There are eight rather strange prophetic scrolls described in the Bible. As we discuss them we will find that they all seem to fall into a sort of repeating pattern. We will refer to these eight scrolls as the kings' scroll, the blinding scroll, the New Gate scroll, the unrolled scroll, the sealed scroll, the large flying scroll, the little scroll and the seven sealed scroll. As we examine them closely we will discover that they all seem to be related to the same end time prophecies, sometimes in mysterious ways. They all relate to the end time period of great tribulation, specifically to the destruction of Israel and certain end time specifics. We can also easily tie Babylon to each of these prophecies. I will explain as we go along. The scrolls were written by or written about seven of the most influential and prolific prophetic authors in the Bible.
Let’s look at the scrolls in the order that they appear in history.

THE KINGS SCROLL; 1400 BC – Deut 17:14-20, 31:19-26, Exod 34:27, Lev 25-26.
This is recorded in the Torah scroll. In the few months before the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and went into the Promised Land in 1400 BC God had Moses review all of the commandments. He highlighted three specific commands, first grouped together in Lev 26:1-3, and had Moses repeat them over and over to the Israelites. Moses recorded these instructions and warnings, etc. from God in the Deuteronomy scroll. In Deuteronomy Moses mentions the first command 28 times, the second command 21 times and the third command 42 times. He also told them 14 times that there would be great rewards for them if they kept these commands, but told them another 14 times that there would be terrible punishment and devastation if they did not keep the three commands. It is quite apparent that God was serious about this given the number of times that he repeated these things. Notice that all of these numbers are multiples of 7, God’s number for completeness and perfection.
Moses had summarized all of this for the Israelites in a very organized form 40 years before this, just after the Exodus event. In Deut 17:14-20 God told Moses that some time after the Israelites entered the Promised Land that they would want a king. He gave them instructions about how to select the king and some key things that the king should do. It seems that the first king’s first duty would be to prepare a scroll for himself from the Levitical scroll. Since Lev 25-26 is a summary of Deuteronomy I would guess that this might be what the scroll would contain. The king was then to read his “Kings Scroll” every day to keep himself and the Israelites on the straight and narrow.
God did state specifically in Lev 26:40-46 and also in Deut that even after punishing the Israelites for many years, he would not forget them. He would re-gather them from the nations of the world and again become their God and bless them after they finally return to him. The Deuteronomy Scroll and the Torah Scroll do not specifically mention Babylon. However, they do mention the specific things that Babylon would do without specifically naming the country involved, possibly because this was 800 years before Babylon would become the great empire of the Middle East.

THE BLINDING SCROLL; about 720 BC – Isa 29-30. This is recorded in the Isaiah scroll. It is a scroll that contains warnings to Israel just before she was destroyed and exiled by the Assyrians. The scroll seems to be available to be read but the Israelites have turned to false gods, have become extremely stubborn and will not listen. Thus the words seem to be sealed. Those who can read claim that the scroll is sealed while others claim that they cannot read. Because the Israelites will not read and heed the words of the scroll God blinds them to the truth. He inhibits their ability to understand certain things; i.e. who Jesus was and is. He allows them to be destroyed and exiled to Assyria and other places. The scroll prophesies in great detail the terrible destruction and terror that Israel will go through if they do not heed the warnings of God on the scroll and return to him. At the same time the scroll says that at some time in the future the Israelites will return to him and he will heal them, remove their blindness, return them to their land and become their God again.
It is very intriguing that although Isaiah lived and prophesied in the period 80 to 130 years before the Babylonians conquered the Assyrians, he prophesied that it would happen. In fact he prophesied that it would be the Babylonians who would destroy and exile the southern kingdom of Judah and that the Medes would then conquer the Babylonians, Isa 13 verses 17-19 especially. He then goes on to say that Cyrus, the king of Medio-Persia would be the one who would free the exiles to return to Judah in Isa 45:1-13. These are incredible prophecies. This was over 75 years before Cyrus was born and Isaiah called him by name. Daniel may have used this to convince Cyrus to free the Judeans.

