Mighty Angel, Little Scroll

I. Introduction
A. Just as there was a two-part interpretative interlude after the sixth seal and before the seventh seal (ch.7), so there is a similar two-part interlude after the sixth trumpet and before the seventh trumpet (the first in chapter 10 and the second in the first half of 11).
1. So, today we are going to look at the first part of this interlude, which actually mentions the “days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel.” And then the second part next week.
B. Rev.10:1-11 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.”
C. So, this leaves us with many questions. Here are the three we are going to grapple with:
1. Who is this angel and what is he promising?
2. What are the seven thunders and why was John prevented from writing about them?
3. What is this little scroll and why is John told to eat it?
II. Who is this angel and what is he promising?
A. 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 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.
B. The first thing to notice here is that this mighty angel is described in terms in which only God is described in the book of Revelation and the rest of Scripture: wrapped in a cloud, face like the sun.
1. In the OT only God alone is in heaven or comes to earth in a cloud. And the same language is used numerous times of Jesus in the NT. We saw this language right at the beginning of Revelation, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.” – Rev.1:7
2. “His face like the sun” is virtually identical to the description of Christ in His transfiguration (Matt.17:2) and in the vision of Rev.1:16: “his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”
C. Another indication that this mighty angel in 10:1 is a divine being is the rainbow over his head. This is similar language used to describe God in Ezek.1:26-28, where the heavenly being, like here in Rev.10, holds a book, which is taken and eaten by a prophet (Ezek.3:1-3).
1. The only other reference to “rainbow” in the NT is in Rev. 4:3, where “a rainbow is around the throne of God. So, it would seem that the rainbow around God on His throne in 4:3 is now being transferred to this description of the mighty angel of 10:1.
D. John’s vision of Jesus also portrays Christ’s feet as being like bronze refined in a furnace (Rev.1:15), which is similar to “his legs like pillars of fire” here in 10:1.
1. But it would seem that this is also meant to remind us of God’s presence with His people in the wilderness where He appeared as a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.
2. The fact that His “feet” are on sea & land suggests His sovereignty over all the earth.
E. Well, who could this mighty angel be but the Lord Jesus Christ?
F. So, what then is this Jesus angel promising? We read in Rev.10:5-7 that “the angel...standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 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, 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.”
G. The promise is stated at the end of v.6, “that there would be no more delay,” and then explained in v.7, “In the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel the mystery of God would be fulfilled.” In other words, on the day of the seventh trumpet – which is just about to be blown (in the next chapter – 11:15) – there will be no more delay.
H. There is a day coming when the last trumpet will be blown and all that God has promised will be fulfilled. It may seem like this is going to go on forever, but the delaying does have an end.
I. — Here a conversation from Daniel 11:29-12:13 is being updated. Dan.12:7 is so similar to Rev.10:5-7 that it’s impossible for us to think that John didn’t have Daniel in mind here. When Daniel was told about the end, he asked when it would happen. But he was told that that information was sealed up until a future time. But John, on the other hand, is basically told that as soon as this era is over, the end will come. This also serves to confirm to us that the seventh trumpet (Rev.11:15-19) depicts the final day.
J. John also gives us insight into “how” these prophecies are to be fulfilled by referring in v.7 to “the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
1. There is something very strange and mysterious about the way God brings all this about.
2. Instead of merely overpowering His foes, God triumphs through suffering.
3. How did Christ conquer? By dying on a cross. And now His people conquer in a similar fashion.
4. It looks like – and sometimes feels like – defeat. But the defeat of evil is actually being accomplished by the apparent victory of God’s enemies over the saints. God’s people are already winning spiritually in the face of physical defeat – just like Jesus.
5. And their enemies are already being defeated in spite of their apparent victories. Unbeknownst to the world, the persecution and death of Christ and His people is the proof of their faithfulness and sets them up for resurrection, snatching final victory out of the jaws of apparent defeat.
