Ch 10: The Mighty Angel
Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
Click here to visit her "Revelation Illustrated"
site.
2. The Mighty Angel and the little scroll (10:1)
10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say,
"Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."
Rev 10:5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said,
"There will be no more delay!
7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more:
"Go, take the scroll that lies 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 asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." 10 I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
There is now an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets as there was between the sixth and seventh seals, this should not be considered to be chronological because the two witnesses, described after the mighty angel, preach for the whole gospel age, Rev 11:3. The seventh trumpet announces the end of history. There is now the vision of the mighty angel with the little scroll which is followed by the two witnesses. The vision of the mighty angel with the little scroll is taken from Ezekiel chapters 1 to 3 which describes Ezekiel's call as a prophet to Israel. He was given a little scroll to eat which tasted as sweet as honey which is the word of God. Caird compares the great scroll opened by the Lamb to this little scroll: the great scroll contains the redemptive purposes of God as it was to be made effective by Christ; the little scroll contains the same purpose but to be made effective through the martyr witness of the church. However I see the little scroll to be the rest of the prophecy of Revelation that was revealed to John by the angel. The next section following this one is about the two witnesses, that is the witness of the church.
v1 - Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. - Notice a change of the author's standpoint, he saw the mighty angel come down from heaven so John is now on the earth. This is a another mighty angel (c.f. 5:2 "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?"). His description is similar to the description of Christ, whose feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace (1:15), and whose face was like the sun shining in its brilliance (1:16), in 1:7 and 14:14 he will come again in the clouds, the angel has a rainbow above his head so he must be very close to God (4:3); in verse 3 he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion which is another allusion to Christ the Lion of Judah. Swete says that the rainbow is due to the effect of the sunshine from the angel's face. He is similar to the angel of the Lord who guided the children of Israel as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exo 13:21, Num 12:5) he now guides John to the next part of the vision. He is similar to the one speaking to Ezekiel, Ezek 1:26, this whole passage is based on Ezek 1-3 in which Ezekiel is given a little scroll to eat at the start of his ministry. The mighty angel is similar to Christ because he is Christ's angel sent by Christ to give John the rest of this prophecy, see Rev 1:1 and 22:6, 'I, Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches', italics added.
v2 - He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, - This emphasises the angel's might in contrast to the little scroll which contained the word of God that John was to prophecy (verses 10-11). The little scroll is open in contrast to the sealed scroll of 5:1 so that anyone can read it, it is not the same scroll because it is a little scroll. We should note that he has his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, his authority covers both, i.e. the whole world, both the sea and land are parts of God's creation (see verse 6). This is in contrast to the dragon who was thrown down to the earth and sea (12:12) and stood by the seashore (13:1) while the two beasts came out of the sea and from the earth (13:11), the prophecy that the angel gave John concerns these three. Lenski considers the little scroll to be the gospel which is to be proclaimed to the whole world (10:11, 11:10, 14:6). Note that John also uses the sea and land to represent the whole world when dealing with the merchants and seamen who mourn over Babylon in Ch 18.
v3 - and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. - The voice of the seven thunders was probably that of Christ or God, God's voice is frequently compared to thunder, especially when God spoke to Jesus before his crucifixion (John 12:29), although the first living creature also sounded like thunder (6:1). The roar of a lion is another allusion to Christ, who is the lion of the tribe of Judah. In Rev 1:1 and 22:16 Jesus sent His angel to John, the angel comes from the presence of Jesus and hence the similarity of the angel to Jesus.
v4 - And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down." - He was about to write as he was commanded, 1:19, but this he was not permitted to write down. The seven thunders are sealed, we are not permitted to know all God's mysteries, there are other forces working as well as those described here (xxxx). Contrast this with the rest of the book which is an unveiling of God's plan for the church and her enemies, it is not sealed, 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near' (22:10). There are some things which man is not permitted to know (Deu 29:29, 2 Cor 12:4 cf. Dan 8:26, 12:4).
v5 - Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. - To raise the right hand and swear was quite common (Dan 12:6, Gen 14:22, Deu 32:40). See comments on verse 2 for sea and land.
v6 - And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! - He swore by the eternal creator God (Rev 4:11, Dan 12:7) that there will be no more delay (Hab 2:3, Heb 10:37), when the seventh trumpet is about to sound, in fulfilling God's plan. In describing the creation the angel uses three couplets which are similar to the Genesis narrative in which in the first three days God made the heavens, earth, land and sea and in the next three days he fills them.