THE NEW GATE SCROLL; 605 BC – Jeremiah 36. This is recorded in the Jeremiah scroll. In 605 BC and in the few years preceding that, God gave Jeremiah a prophecy concerning the disaster that was about to befall Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. Since Jeremiah was forbidden to enter the temple he had Baruch go to the temple on the days of fasting and read the scroll to the people as they came to the temple from the surrounding towns. He knew it would be useless to read the scroll to the temple officials, so the hope was that the people would petition the officials to change their ways and return to YHWH. The scroll pronounced the great anger and wrath of the Lord which was about to come upon the Judeans for their idol worship and failure to keep the commands and precepts of God. It included a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah, as well as a 70 year exile to Babylon. Baruch was reading the scroll at the upper courtyard of the temple in the entrance of the New Gate. The officials, the king and all of Judah refused to heed God’s warnings given through Jeremiah’s scroll so God allowed all of his prophecies against Judah to come to pass. This was the first year of the coming 161 year Babylonian captivity pattern. It would finally end in 443 BC.

THE UNROLLED SCROLL; 592 BC – Ezek 3:1-3. This is recorded in the Ezekiel scroll. In Ezekiel 3:1-3 God tells Ezekiel to eat an unrolled scroll, written on both sides, that he has given him. From Ezek 3:1 we see that God tells Ezekiel to reveal the contents of the little scroll to the Israelites living in exile. The contents are revealed in Ezek 4-5. This certainly had near term fulfillment at the time, but it likely also will have its ultimate fulfillment in the tribulation.
The scroll concerns literal Babylon whom God will use to destroy Judah. This was in 592 BC and the message is in chapters 3-5. Ezekiel had already been in exile in Babylon for five years. The scroll initially tasted as sweet as honey to Ezekiel, just as the scroll of Rev 10 did to John. However, we see in Ezek 3:15 that the contents of the scroll deeply distressed Ezekiel. The prophetic fulfillment began in 606 BC and does not finally conclude until 2041 AD. The prophecy concerned the initial punishment of Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Babylonian captivity and the extended punishment of Judah which is finally ending in our generation. Again, God uses Babylon to initially administer the punishment. It included the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, along with ultimate desolation of the land as well as exile of the Judeans to Babylon for 70 years.

THE SEALED SCROLL; 553 and 551 BC – Daniel chapters 7-8. This is recorded in the Daniel scroll. In chapters 7 and 8 Daniel has dreams and visions of the end times. In Chapter 7 in 553 BC he has a dream revealing details of the future history of the empires which will control the known world (in some cases the Middle East). He sees the end time tribulation scenario in which Israel is destroyed, followed by the 2nd coming with the destruction of the antichrist, followed by the millennium with Jesus reigning as King of kings. Daniel was pale, shaken and troubled, presumably from seeing Israel and Judah being repeatedly destroyed.
In chapter 8 in 551 BC Daniel sees the same thing that he had seen 2 years earlier, but this time in a vision explained by the angel Gabriel. It was presented using different figurative language but with the same results. He was appalled at the vision which was beyond his understanding. Both visions involved the end times, the tribulation, the antichrist, the destruction of Israel and the supernatural destruction of the antichrist. Babylon was involved since Daniel was in Babylon as an exile from Judah when he received these prophecies and Babylon was the empire that had just destroyed Judah. This involved a scroll only in that Daniel recorded his visions and dreams from God on a scroll. He was told in Dan 12:4 to roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the end times just as John would later be told to do in Revelation.

