A word for John, Chapter 10
Break. Chapter 10 serves , among other things, as an introduction to the last trumpet, just as 8:1-5 builds up to the last seal.
A Mighty Angel (10:1). There is a little more background in chapter 10, mostly John’s own personal matters. First another angel is introduced to the readers (10:1). No name is given, as with most of the angels, though he is considered “mighty.” I believe it is proper to assume that angels, however mighty, are mostly nameless for us lest we fall into the trap of honoring the messengers above the Message and the One Who gave the Message, Jesus.
A little book (10:2). It is open, ready to be used. See its identity below under 10:8-11.
This particular messenger, with the way he is dressed, and the appearance of his face, and the lion-like sound of his voice (10:3), sorely tempts us to say, “Jesus!” But even John, who has a problem with identity from time to time, does not believe this angel is Deity. It would seem though that he is a favored creation of God, for the rainbow-like aura around his head echoes the very appearance of the Throne of God (4:3)! How many marvelous messengers there must be and how thrilling the prospect of fellowship with them one day!
The seven thunders (10:3-4). Just after the angel “roars” there is a mysterious sound in the heavens, censored for all time. John may have recalled a similar experience in his own life with the Master, one he told us about in John 12:27-31. There the voice was clear in the ears of Jesus, attuned to the Father’s every Word. The crowd heard only thunder. In the passage before us, John hears clearly what was said, though the sound was a thundering.
There is a precedent for a thundering God in Job’s words (Job 37:4-5). “...He thunders with His majestic voice...God thunders marvelously with His voice…” Already in Revelation (4:5) we have seen thunderings proceeding from the Throne. Since we may be talking here about the voice of God, perhaps there is a tie-in between seven thunders and the seven Spirits of God we have seen several times. If those Spirits are Divine, or even if they are angelic, they surely speak what God wants spoken. And John is told that the message here is for John only, as indeed most of this chapter seems to be.
Although we may not know until glory what the seven thunders said, there is a message that follows this thundering, of great importance, in my estimation. In fact, we recall a similar scene in the book of Daniel! Daniel 12:5-7 records a conversation between Daniel and some Heavenly beings. They are discussing the time of Daniel’s prophecy. Incredibly the angels report to us the same time period as is discussed throughout Revelation: “a time, times, and half a time.” This phrase is widely seen to be three and one half years, as in 1 year + 2 years + 1/2 year. The striking thing about Daniel’s account is that there is a “man” there holding up hands to Heaven and swearing by God that this is true. So here in 10:5-6 a hand is raised, and a monumental promise is sealed with a similar oath.
The statement is made to John (10:7) that when the seventh or last trumpet sounds, the mystery of God is finished. Within that final trumpet (11:15-19) we see the coming again of Christ. That fits perfectly with statements by Jesus and Paul regarding the sounding of a trumpet (yes, the last trumpet) in the end of all things. Please compare:
Jesus (Matthew 24:31): [immediately after the tribulation] “...He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds.” This event is known by the modern term rapture.
Paul (I Thessalonians 4:16): “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God… we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” This event is also known as a rapture. It is the same event!
Again Paul (I Corinthians 15:51-52): “We...shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised.” Sounds again like the identical happening!
Let’s add in John again (Revelation 10:7, 11:15): “In the days of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God [will] be finished…. Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven…” I wonder if those voices are our own, announcing the kingdom coming to earth. What a GLORIOUS day!
The Little Book (10:8-11). There is a large book in the hand of the One on the Throne (5:1). Included in that larger Book, the purposes of God for His people, is this small book, the purposes of God for John. I think it not too far-fetched to say that there is a little book for all of God’s true members. A personal scroll. An outline of the word I am to speak, and to whom. A true delight to receive, for it is mine, my reason to be. What a sweet meal to receive from the Lord. But of course, digesting the book is something else. Can it be that every child of God, to be ultimately successful, must must experience some bitter results from the Sweet Word here on Earth?
The eating of a sweet book with troubling aftertaste takes us back to brother Ezekiel who was also told to eat a sweet scroll (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3). Ezekiel is told by this symbolism that he will be preaching whatever word the Lord gives him (Ezekiel 3:4-6). The bad news is that Israel will not hear (Ezekiel 3:7-9). We are told later in that same chapter 3 that the Spirit lifted Ezekiel up, took him away, and he went in “bitterness of spirit” even though the Word had been sweet to him just moments before! One cannot help but draw the conclusion that our brother John is being told the same thing: To hear and understand and believe God’s Word is sweet, but produces difficult events when preached to others.
“How sweet,” says brother David (Psalm 119:103) “are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” But share it with others, even family members sometimes, and see the result. Those who even share your love of Christ and His Word can become an enemy if your sweetness of taste does not match theirs.
The Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:16) speaks of finding and eating the words of God, words which became the joy and rejoicing of his heart. But Jeremiah’s sufferings included threats on his life, destruction of his personal scroll of the Word of God, imprisonment, placement in a miry dungeon, exile in Egypt. He lived a life of depression and weeping for the sinful nation of Israel, prefiguring with his constant mourning the Son of God who would likewise weep over Jerusalem.
John then is not the first and neither will he be the last, to have God’s Words sweeten His tongue and then turn to bitter experiences in his life. We have only tradition upon which to rely about the very end of John’s life. The stories are so varied as not to be worthy of repeating here. Needless to say his life was not a pleasant one after having received such an extensive revelation from God.
