God speaks!
Revelation 10:1-11
God speaks
Revelation 10:1-11, I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying]to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.” 5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, 7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.
8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book 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 and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
Why God allows sin to run wild?
Why God allows sinners to prosper and succeed? Why God allows Satan and his demons to deceive and to destroy? An age-old question and it has been asked since the very beginning. If God is there and He is holy, why doesn’t He stop all the carnage, all the corruption, all the confusion?
If God loves His people, why does He allow them to suffer?
When will God destroy the wicked?
When will God halt Satan’s enterprise? When will Jesus come and make the world the way He wants it?
When will the righteous be avenged and the wicked punished?
How long, O Lord, how long? Men have been crying for God to intervene. All the pain, horror, disease, destruction, lies, deceptions get worse.
When will God speak?
When will God break His seeming silence? The Lord has promised that the day will come when the mystery of His silence will be broken. That day is connected to the seventh trumpet. V 7, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.
When it is time for the seventh angel blowing the seventh trumpet, that the great mystery of a supposedly silent God will end. All the counsels and all the purposes of God concerning men and the world will be consummated.
➢ Christ will come. ➢ The kingdom will be established on earth. ➢ Satan and his demons will be halted, bound in chains, and delivered to a prison. ➢ Righteousness will rule.
➢ Knowledge will fill the earth. ➢ Christ will be King, and God will speak. At that time the curse on the earth will be lifted.
- The desert will blossom like a rose.
- Life will be long.
- Enemies will become friends.
- Holiness will prevail.
- The last of all mysteries will be revealed.
Sin with all its carnage, broken hearts, friendships, dreams, hopes, marriages, families, nations will all be healed. Tears, blood, sweat, sorrow, and death will find their proper place without despair. All the mockers who said, “Where is God?” the agnostics, the atheists, the unbelievers who scoffed and said, “Where is His coming?” will be silenced.
Those, like the Jews at the foot of the cross who sarcastically said, “Where is your God to deliver you?” will go stone silent. The thousands of thousands of years of sin, death, prevailing false teachers, lies, murders, thefts, Christians being maligned and martyred will be over.
What signals this? The seventh trumpet.
The seventh trumpet will introduce it.
Revelation 11:14-15, The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. 15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The [f]kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
The seventh trumpet signals the reign of Christ. But before that seventh trumpet is blown, an interlude takes place, and that interlude is chapter 10. An interlude for John to get a grip on what is being revealed to him, and for us as well. There is coming a day when the seventh angel blows a moment will come when there will be no more delay.
V 6, that there should be delay no longer. But before the blowing of that last trumpet, which incorporates the seven-bowl judgments John is given this interlude. Now to have an interlude before this final trumpet shouldn’t surprise us, because there is a certain kind of similarity to all these septenary judgments.
All these judgments of seven.
Seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. They are all laid out the same way. They are laid out in divisions of four, followed by three.
- There were four seals, and then they were followed by three.
- There was definite distinction between them.
- There were four trumpets somewhat similar, and then there were three dissimilar.
There will be that same kind of division in the bowls. The last three are always separated from the first four. In each case, between the sixth and the seventh, there is an interlude. Between the sixth and seventh seals, there was the interlude of chapter 7.
Between the sixth and seventh bowls, there will be the interlude of Revelation 16:13-16. Here, between the sixth and seventh trumpets, there is an interlude that begins in Revelation 10:1-11:14. In each case, the interlude that comes before the final judgment whether the seventh seal, the seventh trumpet, or the seventh bowl.
This is intended to encourage and comfort God’s people in the midst of the fury of God’s judgment. It’s a gasp for breath in which God can comfort His people who having gone through the first six of each of these are feeling the heat and the fury of judgment.
These interludes are to remind God’s people that God is still sovereign, His people are still remembered and will be ultimately victorious. Revelation 10 is the longest of the interludes between trumpet number six and seven.
We have already seen that in the seventh seal were the seven trumpets. Now we see in the seventh trumpet is the seven bowls of rapid- fire judgment, the final judgments ending with Christ’s return. This interlude is Revelation 10:1-11:14.
