Revelation of Jesus 17, Seven seals 4

In the vision described in Revelation chapter 5, John saw God sitting on His throne holding out the Book of Life to be opened. However, there was an unexpected and distressing development: “A strong angel proclaimed with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?” (Revelation 5:2).

John was distraught and began to “weep greatly” as he realized that “no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book, or to look at it” (Revelation 5:3).

In this video we will look into who is this strong angel, and why is he challenging what seems to be God’s obvious desire for the book to be opened.

A strong angel

Supporting scriptural evidence presented in this video implies that the strong angel is Satan. But that possibility brings up some important questions we need to answer: why would Satan be called a strong angel? What would he be doing in heaven? When does this scene take place? And how does it fit with other parts of Revelation?

In the last three videos we discovered that this scene of the vision takes place in the heavenly sanctuary, and specifically, in the throne room in heaven.

We might not expect Satan to be there, but Revelation chapter 12 tells us that Satan has had access to heaven: “War broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9).

From this passage, we see that the dragon, also called the devil and Satan, is the leader of “his angels”. The fact that there was war in heaven indicates that Satan (strong angel) and his angels used to have access to heaven, but at some point, they were cast out and could no longer go there.

So when John saw “a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” (Revelation 5:2) it is hard to imagine that this could be anyone but Satan. As the former covering cherub and the leader of the fallen angels, he would be a powerful force to be reckoned with, even in the throne room of heaven. And with his inflated opinion of himself and ambition to “be like the most High”, he would have the audacity to challenge the right of anyone to open the Book of Life.

The victory of the Lamb

In this video we will examine the challenge of the strong angel, Satan, and his defeat by Jesus, the Lamb that was slain. For as John wept bitterly when it seemed like no one could open the book “one of the elders said to [John], ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll…And [John] looked, and behold…a Lamb as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:5,6).

You can read the full transcript of this video here.