Revelation 10 - The Angel And The Little Scroll Series

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.” (Revelation 10 ESV)

If there is one question I am asked more than any question is why God allows sin, why God allows sinners to prosper and succeed, or why God allows Satan and his demons to deceive and destroy. Another way to ask that question is the prayer of the saints in Revelation 6:10. When will God destroy the wicked? When will God halt Satan’s enterprise? We see evil abounding and feel like something must be done. A school shooting where a dozen young lives are robbed from this earth by evil.

There is coming a day, and that day is at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, that the great mystery of a supposedly silent God will end. Before that seventh trumpet is blown, an interlude takes place and that interlude in chapter 10. As we approach chapter 10, I want us to look at this chapter from the standpoint of its uniqueness. It is a very unusual chapter.

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. That is to say, it is not one of the trumpeting angels. Many commentators feel that this is Jesus Christ.

The word “another” here is "allon" in the Greek. It means “another of exactly the same kind as the rest of the angels,” and “another identical angel.” If it were Christ, it wouldn’t be right to use allon, because if you were going to call Christ an angel, it certainly would not be true that He was an angel just like all the rest of the angels, because all the rest of the angels were created. And He is uncreated, as the eternal God. (MacArthur) Furthermore, when John identifies the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation, he’s always clear to give Him an unmistakable title. Nowhere in Revelation is Jesus referred to as an angel.

It is best to see this as another strong angel. It could be Michael. It could be Gabriel. You can read in Daniel chapter 10, Daniel chapter 12, Jude 9, and 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. And angels can have the kind of splendor that this angel has. Look at it. It says he comes down out of heaven, he’s 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 folks think it must be Christ. But there are some angels who had that kind of glory.

I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. (Daniel 10:5 ESV)