May all of this be a reminder to those who crave to know God’s Word above all else. Add to all of the above, Paul’s “thorn” after his own revelation of the majesty of heaven, and we are left pondering Jesus’ message about counting the cost. Yes, John, you will have a great ministry delivering these words to the church. But the price for such a privilege will be high .
Close-up :
Jerusalem -The Temple and Sacrifices
(11:1-2a)
Chapter 11 opens with scenes that seem to take place during this 6th-trumpet period, but which also give us a sense of what is happening during the entire Tribulation.
Much like a man in Ezekiel 40:3, John is told to measure the temple. Understand that he is measuring a temple during the tribulation hour. There is a real altar and there are real worshipers. And realize that this is long before the Millennium, described in chapter 20. It would seem that the Jews, who so desire a holy edifice on their Temple Mount, will be able finally to erect it, and begin their sacrificial system again. Yes, this is not only possible, but it seems to me assured in this passage, and in Daniel 9:26-27. Negotiations regarding the Temple Mount in our day are the major sticking point on any covenant with the Holy Land. But the time will come when a truly measurable, physical Temple will emerge out of the constant wrangling and negotiating. I think it unwise to allegorize passages such as these. Anything that can be measured can be seen and touched. There is another temple coming. In fact, 2 or 3...
Ezekiel prophesied a Temple to come, and the two that have been built since his prophecy have not measured up to his measurements. Zerubbabel’s Temple, told of in the book of Ezra and built after the Persians released captive Israel, is not Ezekiel’s temple. And Herod’s, still being completed after 46 years of work during the ministry of Jesus, is also not Ezekiel’s Temple. The actions, the leadership, and other details promised by him have simply not come to pass. Consider:
In Ezekiel 40:2, the prophet is taken to a high mountain, as is John in Revelation 21:10. Both men see a city. Though John at first says he sees no temple, he says immediately that he does see a temple, namely the Lord Himself! Ezekiel, though, describes a house in great detail, but in chapter 43, the glory of the Lord overshadows that House, 43:5, “the glory of the Lord filled the temple.” Ezekiel is told that here will be the place of God’s Throne (43:7). John is told the same thing in Revelation 22:3. Both Ezekiel and John see healing waters in that city (Ezekiel 47:1-8 and Revelation 22:1-2). Ezekiel sees that water flowing from “under the right side of the temple” (47:1).
The temple of the first 1000 years seems to be an actual building, a house, as seen not only by Ezekiel, but by Isaiah and Micah : “Come ye let us go up to the HOUSE of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:2-4, Micah 4:1-3) . It seems that at the Great White Throne Judgment, when earth and Heaven flee away, and the Kingdom reverts to God the Father from God the Son (I Corinthians 15:24), that all physical manifestations of a “house” are done away, and replaced by the fullness of the glory of God in the new heavens and new earth.
All through Revelation there is reference to a Temple in Heaven:
3:12, I’ll make him a pillar in the TEMPLE of my God. Paul (Ephesians 2:19-22) refers to the fact that we are being built into a holy temple.
7:14-15, The redeemed are before the Throne day and night in His Temple. He Who sits on the Throne will eventually live among them on earth (Revelation 21:3).
11:19, The temple of Heaven is seen along with the true Ark of the Covenant. All earthly tents and buildings demanded were pictures of this true temple (Hebrews 9:11).
14:15, An angel comes out of the Temple to start the threshing process. The same Temple is mentioned in 15:5-8 and 16:1, 17.
Add to this the statement that Jesus made about raising up the Temple (His Body) in three days (John 2:18-22). And Habakkuk’s “The Lord is in His Holy Temple, Let all the earth keep silent before Him”(Habakkuk 2:20). Then Paul: “The Lord does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 7:48, 17:24, from Isaiah 66:1). You now have a head-full of facts that God will eventually put in order. Remember that every word of God is pure. Every one of these facts will come to pass. There is a Temple in Heaven. It has come to earth in picture form via the Jews’ holy structures, the Messiah Himself, and His Church. It will be visible once again for one thousand years after Jesus comes. Then the purely Heavenly Tabernacle will engulf all (Revelation 21:3). Yes, thank God for the day when “The tabernacle (Holy Place) of God is with man,” as in Revelation 21:3, which records the final manifestation of God’s House.
Sacrifices (11:1). But, you say, Jewish sacrifices are not effective any longer! True, and I’ll go you one more: They never were! All sacrifices pointed to the sacrifice, Jesus. The Jews of our day do not, by and large, accept Jesus’ sacrifice, and many of them wish to return to Moses’ rituals in Moses’ ordained place. Their wishes will be granted.
What will be the political price to Israel for such a move on the part of the world community? See verse 2!
Jerusalem internationalized (11:2a). The measuring continues, but is not to include the court outside the temple, where the people gather. This verse indicates in fact that the entire city is to be internationalized. Not just Palestinians here, but Gentiles of every stripe. So, whoever is in charge has made a major deal here. A peace treaty, to stop the suicide bombers, the constant threat of war. You can have your temple if the world can have Jerusalem. Agreed! A desperate Israel, tired of its role as the world’s trouble-maker, in a masterful public relations move, makes its city a place for the world to emulate, while Judaism returns to its dead ritual. The one who makes this deal will be hailed far and wide as the “man of peace” though his other conquests will soon bring him other titles.
Following this background piece is another one explaining the “three and one half years.”
