The Scroll with Seven Seals
 
1 I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, closed and sealed with seven seals. 
 
2 And I saw a strong angel announcing with a loud voice, “Who is worthy [having the authority and virtue] to open the scroll and to [a]break its seals?” 
 
3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth [in Hades, the realm of the dead] was able to open the scroll or look into it. 
 
4 And I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it. 
 
5 Then one of the [twenty-four] elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look closely, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome and conquered! He can open the scroll and [break] its seven seals.”
 
6 And there [b]between the throne (with the four living creatures) and among the elders I saw a Lamb (Christ) standing, [bearing scars and wounds] as though it had been slain, with seven horns (complete power) and with seven eyes (complete knowledge), which are [c]the seven Spirits of God who have been sent [on duty] into all the earth. 
 
7 And He came and [d]took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 
 
8 And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb (Christ), each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of fragrant incense, which are the prayers of the saints (God’s people). 
 
9 And they sang a new song [of glorious redemption], saying,
 
“Worthy and deserving are You to take the scroll and to break its seals; for You were slain (sacrificed), and with Your blood You purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

10 “You have made them to be a kingdom [of royal subjects] and priests to our God; and they will reign on the earth.”
 
Satan’s reign is just about over; ours is about to begin. There is about to be an invasion of the supernatural. There is an End Time event that is about to happen: “It’s the rapture of the church.” “The opening of the seven seals will unleash a wrath from God never seen before.” In the book of Matthew 24 and Luke 21, Jesus speaks of future events.
 
In verses 5-6, Jesus makes an amazing prophecy concerning the temple. Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, “These things which you see; the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.”
 
This temple was originally rebuilt by Zerubbabel and Ezra (Ezra 6:15), but greatly expanded and improved by Herod. It was the center of Jewish life for almost a thousand years. The temple was so revered that it was customary to swear by the temple (Matthew 23:16), and speaking against the temple could be considered blasphemy (Acts 6:13).
 
King Herod more than doubled the temple mount area, increasing it to about 36 acres. Herod’s rebuilding work started in 19 B.C. and was only completed in A.D. 63, taking more than eighty years. It was finished only seven years before it was destroyed.
 
How It Was Adorned with Beautiful Stones and Donations:
 
The temple wasn’t just big; it was also beautiful. The Jewish historian Josephus said that the temple was covered on the outside with gold plates that were so brilliant that when the sun shone on them, it was blinding to look at. Where there was no gold, there were blocks of marble of such a pure white that from a distance, travelers thought there was snow on the temple mount.
 
As great as the temple was, in Matthew 12:6, Jesus never hesitated to claim that He was greater than the temple. For many Jews of that day, the temple had become an idol. It began to mean more to the people than God Himself did.
 
“Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down”: Some 40 years after Jesus said this, there was a widespread Jewish revolution against the Romans in Palestine. Rome crushed the rebellion. Jerusalem was leveled, including the temple – just as Jesus said.
 
It is said that at the fall of Jerusalem, the last surviving Jews of the city fled to the temple because it was the strongest, most secure building in the city. Roman soldiers surrounded it, and one drunken soldier started a fire that soon engulfed the whole building. Ornate gold detail work in the roof melted down in the cracks between the stone walls of the temple, and to retrieve the gold, the Roman commander ordered that the temple be dismantled stone by stone. The destruction was so complete that today there is true difficulty learning exactly where the temple was.
 
“I tell you the scroll of Judgment was written and opened, and when the scroll was opened, judgment came.”
 
Teacher, but when will these things be? Astounded by the prediction of Jesus, the disciples asked a logical question. This question begins one of Jesus’ most famous teachings, often called the Olivet Discourse because Matthew 24:3 tells us Jesus said these things seated on the Mount of Olives.
 
Both Matthew and Luke make it clear that Jesus spoke of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the ultimate end of the age and His glorious return. Prophetically, the two are connected, though separated by many centuries.
 
“We must regard the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple as being a kind of rehearsal of what is yet to be.”
 
The scroll is written; Jesus was the only one who can open the scroll.
 
Satan has been the prince of the air, but his days are numbered.
 
Pastor, what starts all of this? When will Jesus open the scroll and loose the seven seals?
 
Simple: “The rapture of the church.”
 
While hell breaks out on earth, the children of God will be with Jesus in heaven. It will be so bad that Jesus will not even leave those who died in the faith on this earth.
 
There is a day when nothing is going to stop Jesus from returning for his church because if he didn’t, he would literally be pouring his judgment on those who have accepted him.
 
Ephesians 2:1-3 KJV
 
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
 
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
 
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
 
There are two kinds of people: those who reject him and those who accept him.
 
Hear me!!!
 
“Jesus is not coming for those who reject him.”
 
Matthew 10:33-34
33 But the one who denies and rejects Me before men, that one I will also deny and reject before My Father who is in heaven.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” of division between belief and unbelief.
 
At Ground Zero in New York City, the 9/11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance, honoring the 2,977 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center.
Like a scroll that was opened, “Not by Jesus,” but by man, 2,977 people met their fate that day.
 
When you go down the list looking for your family members’ names, it’s like looking at an open scroll. September 11, 2001, is a day we will never be able to ignore.
 
I ask you one more question. When Jesus opens the scroll and loosens the seven seals thereof, will your name be on that scroll? Will you be the object of God’s wrath, or will you be in heaven while the events of this fallen world unfold?
 
“Jesus is not coming for those who reject him. Jesus is coming for those who have accepted him!!!”
 
Is your name on the scroll of the judgment of God? Receive Jesus as your savior, and it will be found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.