PONDERING... Will You Remember God? (Revelation 10)

Will You Remember God?

GIST: In the midst of tribulation, we need reminded of God’s person and our position.

SCRIPTURE: Revelation 10

I know you’re going to get tired of me saying “progressive parallelism”, which is fair, but it’s important not to lose sight of this structure, especially in passages like chapters 10-11. In between the 6th and 7th seal, there was an interlude which gave us an awesome picture of the saved in Heaven. Now, in between the 6th and 7th trumpet we have another interlude. It lasts from chapter 10 through 11:14. However, after trying to clump everything from the first six seals into one large lesson...and taking three weeks to get through it...I figured it would be best to take this in two parts.

Chapter 10 reminds us of God’s power and our position. Then chapter 11 zooms in on the church during this time and shows us how this will be lived out.

So, let’s try and break down chapter 10 today, because when everything is crumbling around us, we must remember these truths.

1. A REMINDER OF GOD’S PERSON & POWER

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. ...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…

The interlude opens with a picture of a mighty angel who looks very familiar (Revelation 1:12-20, Revelation 4:2-6--Check out those links :D). We’ve seen these descriptions before, and they were describing Jesus and God the Father. There is, therefore, some discussion as to whether or not this mighty angel is Jesus or just a representative of Him. Either way--the message is the same. We’re mid-judgments here. The sixth trumpet has been blown. The lost world is in the midst of great spiritual despair--yet refusing to repent; the entire world is facing massive upheavals; and God directs John to pause here and get some perspective. We need to see God.

Let’s just look at those images again.  And remember, the context for the first readers would have been the Old Testament.

coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud,

When God would descend on Mount Sinai, His presence, which was too wonderful to approach, would be veiled in a cloud (Ex 19). Similarly, after Solomon dedicates the temple a cloud fills it (1 Kings 8:10-11). So we have this picture of God coming to mankind--too marvelous to be approached lightly.

with a rainbow over his head,

Rainbows are beautiful. The first one was exceedingly so. Right after the flood, Noah is shown a rainbow as a sign of God’s covenant. Never again would the world be destroyed like that. Now, in the midst of the final destruction, we are reminded of His covenant. He provided for His people before. He is providing them now.

and his face was like the sun,

Brilliant. Radiant. Too much so, in fact, to behold unaided.

and his legs like pillars of fire.

Fire purifies. That is continual image used in Scripture, so I think it is implied here, as well. Furthermore, the idea of pillars of fire would be reminiscent of the Israelites in the desert. By night, they were led by a pillar of fire. Oh, the implications--His feet are leading us...through the night.

2 He had a little scroll open in his hand.

Don’t be thrown off by the adjective here; this scroll is the same one we’ve seen before--God’s plan for saving His people and destroying sin.

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. 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…

The magnitude of his authority (great and mighty like the roar of a lion) over all creation. Immutable no matter what we’re facing, this is our God.

2. A REMINDER OF OUR POSITION

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.”

There have been many proposed “answers” to explain these thunders. However,  as God told John not to write them down, I do not think it would be beneficial to spend time trying to explain what God determined needed not be explained. This, however, is a good point to grab. There are things about God and His working that are beyond us. We don’t like to think like that. We like to assume we understand everything, and anything beyond our comprehension is incomprehensible nonsense. That attitude is arrogance. Humbly chew on these verses for just a second:

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;

   call upon him while he is near;

7 let the wicked forsake his way,

   and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

   neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

   so are my ways higher than your ways

   and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

   and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

   giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

   it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

   and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. -Isaiah 55: 6-11

There is a lot here. We are meant to find God, to know Him. Yet, that does not mean we’ll understand everything. His ways are not our ways. Yet, His ways work!

“Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,

   and how small a whisper do we hear of him!

   But the thunder of his power who can understand?” Job 26:14

This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. After declaring many of the amazing works of God, Job concludes by saying...but this is just a glimpse. This picture is incredible, but we’re not even seeing the whole! (Job 37:5 echoes the same message.)

