Last week, Mary and I joined 51,904 fans to watch the U of A versus Cal football game. In the midst of a crowd like that, its pretty easy to feel insignificant and to even lose ones sense of identity. Like nearly everyone else, we were dressed in red and even when screaming at the top of our lungs, we could barely hear each other at times as our words were drowned out by the roar of the crowd.
As he continues to record the scenes that God reveals to him, perhaps John felt a bit insignificant himself. In comparison to the scenes of the multitudes worshipping before the throne and to the scenes of massive devastation pictured by the seals and the trumpets, it wouldnt be surprising if John found himself quite overwhelmed by all of this.
But as we come to chapter 10, its as if all the action around him is frozen for a brief period of time so that God can reach down into Johns life and deal with him on a personal level. That says a lot about the nature of God and it is also quite encouraging to us as we go about our daily lives in the midst of the chaos of this world.
Go ahead and turn in your bibles to Revelation 10 and follow along as I read the entire chapter.
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down. 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, Take 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 from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.
This passage contains some really practical and encouraging principles that I want us to focus on this morning. But in order to set the stage for that, let me take just a few moments to quickly overview the passage and point out a few important matters.
A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE PASSAGE
The Mighty Angel:
Is not Jesus
Although some commentators claim that the mighty angel in verse 1 is Jesus, primarily based on the similarities between the description of the angel and the descriptions of Jesus elsewhere in Revelation, the text makes it clear that this cant be Jesus.
First, the word another in verse 1 means another of the same kind and is referring back to the angels in chapter 9 who blew the first six trumpets. Jesus is not merely an angel He is God in the flesh and He is never described as an angel anywhere in the book of Revelation.
And certainly Jesus would have had no need to swear an oath like the angel does in verse 6.
Has universal authority
Three times in this passage, the angel is described as standing on the sea and on the land. This must be a huge angel to be able to do that. This pictures how the angel has been given authority by God over all His creation. That authority is confirmed when God responds to the call of the angel with His thunderous voice from heaven.
The Message:
There will be no more delay
This is the answer to the prayers of the souls of the saints under the altar that we saw with the fifth seal, when they prayed, How long? When the seventh trumpet is blown, God is going to bring to culmination the Day of the Lord cycle which results in the inauguration of Jesus kingdom here on earth. Well see that clearly in a couple of weeks when we get to the seventh trumpet and read these words:
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
Revelation 11:15 (ESV)
God has provided delay after delay for the purpose of allowing man to repent and experience His grace, but those delays are about to end.
The Mystery:
There are two elements of mystery in this passage:
The mystery of Gods revelation to John
When God speaks from heaven, John is about to write down what God has revealed to him, when he is commanded to seal it up and not write it down. I was really amused this week to read several different commentaries that speculated about what it was that God showed John and why He told John not to record it. Those attempts to figure out what God has chosen to hide from us really illustrated to me just how uncomfortable we tend to be with this whole idea that there are just some things that God hasnt yet revealed to us and that we cant figure out. In a sense, were guilty of the same sin that Adam and Eve committed in the Garden the desire to know everything and be like God.
The mystery of Gods plan of redemption and judgment
As weve discussed frequently before, the concept of mystery in the New Testament is not like CSI where a crime has been committed and the police are sifting through the evidence to try and figure out who committed that crime. Mystery, as used in the New Testament refers to something that God has revealed partially in part in the past, but which now finds fuller revelation in the person of Jesus. Perhaps the best explanation of that concept is found in the last chapter of Romans:
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith
Romans 16:25, 26 (ESV)
The mystery of God is His entire plan of redemption and judgment. It was first revealed by the prophets, it was further revealed by Jesus at His first coming and it will see its final fulfillment at His second coming.
The Mandates:
In this passage, John is given four commands, or mandates. Im just going to mention each of these briefly, but we wont spend any time right now looking at these in any detail because they are pretty straight forward.
Seal up Gods revelation
Weve already discussed how John is commanded to seal up what was revealed to him by the thunderous voice of God.
Take the scroll
John is commanded to take the open scroll from the hand of the strong angel.
Eat the scroll
John is then commanded to eat the scroll. Well discuss this some more in a moment.
Prophesy some more
John is told that he must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and languages and kings.
