Revelation

10.1-11

The angel now descending (v1) is not to be confused with the Lord God even though John tells us of the rainbow on his head just as we read in 4:3. "Another" (allos) strong angel indicates "of the same kind," meaning this angel followed the others pronouncing judgment. God would not have issued the third-person oath of vv5-6 to Himself. The rainbow would have reinforced God's covenant mercy in the midst of judgment, just as it had before. This section is a pause between the sixth and seventh trumpets (10:1-11:14). For the believers that remain alive, this will comfort them with the knowledge that God has not forgotten them and that they will ultimately be victorious. The seven peals of thunder (vv3-4), loud, shattering, and powerful, are separate from the angel's voice (v6) and may represent the voice of God (1 Sam 7:10, Ps 18:13). But John was forbidden to write the message of them (v4), so we don't know what they spoke. Perhaps the horrors of the judgment are too terrifying to be revealed. But speculation is pointless. If God had wanted it to be known, He would not have forbidden it to be recorded. The message spoken by the angel (vv6-7) was simultaneously one of hope and terror. For the believer, hope in God's judgment no longer being delayed (v6). For the unrepentant, terror at God's power demonstrated and His coming final judgment. John demonstrated very literally how this message felt in vv8-10. The knowledge of God's coming judgment would be initially sweet, but knowing the destruction it held for those who remained unrepentant would sit bitterly in their stomach (vv9-10). This will be their call, and is our call today, to prophesy again (v11) in hopes that some yet might be saved (Mt 28:19-20, 1 Cor 9:22).

CHAPTER 10

The Angel and the Little Scroll

1 Then I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire;
2 and he had in his hand a little scroll which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the earth,
3 and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. And when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices.
4 And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.”
5 Then the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the earth, lifted up his right hand to heaven,
6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer,
7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He proclaimed good news to His slaves, the prophets.
8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.”
9 So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”
10 And I took the little scroll out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
11 And they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”