And this isn’t the only time in Scripture we are reminded that there are things we cannot see this side of Heaven. In 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, Paul describes a similar experience: 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

No matter where you are in life, no matter what you are facing, God is still God...and you are not. We have to remember this. There are things we will not understand, but that does not mean they are purposeless, or evil, or outside the hand of God.

3. A REMINDER OF THE TIME

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.

The end is coming. That is one of the central messages of Revelation; it might seem like chaos prevails, but Jesus is coming. Here the messenger swears by the God of creation that there will be “no more delay”, but when the time comes for the 7th trumpet (the end of the world as we know it), “the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” What is this mystery? Well Paul uses similar language to refer to the Gospel, the good news of God’s plan to save us through Christ which seems folly to the world.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. -Colossians 2:1-3

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— Colossians 4:3

16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh,

   vindicated by the Spirit,

       seen by angels,

proclaimed among the nations,

   believed on in the world,

       taken up in glory. - 1 Timothy 3:16

The end is coming. Sin will be defeated. It is easy to be bogged down by life. Don’t be.

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.- 2 Corinthians 4:16-17

4. A REMINDER OF OUR BITTER-SWEET MISSION

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.”

We have a bridge here into what we’ll see next week in chapter 11. After being reminded of God’s person, his own limitations (that is, John’s, not God’s), and the urgency of the times; John is reminded of his (and our) mission. He hears the voice from Heaven which has been speaking to him throughout this revelation and has always been identified as God. And God tells him to get this scroll from the mighty angel who, again, represents God’s person and power. Again, don’t be thrown off by the adjective here, this scroll is the same as the scroll we saw in chapter 5--God’s plan to save the world and destroy sin: the Gospel.

He is then told to eat it. This is not the first time someone is told to eat a scroll in the Bible. It happens to Ezekiel too (Ezekiel 3:1), and we still talk like this today. He’s meant to consume it, to take it in, to feed off of it. It is the bread of life, the living water. We’re meant to do the same. Before we can ever understand our mission, we have to get into God’s Word. We quoted this verse last week, but let’s look at it again: 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. -Romans 10:17

John eats the scroll, but he’s given a warning before he does: it will be sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach. And...it was. There is a two-fold point here about the message of the Gospel we need to understand.

1. We should love it. It’s sweet in his mouth because it’s desirous. Psalm 119:103- How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! There may be parts of the Bible we struggle with, or don’t understand. That’s part of taking it seriously. However, if it’s not sweet to our mouths, if it’s not precious to us, if we don’t look forward to reading God’s word and hearing it taught--then there is a problem. Remember the gist from today? In the face of tribulation, we need to be reminded of God’s person and our position. We could reword it to just say: We need to hear what God has to say; we need Him! And He’s given us His Word. It will be the hardest thing you do each day because your sin nature and Satan himself do not want you to consume the Word of God. If you’re stranded in the desert and you know where there is water, it doesn’t matter how hard it is to get there, you’re going to find a way. Right? Because you know your life depends on it.

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

   so pants my soul for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God,

   for the living God… -Psalm 42: 1-2b

2. It is hard. It is wonderful, but not easy. It was bitter in John’s stomach because it reveals sin in ourselves and others and points to judgment. This message brings life, but it is not easy. It won’t be easy for us because the more we dig into God’s Word the more we will see our own sinfulness and the more we will weep for the lost. And, it won’t be easily received. No one is “talked into” being saved because no one wants to hear this message. People don’t want to hear that there is a final judgment, or that accepting Jesus will change everything about how you live your life. The Holy Spirit changes hearts--then people are saved. We need to be aware of this. If we share this message, people will sometimes be angry with us. We should not be brash or indignant. The message is hard, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…(1 Peter 3:15).

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

In the face of final judgment, people need reminded of these truths. In the midst of your personal trials, you do too.

1. God is God. He is faithful, and true, and powerful. He has never lost control of the situation.
2. We are not. There will be things we do not understand, but that does not make them less a part of His plan.
3. Our time here is short. So will be our trials. So are our chances to turn to Him. Don’t squander the time you’ve been given.
4. We have a bitter-sweet mission. Eat His word and faithfully and patiently share it with those around you.