76 T!te Revelation of Jesus Christ five, which we are to study today, continues the picture of the heavenly scene, without even the slightest break in thought. Let us read verse one: "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals." In those days, "books" were scrolls, made of parchment, and rolled up just as the orthodox Hebrews keep their Scrip tures today. It was a scroll which John saw in the hand of the One who sat upon the throne. The key that unlocks the real meaning of this chapter is found in a remarkable story recorded in the thirty-second chapter of Jeremiah. Dr. H . A. Ironside refers to it as a significant explanation of the passage before us; and we shall do well to read carefully this Old Testament incident in the life of one of the Hebrew prophets. As we have said before, many of the symbols of Revelation are explained by other po.rtions of the Word of God; and here we have an illustra tion of that fact. According to Jeremiah's prophecy, he obeyed the word of the Lord in purchasing a piece of property from Hanameel. his uncle's son (Jet. 32:7). Evidently Hanameel wanted to sell his "field" because Jeremiah's prophecy of the coming captivity meant a depreciation in the value of the land. It meant more; it involved the giving up of the property alto gether during the years of captivity in a strange country. It meant that Nebuchadnezzar would not only confiscate the land, burn and destroy, as he laid siege to Israel's possessions, but that he would also carry away the rightful owners of the land. Thus Hanameel must have reasoned with himself. What good would his field do him if Jeremiah's prophecy was soon to be fulfilled? But the prophet of God looked beyond the captivity to the promised restoration. With the eye of faith he saw the day when one of his heirs would regain the land that was his by rights. And had the Lord not told Jeremiah that his uncle's son would offer to sell him the field? Evidently God meant for His servant to buy the land, possibly as an example in faith. So it was that Hanameel went to see Jeremiah in his prison, where he had been placed because he had been faithful
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