Many bible teachers say that the seven seals in Revelation and the subsequent breaking of them are a picture of the seven year tribulation period up to the coming of the Lord. These teachers also say that the scroll that John saw is the title deed to the Earth or that the seals and the information on the scroll are all one in the same. This doesn’t seems logical to me.
John was told to “come up here” to see what things were to “take place after these things”. When John got to Heaven he saw the scroll and that it was sealed with seven seals and that it had writing on both sides. But even if all the seals are broken, logically, you still have to unrolled it then read what’s written inside and out. How can the seals and the information on the scroll be the same thing? If they are not, what did the scroll say.
In his first century mind John understood that inforation was written on scrolls, after all He was called there to see what was on the scroll ( the prophecy ) not the seals. The seals were primarily a kind of security measure and a sign of the scroll’s authenticity, not information. When John saw what occurred when the seals were opened I think he got something additional that he wasn’t anticipating.
Could the seals be a picture of the “birth pains” or the “beginning of sorrows” and the scrolls prophecy be the Lords return and us with him in the eternal state. As a pregnant women first breaks her water, then the contractions start and become more intense and then finally the climax………the baby is born.
The view that the seal judgments provide an overview of the Great Tribulation can’t bear close inspection. Even though the Trumpet judgments are similar, they’re more severe and the Bowl judgments are still more so. But since the seal judgments all take place before the Great Tribulation begins, they do describe the period of time known by some as “The Beginning of Sorrows.”
Like many things in the book of Revelation, the scroll of Chapter 6 is symbolic and stands for judgment. We know this because it has writing on both sides. Normally scrolls only have writing on one side. Only two other times in the Bible do we see a scroll with writing on both sides and they both symbolize judgment as well. They’re in Ezekiel 2:9 and Zechariah 5:1-4. Also scrolls were usually sealed only once, but in this case as each of the seven seals is broken one of the judgments contained therein is revealed. As you point out, this wouldn’t be logical it it was a real scroll, but presents further evidence that it’s meant to be viewed symbolically.
We’re told to be on the lookout for symbols through out the Revelation in chapter 1:1 where the word “signified” implies that the message was rendered into signs.