And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
4. I was about to write ] See Rev 1:19. It is useless to speculate how far the book was written at the same time that the vision was seen: possibly it may have been in part, but it is enough to suppose that, having been bidden to write, the seer seemed to himself to write, or (so to speak) saw himself writing, at appropriate points of the vision.
Seal up ] Cf. Dan 12:4; Dan 12:9. There the use of the words is more logical: Daniel is to write the vision, but not to let it be read: contrast in this book Rev 22:10. Here the use of the word is suggested by the passage in Daniel in the impassioned style of this book it is forgotten that what is not written cannot and need not be sealed. Why the voices of the thunders were not to be written it is idle to guess: it is worse than idle to guess what they were. And in our ignorance of this it is hardly possible that we should be able to identity the mission of this angel with any special dispensation of God yet known.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices – After he had listened to those thunders; or when they had passed by.
I was about to write – That is, he was about to record what was uttered, supposing that that was the design for which he hart been made to hear them. From this it would seem that it was not mere thunder – brutum fulmen – but that the utterance had a distinct and intelligible enunciation, or that words were employed that could be recorded. It may be observed, by the way, as Prof. Stuart has remarked, that this proves that John wrote down what he saw and heard as soon as practicable, and in the place where he was; and that the supposition of many modern critics, that the Apocalyptic visions were written at Ephesus a considerable time after the visions took place, has no good foundation.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me – Evidently the voice of God: at all events it came with the clear force of command,
Seal up those things – On the word seal, see the notes on Rev 5:1. The meaning here is, that he was not to record those things, but what he heard he was to keep to himself as if it was placed under a seal which was not to be broken.
And write them not – Make no record of them. No reason is mentioned why this was not to be done, and none can now be given that can be proved to be the true reason. Vitringa, who regards the seven thunders as referring to the Crusades, supposes the reason to have been that a more full statement would have diverted the mind from the course of the prophetic narrative, and from more important events which pertained to the church, and that nothing occurred in the Crusades which was worthy to be recorded at length: Nec dignae erant quae prolixius exponerentur – for, he adds, these expeditions were undertaken with a foolish purpose, and resulted in real detriment to the church, pp. 431, 432. Prof. Stuart (vol. ii. pp. 204-206) supposes that these thunders refer to the destruction of the city and temple of God, and that they were a sublime introduction to the last catastrophe, and that the meaning is not that he should keep entire silence, but only that he should state the circumstances in a general manner, without going into detail. Mede supposes that John was commanded to keep silence because it was designed that the meaning should not then be known, but should be disclosed in future times; Forerius, because it was the design that the wise should be able to understand them, but that they were not to be disclosed to the wicked and profane. Without attempting to examine these and other solutions which have been proposed, the question which, from the course of the exposition, is properly before us is, whether, on the supposition that the voice of the seven thunders referred to the papal anathemas, a rational and satisfactory solution of the reasons of this silence can be given. Without pretending to know the reasons which existed, the following may be referred to as not improbable, and as those which would meet the case:
(1) In these papal anathemas there was nothing that was worthy of record; there was nothing that was important as history; there was nothing that communicated truth; there was nothing that really indicated progress in human affairs. In themselves there was nothing more that deserved record than the acts and doings of wicked people at any time; nothing that fell in with the main design of this book.
(2) Such a record would have retarded the progress of the main statements of what was to occur, and would have turned off the attention from these to less important matters.
(3) All that was necessary in the case was simply to state that such threaders were heard: that is, on the supposition that this refers to the Reformation, that that great change in human affairs would not be permitted to occur without opposition and noise – as if the thunders of wrath should follow those who were engaged in it.
(4) John evidently mistook this for a real revelation, or for something that was to be recorded as connected with the divine will in reference to the progress of human affairs. He was naturally about to record this as he did what was uttered by the other voices which he heard; and if he had made the record, it would have been with this mistaken view. There was nothing in the voices, or in what was uttered, that would manifestly mark it as distinct from what had been uttered as coming from God, and he was about to record it under this impression. If this was a mistake, and if the record would do anything, as it clearly would, to perpetuate the error, it is easy to see a sufficient reason why the record should not be made.