The purpose is to remind all, including those Christians alive at the time these judgments hit the earth, that the kingdom will come. The outlook maybe bleak as they would have gone through all these seals, and six trumpets.
It could easily appear as if the whole universe is disintegrating, and they are going to get caught up in the fury of it all, and they’re going to perish with all the rest. So there is a respite here to remind them that God is still sovereign. They are still His people. God knows who they are, and they are going to triumph.
Hell will not triumph. The world by now from the sixth seal is literally engulfed in demons that have been belching out of hell itself. Sin has reached proportions never before imagined in human history. Despite this hellish invasion of demons and sin, Christians need to be comforted that all is still in God’s control.
Is God still in control? They will ask it then for sure. Answer in this text. This is a divine intermission to show that God is still in control, and He will triumph. God will act in victory. God will take control, destroy the wicked.
God will bring His kingdom into which the righteous will enter.
1. Mighty angel. V 1-2, I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, When John says and I saw is a familiar phrase in revelation used to mark new visions or new features in the progress of a vision.
John is seeing something new. Following the vision of the trumpets in which he has seen and heard the blowing of the sixth trumpets, John now sees something new. Another strong angel. It is not one of the trumpeting angels.
They were identified as the seven angels in Revelation 8:2. This is not one of them. This is another strong angel, not one of the seven trumpeting presence angels that blow the trumpet judgments. Many commentators feel that this is Jesus Christ.
I do not agree with that interpretation for a few reasons. The word “another” here is allos in the Greek.
It means “another of exactly the same kind as the rest of the angels.” If it were Christ, it wouldn’t be right to use allos, because all the rest of the angels were created. ✓ Jesus Christ is uncreated. ✓ Christ is the eternal God.
Furthermore, when John identifies the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation, he has always clear to give Him an unmistakable title. After all, this is the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ would not serve his own purpose if he revealed Christ in a veiled way. This would certainly be a veiled revelation of Christ.
Nowhere in Revelation is Jesus Christ called an angel. Where He is revealed, it is to be clear of whom it is written. Furthermore, it is very strange to think of the Lord Jesus Christ making the oath that the angel makes in verses 5 and 6. The angel stands on the sea, lifts his hand in the air to swear, and then makes an oath. Very strange to see the Lord Jesus Christ making some kind of an oath like that.
Another strong angel clearly not Christ, appears elsewhere in the book of Revelation. So, there is no reason to assume that here you have Christ if there is elsewhere another strong angel who is not Christ. V 1, this strong angel comes down out of heaven.
If this were Christ, we have got a problem here, because we have got another coming of Christ. We would have His first coming, His second coming would be here, and His third coming would be later. It is best to see this as another strong angel.
Such angels appear in Revelation 5:7, 8:18, no reason to make this Christ. It could be Michael. It could be Gabriel. Daniel 10, Daniel 12, Jude 9, Revelation 12 about those mighty angels. Michael, for example, whose name means “who is like God,” would certainly fit the role of a strong angel.
Angels can have the kind of splendour that this angel has.
It says he comes down out of heaven, he is clothed with a cloud. The rainbow is upon his head, his face was like the sun, his feet like pillars of fire. Those are the kind of things that make some people think it must be Christ.
But there are some angels who had that kind of glory. One of them would be very well-known would be the angel Lucifer, who before his fall was arrayed in that kind of glory.
Ezekiel 28:12-15, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
There is the kind of glory that can be associated with an angelic being. So, it is not uncommon to see them in the kind of glory that is described here in Revelation 10:1.
Daniel 10:5-6, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of
Uphaz! 6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in colour, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. Tremendous glory ascribed here to an angelic being.
V 1, I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, A glorious, high-ranking, strong angel and most powerful angel is coming down out of heaven. Contrast to all the demons that have been coming up out of hell.
clothed with a cloud. He is clothed with a cloud. The clouds comprise his robe, the very drapery of the sky floats over his mighty shoulders. This is to enhance the power, the majesty, the glory of this person which he has received from God.