THE LARGE FLYING SCROLL; 520 BC - Zechariah 5:1-4. This is recorded in the Zechariah scroll. This is about 20 years after the Persians had conquered the Babylonians, but most of the Judeans were still in exile in Babylon and the Temple was just about to be rebuilt. In Zechariah 5 we see a large flying scroll. The timeframe is about 520 BC and the message again concerns literal Babylon. In this chapter God says that he will construct a house of wickedness in Babylon that he will eventually destroy. The scroll contains a curse that will enter the house of everyone on earth who is not a believer in Jesus. This may involve the mark of the beast. In Rev 14:9-10 and 16:2 we see those having the mark of the beast in the latter stages of the tribulation period being killed. The scroll contains a curse that will end up destroying everyone in the world who is wicked. The scroll calls out two classes of sins in particular, (1) thieves, who I would interpret as being those who do not follow Jesus command to love your neighbor as yourself, and (2) those who swear falsely in God’s name, who I would interpret as being those who claim that Jesus is not God; they deny the true and complete nature of God. When will this happen? In the great tribulation, it seems. This may be pointing to Jesus’ Second Coming and his destruction of all wickedness as he becomes King of kings in the millennium.
Zechariah then sees a flying basket which seems to contain all of this wickedness and also a woman who may be the wicked great prostitute of Babylon. God said he would deposit this basket full of wickedness and the strange woman in Babylon. Again we see a vision of the end times involving Babylon, great wickedness on earth, apparently the woman that rides the beast or antichrist in Revelation 17-18, and a scroll. Does this imply that the antichrist might come from literal Babylon? Maybe not, but at least he is being ridden by the wickedness that comes out of Babylon, Babylon the great prostitute who is the wicked worldwide church of the end times. Babylon may be literal or it may be figurative for all wicked people on earth.
Who do you suppose the two non-kosher women are who deposit the basket and the wickedness that it contains into Babylon? Could this be the United States and Europe who destroyed a tyrant and his regime in Iraq, one who had the terror under control in their country through fear? Our leaders had a plan to install a model democracy in the Middle East that other Muslim countries might follow. Those who know the mindset that exists in that region knew for certain that this would not work. What it did was to create instability which created a perfect environment for wickedness and terror to thrive and grow. We may have done God’s work of setting the basket into place in Babylon. It also seems that at the beginning of Zechariah 6, which follows this dialogue, that there is a prophecy that seems to be about the beginning of the Seal Judgments of Revelation and the beginning of the tribulation period. God said that he would build a house of wickedness in Babylon and later destroy it. Again this may be literal and it may be figurative. That call is above my rate.

THE LITTLE SCROLL; 97 AD - Rev 10-22, especially chapter 10. This is recorded in the book of Revelation. In chapter 10 we see John being given a small scroll and told to eat it, just as Ezekiel had been told to eat an unrolled scroll. Just as with Ezekiel it tasted sweet as honey in his mouth. However it made him sick at his stomach. Why would that be? We are not told what was on the scroll this time but we have several clues from the previous prophecies. This prophecy was given after John had seen the first 6 judgments, the antichrist destroying Israel and controlling the world, and all of the wickedness with possibly two thirds of the people on earth being killed. He had seen this in vision form just as Daniel had seen it. It also made Daniel sick. Both likely saw the same thing but with somewhat different figurative language or visual effects. When John consumed the scroll he first became aware of the seventh trumpet judgment, which features Jesus coming to the rescue of Israel and the world, and soon thereafter beginning his earthly reign. This part tasted as sweet as honey to him. Right after eating the scroll he was told to prophesy again, to write another account of the seven judgments with even more detail. This made his stomach sour. He was not fond of the thought of having to see even more detail of the terrible judgments and then having to write them down on a scroll. As you can see from this interpretation, the scroll may be referred to as little since it only contained the second half of Revelation, namely chapters 11-22. In fact it may have simply been the back side of the seven sealed scroll.
The Jewish people finally accept Jesus as their God, are returned to their Promised Land, and Jesus lives with them. This is the fulfillment of the promise that the Israelites had received from God over and over as we have seen in each of the preceding scrolls. Again Babylon is presented in chapters 17-18 as mystery Babylon, the great prostitute, the false church of the end times who rides the beast or the antichrist.

