REVELATION
CHAPTER 10, “A Strong Angel Came Down From Heaven To Earth And Swore That There
Shall Be No More Delay”
By
1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at
the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments
1.1.1.
We saw that these trumpet judgments are much
worse than the previous four trumpet judgments
1.1.1.1.Demons bound in
judgment who are predestined by the Lord just for this judgment upon men are
unleashed upon the world
1.1.1.2.Whereas the
previous judgments primarily affected the earth itself, these judgments affect
men and are used to torture and kill the unrepentant
a
1.1.2.
We saw that now all of those upon the face of
the earth know that there is a God and a Devil, and perhaps even about Jesus,
however they refuse in spite of seeing and experiencing horrific suffering and
judgment, to repent and turn back to the Lord
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to see an
interlude that occurs before the sounding of the 7th Trumpet
Judgment
1.2.1.
A mighty and majestic angel comes down from
heaven and stands with one foot on the earth and one on the sea, and in his
hand he has a little book
1.2.2.
The angel cries out and 7 thunderings are
heard, however John cannot tell us what they say
1.2.3.
The angel makes an oath that there will be no
more delay in the Lord’s plans
1.2.3.1.The Lord shall take
possession of the earth
1.2.3.2.The mystery of God
will be finished or completed
1.2.4.
John is told to take the book from the angel
and eat it, and then afterwards he is told that he must prophesy to many
peoples, nations, tongues, and kings
2.
VS 10:1 - “10:1 And I saw another strong angel coming down out of
heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face
was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire;” - John tells us that he saw another strong
angel coming down from heaven to the earth
2.1.
Here in chapter 10 we will take a little interval
out before the seventh trumpet judgment sounds.
2.2.
In this chapter,
God has intended that we will first
take a look at this angel who is described as ‘another strong angel’, as
well as “the little book” that is in the angel’s hand.
2.3.
In God’s mind, and according to His
unfolding of His plans for mankind, He
first wants to reveal to us that He is now ready to come and to take possession
of the earth. This chapter deals with
His public proclamation of this.
2.4.
The judgments that will follow this
proclamation (the seventh Trumpet Judgment) must occur in order for the way to be opened up for the Lord to come and
take His rightful possession of the earth.
2.5.
In 2 Sam. 7:12-13, God told David that he was just in a sense
occupying a position over the kingdom temporarily, for One would come
who would establish His kingdom upon the earth forever, “12 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I
will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I
will establish his kingdom. 13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever.””
2.6.
The first order
of business for us here is to determine
the identity of this angel. There are many commentators who believe that
this angel is Jesus Christ, and there are many others who believe that
this one is just an angel. So, we want to look at the arguments on both
sides:
2.6.1. Those who believe that this creature is Jesus Christ
point to some of the following facts concerning the description of this angel
as supporting their view:
2.6.1.1.Jesus is supposed to come in the clouds, and this one
is ‘clothed with a cloud’;
2.6.1.2.He has a rainbow upon his head, and John already
described a rainbow that is before the throne of God.
2.6.1.3.His face ‘was like the sun’, and in John’s
description of Christ in chapter 1, Jesus’ face shown as the sun.
2.6.1.4.His feet glow ‘like pillars of fire’, and
John’s description of Jesus in chapter one mentioned that His feet were glowing
like bronze.
2.6.1.5.He roars like a lion which demonstrates his great
strength.
2.6.1.6.In Rev. 11:3, this same strong angel calls the two
witnesses who will come upon the earth, “my witnesses”, which makes us
think that only God could say this to these witnesses.
2.6.2. Those who believe that this ‘strong angel’ (or
“messenger”) is not the Lord Jesus Christ do so for some of the
following reasons:
2.6.2.1.Concerning his being ‘clothed with a cloud’,
this angel is not “sitting on the cloud” as is Christ in chapter
14.
2.6.2.2.Concerning his having a rainbow upon his head, there
are no scriptures which indicate that Christ has a rainbow on His head.
2.6.2.3.Concerning his face shining like the sun in its
strength and his legs glowing, in Rev. 18:1 there is an angel whom no one
thinks is Christ, and it says of him, “the earth was lighted with his glory”.
2.6.2.4.Concerning his roaring like a lion, we have already
seen that one of the faces of the cherubs before the throne is “like unto a
lion”.