SOME ENCOURAGING APPLICATIONS FOR US
1. Every person is significant to God
Up to this point in Revelation, we could easily get the picture that God is so busy carrying out His plan of redemption and judgment, that He either doesnt have time or isnt concerned about us as individuals. The messages to the churches, the scenes of worship in heaven and the execution of the seal and trumpet judgments all seem so impersonal. We find a lot of numbers mentioned 4 living creatures, 24 elders, multitudes of angels, 144,000 from the tribes of the sons of Israel, a multitude of the redeemed before the throne, of the earth impacted. 1/3 of the earth and of mankind destroyed but nowhere do we see any focus at all on individuals. Nobody is named.
But in the midst of all this, we have another interlude. And this interlude is unique because here God is not merely pausing to provide more general revelation, but rather this time He pauses so that He can deal one on one with John. Perhaps John is a bit overwhelmed by all that he has seen so far I sure know I would be. So God stops to interact with John, both to show John that he has an important role to play in Gods plan, and to encourage John to persevere.
This is a pattern that we see repeated throughout the Bible. While God certainly doesnt need man to carry out His purposes, He gives each of us an opportunity to play a part in that process. And for the most part, He chooses to use ordinary people like you and me:
He uses a murderer with a speech impediment to confront Pharaoh and lead His people out of Egypt.
He uses a prostitute to hide the Israelite spies in Jericho as part of His plan to destroy that city
He entrusts the entire kingdom to a group of fisherman and tax collectors on whom He places the responsibility of developing the church after the ascension of Jesus.
We could easily spend the whole morning doing nothing but looking at other examples of how God uses ordinary people in the process of carrying out His plans, but I think you get the picture.
If youre a Christ-follower, then God also has a unique role to play in His plan of redemption and judgment. He has placed you exactly where He wants you to be and He has given you every tool that you need to accomplish His purposes, plans and ways.
This familiar passage from Ephesians 4 certainly confirms the idea that we all play a significant role in Gods kingdom:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)
We all have a part to play in the building up the body of Christ. In fact, as this passage points out, it is only when each part is working properly that were able to accomplish all that God has for us. Each believer is to be equipped to carry out the work of ministry and God desires that all of us reach spiritual maturity. Each of us is indeed significant to God.
2. Our relationship with God is developed by feeding on the Word of God
The content of the little scroll is another one of those topics in Revelation that gives rise to all kinds of speculation. But again the text really doesnt give us much to go on. About all that we can be sure of is that the scroll contains the words of God in some form.
When John is commanded to eat the scroll, it is clearly intended to be a picture of John taking the word of God and assimilating it into His life. That idea is consistent with other similar pictures that we find in the Old Testament:
Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
Jeremiah 15:16 (ESV)
And he said to me, Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.
Ezekiel 3:1-3 (ESV)
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:103 (ESV)
The idea of eating the scroll is obviously a picture of taking Gods Word deep into our lives. It is surely more than just a casual, cursory reading of His Word that is done merely out of some sense of obligation. Think about what happens when you eat something that you really enjoy. You dont just gulp it down so that you can get it over and go onto something else. You chew it slowly and savor the taste, maybe even trying to see if you can determine what spices were used to flavor the food or even what kind of wood that it might have been grilled over.
Thats exactly how we need to approach Gods Word. We need to chew on it the Bible calls that meditating on Gods Word. We need to savor it and learn everything that we can about that particular passage. We need to see how other passages in the Bible might give flavor to what were reading. And finally we need to assimilate what were learning from that process into our lives.
Paul used a different picture to describe this same process:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
The word dwell there means to take up permanent residence. When we have a baptism at our house and all of you come over to participate in that time, you are guests in our house, but you dont take up permanent residence there thank goodness! Once the fellowship is over, you all leave and go back to your own homes. And since you are our guests, we dont expect you to have any responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of our house. But since Mary and I are permanent residents there, we have daily responsibilities to keep the house clean and livable.
The same applies to Gods Word. If we merely treat it as a guest, then it really doesnt have much permanent impact on our lives. But if it is a permanent resident, then we have to adjust our lives every day in order to maintain them in a manner that is pleasing to God.
There is just no way it is possible to truly feed on Gods Word by merely tasting a morsel every Sunday. That just isnt enough to sustain us all week. We need to be in Gods Word on a daily basis, taking the time to chew over it and savor that which God is revealing to us there.
3. Our obedience identifies us as true Christ followers
In this passage, John is given four commands. We looked at those briefly earlier. And in every single case, John immediately obeyed those commands without questioning God. When God commands Him to seal up the words form the thunderous voice of God, John obeys. When He is commanded to take the scroll, he obeys. When he is commanded to eat the scroll, he obeys. And when he is commanded to go prophesy, he obeys. Well see that next week in chapter 11.