THE SEVEN SEALED SCROLL; 97 AD - REV 5-20. This also is recorded in the book of Revelation. In fact it makes up the bulk of the book, from chapters 5 through 19 and maybe even further. In order to see and understand the contents of the scroll John is shown multiple visions, apparently by Jesus special angel, Gabriel. Some of the visions are in heaven and some of them are on earth. In addition, some of it is presented to John personally by Gabriel. John also hears God speaking directly on occasion. Quite an experience, I would say.
The scroll has seven seals and as each seal is removed another of the seven judgments is revealed. The scroll repeats each of the seven judgments three times, as the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments. Each seal judgments seem to present the means of judgment and provide some details about what will take place in the judgment. The trumpet judgments seem to be the first application of the seal judgments. The bowl judgments seem to be applied in two ways, first as the continuing of the effects of the trumpet judgments and finally, all are repeated in quick order as a sort of grand finale at the Second Coming of Jesus.
After the seventh judgment we see Jesus beginning his rule on earth, the earth being placed back into a sort of paradise like order and the millennium taking place. The Jewish people finally accept Jesus as their God, are returned to their Promised Land and Jesus lives with them. This is the fulfillment of the promise that the Israelites had received from God over and over as we have seen in each of the preceding scrolls. Again Babylon is presented in chapters 17-18 as mystery Babylon, the great prostitute, the false church of the end times who rides the beast or the antichrist.
Do you see all of the commonality? Do you see the pattern? What conclusions should we be able to make from this? I have prepared and attached a table summarizing what we have found in these eight scrolls. In the table we compared the eight scrolls in seven separate areas. We will summarize some conclusions that we can reach below:
1. We have seven principal books of the Bible which present the eight scrolls, with seven separate authors, all inspired by one and the same God. That is obvious.
2. All seven authors presented a future time of great evil and wrath upon the earth and upon the Israelites. Four presented conditional warnings of great wrath to Israel or Judah if they did not begin following Gods three great commands. They did not change.
3. Four presented conditional warnings of future exile to the nations if they did not keep God’s three great commands. They did not listen and suffered the consequences.
4. All seven authors presented unconditional warnings of end time tribulation for Israel and the world. That is still future in a time called the tribulation period.
5. All seven authors presented a message of end time hope, reconstruction and new beginnings for Israel and the world. Hurray!!
All of the scrolls involve Babylon in some way or another. Babylon was the apparent birthplace of idol worship and it seems that prophecy says that it will meet its end at the Second Coming of Jesus. Again, Babylon could be literal or it could be figurative.

Another common feature was that each author alluded to the Second Coming of Jesus in some way or another, rescuing the people of Israel who finally accepts him as their Savior, and the setting up of the millennial kingdom. Rev 10 also presents this setting up of the millennial kingdom but involving a mystery. This is called the mystery of God. A mystery of God is something that had been hidden but is now revealed. Here it is likely “the mystery of his will” revealed in Eph 1:9-10, “To bring all things in heaven and on earth under one head, even Christ.” The 7th judgment from Rev 11:15 says, “The kingdom of the whole world has become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and forever.”
Why do you suppose that God would tell a few of the authors to eat the scrolls? When you eat something you consume it and it becomes a vital part of you. God apparently did not want them to pick and choose which parts they liked and skip the rest. It was all very important for them to know about. God tells us the same thing in a few places. For instance in Heb 5:12-13, 6:5, 1 Cor 3:2 it says we are to eat or consume the word. We are not to pick and choose to eat only the parts of the word that we like and ignore or spit out the rest. We are to consume it all. One third of the word is prophecy yet 99% of us do not read it or pay any attention to it. That is a shame and we are disobeying God’s intentions for us when we do that.
When God told the prophets to eat the scrolls he was really telling them to consume the contents, the words on the scrolls. He wanted them intimately familiar with the words on the scrolls so that they could effectively pass them on to others. They did so to those of their generations to try to get them, or scare them, into returning to YHWH. They were not successful. However, the Jews could not say that they did not know what God had in store for them. He had told them hundreds of times through Moses and the Torah, and then continuing with prophet after prophet warning them about what was on the Torah scrolls, and what he was continuing to say to them. Since the prophets were writing these warnings from God down on scrolls that have since been passed on to us they also serve as a warning to us as well. We have also seen the contents of the scrolls and God expects us to eat them just as he did those to whom he originally gave the scrolls. What are WE doing with them?