This is to refer to his coming in judgment. He is an angel of judgment. Many times, in the New Testament the word “cloud” is used of divine appearances related to judgment.
Matthew 24:30-31, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
A rainbow was upon his head. “Rainbow” in the Greek language is the word “iris.” This was the name of the messenger goddess of Olympus in Greek mythology. Her name was Iris. The word which once identified the splendours of this Greek goddess, the word came to refer to any bright halo surrounding someone.
The circle on the peacock’s eyes, on their tail feathers, was called iris. But primarily the word came to be used of a rainbow. So here is an angel surrounded by this brilliant, refracted light, multi-coloured. The rainbow in Revelation 4:3 was an emerald rainbow. Here is another rainbow.
It is a rainbow showing the splendours of this glorious angel. Perhaps the rainbow along with the garment of judgment is to balance off judgment with covenant.
This angel comes representing judgment but representing promise, hope, and covenant by virtue of the rainbow to those who are the recipients of God’s mercy. God first gave the rainbow, in Genesis after the flood as His testimony that He would never again destroy the world by water. It was His sign of the promise.
Here is a promise rainbow, so that those who are the godly in seeing this vision of the coming of judgment will know that God’s promise has not been obviated.
Malachi 3:16-18, Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name. 17 “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him.” 18 Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God And one who does not serve Him.
Malachi 4:1-3, “For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow
fat like stall-fed calves. 3 You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,” Says the Lord of hosts. There is a day coming known as the day of the Lord. God is going to destroy the wicked in the fury of judgment, but He is going to keep His promise to you.
So the judgment angel then is crowned with a majestic halo of a rainbow indicating God’s promise to His beloved that they will not be swept up in the judgment. his face was like the sun. John takes us to his face and says his face was like the sun.
Speaking of the blazing glory.
Revelation 18:1, After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. He is like the sun, because he comes down out of the sky and it’s like daylight. Beyond what Moses might have experienced when the glory of
God shone on his face, as recorded in Exodus.
There is so much glory on the face of the angel in Revelation 18 that it lights the earth as if he were a moon or even a sun. We have the same thing here. His face was shining like the sun. It was daylight. The radiant glory on the face of an angel.
If the face of an angel can be like the sun which gives us such brilliant daylight as we experience today, what must the full face of the glory of God be like? No wonder the Bible says no one can see it and not be consumed, incinerated instantaneously.
His feet are like pillars of fire. Feet would include his legs. It refers to the unbending holiness of this judgment activity. Here comes a judgment angel, shrouded in the clouds of judgment, with fiery legs and feet as indication of the way in which he is going to tread out judgment, the result of which will be the incineration of the ungodly, as Malachi says.
The godly will be spared, as the covenant promise of the rainbow indicates, to walk on the ashes of those who have been destroyed. Firm, immovable, stable pillars of vengeance are represented in the legs as he executes the day of the Lord. So here is amazing vision.
V 2, He had a little book open in his hand.
What is this?
Revelation 5:1-8, And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” 6 And I looked, [c]and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
The book was in the hand of God, and it was taken from the hand of God by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb. It was the seven-sealed scroll.
What was written in it? The description of the judgments by which God would take back the earth.
It represented the title deed to the earth. Satan the usurper has possession of the universe now, including the earth. But the day is coming when Christ comes to take it. He is going to take back the earth which is rightfully His.
That little scroll when unrolled revealed the process by which the Lord Jesus Christ would judge the world and take possession of His own universe. The book then was the title deed to the earth and as those seals were broken one by one, the judgments fell.
The seventh seal has been broken, and with the breaking of the seventh seal, all the rest of the judgments are visible. When the seventh seal is broken, we can see the seven trumpets, and we can see the seven bowls. V 2, the little book in the hand of the strong angel was open.
He is holding a completely opened scroll.
Why is it called a little book? Revelation 5 calls the book biblion, and chapter 10 calls it biblion also in verse 8. We shouldn’t be surprised that it’s to be considered a little book after all, it was in the hand of God.