2.6.2.5.Concerning his calling the two witnesses, “my
witnesses”, he could be speaking of his leading and guiding of them as
God’s representative.
2.6.2.6.He is spoken of as ‘a strong angel’, and in
chapter 5:2 we already saw an angel before the throne which is called ‘a
strong angel’, and that angel then asked the question concerning who is
worthy to open the book symbolizing the title deed of the earth.
2.6.2.7.It would seem out of place for Christ to touch down
upon the earth at this point in the unfolding of the events of the Tribulation
period. He will return toward the end of
the book of Revelation and execute His judgments from before the throne.
2.6.2.8.This creature swears “by the one who lives forever...”
instead of by himself, and God never swears by anyone else but Himself (see
Heb. 6:13).
2.6.2.9.Whenever we see Christ appearing in the Old Testament accounts
the thing that always shows us that the one who appears unto man as an angel is
in fact Christ, is the fact that the angel says and does things that only God
could and would do (as perhaps we could say that this angel does).
2.7.
The fact that this angel swears by God instead of by
Himself as God would be sufficient proof to me that he is in fact a created
being and not the creator of all, however the fact that in Rev. 11:3 he calls
the two witnesses, “my witnesses,” probably negates that reasoning. So, this ‘strong angel’ is most likely Jesus
Christ.
2.8.
This angel is called ‘another strong angel’ in order
to differentiate him from the previous angels in the book of Revelation (subsequent
to chapters one and two and the angels of the churches, there are a total of at
least 60 different accounts mentioned in the book of angels), and the ‘strong
angel’ of Rev. 5:2
3.
VS 10:2 - “2 and he had in his hand a little book which was open.
And he placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land;” - John tells us that the angel has a ‘little
book’ open in his hand
3.1.
The next mystery to unveil in this chapter of the book of Revelation concerns
what is the nature of this ‘little book’? What is in question primarily is whether or not this ‘little book’ is
the same book that we saw in chapter 5 and identified as representing “The
Title Deed of the Earth” ?
3.2.
I do not think
that this book is the same book as seen in chapter 5 because of a few things:
3.2.1. This book is called
a different name, it is “a little book”, and the other is called
just “a book”.
3.2.2. The scope of what this book
seems to represent does not match the scope of that book, for this book seems
to just be a book that outlines the remaining judgments of God to be carried
out upon the earth in order for the Lord to setup His government.
3.2.3. Why would John be told to
eat the title deed to the earth as his told to do with this little book?
3.3.
The angel described in this chapter is an awesome creature, as he is described as touching down upon the earth having one foot upon the land and one upon
the sea.
3.3.1. His touching down this way symbolizes the fact that both the land and the sea (thus the whole
earth) are the Lord’s and He is now going
to quickly come and take possession of them.
4.
VS 10:3-4 - “3 and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion
roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their
voices. 4 And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write;
and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven
peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them.”” – The strong angel cries
out signaling seven thunders to utter a voice
4.1.
This strong angel cries ‘out with a loud voice as when a lion roars’, and we have to assume that he is making a declaration in behalf of heaven of
the fact that the Lord is now going to finish the execution of His judgments
upon the earth which will clear the way for Him to be able to take possession
of it.
4.2.
The Psalmist told
us in Ps. 24:1-2, the earth and
all in it belongs to the Lord, and the angel is declaring that the Lord is now
preparing to immediately take full possession of it, “1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those
who dwell in it. 2 For He has founded it
upon the seas, And established it upon the rivers.”
4.3.
Again the majesty of this angel takes us by surprise as we see his voice
crying out being described as being as a lion when it roars. People have
not wanted to think that this angel is in fact a created being because of the
description of majesty by which he is seen, however when we look even at what we have seen thus far in the book of
Revelation, we should not be surprised by such great majesty of an angel,
for we have even seen angels which have the power to hold back all of the winds
upon the earth.
4.4.
We do not know the nature of these ‘seven thunders’, nor from
where they have come, however they
have a voice and they make an intelligible comment, one which John
prepares to write down, yet he is not allowed to do so.
4.5.
In the scriptures, we do know that thunderings have often accompanied the
Lord and His dealings concerning the earth.
