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“The Bittersweet Truth” • 9.20.20 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- As we enter into chapter 10, we enter into a second "parenthetical" section. Six of the seven trumpets have been blown, the seventh will not be blown until we reach the end of chapter 11.
- This leaves us with a little bubble of relative quiet which God uses to reveal some of His other gracious measures that were being employed during this time.
- In chapter 7, our first "parenthesis," God unveiled the presence of 144,000 sealed witnesses, Jewish evangelists that were effective in reaching a global harvest of souls.
- Chapter 10 is "the calm before the final storm" where we witness the announcement of God's final intentions for this rebel planet. At the same time, there is a very personal touch added here.
- John has just witnessed horrors that would traumatize any first century man! When Daniel saw similar visions in Daniel 10, he confessed to not having any strength left in him! (Daniel 10:17)
- What we are about to see is for John specifically and for those of us who live before these times. In light of the frightening truths of humanity's future, what is our responsibility? Verse 1.
Text
• Revelation 10:1 : "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." : John is taken by the vision of yet another mighty, "forcible," angel. I'm not sure that there are any weak angels, but this angel certainly isn't!
- It's sort of funny that he is encircled by a cloud! This is a mighty angel wearing a proverbial Tutu! "What, no armor!? No firepower!?"
- His clothing aside, his head is adorned with a rainbow. His face was bright, like the sun and his feet looked to John as if they were pillars or posts made of fire!
- What an interesting set of symbols! We'll come to discover that this angel appears for the purpose of delivering a message and his clothes illustrate what his message will communicate.
- I'm grateful that he is coming "down from heaven!" I think that we have all had enough of what comes "up from the earth!" This is a heavenly ambassador. Let's think about these symbols.
- When I think about clouds from a Biblical perspective, I think first, of the Lord coming in the clouds, mostly because that is what I most look forward to! I'll be with Him! (Revelation 1:7)
- However, generally "the cloud" was a symbol of the Lord's presence. When the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, the cloud led them by day.
- The Bible tells us that when the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud would stand over the top and would remain. The people would stay until the cloud was taken up. (Exodus 40:36,37)
- Numbers 9:22 relays the fact that this period could be two day, a month or a year's time!
- When one thinks about the rainbow, the symbology must bring one's mind back to the favor shown to man after the flood, when God chose the rainbow to be a sign of His promise.
- Genesis 9:11-17 marks the initiation of this covenant that God made with Noah.
- We noted in Revelation 4:3 that there is a full rainbow that encircles the Throne of God, meaning that God is the One who will always be faithful to His covenant promises!
- This angel's face shone brightly as the sun. That symbol of light, especially in a world darkened by rebellion and hatred, shone that much more brightly to the Apostle.
- Even in a world where the natural lights are dimmed by God's judgment, God has His way of shining through and allowing the light to penetrate through the darkness!
- John notes finally, that his feet were similar to fiery posts, the pillars of fire! What a nice way to bring this description full circle. The cloud led the nation of Israel by day, a pillar of fire led by night!
- The pillar of fire gave them light and revealed the way that they should go should the Lord lead them by night. (Nehemiah 9:19)
- John moves on from the description of this angel to what he brought with him. Verse 2.
• Revelation 10:2-4 : "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, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. 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.'" : John continues his description by noting the little book or booklet that the angel had. Almost every other version translates this as a "little scroll."
- This "little scroll" is 100 percent from heaven and thus, it carries profound, eternal weight! John will not provide any more clarity about it, leaving every commentator room to speculate.
- Some have believed it to be the "Title Deed" to the Earth or the scroll of chapter 5. Others believe it to be the scroll which reveals all of God's final dealings with mankind. Either could be true.
- What is interesting is where this angel sets his feet. His right foot is on the sea, his left foot on the land. Deuteronomy 11:24 records that wherever Israel put their foot would belong to them.
- The recording of that detail expresses a similar entitlement. The Lord owns the land and the sea! He has proven that conclusively over the last several chapters.
- Now, as the angel is properly stationed upon that which God owns, he spoke out with a loud voice. In ancient times, a King would send his courier to stand where He ruled.
- That is the role that this angel is fulfilling, as he opens the scroll and speaks out God's decree for all to hear. Like an ancient herald, the angel's voice roar out like a lion.
- It is a distinct and authoritative sound and it echoes as thunder echoes when it strikes, which had messages attached to them that could be heard in the physical world.