In this vision it needed to be made smaller for the sake of symbolism since John was going to eat it. It had to be small enough for John to eat. So, in the vision it appears small. The Greek wording here makes the notion of being open emphatic. It is an open scroll. It is opened, and it remains opened. That must refer to the scroll that we have just been watching be opened.
We have a completely unsealed, completely opened book. The final elements are all visible. Everything in the seven seals, seven trumpets, seven judgments is there. All visible. Everything yet to come can be seen. V 11 John is told to prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
The final judgments here have been all unveiled, what is to come in the day of the Lord. Terrors to redeem God’s creation is now known. We meet the unusual angel, this great, massive, strong angel holding this little book.
V 2, He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land
The massive proportion of this angel in the vision has shown to us. He is huge. He can stand on the land and the sea. John is seeing was not a vision of normal proportions. Satan has controlled the earth, and the sea. He has been the prince of this world.
Now God puts His foot down. He puts his right foot on the sea, his left on the land.
Why? Because the earth and all that is in it belongs to the Lord. This demonstrates sovereign authority in judgment over the whole earth. A symbolic anticipation of what will come in the seventh trumpet and the seven bowls.
The first series of judgments judge one fourth of the world judged. The second series judged one-third. The angel putting his foot on the sea and his foot on the land, and the judgment is going to be the whole world. V 3, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices.
Reflects again the awesomeness of the power and the authority of the representative of God. This angel has come to execute God’s final judgment. His form is massive, and his voice is as well. Number of Old Testament prophets predicted such a cry would come in the time of final judgment.
Jeremiah 25:29-30, For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’ 30 “Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: ‘The Lord will roar from on high, And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
God is going to roar.
Hosea 11:10, Joel 3:16, Amos 1:2, Amos 3:8. Here is a glorious, mighty angel, garbed in judgment garb, coming with fiery legs and feet to stamp out the judgment of God. In his hand he has the title deed to do this. It maps out his directions and the course of the judgment which it is to follow.
He cries with this loud voice like a thundering lion roaring. Associated with that are seven peals of thunder uttering their voices. Thunder is also associated often with judgment. When the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines, confused them, and they were routed.
1 Samuel 7:10, Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel.
Revelation 6:1, and 8:5, thunder is a harbinger of judgment.
Why seven peals of thunder? Seven is the number of completeness, finality, perfection, like all the other sevens in the book of Revelation. 2. Unusual answer. V 4, Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying]to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.”
Why would he ask to seal?
Revelation 1:11, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
Revelation 1:19, Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. John was told to write.
Now before he could write, he said seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them. John started out to write; the thundering voice of God coming out of heaven said, “Don’t do it.” Are we sure it was the voice of God?
No, we don’t really know who it is. Such thunderous voices from heaven could be from God.
Revelation 14:13, Then I heard a voice from heaven saying [i]to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”
Revelation 18:4, And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.
It could be God. It could be Christ. It could be another angel, but certainly the source is God. The Lord who gave the original command to write is the Lord who now He uses an angel to speak. The point is it’s too terrifying and frightening. The nature of the judgment is too fearful. “Don’t write it.”
The things he did write is frightening and imagine the things he didn’t write, even more so.
Daniel 8:26-27, “And the vision of the evenings and mornings Which was told is true; Therefore seal up the vision, For it refers to many days in the future.” 27 And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterward I arose and went about the king’s business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it.
There are times when God just wasn’t to tell everything. “Don’t write this.” That’s very unusual; but this was the command of God.
Revelation 22:10, And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. John was told to write in the beginning, he was told to make sure that nobody covered up what he wrote at the end but this little part he can’t write: “Conceal it, don’t reveal it.”
There are things that we cannot understand. There are things that God has chosen not even to reveal to us, and this falls into that category.
Job 37:5, “God thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend.”
This restriction is followed by an unusual announcement. V 5, The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven This is a sign of a pledge. This angel has got this little book in his hand, and he is standing on the land and the sea.