- Day 1: Created the heavens and earth, light and darkness.(Gen 1:1-5)
- Day 2: Made the sky to separate the waters above and below. (Gen 1:6-8)
- Day 3: Made land and sea, vegetation, trees. (Gen 1:9-13)
- Day 4: Sun, moon and stars. (Gen 1:14-19), heavens filled.
- Day 5: Fish and creatures in the sea, Birds. (Gen 1:20-23), sea filled.
- Day 6: Living creatures on the land, man. (Gen 1:24-31), land filled.
cf. Exo 20:11, Psa 146:6. Compare this with the first angels proclamation to 'worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water' (14:7). The first four trumpets and bowls affect the earth, sea and the heavens (8:7 ff. 16:2 ff.).
v7 - But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." - It is significant that the last, seventh, trumpet (Rev 11:15) coincides with the accomplishment of the mystery of God. For when the last trumpet sounds Christ will come again (Mat 24:31, 1 Cor 15:52, 1 Thess 4:16). The mystery of God is Christ (Col 2:2) this mystery is accomplished when Christ returns and establishes his kingdom and reign, see Rev 11:15-18 in which the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, this also coincides with the judgement. God tells his prophets his plans before they are enacted (Amos 3:7) God has revealed to Paul the mystery of God namely Christ. Note that because the mystery of God will be accomplished when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, it makes it unlikely that the seven bowls are the seventh trumpet.
v8 - Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." - The same voice as in v4, 'but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down"'. The scroll lies open it is not sealed, it is to be read. This is a similar occurrence to when the Lamb took the scroll from the hand of God. Is this the same scroll that was sealed with seven seals but is now open? Probably not because in verse 2 it is described as a little scroll (biblaridion) .
v9 - So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." - The little scroll is the Word of God, see Ezek 2:7, Jer 15:16 and Psa 19:9. John must prophesy some more, about many peoples, nations, languages and kings, see v11.
v10 - I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. - This is taken directly from Ezekiel's experience (Ezek 3:3), he was charged to warn the wicked to turn from their sin (Ezek 3:17). It is sweet because God's word tastes sweet (Psa 19:10) but bitter because it also tells of God's judgement. Those who speak God's word will also be persecuted (Rev 11:7).
v11 - Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." - This is similar to Jeremiah's commission in which God says to Jeremiah 'I appointed you as a prophet to the nations' (Jer 1:5) and 'Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant' (Jer 1:9,10). Having digested God's word John must prophesy again, we have only reached the halfway stage in Revelation and there is much more to be said about the world and its inhabitants, notice the four-fold description which encompasses all of mankind, 'peoples, nations, languages and kings', compare with Rev 17:15, Dan 3:4, 7:14. The nations are a major topic of the rest of the book and references to the nations occur 17 times more before the end of the book. In 11:18 after the seventh trumpet the twenty four elders say 'the nations were angry but God's wrath has come to them', in 12:5 and 19:15 there is a reference to Christ who will rule the nations with an iron sceptre. In 14:8, 16:19, 17:15, 18:3, 18:23 the nations are mentioned in connection with Babylon. In 20:3 and 20:8 the deception of the nations by Satan is mentioned, and in 15:4, 21:24, 21:26 and 22:2 the nations worship and glorify God. However as well as nations he must prophesy about peoples, languages and kings, kings occurs frequently throughout the rest of Revelation, there are references to the kings of the earth five times (17:2, 18, 18:3, 9, 19:19).
Lenski considers the little book to be the gospel and that John was to prophesy before rather than over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings (cf. 5:9, 7:9, 11:9). He is here representative of all the OT and NT prophets and apostles and the next section shows the gospel preached in the world by the two witnesses. It is to be preached in the whole world as indicated by the angel whose feet are planted in both the earth and sea (10:2), that is, the devil's territory as indicated by 12:12, cf. the beasts out of the sea and the earth in Ch 13.
This verse prepares us for the Two witnesses described next, they are to preach the Word of God to the world (see 11:9). This is still the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet, they must witness to the world in order to complete and compliment God's warnings from the first six trumpets, then the end can come when the seventh trumpet is sounded. But the end can only come when the gospel has been preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, Mat 24:14. Hence the next section concerns God's two witnesses.