- Naturally, John undertook to record what was being said. He has been writing the things "that would be." He hasn't skipped anything and he wasn't about to start now!
- But this time, God forbids John from recording what the voices were saying. God intended him to hear them, but did not intend for him to share them!
- Personally, I just want to thank the Lord that he has given every one of us who teach the word a "pass!" He knows that we can't take another "SEVEN!"
- Of course, this also illustrates an important point regarding the Bible. Our knowledge of what God wants us to know is sufficient and complete, but not exhaustive!
- What we know about Revelation thus far represents all that we need to know. What God will do in totality is kept to His own secret counsel!
- I say this for the benefit of those who believe that they are such "experts" in all things Bible, that they feel that there is not much that God could do that would surprise them!
- I remind you that at His right hand, there are pleasures forever more! (Psalm 16:11)
- At the same time, for those that believe that they have readied themselves to endure through all of God's judgments, let me remind you that He is endlessly creative!
- What He doesn't reveal could be far more dreadful than what He has already revealed! Moses told the people of God to keep this in mind when relating to the Lord.
• Deuteronomy 29:29 : "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." : God has given us enough to know to be able to obey Him!
- Aside from that, can you imagine the burden that John carried for the rest of his life!? "C'mon John, just tell me what the seven thunders said! I won't tell anyone!"
- John may have needed to hear these things for his own walk and his final days upon the Earth. I imagine that this was exactly God's purpose in letting Him hear this. Verse 5.
• Revelation 10:5-7 : "The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 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, 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." : This is a very interesting and telling moment. The angel raised up his hand to heaven and swore. When you think of this, what does it remind you of? The angel is taking an oath!
- He is raising his hand to offer testimony, sealing it by the truth of heaven! This brings me to need to speak about identification.
- There are some in the body of Christ who believe that this "angel" is none other than Jesus Christ. But there are some key differences in my estimation.
- First, this angel is identified as "another" mighty angel. That word "another" refers to another of the same kind or order.
- Second, the book that he holds is distinct by it's definition of being a small book. If it was the book that had been sealed that Jesus opened, John would have used that language to describe it.
- Third, in a book that is a revelation of Jesus Christ, why would John NOT reveal that this is Jesus Christ!? That doesn't make any sense at all!
- Plus, if the second coming is defined by the Lord actually touching the planet, this event in chapter 10 would be the second coming and that messes everything up!
- We know exactly where the Lord will set His feet: The mount of Olives, Zechariah 14:4!
- Finally though, the fact that this angel swears by another, by the Lord, let's me know definitively that this cannot be Jesus! Jesus, being God, has no need to swear by another!
- Jesus can swear by His own Name! This angel certainly represents the Lord, but he is most definitely an angel! Look carefully at his theology. He swears by the Eternal One!
- Our God lives forever and ever! He will never diminish or weaken! Long after everything else perishes, God will continue to be what He has always been!
- The angel swears by the Creator! Surprise! This angel does not believe in evolution! He believes that God created the heavens, the earth, the sea and the life in them all!
- God is responsible for all life and is the Lord of all creation! From Genesis to Revelation, this is the consistent message! The angel swears by God for what purpose?
- He calls upon men to understand that their time to decide who they will serve is coming to a close! "There will be no further delay!" That sounds ominous.
- "You mean, God has been delaying!?" God has not thoroughly expelled His wrath! No! There has been a gracious delay! Why? Why has God always delayed His judgments?
• II Peter 3:9 : "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." : God is not slack. He is not powerless. He is not careless. He is incredibly patient and He desires men to enter into life more than we do!
- The angel is announcing that God will have reached His limits at the seventh trumpet!
- At that time, "the mystery of God would be finished!" What does that mean? The word "mystery" could also be translated, "secret counsel."
- Biblically, a "mystery" was something that could never be understood apart from God's willingness to reveal it! As such, this is a double edged sword.
- All of the hidden knowledge of God about that which He has intended for this earth, would be brought to completion! All will be fulfilled!
- John records this word from the same word family that Jesus used when He said that the work of redemption was finished! In the same way, the entire plan of God will be complete!
- Everything that God warned through His prophets will be complete! Every judgment, every victory over wickedness will be thorough and utterly decisive!
- At this time, I'd have you notice the word "declared." The original word gives us the English word "evangelize." As you know, the word then is indicative of "good news."
- What the angel is saying here is that all the GOOD THINGS that the prophets announced were about to come to pass! Jesus is going to return and set up a Kingdom of righteousness!