(5) It is remarkable that there was an entire correspondence with this in what occurred in the Reformation; in the fact that Luther and his fellow-laborers were, at first, and for a long time – such was the force of education, and of the habits of reverence for the papal authority in which they had been reared – disposed to receive the announcements of the papacy as the oracles of God, and to show to them the deference which was due to divine communications. The language of Luther himself, if the general view here taken is correct, will be the best commentary on the expressions used here. When I began the affairs of the Indulgences, says he, I was a monk, and a most mad papist. So intoxicated was I, and drenched in papal dogmas, that I would have been most ready to murder, or assist others in murdering, any person who should have uttered a syllable against the duty of obedience to the pope.
And again: Certainly at that time I adored him in earnest. He adds, How distressed my heart was in that year 1517 – how submissive to the hierarchy, not feignedly but really – those little knew who at this day insult the majesty of the pope with so much pride and arrogance. I was ignorant of many things which now, by the grace of God, I understand. I disputed; I was open to conviction; not finding satisfaction in the works of theologians, I wished to consult the living members of the church itself. There were some godly souls that entirely approved my propositions. But I did not consider their authority of weight with me in spiritual concerns. The popes, bishops, cardinals, monks, priests, were the objects of my confidence. After being enabled to answer every objection that could be brought against me from sacred Scripture, one difficulty alone remained, that the Church ought to be obeyed.
If I had then braved the pope as I now do, I should have expected every hour that the earth would have opened to swallow me up alive, like Korah and Abiram. It was in this frame of mind that, in the summer of 1518, a few months after the affair with Tetzel, he wrote that memorable letter to the pope, the tenor of which can be judged of by the following sentences: and what could more admirably illustrate the passage before us, on the interpretation suggested, than this language? Most blessed Father! Prostrate at the feet of thy blessedness I offer myself to thee, with all that I am, and that I have. Kill me, or make me live; call or recall; approve or reprove, as shall please thee. I will acknowledge thy voice as the voice of Christ presiding and speaking in thee. See the authorities for these quotations in Elliott, vol. ii. pp. 116, 117.
(6) The command not to record what the seven thunders uttered was of the nature of a caution not to regard what was said in this manner; that is, not to be deceived by these utterances as if they were the voice of God. Thus understood, if this is the proper explanation and application of the passage, it should be regarded as an injunction not to regard the decrees and decisions of the papacy as containing any intimation of the divine will, or as of authority in the church. That this is to be so regarded is the opinion of all Protestants; and if this is so, it is not a forced supposition that this might have been intimated by such a symbol as that before us.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
I was about to write; to write what he understood of the voices of these thunders.
Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not; he was forbidden the publication of them, because they concerned things to be fulfilled at some distance of time, and should be afterward more fully revealed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. whenAleph reads,”Whatsoever things.” But most manuscripts support EnglishVersion.
uttered their voicesA,B, C, and Aleph omit “their voices.” Then translate,”had spoken.”
unto meomitted by A,B, C, Aleph, and Syriac.
Seal upthe oppositecommand to Re 22:20. Eventhough at the time of the end the things sealed inDaniel’s time were to be revealed, yet not so the voices of thesethunders. Though heard by John, they were not to be imparted by himto others in this book of Revelation; so terrible are they that Godin mercy withholds them, since “sufficient unto the day is theevil thereof.” The godly are thus kept from morbid ponderingsover the evil to come; and the ungodly are not driven by despair intoutter recklessness of life. ALFORDadds another aim in concealing them, namely, “godly fear, seeingthat the arrows of God’s quiver are not exhausted.” Besides theterrors foretold, there are others unutterable and more horrifyinglying in the background.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices,…. Or declared all they had to denounce upon the enemies of Christ and his church:
I was about to write; John taking particular notice of what they said, and believing it might be for the advantage, comfort, and support of the church of Christ under its suffering circumstances, to be informed of what God had in reserve among the treasures of his wrath for their adversaries, was going to put it down in writing, that he might retain it, and the better communicate it, and in obedience to the order given him, Re 1:19;
and I heard a voice from heaven; from God the Father, for the Son of God in a visionary way was come down from heaven, in the form before described; and this voice answers to the Bath Kol of the Jews, and is the same which ordered John to write, Re 14:13, though it here forbad him:
saying unto me, seal up those things; treasure them up in thy mind, keep them within thy breast, hide them from men, for the present, and say nothing of them:
which the seven thunders have uttered, and write them not; that they may not be seen and read at present, because the same things were to be exhibited in another form, and at another time, under the seven vials; only it was thought proper that John should have some intimations of them for his own advantage, and to prepare him for the following vision, for the eating of the book, and for his prophesying before people, nations, tongues, and kings. Mr. Daubuz is of opinion, that by these “seven thunders” are meant seven kingdoms which have received the Reformation, and established it by law within their several dominions, whereby the doctrine and worship of the reformers are become the established religion there; and the laws by which it is established are “the voices” uttered by those supreme authorities; and they are these, 1. The German princes, making one republic. 2. The Swiss cantons. 3. Sweden. 4. Denmark, with Norway. 5. England and Ireland. 6. Scotland. 7. The United Provinces of the Netherlands. And whereas John, who represents the first reformers, and other faithful men, was for writing what these thunders uttered, this denotes the zeal and earnest desires of these good men to push the Reformation further, and make a thorough work of it, as well as their expectation that now was the time in which the mystery of God was to be fulfilled, in which they were mistaken; wherefore John is bid to seal up these things, and not write them, which shows that the progress of the Reformation was to be stopped from doing fully what the first reformers were prompted to by the supreme powers which encouraged them, and that by the opposition of other temporal princes; it not being the will of God that the glorious state of the church should arise from these thunders, and be built on their laws and establishments; and suggests, that this is not the time in which, nor these the ways and means by which the mystery of God will be finished, which will not be until the seventh angel has sounded his trumpet, Re 10:7; whereas this period of time, to which the Reformation belongs, is an event of the sixth trumpet: and this exposition bids very fair to be the right one.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I was about to write ( ). Imperfect active of (double augment as in John 4:47; John 12:33; John 18:32) and the present (inchoative) active infinitive of , “I was on the point of beginning to write,” as commanded in Rev 1:11; Rev 1:19.
Seal up (). Aorist active imperative of , tense of urgency, “seal up at once.”
And write them not ( ). Prohibition with and the ingressive aorist active subjunctive of , “Do not begin to write.” It is idle to conjecture what was in the utterances. Compare Paul’s silence in 2Co 12:4.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
To write. According to the injunction in ch. 1 11.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices,” (kai hote elalesan hai hepta brontai) “And when the seven thunders spoke,” had completed their judgment utterances, as I (John) heard them so distinctly.
2) “I was about to write,” (emellon graphein) “I was about to start writing,” writing what the thunders uttered or revealed to me.
3) “And I heard a voice from heaven,” (kai ekousa phonen ek tou ouranou) “and I heard a voice out of the heaven,” about the throne of God, from where the mighty strong angel had come, Rev 10:1. It was an interrupting voice to John.
4) “Saying unto me,” (legousan) “Saying to, or instructing me,” with regards to the things I had just heard.
5) “Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered,” (sphragison-ha elalesan hai hepta brontai) “Seal thou (shut up or conceal) the things which the seven thunders spoke; This is similar to instructions Daniel received, Dan 8:26; Dan 12:4; Dan 12:9.
6) “And write them not,” (kai me auta grapses) “And thou mayest not write them,” or record them. It is therefore vain for one to speculate what the seven thunders said. Our Lord even advised His disciples on one occasion that He had many things to say to them, but “ye cannot bear them now,” Joh 16:12; 1Co 3:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(4) And when the seven . . .Translate, And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write: and I heard a voice out of the heaven, saying, Seal up the things which the. seven thunders spoke, and write them not. He could have written down their utterances. It was no mere thunder-like sound he heard: the thunders spoke; and he would have continued his writing as he had been commanded (Rev. 1:11) had not the voice out of heaven forbidden him. The utterances, then, are for those who hear them; they are not to be made generally known. Is it not the solemn, sacred, divine voice not to be known by all, but by those who have ears to hear when the God of glory thundereth? Lo ! He doth send forth His voice, yea, and that a mighty voice (Psa. 68:33). Mankind may hear the thunder; only those whose ears God has opened can hear the utterances and the inspiriting messages which they bring. So was it once in our Lords life. The people said it thundered; some thought an angel spake; but there were articulate words which He who came to do Gods will, in whose heart was Gods law, heard, and to Him that thunderlike voice promised to glorify His name (Joh. 12:28-29). Similarly here, the Evangelist (who is in this but a type of the true witnesses for God), who is to prophecy before peoples and kings (Rev. 10:11), hears words spoken by the divine voice which make him strong for his mission. It is so evermore. Dull ears there are who hear thunder, but never Gods voice; dim eyes there are which see no trace of the divine craftsman in all nature, though
Earths crammed with God,
And every common bush aglow with Him.