Obeying God is not always easy. In fact, obedience often comes with a very high cost. Again that is a principle that we find all throughout the Bible. But nowhere is that more clearly demonstrated than in the life of Jesus. Early on in His ministry, Jesus spoke these words, knowing the price He would ultimately have to pay in order to be obedient to His Father:
Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
John 4:34 (ESV)
Paul describes the cost of that obedience:
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:8 (ESV)
As John obeyed these commands one after another, I wonder if he was thinking back to these words of Jesus, that he had earlier recorded in his gospel:
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
John 14:21 (ESV)
We can claim to be Christians all that we want; we can say that we love Jesus all that we want. But the true test of whether or not we are truly Christ-followers is whether or not we obey Jesus. It is our obedience of Jesus that distinguishes us from the world around us and serves as a witness to an unbelieving world.
4. Being a Christ-follower is a bittersweet experience
The scroll that John ate was sweet at first, but it made his stomach bitter. Kind of like eating some really spicy Mexican food that tastes great when you eat it, but ends up giving you serious heartburn later.
Isnt that a perfect description of the life of a Christ-follower? There are so many things about that life that are certainly sweet the forgiveness of our sins, the equipping to live our lives on a daily basis, Gods provision, the assurance that well spend eternity in the presence of Jesus. And all of that sweetness is a direct result of feeding on the Word of God where we learn of these wonderful gifts from God.
But there is also a sense in which the Word of God brings bitterness to our lives as well. First of all we experience that in a personal way. As we dig into Gods Word, He often uses it to reveal to us areas of our lives where we have strayed from Gods plan and where we need to make some changes. Most of us are probably familiar with 2 Timothy 3:16, which reveals the purpose of Gods Word in our lives:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness
2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
At least 2 of the four purposes revealed there reproof and correction can be really painful and bitter. Its never pleasant to have our faults pointed out to us and to have to make the appropriate changes in our lives to correct them.
But I think the bitterness that John experienced was much different than that. As he saw Gods plans unfold before Him, he literally became sick to his stomach when he saw the fate of those who refused to repent and turn to God. As he saw people who prayed for the mountains to fall on them so they wouldnt have to come face to face with God, as he saw people try to kill themselves to escape from the demonic torment they faced, as he saw people who were unwilling to repent and to give up their immorality and idolatry, Johns heart had to be broken because he understood their everlasting fate.
Because the Bible very clearly reveals the everlasting fate of those who refuse to repent and turn to God, our hearts should also be broken as we look at those around us who have hardened their hearts and refused to turn to God. Because we know for certain, based on the Scriptures, that death is not an escape, but merely the door to something far worse for unbelievers, our stomachs should be bitter. And that sick feeling in our stomach should be the motivation for us to implement the last principle well look at this morning
5. What we have been given is not just for us it must be passed on to others.
Although God did reveal some things that were for John only and not to be passed on, the main message about Gods plan of redemption and salvation was not something for John to just keep to himself it was to be passed on to others. John is commanded to prophesy again. God is going to give all the peoples of the world one last chance to come to Him before His final judgment is poured out.
Those of us who are Christ-followers have been given a great treasure. But that treasure is not just for our own enjoyment it must be passed on to others. And, as I pointed out last week, we need to have a sense of urgency about doing that.
We may not know exactly when Jesus will return and it will be too late for people to repent and turn to God, but we do know that day is one day closer than it was yesterday. We also dont know when those around us who dont know Jesus will come to the end of their physical lives here and earth and that opportunity to respond to Jesus will be gone. Thats why we must heed these words of Paul:
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15, 16 (ESV)
Last week, I asked you to pray for at least one person who doesnt know Jesus every day for a week. I hope that you made that commitment and followed through on it. I want to challenge you to continue doing that again this week, but I want to also encourage you to add to that prayer request this week. In addition to asking God to work in that persons heart and to draw him or her to Him, I want you to also ask God to make you wise so that you will make the best use of your time as He gives you opportunities to have contact with that other person this week. Ive given you a place on your bulletin to write down the name of that person again as a reminder to pray for him or her this week.
Every person is significant to God. If youre already a Christ-follower, then God wants you to be His co-worker in ushering in His kingdom. In order to be equipped to do that, you need to feed daily on the Word of God and obey what you learn there. But there is also a whole world of unbelievers out there who are significant to God as well. He desires that not one of them perish. That is why we must be urgent in passing on our faith to others.