Now he lifts up his right hand, which means the little book is in the left hand. This is a sign of an oath or a pledge. This verb that’s used here is used technically of raising the hand to swear, like you would
do in a court of law, the standard gesture for taking a solemn vow. Same word used in Daniel 12:7. The hand is lifted toward heaven.
Why? Because it is where God dwells. You are vowing before God that you are going to speak the truth. So, the angel lifts up his hand to heaven as if to say before God, “I speak the truth.” V 6, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, The angel takes a vow, takes a solemn oath.
James 5:12, “Do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes, your no be no,” and so forth.
This doesn’t contradict the passage. But this is not wrong to do this. It’s not wrong because a holy angel did it. A holy being acting on behalf of the purpose of God would only be swearing as God willed.
➢ He is not mortal. ➢ He is not sinful. ➢ He is not subject of foolish oaths and hasty allegiances. This is a solemn and holy vow before God from one who would only do what was right. Swearing on that level is not wrong.
Hebrews 6:13, For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
God take oaths and make solemn pledges before God is because of the folly of our own hearts, and because we don’t always know what God’s will is, and we can’t always perform our vows. But this angel swears by God who is described as Him who lives forever and ever. He is the eternal God, not bounded by time.
Described as the creator God, the one who created heaven and everything in it, earth and everything in it, the sea and everything in it. The Almighty Creator, God.
What does he promise? There shall be delay no longer.
Why doesn’t God break the silence?
Why are we so long in waiting for God to do what He’s going to do? Answer, “There will be delay no longer.” Judgment has come. This is the final act. The last plagues of the day of the Lord are at hand, no more delay. The time anticipated in the question of the disciples in Matthew 24:3 and Acts 1:6 has now come.
The prayers of the saints of all the ages and those under the altar in Revelation 6:9-11 are now to be answered. All the time that Christians have said, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” are now answered.
This is the end. The last series of judgments is to unfold. V 7, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.
In the days of the blowing of the seventh trumpet, the finale will come. When the seventh angel sounds, in Revelation 11:15, the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He reigns forever and ever.
So, we are on the brink right here. “Then the mystery of God is finished.” Mystery, meaning “to shut” or “to close.” The mysteries were the most venerated part of ancient religions, the inner secrets that only the elite ever knew.
The word “mystery” comes over into the New Testament to speak of things that God hasn’t revealed. The mystery here is the very one we have been talking about Why God don’t intervene. When will You intervene? When will You act?
In the New Testament the word “mystery” then is connected to truths that were so high only God knew them, and He could reveal them. And did reveal them in His own time. They were not revealed until Christ came. They were not revealed until the New Testament was formed.
They are secrets kept from people in the past and revealed in the New Testament.
Romans 16:25-26, Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began 26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—
The mysteries hidden in the past are now revealed in the New Testament. The New Testament reveals many of them. ➢ The mysteries of the kingdom, Matthew 13. ➢ The mystery of Israel’s blindness, Romans 11. ➢ The mystery of the rapture, 1 Corinthians 15.
➢ The mystery of lawlessness, 2 Thessalonians 2:7. ➢ The mystery of Christ, Ephesians 3. ➢ The mystery of Christ in you, Colossians 1. ➢ The mystery of godliness, that is God and man one in Christ, 1 Timothy 3:16. ➢ The mystery of God’s will, Ephesians 1:9-10.
Here is the mystery of the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven, things in earth, the final consummation. He says this mystery, although unrevealed, was preached to His servants the prophets. Prophets wrote about it.
The Old Testament prophets wrote about the final consummation, the final day of the Lord, the final coming of God in flaming fire and judgment, and salvation, deliverance, and kingdom for His people. The destruction of sinners in the establishment of the glorious righteous kingdom on earth.
The prophets have been saying that throughout the Old Testament.
Amos 3:7, “Surely the Lord does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets.”
God won’t do things that He hasn’t revealed. They saw it coming.
- Daniel saw it,
- Ezekiel saw it,
- Isaiah saw it,
- Zechariah saw it,
- Joel saw it.
But much was hidden and not revealed until the New Testament and now in the New Testament much revealed here in the book of Revelation. The angel says, “It is now time, delay no longer God is going to act.”
