Redemption (II)

Wrote Seiss:

“Seven seals” are upon this book, indicative of the completeness of those bonds of forfeit which have all this while debarred Adam’s seed from their proper inheritance. The original estate is totally gone from man, apart from some competent Redeemer. Just as the final taking of the book, and the breaking of its seals, eventuate in complete redemption, and the full reinstatement of the acknowledged seed into the blessedness which sin forfeited, and the Goel redeemed, so those seals unbroken, set forth the completeness of the alienation, and the thoroughness of the incumbrances which are upon the estate, until that competent Goel has performed his work."

Fallen man has lost his inheritance, his right and title to eternal life and blessedness with God. That lost inheritance will remain forever lost unless redeemed. Sinful man has "forfeited" his natural "birthright" to such bliss. His title to life and immortality and all the good that goes with it is "encumbered," having liens and other "clouds" upon it.

Further, it is no partial loss of inheritance, but a total one, and that "seven sealed scroll" unopened and sealed is the proof of it.

I agree with Seiss that the opening of the seals is an act of redemption. That being so, the sealed book itself, before being unsealed and opened, speaks of the need to be redeemed, of our state as slaves sold into perpetual slavery, as "sold under sin" (Rom. 7:14).

Wrote Seiss:

"This book was “written within and on the back.” This again tends to identify it with these books of forfeited inheritances. Within were the specifications of the forfeiture; without were the names and attestations of the witnesses; for this is the manner in which these documents were attested."

If someone asked me to give a short reply to the question - "what does the seven sealed scroll of the Apocalypse signify" - I could do no better than to say - "it is a legal document denoting that a foreclosure has occurred respecting all the good God has given to men as their inheritance, and that the rights to such good have been forfeited."

As Seiss noted, this is the significance of a sealed book in the Hebrew scriptures. Notice this text:

"And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord." (Jer. 32: 6-8 KJV)

Notice what this text reveals about Hebrew laws of forfeiture and redemption. It speaks of the "redeemer" (Hebrew goel) who has "the right of redemption" (authority "to buy" or "buy back") and "the right of inheritance" ("the redemption is thine"). Because of sin, our "rights" to all good is lost, but because of the "redeemer" (Christ), they are restored. Further, because the rights are restored by the redeemer paying the price of redemption, they can then be enforced and such enforcement restores what was lost to those who are redeemed.

"And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open: And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison. And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days." (9-14)

Here is a description of redemption as it deals with restoring a lost inheritance. There are "books" (scrolls) in connection with the acts of redemption. There is an "open scroll" and a "sealed scroll." Notice how these legal documents are described. Jeremiah says "I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it." He speaks of "the evidence of the purchase." He did all this redeeming transaction in the "presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase." In a similar manner are real estate transactions performed in our day in our country.

When a person borrows money on his real estate, the lender receives a "mortgage" or "deed of trust" in exchange. However, unlike borrowing money through a pawn shop for personal property, the borrower (mortgager) retains possession and legal ownership. When the borrower is foreclosed upon, all rights to possession and ownership are forever lost, and there is no "right of redemption." Also, "deeds of trust" or "mortgages" are publicly recorded documents (or "open according to the law and custom") and disclose certain items to the general public. However, the "note" is not recorded, but is kept sealed so far as public view is concerned. The note contains particulars that the deed of trust does not contain, which is private information of concern to only the parties involved, namely the borrower and the lender.

The requirements of the "goel" or "kinsman redeemer" is not only seen in this story of the redemption of land by Jeremiah, but also in the story of Boaz and Ruth, where Boaz fulfilled the requirements for being such. Boaz was a "near kinsmen" to Ruth's departed husband, and he had the means to bring about the redemption. But not only was he authorized and able to redeem Ruth and her lost inheritance, but he was willing to do so. He is a picture of Christ.

Wrote Seiss:

"It is in the right hand of God. No literal hand is described; but, so to speak, it was on the right hand of the undescribed and indescribable One who occupied the throne. This is significant of His high and supreme right to what the sealed instrument binds. Failing from man, it reverted to the original Giver. Sin cannot vitiate any of the rights of God. Satan’s possession is a mere usurpation, permitted for the time, but in no way detrimental to the proprietorship of the Almighty. The true right still lives in the hand of God, until the proper Goel comes to redeem it, by paying the price, and ejecting the alien and his seed."

Wonderful words of insight are these! Notice how Seiss properly sees redemption as involving several acts. The first act is to "pay the price" to redeem and the second is to "eject the alien and his seed." The former has already occurred, while the latter has not.

