Such revelation depended on the opening of the scroll.41 Though closer to the truth, this view is deficient in depicting John in the wrong light. In his condition, he was certainly not one who wept in disappointment because his curiosity was apparently going to be left unsatisfied. The most plausible reason for his sobbing is his fear that the events contained in the revelatory scroll would remain unfulfilled, thus thwarting the purposes of God (Caird). As already shown in the discussion of v. 2