- His church will reign with Him and every person on Earth will live under His benevolent rule!
- There were some wonderful things that have yet to transpire, but they are coming! Isn't that wonderful news? As we come to the midpoint of this book, it's good to hear that proclaimed.
- But, it doesn't come without a very sober sense of reality attached. Take a look at verse 8.
• Revelation 10:8-10 : "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.' 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.' 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." : I don't know about you, but if I were John, I'd be a little intimidated to walk up to this angel!
- John is to take the little booklet from the angel. He actually has to tell him, "Give me the little book!" It is an imperitive! It's meant to be an assertive statement!
- The angel looked at John and told him what he was to do with the book. He was to consume it, the word speaking of "devouring!"
- Before John eats it, the angel warns him of the effects that he will will experience. It will end with a bitter stomach, though it will begin with sweetness. That is what John experienced.
- This is one of the stronger correlations between Revelation and the book of Ezekiel.
- In Ezekiel 2:9,10, the prophet sees a scroll that is written front and back, with all of the lamentation, mourning and woe of heaven. God's people had been vile toward their covenant.
- In Ezekiel 3, Ezekiel is commanded to devour that scroll in preparation to speak to the people that God was sending him to, which in his case, were the Israeli captives in Babylon.
- They were people who spoke the same language as he did, yet for all of his authority and clarity, they would not listen to him!
- The words that Ezekiel had ingested began sweet, but the mission of speaking these things to a disobedient people, made the experience bitter! (Ezekiel 3:14)
- The prophet Jeremiah had a similar experience. He had been prophesying about the hopeless doom of Judah. Even Moses and Samuel could not spare the nation! (Jeremiah 15:1)
- Jeremiah realizes that he is living among these people and assumes that he will share their fate! God assures the prophet that He will take care of him.
- This exchange leads Jeremiah to this place of wishing he had never spoken God's word.
• Jeremiah 15:15-17 : "O Lord, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, Nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, For You have filled me with indignation." : When it came to John, it seems to me that the angel is giving the apostle this same commission! He must eat the word. He must ingest it, make it a part of himself.
- For the Christian, the word is sweet and wonderful. The Lord's promises are comforting and we can hardly wait until they come to pass. But then we look around.
- There are people in our lives who refuse to bow their knees to Jesus! They refuse to give over the keys to their hearts and the rights to their lives!
- For them, the good news of God's righteous Kingdom is bad news! This is the way it has always been. Paul talked about this in his second letter to the Corinthians.
• II Corinthians 2:14-16 : "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?" : The sweet part of God's word is the triumph. The picture is of a conqueror that leads His people through the streets of the city that He has just conquered.
- As they moved through, the incense from their torches filled the air and that fragrance means one thing to one group and another thing to another.
- For those that are saved it is life leading to life! For those that are perishing, it is death leading to death! When John ate the Lord's scroll, it produced this exact sentiment.
- The knowledge of God's truth and the unveiling of His completed will produced this in Him and when we eat of His Word, the same thing will happen to us! So, what are we to do? Verse 11.
• Revelation 10:11 : "And he said to me, 'You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.'" : John has one commission. The Word is dwelling in him and while it is sweet, there is a bitterness that follows.
- He is given this command: You must prophesy again! You must speak forth the words of God! This is not an option or a preference. He must be about the repeated business of prophecy!
- At some point, the visions of Revelation are going to end. The book will be completed and John will return from Patmos. When he does, these visions will motivate his service!
- He must call the church to be mindful of the people groups that need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. He must call them to regard every ethnic group as being "redeemable!"
- The church must reach across language barriers and not be afraid to approach any, including those in power, with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ!
- Can you imagine what John was seeing? Can you think of the psychological difficulty that a man faces when he sees such seeming hopelessness?
- Let me also remind you that THIS MAN, John was incredibly aged! He was no spring chicken! We have even supposed him to be near 90 years old!
- But the Lord still has a plan for him and that plan is the same plan that He gave him as a young man! Go into all the world and make disciples of men!
Conclusion
- The God of all Creation is bringing things to a close. All the good
things that He has promised, He will fulfill.
- For us, this is our hope and our heartbeat! For others, it is their doom and death! There is nothing that we can do about that! What can we do? No. What MUST we do!?
- We MUST speak forth God's Word while we have time, praying with each moment that He gives grace and makes our work successful.
- Who knows: It could be words from our mouths that make an eternal difference for some! May it be so!
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