Let
us recall again the general scheme of the Book of Revelation,
so that we may retain a clear view of
the whole book. We saw
the seven seals , broken by the Lord Jesus Christ in Chapters 5-8:5. When the last of these seven seals is broken, the end has
come! The kingdom, the plan of God shall have come.
The
vision of the seven seals gives
way to the vision of the seven trumpets, six of which we considered
last week. The seventh trumpet will
only be revealed in chapter
11, after an interlude in chapter 10, which we will consider today.
In chapter 16 we will consider the vision of the 7 bowls.
Seven
seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls - this is the pattern of the book of Revelation. The relationship between these seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls are, as
Herman Hoeksema points out, both
contemporary and successive [1]
:
“On the one hand, they are contemporary,
so that in principle the bowls begin at the same time that the seals are
broken and are realized throughout the history of the present dispensation,
side by side and at the same time. But on the other hand, they are also
successive, so that there is an increase in the element of judgment. And as we
study them, we feel that we are gradually led on to the time of the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. “
So,
the trumpet judgments following the seal judgments are
indicative of an increase in the
intensity of judgment.
Last
week we saw that the first four trumpets revealed
divine destruction upon creation- or as we would call it ‘natural
disasters‘. The fifth trumpet revealed
the work of Satan in the world- with particular reference to the suffering of non – Christians in this world . The sixth trumpet spoke of the letting loose of the four angels who
are bound by the river Euphrates, being
authorized to kill one-third of mankind.
We are eagerly waiting for the revelation of the 7th trumpet in
11:15 ff !
Now,
one more
interesting aspect about the book
of Revelation. Within the revelation of
the cycles of seven seals, trumpets and bowls we find some ‘interruptions‘. One of these we have already looked at in connection with Chapter 7. In the light
of these terrible judgments the
question is this: “Who
can stand?” and “what
happens to Christians – God’s people
at this time of suffering and tribulation?“. In the seventh chapter the Lord shows us that in
the midst of these trials His people
are sealed (kept by grace). They shall
become the heirs of the great and glorious salvation that is promised to them. The purpose of that interlude was to comfort Christians in the midst of tribulation. This same
feature we find again in Chapter 10 which is an interlude before the blowing of the seventh trumpet.
The Mighty Angel
In
this vision John sees another
mighty angel coming down from
heaven. (10:1) This appears to be a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. The similarity with
the description given in Rev. 1:13-16 .
Note firstly
: He is wrapped up in a cloud ( see also 1:7) - the symbol of divine majesty, as it is coming
for judgment. Secondly, … “ with
a rainbow over His head “ - the symbol
of the grace and the faithfulness of God in keeping His covenant, especially
with a view to all creation. Thirdly ,
“ His face was like the sun” ( 1:16)
; Fourthly,
“His
legs like pillars of fire.” ( 1:15)
Clearly,
He appears here as the glorified
Lord now in His capacity as the great Judge of heaven and earth, ready
to confront
the enemies of His kingdom. This is not
the well known picture of the Lord Jesus as our High Priest and Mediator. He is coming wrath. In the closing
verses of chapter 9 we found that mankind at large, despite all the temporary judgments that had already come upon the
world, did not repent, but continued in
their idol worship. He is now coming to
judge this world. The purpose of this vision is not evangelistic. No call to repentance.
This is a final curtain – final judgment!
He has a little scroll open in His hand, with His right foot upon
the sea of the earth and the left foot
on the land of the earth (10:2). We shall just now return to the
little scroll in v.8. The earth and the sea upon which His feet are planted are symbolic
of all the world. That kingdom of the
world, the earth and the sea had been
taken captive by Satan for a little
while, but the appearance of Christ changes everything. By setting His feet upon these He indicates that He has
all things in subjection to Him. This reminds us of Psalm 110:1 : "The LORD says to my Lord, “Sit
at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." Also 1 Cor. 15:25 reminds us
that “ He must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet."[2]
He
is the Lord of the earth. It may not seem so now. It may seem as if the people of this world do as they please. It seems as if there
is no God that rules or cares. The Bible reminds us however that suddenly , in a twinkling of an
eye He will be there ( see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 ;
Matthew 24:36- 51). That
is the effect of the 10th chapter ! Chapter 9 ends
with chaos, atheism and hardened
hearts, BUT SUDDENLY, in chapter 10 there is the appearance of Christ.
So
when you look at your world today , and
you see the increase in immorality and
wickedness and atheism and faithlessness
, then remember that the last chapter of
earth’s history has not been written. Here is the last chapter :
He has a little scroll in His hand !
The Lion is roaring (10:3 reminiscent
of Amos 1:2) , and if the lion roars, it befits all the lesser
creatures of the earth to remain quiet! [3]
The Seven Thunders
The
thunder is the Word of God [4] as it thunders out in judgment. “Seven
thunders” - Seven
[5]
is the symbolic number of perfection.
The thunderous word proclaimed here speaks
with complete and final authority . The thunders speak
in human language, and John
is ready to write down what they speak,
but he
receives the command to seal up their revelation and not to write them down. All we know is that
they are symbols of judgment. But why mention them if we can’t know the content?