4.5.1. We have seen several of these already
in the book of Revelation.
4.5.2. Thunderings seem to
accompany the Lord’s dealings in justice.
4.6.
I do not believe as some have
conjectured that these thunderings come
from the Devil or demons:
4.6.1. We have not seen the Devil
trying to interfere with God’s plans to this
point.
4.6.2. I do not think that John
would immediately want to write down words uttered not by the Lord, but by Satan.
4.6.3. These utterances by the
thunders must have come somewhere from
within or directly around the throne of God.
4.7.
Some people think that everything about God’s plans for the future are
revealed to us in the Bible, however in
these verses we see that even though
John heard and understood the utterance of the ‘seven thunders’
which occurred after the declaration of the strong angel, he was not permitted to write down what he
had heard.
4.7.1. We do not know why what John
heard was suited only for his own ears to
hear, but according to God’s perfect wisdom and plan that is the case.
4.7.2. There are many mysteries
still ahead for man, and God’s Word which
has been delivered to us only contains a small amount about the nature of God,
as well as His plans for all of eternity.
However, in the wisdom of God we
know that we have all that we need to know about the future revealed to us in His
word.
4.7.2.1.In Dan. 12:4,
we see that a similar thing happened to
Daniel that happened to John, for he too heard words concerning God’s plans for the future, but was not
allowed to write them down, “4 “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words
and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and
knowledge will increase.””
4.7.2.2.We only need to worry about the things that the Lord
has revealed to us for Deut. 29:29 says, “29 “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.”
4.8.
Some cults and cultish groups claim that they have had a revelation of
what it was that these thunders uttered, however these sorts of claims should
not be considered legitimate.
5.
VS 10:5-7 - “5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on
the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, 6 and swore by Him who lives
forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and
the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be delay
no longer, 7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is
about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His
servants the prophets.” - John sees this majestic angel standing with
one leg on the sea and the other on the land
5.1.
In these verses, we see this strong angel taking a vow concerning the
things that are about to happen upon the earth. In taking this vow, this angel ‘lifted up his right hand to
heaven’ because there on the throne is the Lord by whom he shall make this
oath, and then he proceeds to swear ‘by Him who lives forever and
ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in
it, and the sea and the things in it’.
5.2.
As I mentioned
earlier, whenever in the scriptures we
see that the Lord swears (or takes an oath), He does so by Himself.
However, if this angel is indeed Christ and not just some angel, He is
swearing by Himself, but doing so in a way that we would not normally expect.
5.3.
In this angel’s oath, he mentions all of the things that are upon the
earth which the Lord has created when he
says, ‘by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things
in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it’.
5.4.
What is sworn in the earth is ‘that there shall be delay no longer’,
and then the angel declares that when the
seventh angel sounds forth his trumpet judgment, ‘then the mystery of God is finished’.
5.5.
Which ‘mystery of God’ is the angel referring to? The one which came ‘as He preached to His
servants the prophets’.
5.5.1. This ‘mystery’ then includes the full revelation of God which He has made
known unto man as revealed in the Word of God.
5.5.2. It involves the establishment
of His kingdom upon the earth, which is
waiting for establishment upon the full execution of His judgment and wrath
upon those who reject Him and persist in living wickedly.
5.5.3. When God shall have executed
His judgment and wrath fully upon the earth, then the way shall be opened up
for Him to come and take possession of the earth and establish His kingdom
and righteousness upon the earth.
6.
VS 10:8-10 - “8 And the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again
speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of
the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” 9 And I went to the angel,
telling him to give me the little book. And he *said to me, “Take it, and eat
it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as
honey.” 10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and
it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made
bitter.” - John is told to take the little book from the
angel and eat it and when he does it is initially sweet in his mouth but then
makes his stomach bitter
6.1.
Here in verse 8,
we see that John hears a voice ‘from
heaven’, and this could be looked at as giving us an indication that the “strong
angel” of this chapter is not the Lord Himself, for if it this angel
were the Lord, would he not speak directly these words to John?
6.2.
The instructions
which John was given and his response to them are for many reasons very
interesting:
6.2.1. John was on the earth,
however he was also in the spirit receiving this vision of this future event. John receives
a communication from the Lord upon the throne telling him to go up to the angel
and receive the little book. How could John go up to an angel who is so mighty
and majestic as to have one foot upon the land and another upon the sea, in
order to receive a book?