The thunders are not to be written down; they are for those who have ears to hear.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. About to write A phrase which suggests that the apostle was immediate reporter and recorder of all he heard and saw.
A voice from heaven One of the monitory directions occurring along the course of the apocalyptic movements. The thunders were God’s prophetic voice; these were divine directions for the panorama.
Seal up write them not As if the blank space were really contained in the seer’s scroll, and could there be sealed even though by him unwritten.
The seer seems about, in his simplicity, to undertake an impossible task; namely, to translate the uttered meanings of the thunders into human words. If the full import of death, judgment, and eternity could come upon our souls it would be too much for us; we would be struck by it to the earth, as Saul of Tarsus was overthrown. Only by divine mental exaltation could John receive the uttered conceptions; and when obedience induces him to purpose the writing, divine wisdom excuses and peremptorily forbids the attempt.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The message of the angel:
v. 4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
v. 5. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
v. 6. and sware by Him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer;
v. 7. but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants, the prophets. Here is a strange interlude: And when the seven thunders had spoken, I intended to write, and I heard a voice out of heaven saying, Seal what the seven thunders have spoken, and do not write that. The message which the thunders reechoed must have been articulate, since John had evidently understood the words. And hardly had the sound rolled away, when he was ready to put the message to paper. But a voice from heaven interfered, bidding him seal or shut up the vision, keep it secret from mankind, at least for the time being. It is not necessary for men to know all the mysteries and secrets of the future. Note that John here emphasizes his prophetic authority.
Meanwhile the angel also had gotten ready for another exhibition of power and wisdom: And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him that lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and what is in it, and the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it that there should be no further delay, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he would sound his trumpet, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, as He had proclaimed the good news to His servants, the prophets. Here the extraordinary wisdom and power of the angel again appears. With great solemnity he swears by the living God, by the almighty Creator of the universe. He knows that the last woe is about to be revealed, that there will be no further delay. God’s activity in creation and providence would culminate in judgment; all is ripe for the end, just as the promise had been given to the prophets of the Lord. This is good news to the servants of God, to the believers; it shows them that their deliverance is near.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
Ver. 4. Had uttered their voices ] Not audible only, but articulate; so as what John heard and was much affected. Nescio quid divinum in auscultatione eat: there is no small efficacy in a lively voice to work upon the heart. (Diestius.) In Demosthene aliquid deest Demosthenis, quando legitur non auditur. (Val. Max.)
Seal up these things ] viz. Till the time appointed. SeeDan 8:26Dan 8:26 ; Dan 12:9 . Or, for that the things were the secrets of God’s kingdom,Mat 13:10-17Mat 13:10-17 , not fit or possible to be revealed, 2Co 12:4 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 10:4 . To seal or shut up a vision is to keep it secret from mankind, i.e. , in the present case (by a sequence of thought which is scarcely logical) to leave it unwritten. In a similar passage (Apoc. Bar. xx. 3) “seal” means to lay up fast in one’s memory (because the realisation is not immediate); but this meaning is suggested by the context, although it might suit the present passage. The seer describes himself as prohibited by a heavenly voice (which reverence leaves as usual undefined, 4 Ezr 6:17 : Dalman viii. 1) from obeying his impulse. No reason is assigned; but the plain sense of the passage is that the author wishes (Weizs., Schn, Bs., Holtzm., Pfleid.) to justify his omission of a seven-thunder source or set of visions circulating in contemporary circles of prophecy (Rev 10:7 ). In view oi the authoritative character of such fragments or traditions John justifies his procedure by the explanation that he felt inspired to do so, and also to substitute other oracles. Thus in the middle, as at the opening and end of his book, he reiterates his prophetic authority. The episode may further indicate that the written contents of the Apocalypse represents merely a part of the author’s actual vision ( cf. Joh 21:25 ), or it may serve to heighten the effect of what is now to be introduced, or it may suggest that while the seer is to write (Rev 1:11 ), he is to write only what is revealed through the medium of angels. In Slav. En. xxiii. 3, 6 the seer spends thirty days in writing the remarks of his angel-instructor. To hear , was not incompatible, however, with an (2Co 12:1-4 ), cf. Weinel, 162 f. There was an inspiration of restraint as well as an inspiration of impulse. Thus Hermas ( Vis. i. 3) listens with wonder to glories of God which he could not remember, “for all the words were awful, such as man cannot bear. The last words, however, I did remember; they were fit for us and mild”. Possibly the seven-thunders source was of a severely punitive character (Rev 8:5 ), traversing ground which had been alre ady (6-9) and was to be again ( 15 16.) covered.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
their voices. The texts omit.
unto me. The texts omit.
