• Reading I: Revelations 10:8-11
• Resp. Psalm:  Psalm 119:14,24,72,103,111,131
• Gospel Reading:  Luke 19:45-58

From the previous selection (5:1-10), we jump five chapters.  The seventh seal has been opened and seven trumpets have sounded with their corresponding events.  If in the previous selection there was a closed scroll, so here there is one that is already open.  John is not only the witness of the opening of a scroll, he also is asked to eat another scroll¹ and to prophesy  "again".  The content of the scroll is the rest of the book of Revelation, chapters 12-22.  The scroll is small because the events contained therein will transpire "in a short while". 

Here is the content of chapters 12-22 that John will prophesy about:

• the woman clothed with the sun whom the Dragon pursues
• the victory of Michael the archangel
• the defeat of the Dragon and his continuing pursuit of the woman’s children
• the emergence of the two Beasts, the last of which has the name 666
• the Lamb and the 144000
• the Fall of Babylon, the harvest and the seven plagues
• the victory of the Lamb, the reign of two thousand years
• the Judgment
• the new Heavens and the New Earth
• the wedding of the Lamb

When we look at the rest of the Apocalypse this way, it comes out as a book of consolation.  The victory of the Lamb is certain and those who hear the words of the book need only to decide on which side they are on.   The content of the cover letters in chapters 1-4 are evoked.  Victory is for those who listen to and heed the prophecy of John.

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1. This is a little scroll and is different from the one in chapter 5 [↩]