6.2.1.1.John must have been in the spirit, or out of body, in
order to do this.
6.2.2. John’s response to these
instructions is very interesting. He goes
directly up to the angel and asks that he might be given the book, doing
something that would be considered
presumptuous to say the least were he not told to do this. However, John’s response shows his obedience to the Lord as well as his
trust in the Lord’s leading in his life.
6.2.3. John is told to eat the
little book, which he immediately does.
6.3.
In Ez. 2:8-3:4, Ezekiel was also told to eat a scroll and then to go and to speak
as a prophet in God’s name, “8 “Now you, son of man, listen to what I am
speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving
you.” 9 Then I looked, behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was
in it. 10 When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front
and back; and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe. 3:1 Then
He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak
to the house of
6.4.
God’s Word is always sweet to the taste for those who desire to know it, and thus John writes that it ‘was in my mouth
sweet as honey’.
6.4.1. The Psalmist wrote in Ps. 19:7-10 about the blessing that the Lord’s Word brings in our
lives, “7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making
wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring
forever; The judgments of the Lord are
true; they are righteous altogether. 10
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of
the honeycomb.”
6.4.2. In Jer. 15:16,
Jeremiah said that he ate the Lord’s Word and it was a joy and a delight to
him, “16 Thy words were found and I
ate them, And Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Thy name, O Lord
God of hosts.”
6.4.3. Do you delight in God’s
Word? Do you meditate upon it day and
night as did the Psalmist?
6.4.3.1.In Psalm 1:2,
David wrote about how that the righteous man delights in the law of the Lord
and meditates upon it day and night, “2
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day
and night.”
6.4.4. In Psalm 34:8,
David wrote a challenge to all of God’s people to spend that quality and
quantity type of time in the Lord’s Word and in prayer and fellowship with Him,
“8 O taste and see that the Lord is
good; How blessed is the man who takes
refuge in Him!”
6.5.
However, for John these words from the little book which he had received
from the angel, and for which he will
next be called to prophesy concerning, they
became bitter to his stomach, for
they contained solemn words concerning God’s recompense to the wicked
for their deeds according to His absolute holiness and justice. To
those who fear God, His Word appears so wonderfully sweet and desirable,
however for the wicked who refuse to subject themselves to the Lord and His
ways for their lives, His Word strikes terror and torment.
6.6.
God’s righteous judgment will be poured out upon the earth with just as
much fury as His righteous judgment was poured out upon His only begotten Son
upon the cross of
7.
VS 10:11 - “11 And they *said to me, “You must prophesy again
concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”” - John is told that he must prophesy to many
peoples, nations, tongues, and kings
7.1.
In this verse, we do not know who the ‘they’ are who are mentioned, however they could
be just some heavenly onlookers who have been observing this revelation
being given to John. Perhaps though, they are the elders who John
originally saw on the 24 thrones and who accompany him through his revelation
in the book.
7.2.
In this verse then is given the reason for which the Lord had caused John
to receive this revelation contained in the little book which he had eaten, he
‘must prophesy again’.
7.3.
Who must John prophesy to?
7.3.1. John must prophesy to many
peoples, nations, tongues and kings.
7.4.
What must John prophesy concerning?
7.4.1. The prophesy that John wrote
as contained in this book called, “Revelation”, the “apocalypse”
(or “unveiling”) in the Greek.
7.4.2. This prophesy contains God’s
plans for all mankind reaching all of the way until the period of the “new
heavens and earth”.
7.4.3. The judgments to be carried
out on the earth during the 7 Year Tribulation are necessary to be carried
before He returns to take full possession of the earth and establish His
millennial reign upon the earth.
7.5.
We Christians must realize that when we are enlightened by God to
understand His Word we have a responsibility to use that information and
testify of the Lord.
7.5.1. He not only wants us to be
blessed by His Word when He has given it to us, He also wants us to be used as
His instrument through that same Word
which He has given to us.
7.5.2. If we only receive from God
and never give back out, then we become as stagnant as the
7.5.3. If we receive, we must also give out, for Jesus said, “freely you have received, freely give”
(Matt. 10:8).