Revelation 10:1-2a, “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. And in his hand was a small scroll, which he had unrolled.”
I saw (eidon) (4:1;7:1,9;15:5;18:1;19:1) marks the beginning of a new vision. Here we shall examine the Angel and the small scroll. Some have said that this angel refers to Christ but this cannot be, because Christ would never swear as we shall see later by Himself on Himself in any matter or fashion. This has to be seen here as another angel more than likely the same angel mentioned in the trumpet. This is strengthened by the fact that throughout Revelation John gives a specific name to Christ such as Alpha and Omega to show that it is in fact Christ that is speaking. This is strengthened further because to add another Second Coming is not in according with biblical descriptions of the Second Coming (Matthew 24:30;25:31;2 Thess 1:7-8)
Having thus introduced the angel we thus gain an understanding from Exodus of John’s imagery. Robed with a cloud would refer to the power, majesty and glory and the fact that this angel comes bringing judgment. Clouds are associated with the second coming of Christ in judgment (1:7;14:14-16;Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26;14:62; and Luke 21:27). Marvin Vincent points out about the rainbow (Iris) that, “The Greek goddess who personified the rainbow, and served as a messenger of the gods. In classical Greek iris was used to describe any bright halo surrounding another object, such as the circle surrounding the eyes on a peacock’s tail, or the iris of an eye.” Here thought it is best seen as describing the many colored rainbow surrounding the angel’s head that reflects his splendor. The cloud symbolizes judgment, the rainbow represents God’s covenant mercy in the midst’s of judgment. God gave the rainbow as sign of His covenant with His people never to destroy the world by water (Gen 9:12-16). The rainbow is used here to demonstrate God’s compassion to the believers here who are being persecuted. Malachi 3:16-4:2 demonstrates this same sort of dual covenant promise of mercy to His people in the midst’s of judgment. His face like the sun (18:1) could refer back to Moses (Exodus 34:29-35) or to the fact that the Shechinah glory of God “who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see” (1 Tim 6:16), for He said to Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! (Ex 33:20). The background of Exodus is here used to describe the angels feet. It draws back imagery that the angel’s legs would recall the pillar of fire and cloud that gave both protection (Exodus 14:19,24) and guidance (Exodus 13:21-22) to the children of Israel in their wilderness journey. As Farrer points out, “The description of the angel fits his message: the bow recalls God’s promise through Noah, the pillar of fire God’s presence in the wilderness, and the scroll the tablets of stone.”
Little scroll (biblaridion) is different than the one mentioned in chapter 5 in the sense that the one mentioned in chapter 5 is referring to the seals, trumpets and the bowls being unleashed upon mankind. This scroll here is symbolic since John was to eat it which is shown here by this phrase which lay open in his hand. The little book lying open in this angel’s hand refers to the divine judgment that is yet to come.
Revelation 10:2b-3, “He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. And he gave a great shout, like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered.”
That the angel’s feet are planted with his right foot on the sea and his left food on the land shows God’ sovereign authority to judge the entire earth (7:2; Exodus 20:4, 11; Psalm 69:34), which He will soon take back from the usurper, Satan. Paul wrote, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains” (1 Cor 10:26). The shout of the roar of a lion brings to mind imagery from Jeremiah 25:30, “The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth.” Seven speaks completeness, finality and perfection. Thunder is often a harbinger of judgment in Scripture (8:5;11:19;16:18;1st Samuel 2:10;2ndSamuel 22:14; Psalm 18:13; John 12:28-30) .
Revelation 10:4, “When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But a voice from heaven called to me: "Keep secret what the seven thunders said. Do not write it down."
This again draws back to Chapter 1. We now see the Apostle John widening the story here so that we will gain a better understanding of the unfolding events. John was told to write down what he heard in 1:10-11 to all the seven churches. John would later be commissioned to write down what he saw in his visions (14:13; 19:9; 21:5). He heard a voice from heaven (v.8; 11:1214:2, 13;18:4) saying "Keep secret what the seven thunders said. Do not write it down."
Revelation 10:5-7, “Then the mighty angel standing on the sea and on the land lifted his right hand to heaven. And he swore an oath in the name of the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, "God will wait no longer. But when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets."
The emphasis here is upon what the angel was about to do. To make an oath on the name of heaven is to take an oath upon the name of the Lord (Deut 32:40; Daniel 12:7), which shows us that absolute seriousness of this angel’s mission. The bible does not forbid the taking of vows, but rather the evasive swearing of oaths with the intent to deceive (as the Scribes and Pharisees did;(Matthew 23:16-22) Scripture records the oaths of such godly people as Abraham (Genesis 21:25-31) ,Isaac (Gen 26:26-31), David (1 Samuel 20:12-17), and the apostle Paul (Acts 18:18). Further the Bible records that God Himself has taken oaths (Gen 22:16-18; Luke 1:73; Acts 2:30; Hebrews 6:13).
Created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it shows the scope of God’s creative power is all-encompassing (Gen 1:1; Ex 20:11; PSS 33:6; 102:25;115:15; 124:8; 134:3; 146:5; Isa 37:16; 42:5; Jer 32:17; 51:15). God will wait no longer answers the question of “How Long” from (6:10) and the prayers of the saints in 8:3-5. But when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets which of course focus on the fact that with the seventh trumpet comes the remaining seven bowl judgments.
God’s mysterious includes the mysteries of the kingdom (Matthew 13:11), the mystery of Israel’s blindness (Romans 11:25), the mystery of the Rapture (1 Cor 15:51), the mystery of lawlessness (2nd Thess 2:7), the mystery of Christ (Ephesians 3:4), and of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32), the mystery of Christ in the believer (Col 1:26-27), and the mystery of the Incarnation (1st Tim 3:16). The mystery of God refers therefore to God’s hidden plan to reveal all things in relation to His Son.
Revelation 10:8-11, “Then the voice from heaven called to me again: "Go and take the unrolled scroll from the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."
So I approached him and asked him to give me the little scroll. "Yes, take it and eat it," he said. "At first it will taste like honey, but when you swallow it, it will make your stomach sour!" So I took the little scroll from the hands of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but it made my stomach sour. Then he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."
The emphasis here is on obedience. John could not be handed the scroll, he had to go and take it from the angel. It is the same with us in the Christian life; we must extend our hand to the Lord as He offers us His plan and purpose. It is the same with His gift of salvation, we can either choose to accept that fact that He has redeemed us or we can deny it for this decision is ours. The acts of eating the scroll symbolizes the absorbing and assimilating of God’s Word (Psalm 19:10; Jer 15:16; Ezek 3:1-3). The scroll tasted sweet because John knew the reality of what the ensuing judgment would bring about, a new heaven and a new earth but at the same time bitter because he knew that this world’s time was over.
"You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings is best now seen as the second commissioning of the Apostle John to again write. John was now commissioned to write all of the rest of the prophecies that would be revealed to him. Within these few verses which we have examined today we gain in insight into God’s character. We see that God comforts the persecuted church during the tribulation just as He does today. We also see that His wrath while unlimited is focused. We see that unlike what our society would like to portray God as; He is still compassionate while still executing His justice. Furthermore, despite the fact that our society would like to paint our God as weak we know Him to be anything but weak. We know our God to be of boundless strength of infinite power. This power will soon be on display in its fullness in the bowl judgments. The coming of our Lord to defeat the powers of darkness is soon nearing. Are you ready? Are you rejoicing? He is about to break His silence and when He does; His justice, His sovereignty, and His infinite power will be forever more. Even so come Lord Jesus, come.
Pastor David