It
has been suggested that this is a little like Jesus use of the parables.
His people understand their
contents and meaning , but the uninitiated - the blind and deaf (the unbelievers- the world at large ) do not
see, hear and understand.[6]
The Meaning Of The Little Scroll
What is this little scroll
(first mentioned in v.2) ? It
certainly is not the same scroll as
mentioned in 5:1. That was a closed, sealed scroll sealed with seven seals. This one is small
and open.
The scroll in Chapter 5 was a progressive revelation
of the history of the world and the
coming kingdom of God. This
little scroll , which John is now called
to eat (v.9) makes him a prophet . It is the symbolic word of all that John still has to prophesy. He has
already revealed much to us in the
previous 9 chapters. But there is more to come.
This little scroll contains the
message of the seventh trumpet. If we look at the rest of the book of
Revelation we begin to realize there
are huge things still to come. He
will speak of the fate of the holy city
and of the temple and of the two witnesses who are killed in the city and taken
to heaven on account of the testimony which they give. He speaks of a terrible conflict between the woman who gives
birth to a male child, and the dragon who attempts to
destroy the child but fails. He speaks of the beast which comes out of the sea
and the beast out of the earth, and of the terrible things that they do in the
earth. He speaks of the development and power of Antichrist and his aggression towards and oppression
of God’s people. He makes mention of Babylon, the
great harlot, describes her greatness among the nations of the world, but also
pictures her final destruction. He pictures the effect of the outpouring of the
seven bowls. He speaks of the binding, but also of the loosing of the devil and of all that follows. And only after all this has happened, he
pictures the heavenly Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, and the new heavens
and the new earth in which righteousness shall dwell.
In a nutshell : the
revelation which John must still pass on to us is huge!
But note what John must do with this message. He must not simply inform
the church of its contents. No! He must eat
it and make it part of himself.[7] He must love it and
embrace it. The truth of this prophecy must take hold of him.
Note also that this message, whilst it was sweet in his own mouth [8] was bitter in his stomach.
That is the effect of the gospel. It is always sweet to the
believer, but when the story has to be told to
those who oppose the message, it
turns bitter.
But there is another more
personal and profound dimension to it also , and anyone who has been preaching and feeding
upon the gospel for a while will know exactly what John is saying here. The process of assimilation and digestion of
the Word of God is often a painful one, because the power of sin is still in our
hearts and minds. The Word of God, sweet
as it was when we first
swallowed it by faith, is often painful to digest until the medicine of the Word of God has
done its work and transformed us.
This is especially
true for the word of this prophecy. True, this book
speaks of redemption and of salvation, and of
heavenly glory and of a new creation, and of
eternal life. But the book speaks of this only after it has presented us a picture
of a battle with sin and
unbelief and of a battle
with faithful witnessing, and of self-denial and suffering. It is the road of battle for the kingdom of
God. It is the road of persecution and mockery that you have to endure from the world. And that is hard. It causes inward pain. It is not what you had wanted, but it is this
bitter battle revealed in
the book that transforms you. Jesus told you this: “In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart. I have
overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33) . So, do not focus on the
present light and momentary afflictions.
(2 Cor. 4:17) Focus on the end – on the reward !
May that be your
experience. Take this Word - sweet to your taste because it is the Word
of God. Swallow it. Do not rebel against it.
Eat it. Hide it in your heart. May it have this result, that when it begins
its work of transformation, the truth of the book which may at first seem painful as it kills the old man in you, … that it may transform your desires for the kingdom of God to come!
Amen.
[1] Herman Hoeksema : Behold He cometh,
p. 335
[2] see
also Eph. 1:22
[3] In 1871 the Finnish missionary Martin Rautanen was once preaching to
king Tsheya of the Ongandjera
people ( a sub-tribe of the Ovambo people), and the king was
disruptive were
sitting under the word of God, and Martin Rautanen
told him that earthly kings must be silent when the King of kings speaks by His word. This story reminds me of another king , James the 6th of Scotland who was notoriously rude when attending
worship services. The Presbyterian
minister Robert Bruce was preaching , and in his usual manner , king
James began to speak to those around him.
Robert Bruce paused , and the king fell silent. He continued preaching,
and the king started talking again. He then stopped him and addressed him
directly :” When the lion roars all the
beasts of the field are quiet’: the lion of the
tribe of Judah is now roaring in the voice of His gospel , and it
becomes all the small kings of the earth
to be silent” (D.C.
MacNicol, Robert Bruce: Minister in the Kirk of Edinburgh , Banner of Truth-
quoted in 1 Samuel , by D.R Davies (
Christian Focus publications) p.108
[4] See also Rev
8:5
[5] The number
seven occurs throughout the entire book : seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets,
and seven bowls - when all of these seven are realized, the
kingdom has come.
[6] As is the case in Isaiah
6:9-10 , where Isaiah speaks a message that the people cannot hear or understand. The same is true for the
gospel : “ The natural person does not
accept the things of the Spirit of God
for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them ,
because they are spiritually discerned. “ ( 1 Cor 2:14)
[7] Also Ezekiel 3:3
[8] See also Psalm
119:103 ; Psalm 19:10
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