Wrote Seiss:

"The same is significant of the fact that this matter of the book and its seals is the principal subject of the transaction displayed; and furthermore, that the intensest holiness and sublimest power are required to be able or worthy to approach and take possession of the record; for to come to the right hand of God, is to come to the highest place of exaltation and authority in the universe."

Again, this is seeing right into the heart of the matter!

Why did John weep at the inability of any creature to break the seals of the book, the legal record of our foreclosure, of our lost inheritance, of our forfeiture to all that is good?

Wrote Seiss:

"John knew by that Spirit in which he was, what that sealed book meant. He knew that if no one was found worthy and able to take it from the hand of God, and to break its seals, that all the promises of the prophets, and all the hopes of the saints, and all the preintimations of a redeemed world, must fail. He understood the office of the Goel, and that if there was failure at this point, “the redemption of the purchased possession” must fail. Could it be possible that this should be? Had he all this while been hoping, and preaching, and prophesying what should, after all, not be accomplished? Was the promised inheritance, now at the ripened moment for its recovery, to go by default into eternal alienation? How could he bear the thought?

That book, unlifted and unopened, is the Church’s grief and distress. It bespeaks the inheritance unredeemed — the children still estranged from their purchased possession. But that book opened, is the Church’s joy and glory. It is the assertion of her reinstatement into what Adam lost — the recovery to her of all of which she has been so long and cruelly deprived by sin. Until, therefore, that book is opened, and its seals broken, the people of God must remain in privation, sorrow, and tears."

Anyone should be able to see how 1) the act of opening the sealed book is an act of redemption, and 2) that much of redemption is yet future, being the effect of Christ having paid the price for it.

Wrote Seiss:

"But, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Such anxious and tearful longing for the “better country” and the ransomed inheritance, is noticed in heaven, and has many precious assurances from thence. One of the Elders said unto John: “Weep not,” behold the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, overcame to open the book and its seven seals.” And this is what the Church has been hearing from her elders, and prophets, and apostles, and ministers, in all the ages. It is the very essence of the Gospel, which has been sounding ever since the promise in Eden, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. It is what all the ancient types prefigured, what the songs of the prophets foretold, and what the first Christians and their successors went heralding over all the earth. It has been the only comfort of God’s children in all these ages of their disinheritance, a comfort which has cheered their pilgrim steps through life, illumined their passage to the grave, and will be the joy of their souls as they stand waiting in heaven for the consummating victory of Him who has thus far been so uniformly triumphant on so many trying fields. Jesus is the Lion sprung from Judah. He is this Root of David — the foundation on which the Davidic hopes repose. He overcame, in the trials of life, in the temptations in the wilderness, in the agonies of the garden, in the terrors of death, and in the bonds of the grave. He hath gone up, leading captivity captive. He is Victor now over law, and sin, and death, and hell. He hath paid the redemption price of the forfeited inheritance. He is the true Goel, who, having so far triumphed and been accepted, will also prove ready and worthy to complete His work, by lifting those longstanding deeds of forfeiture, and breaking their debarring seals. Such is our faith, and hope, and comfort, here reconfirmed to us from heaven. And what we find in the further particulars of this vision, is simply the picture of its accomplishment."

What is the significance of the seven sealed scroll? Answer: "forfeited inheritance."
What is the significance of the seals being broken and the scroll opened? Answer: "redemption."

Wrote Seiss:

“And He came and took [the book] from the right hand of Him that sitteth upon the throne.” 

This is the sublimest individual act recorded in the Apocalypse. It is the act which includes all that suffering creation, and the disinherited saints of God have been sighing, and crying, and waiting for, for all these long ages — for six thousand years of grief and sorrow. It is the act which carries with it all else that is written in the succeeding part of this glorious revelation. It is the act by virtue of which the world is subdued, Babylon judged, Antichrist destroyed, the dragon vanquished, death overthrown, the curse expunged, the earth made new, and the reign of everlasting blessedness and peace made to cover its hills and illuminate its valleys, and transform it into an unfading paradise of God. It was the lifting of the title deeds of the alienated inheritance — the legal act of repossession of all that was lost in Adam, and paid for by the blood and tears of the Son of God. Heaven looks on in solemn silence as that act is being performed. The universe is stricken with awe, and grows breathless as it views it. And the Living ones, and Elders, and all the hosts of angels, are filled with adoring wonder and joy, as if another FIAT had gone forth from God for a new creation."

How few understand how the opening of the seven sealed scroll "is the sublimest individual act recorded in the Apocalypse"! When Christ said "it is finished" while dying on the cross, did he mean to say that redemption or salvation was finished and completed? No, he only meant that the price of redemption had been paid. But, the actual redeeming or recovering of the slaves and the restoration of their lost inheritance is not finished. That awaits the second coming of the Lord.