “A brother cannot ransom himself—a man cannot ransom himself,” as it is written somewhere.
And why does he say, “I tell you to open the little scroll,” when no human being was strong enough to look into it? For how could anyone of those filled with the mist of sin look into it in the presence of the divine throne, on which the scroll was laid? “The unworthiness of all of them caused me to lament.” But one of the elders encouraged me, pointing to the one who had opened it. For he says to me, See, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the little scroll and its seven seals. He, he says, who has conquered our conqueror, the Devil, is he who opened the little scroll and its seals.
And who was the lion of the tribe of Judah? Certainly the Christ, about whom the patriarch Jacob said, “He stooped down, he couched as a lion and as a lion’s cub. Who will raise him up?” That the Lord according to his humanity arose from Judah, the divine apostle is witness when he said, “For it is evident that our Lord Jesus” Christ “has arisen from Judah.”
One might be surprised that he did not say of him, “A shoot from the root of Jesse,” or “A flower sprung up from the root,” as Isaiah said, but he called him a root of David. He says this to show that according to his human nature he was a shoot sprung from the root of Jesse and David; but according to his divine nature, he himself is the root, not only of David but of all visible and invisible creation, since he is the cause of the universe, as was also said earlier.
He says, And I saw in the midst of all those around the throne of God a lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth, and he came and took it—that is, the little scroll—from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. He called the Lord a lamb on account of his guilelessness, and his ability to provide. For just as the lamb is the provider with its yearly production of wool, so also the Lord “opens his hand and fills every living thing with delight.” This at least is what prophecy calls him, saying through Isaiah, “like a lamb he was led to slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearer he was dumb,” and through Jeremiah, “I did not know I was like a guileless lamb led to be slaughtered.”
But the lamb is described not as slaughtered, but as though it had been slaughtered. For Christ came to life again, trampling death underfoot, and despoiling Hades of the souls in its possession. For the death of Christ was not an absolute death, but as it were a death cut short by the resurrection. But since the Lord after his resurrection continued to bear the symbols of death, the print of the nails, having his life-giving body stained red by his blood, as Isaiah said, speaking in the person of the holy angels, “Why are your garments red, and your clothes like one who comes from the full-trodden wine-press?”—on account of this he was as one who had been slaughtered in the sight of the vision.
The seven horns bear witness to his great strength, as the number seven, being the perfect number, often indicates, as has also been said earlier. The horns are the symbol of power, according to the prophet who said, “And all the horns of the wicked I will break off, but the horn of the righteous shall be exalted,” and Habakkuk has, “there are horns in his hands.”
The seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth, Isaiah interprets for us, saying, “And there shall rest upon him a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and reverence; a spirit of the fear of God will fill him.” These spirits, that is, spiritual gifts of grace, have been sent to everyone from God, but no one ever received them in the same way as they rested upon Christ in their work among practically all people. And he grew stronger in word and understanding. For the spirits which he himself as God sent from above, these he himself received below as a human being. For he was both a human being and God.
To him belongs the glory for ever and ever. Amen.