Isaiah 11:9, They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. At the time this revelation is read by believers in the future, the earth will be full of satanic enterprises, demons running everywhere, murder, sexual perversion, drugs, sorceries, thefts, all hell dominating human society, men dropping dead, executed by demons.
Here comes the promise that God is going to step in and intervene. He is going to bring this whole thing to a screeching halt. The delay is over. Right now, we live in that delay. Judgment is held back. But somewhere, somewhere beyond the starry sky there stands a herald angel with a final trumpet in his hand. Somewhere behind the scenes that we can see he is waiting to hear the decree of the Lord God Almighty.
There is a day, there is an hour, there is a moment, there is an appointed time when that angel shall sound, and the world will become Christ’s. The mystery of God will be over. ✓ God will say to Satan, “This is your destruction.”
✓ God will say to evil, “This is your last dominion.” ✓ God will say to demons, “This is your last liberty.” ✓ God will say to godless men, “This is your last hope.” ✓ God will say to believers, “This is your last suffering.”
It’s coming. 3. Assignment. V 8-11, Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book 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 and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
In V 7, that the mystery of God is finished. John is so involved in the vision, and he must go and take the book. John is right there, and, in the vision, he is instructed to take this book and eat it, because it’s going to have a very graphic way of illustrating a proper response to what is going on.
Ezekiel chapter 2, where the son of man Ezekiel is told to take a scroll that was extended to him written on the front and the back, lamentations, mourning, and woe.
Ezekiel 3:1-3, Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill
your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness. Almost a parallel text. It’s the idea of taking in the word of God.
What is the point of eating it? Just to illustrate how sweet it is when someone devours its truth.
Why is it sweet? Because like all believers, John is waiting for the Lord to act. Ezekiel, waiting for God to act, when he heard that God was going to act, found it sweet. But when Israel rejected, it became bitter. John takes in the word that God is going to act, and it’s sweet in his taste, but it turns bitter in his stomach, because he stops to think about what’s going to happen.
Psalm 119:103, How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth! Paul experienced that bitterness in Romans chapter 9. He certainly found the Word of God sweet, but it had a terrible bitterness, because in it came judgment on Israel.
The bitterness ran so deep in the heart of Paul that he could almost have wished himself accursed when he knew what was going to happen to Israel, if only they could be saved. Even God weeps with tears. Ezekiel weeps with tears over the disaster that is coming.
We have this double effect. John takes it and he eats it. It’s sweet but in his stomach it turns bitter. When I think about the coming of Christ, it has a sweetness. ➢ It means my Christ is glorified. ➢ It means He takes over the world, destroying Satan and demons.
➢ It means the kingdom comes, sin is conquered, salvation is revealed, Christ reigns. That’s sweet. But it also means blood and wrath and vengeance and judgment and hell. Anyone who loves Christ can sense what John was experiencing here. The blessings of God are sweet. Every message of hope, of blessing, of glory, liberty, salvation of goodness and every promise of heaven is sweet.
Every touch of love, every kiss of grace is sweet. But the bitterness of judgment. V 11, And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” Warn men. ➢ Tell them of the bitter. ➢ Tell them of the sweet.
➢ Tell them what’s in the seventh trumpet. ➢ Tell them what’s in the seventh bowl and all the ones preceding it. ➢ Tell them to taste the honey and avoid the bitter. Repeat what you have heard to peoples and nations, in all languages. That is the call.
That is the Great commission. The assignment.” In this wonderful chapter of interlude there is certainly hope. And the whole message of consummation to us who have asked the question, “How long, O Lord, how long?” is hopeful.
Christ will be exalted, the kingdom come, hope realized, sin dethroned, Satan imprisoned with all his hosts, and the earth
filled with righteousness, the righteousness of God and Christ on the throne. But the bitterness, the price that sinners will pay. Like John we must preach, again, warning people, warning nations in all languages, even people in authority like kings.
An interlude of hope with a serious touch of bitterness, calling us to evangelistic responsibility.