6. So, the persecution of the church is God’s secret weapon by which He wins His victory over the church’s persecutors, just as the persecution of Christ was the secret weapon by which Jesus triumphed. We’ll talk more about this when we get to the question about the little scroll.
III. What are the seven thunders and why was John prevented from writing about them? v.3b-4
A. 3 (The mighty angel) 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.”
B. There’s really not that much to say about this, because John was prevented from explaining it to us.
C. It sort of seems like there was a new series of seven introduced – like the seven seals, the seven trumpets & the seven bowls – but when John went to record what he was seeing, he was asked to refrain.
D. This command to “seal up” the revelation of the thunders is in vivid contrast to the command John receives at the end of Revelation NOT to “seal up the words of the prophecy” (Rev.22:10). So here is the part of John’s visions which were not to be written down nor communicated to the churches.
E. The only conclusion we can come to, it seems to me, is that God doesn’t want us to know everything which is going to happen. There are parts of all this which are kept hidden from us. and we need to be content with not knowing.
F. It reminds us of Paul’s vision of heaven in 2Cor.12:2-4. “He heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.”
IV. What is this little scroll and why does John eat it?
A. In v.2 we’re told the mighty angel “had a little scroll open in his hand.” Then in v.8-9 John takes the little scroll and eats it.
B. Perhaps when you hear about this scroll in the mighty angel’s hand, you think of the scroll in Rev.5 which was in the Father’s hand and then given to the Lamb. If so, you’re not the first one to do so.
C. In fact, it is difficult to figure out the meaning of the little scroll without reference to that earlier scroll in Rev.5.
D. There are some striking similarities:
1. Both are held by Christ (as the Lamb in Rev.5, as the Angel of the Lord in ch. 10).
2. In both visions, there is a transfer of the scroll. On both occasions, someone approaches a heavenly being and takes the scroll out of the holder’s hand.
3. Both visions include talk of the scroll being open.
4. They both have many similarities to the vision of the scroll in Ezekiel 2.
5. — Add to these the fact that the larger contexts have many similarities:
a. Mention of a lion (5:5; 10:3)
b. Mention of God, as the One who “lives forever and ever” (5:13; 10:6)
c. Mention of a voice speaking from heaven (4:1; 10:4, 8)
E. But there are also some differences between the two books:
1. This scroll is open. Nowhere is there any reference to the opening of the sealed scroll of ch.5.
2. In ch.5 God holds the book and the Lamb takes it, but here the mighty angel who represents Christ holds it and John takes it (Rev.10:8-10).
3. But the most obvious difference is the fact that the ch.10 scroll is called a little scroll.
a. The Greek word in ch.5 for scroll is BIBLION, from which we get our word ‘Bible.’
b. But the Greek word here in ch.10, translated ‘little scroll’ is BIBLIARIDION, a variation of BIBLION, like the English word ‘booklet’ is a variation of the word ‘book.’
c. Though BIBLION is used around 25x in Revelation, this is only time BIBLIARIDION is used.
4. So, the big thing about this scroll seems to be that for some reason it is little.
5. Not only that, but this little scroll in 10:2 is introduced without a definite article, so it’s not “the little scroll” but “a little scroll,” leaving the impression that we are seeing it for the first time.
F. The best conclusion, it seems to me, is that the two scrolls are related by not identical.
1. And the key to their distinction is in the size and the in person who takes the scroll.
2. We saw that the scroll in Rev.5 represented God’s plan of redemption through the cross, and Christ was the only one qualified to fulfill it.
a. “God had promised to Adam that he would reign over the earth. Although Adam had forfeited this promise, Christ, the last Adam, was to inherit it. A human had to open the book, since the promise was made to humanity. But no person was found worthy to open it because all are sinners and stand under the judgment contained in the book (5:3). Nevertheless, Christ was found worthy because he suffered the final judgment as an innocent, sacrificial victim on behalf of his people, whom he represented and consequently redeemed (5:9)... Therefore, Christ was able to inherit the promises of the book.” – Beale
3. But the little scroll is not taken by Christ but by John, seemingly as a representative of the church.
a. It seems to represent God’s purpose and plan for His people – to bring His beloved ones to victory through suffering.
b. So, like Jesus, the people of Jesus have their calling, their assignment, to conquer with Christ even as they suffer. So Christians have a similar calling as Jesus – but on a smaller scale. Thus, the smaller scroll.
