“And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.”
That is, in the very right hand of God. A passing unto the second principal cause, which is the Son of God, God and man, the mediator of all, as the eternal word of God the Father manifested in the flesh. This chapter hath two parts: one that prepareth the way unto the Revelation, by rehearsal of the occasions that did occur in the first four verses. Another, the history of the Revelation of Christ, thence unto the end of the chapter. Here are showed the occasions for which this principal cause, and this Revelation was also necessary: the same are three, the first a present vision of the book of the counsels of God, concerning the government of this whole world, which book is said to be laid up with the Father as it were in his hand: but shut and unknown unto all creatures, in this verse. The second is a religious desire of the Angels of God to understand the mysteries of this book, verse 2, whereof see 1 Pet. 1:12 . The third is a lamentation of Saint John and all the godly, moved by the same desire, verse 4, when they saw that it was a thing impossible for any creature to effect: which is declared in the third verse.