The seven thunders spoke, and I started to write. But then I heard a voice from heaven that said, “Don’t write what the seven thunders said. Keep those things secret.”
“But you, Daniel, keep this message a secret. You must close the book and keep this secret until the time of the end. Many people will go here and there looking for true knowledge, and the true knowledge will increase.”
“There are some things that the Lord our God has kept secret. Only he knows these things. But he told us about some things. And these teachings are for us and our descendants forever. And we must obey all the commands in that law.
It said, “Write down in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
To you my words are like the words in a book that is closed and sealed. You can give the book to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But that person will say, “I cannot read the book. It is closed and I cannot open it.”
Then I heard the same voice from heaven again. It said to me, “Go and take the open scroll that is in the angel’s hand. This is the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”