A Look at the sealed books, what are they why are they sealed, when will they be unsealed.

There are three references to sealed book(s) in the Old Testament. The most well known is that in Daniel. Here is part of it:

Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." We find two references in Isaiah on the same topic. Isaiah 8:16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

Isaiah 29:
10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered.
11 And the vision of all has become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, "Read this, I pray thee"; and he saith, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, "Read this, I pray thee"; and he saith, "I am not learned."

Later in the same chapter of Isaiah, the Lord speaks of a future day when things will be different. Isaiah 29:18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. Some writers claim that the book sealed is just the book of Daniel and do not see the connection between that reference and the others mentioned here. But the reference in Isaiah uses the words 'testimony' and 'law'. These words commonly refer to the Word of God. See Psalm 119 for example. The quote from Isaiah 29 says the people have no vision. And it's not just a case of not being able to read, the unlearned one can't read. It's a case of not being able to understand what is being read. The learned one cannot read it because it is sealed. That is he can tell you exactly what it says, but he has no idea what it really means!

This speaks of the condition of the Church where we all have a good idea of what the bible says, but cannot come to any agreement about what it means! The Book That is Sealed is The Bible! The entire bible, not just Daniel.

There is one sense in which the Word is a Sealed book to the unbeliever. In that the natural man cannot understand the Word since things of the Spirit must be understood by the Spirit. That is with the Spirit of God to enable you to understand His Word.

Yet these references are talking about God's people not being able to understand the Word. Here is an example form 2nd Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 3:
14 But their minds were blinded; and up until this day the same veil remaineth untaken away in the reading of the old testament, which veil is done away with in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts.
16 Nevertheless when they shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Notice this passage speaks of a veil blinding their minds. Yet there is a promise that the veil will be removed when they turn to the Lord. Let's not presume to think that this applies only to the old testament Hebrew people. It speaks just as surely to the church of today.

In Jesus' ministry, many of the things that he taught his disciples fell on deaf ears. [ … seal the law among my disciples ….] They also suffered from a certain spiritual blindness. For instance:

Mark 9:32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

Luke 2:50 And they understood not the saying which He spoke unto them.

Luke 9:45 But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not; and they were afraid to ask Him about that saying.

Luke 18:34 And they understood none of these things; and this saying was hidden from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.

John 10:6 This parable Jesus spoke unto them, but they understood not the things of which He spoke unto them.

John 16:
16 "A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father."
17 Then said some of His disciples among themselves, "What is this that He saith unto us, `A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me,' and, `because I go to the Father'?"
18 They said therefore, "What is this that He saith, `A little while'? We cannot tell what He saith."

They too knew their scriptures, and heard Jesus' words for themselves, yet could not come to any agreement on the meaning. Yet for them, there came a day when Jesus opened their understanding and explained the scriptures. That day is coming for us, and soon.

In Revelations the prophet John witnesses a scene involving a book or scroll. The book is sealed!

Revelation 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Notice that the book is described as being written within and on the back. Many prophecy commentators claim that this scroll is the 'title deed to planet earth'. But it is much more than that.

Here are two old testament references to writings that use very similar language. The stone tablets Moses received were written on both sides and the scroll Ezekiel saw was written the same way.

Exodus 32:
15 And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tablets.

Ezekiel 2:
9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me; and lo, a scroll of a book was therein.
10 And He spread it before me; and it was written within and without, and there were written therein lamentations and mourning and woe.

Now the feature of being written on both sides has two purposes.
1. It allows to see that there is a link between the tablets, the scroll and the book. It lets us see that they are actually differing images of the same thing. That they all represent the Word of God.

2. It gives us a clue to the nature of the Word of God. When something is written on both sides, then naturally you cannot see all of the writing at once. That is part of the writing is visible or revealed and part is not visible. It is covered, hidden or sealed! Part of it can be understood right away and part of it cannot.

In Hebrews 5, the Word of God is compared to food. Some of it is like milk, easily digested and suited for newborns. Some of it is like meat, requiring some effort to digest and suited for the strong and mature. This is the same as saying that some can be understood right away and some takes a while.

Now what we are getting at here is that the book Daniel talks about as sealed is the book sealed with 7 seals in Revelation 5. And the fact that it is sealed means that parts of it cannot be understood, until the seals come off! No man is worthy to take the book and open the seals. Only Jesus, who is the Word of God, can remove the seals. That is to say, man cannot know God by his own efforts, God must reveal Himself.

Secondly, since the scroll represents the Word of God, and Jesus is the Word of God, then the vision of Jesus opening the scroll is a vision of God revealing Himself. Like the Last book of the Bible:
It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

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