G. When John is told to eat the scroll and he does so, he is accepting this role and this strategy. This is similar to Ezekiel, who was asked to eat the scroll of God’s word symbolic of accepting his prophetic call (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3).
H. But why does the scroll taste sweet at first but then bitter in his tummy?
1. 10 “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.”
2. Well, when Ezekiel ate his scroll, he said it was sweet as honey (Ezekiel 3:3), so this isn’t new.
3. The sweetness here seems to represent the wonder of God’s redemptive grace in the gospel of Christ
a. Taste and see that the Lord is good! – Ps.34:8
b. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! – Ps.119:103 (cf.19:10)
4. The sweetness also may represent the joyous effect God’s words have in empowering God’s people to live out their lives in Christ.
5. It may represent the precious encouragement of God’s promises in His word.
6. But we all know what it’s like to eat something which tastes very good , but then later it gives you troubles: heartburn, stomach ache, all kinds of things.
a. And that’s exactly what happens to John here, just as he was told.
7. So, what does the bitterness represent? Well, there are probably many things it means:
a. It probably refers to the resulting experience of rejection and persecution because of the gospel.
b. It probably refers to the suffering which accompanies the joys/satisfactions of the Christian life.
(1) Paul said, “I die every day.” (1Cor.15:31)
(2) I’m sure I’m not the only one here who feels this too.
c. It could also refer to the nonrepentant response to his message. It is painful to watch people turn away from the hope of the gospel, to their own ruin.
(1) Remember how Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they had refused him (Luke 19:41-42).
(2) And remember Paul said in Rom.9:2 “I have great sorrow & unceasing grief in my heart,” because his fellow Jews were without Christ.
8. The Christian life and calling are bittersweet – Jesus made that clear. But,“the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18
I. But the process doesn’t end with the bitterness, even in this life. After receiving and digesting God’s message, the process moves next to proclamation.
1. In v.11 we read: And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” The word received from God then becomes the word proclaimed for God.
2. And this is part of our calling as well, even if it stirs up opposition.
V. I’d like to leave with three brief parting words from this passage:
A. The end is coming. This much we know.
1. It may not be today; it may not be tomorrow. But whenever it is, you will be there.
2. There will be no more secrets. There will be no more pretending.
3. That day will be the most important day of your life, either for good or for ill.
4. Only fools live now as though that day is never coming.
B. God doesn’t tell us everything we want to know. Rather, He tells us all we need to know.
1. Sometimes He withholds information; sometimes He reveals it – according to His good purposes.
2. There is much withheld from us. Remember how the Gospel of John ends: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written.” (John 21:25)
3. “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” – Deuteronomy 29:29
4. Keep this in mind the next time you languish in the darkness of confusion.
C. In Revelation 10:3, the mighty angel roars like a lion. In this we see Jesus’ voice of authority.
1. It reminds us of Aslan’s roar in the Chronicles of Narnia. (In fact, it’s hard to imagine that this passage didn’t have something to do with Lewis’ creation of the character Aslan.)
2. This is not a meek Jesus who is hesitant to insert himself into the conversation.
3. This is the voice of the One who’s wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and a face like the sun.
4. This is the voice of the One who puts his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land.
5. And woe to the person who will not listen to His voice! There are times when God speaks with this kind of power and authority in His voice. There are also times when He speaks much more subtly & gently. But woe to the man who needs seven peals of thunder and a lion's roar in order to pay attention – because they may not hear it till it’s too late.
6. But how blessed is the one who strains to hear even the still, small voice of God.

VI. Communion
A. In eating this, we are accepting our calling, to conquer with Christ through suffering.