Seal. See Rev 7:3.
those = the.
not. App-105.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I was: Rev 1:11, Rev 2:1 – Rev 3:22, Isa 8:1, Hab 2:2, Hab 2:3
Seal up: Deu 29:29, Isa 8:16, Isa 29:11, Dan 8:26, Dan 12:4, Dan 12:9
Reciprocal: Eze 10:5 – the voice Dan 7:1 – he wrote Dan 10:6 – like the voice Rev 6:1 – the noise Rev 7:2 – having Rev 10:8 – the voice Rev 14:2 – a voice Rev 14:13 – Write Rev 19:9 – Write Rev 21:3 – a great Rev 22:10 – Seal
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 10:4. Not realizing the deception there was in the protests, John was about to write down what the thunderous voices said. (We remember he was told in chapter 1:19 to write the things that should be thereafter.) But the Lord understood the motive of the seven voices coming from the headquarters of the “man of sin,” and He caused a voice to instruct John not to record them but to seal them up.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 4.
8. Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not: The book of seven seals was opened, and its seals were loosed; the trumpets of the seven angels were sounded; but the seven thunders were sealed up and John was commanded to write them not. The things which the seven thunders uttered and which John was ready to transcribe, related to the things of the future not disclosed in the seals nor proclaimed in the trumpets, neither contained in the vials yet to be poured. They were things outside the realm of revelation, beyond all human knowledge or finite information. The sealing up of the thunders signified that there is a category of the infinite in God’s dealings with men and nations which can never be revealed. Much therefore, after all the seals were loosed and all the trumpets had sounded and all the woes were pronounced and all the vials poured, must remain enfolded and unrevealed.
There are in the nature of things of the infinite and the hereafter not within the scope of God’s revelation to man. It is in keeping with the principle revealed to Moses, that “the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deu 29:29) There are things connected with the counsels and purposes of God, and the reasons for his dispensations with reference to them, which are hidden in his own bosom, not to be pried into by any man or order of men. What the voices of the seven thunders uttered cannot be known, and for any man to undertake to explain what John was forbidden to write, would be presumption. The voices of the thunders evidently belonged to that region of “visions and revelations of the Lord” to which Paul referred as “unspeakable words not lawful for a man to utter.” (2Co 12:1-21) The command of the voice from heaven to seal up and write not, with no conditions, restrictions or limitations of time has in it a finality that prohibits the explanation that makes the voices of the thunders the mystic symbols of imperial edicts and papal bulls of the medieval centuries, and the continuous revelation of the history of Christianity to the end of the world.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 10:4. The thunders must not only have been in themselves intelligible, but they must have been understood by the Seer. Hence, thinking probably of the command in chap. Rev 1:11, he was about to write them. A voice out of heaven, however, was heard saying, Seal the things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. We are not to suppose that the object of this command was to keep the contents of the thunders for ever concealed. These contents, we have seen, relate to the fortunes of Christs Church and people. But they learn only by experience. They must pass through trials, whatever they may be, before darkness is dispelled and light in its full brightness shines around them (comp. Joh 2:22; Joh 12:16).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 4
To write; that is, to record what they had uttered.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
10:4 {4} And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, {a} Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
(4) A godly care is laudable, but must be married with knowledge. Therefore nothing is to be done but by the calling of God, which must be expected and waited for by the godly.
(a) Keep them secret.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
An authoritative voice, probably belonging to God or Christ (cf. Rev 1:11; Rev 1:19; Dan 12:4; Dan 12:9), did not permit John to record the judgments these seven thunders revealed (cf. 2Co 12:1-4). This indicates that God has not revealed in Scripture all the judgments that will take place on the earth during the Great Tribulation. [Note: Newell, p. 142.]
Apparently John used the intervals between events in his visions to write down what he had seen and heard or at least to make notes.