Does Your Life Have An Encouraged Purpose? (Revelation 10)
GIST: In the midst of tribulation, remember God’s power & provision, consume His Word, and carry His truths… even when that’s difficult.
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. If you remember, in between the 6th and 7th seal, there was an interlude which gave us an awesome picture of the saved in Heaven. It was like this blessed pause in the midst of the chaos to remind us of the bigger picture. Now, in between the 6th and 7th trumpet, we have another interlude. It lasts from chapter 10 through the middle of chapter 11. Chapter 10 reminds us of God’s power and our purpose. Chapter 11 then zooms in on the church during this time and shows us what it will look like to live in light of these truths. In the interest of both clarity and brevity, we’re just going to hit chapter 10 today. Here’s our gist: In the midst of tribulation, remember God’s power & provision, consume His Word, and carry His truths… even when that’s difficult.
I. Remember God’s Power & Provision
“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 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.”
What we see here first→
He is incredible & bigger than your tribulation. 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 verses ☺). 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, like the “angel of the Lord” from the OT, or just a representative of Him. Since He’s never referred to as an angel anywhere else in Revelation, I think representative is the better bet. 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 and refusing to repent; the entire world is facing massive upheavals; and God directs John to pause here and get some perspective.
When the world is falling apart, we need to see God. We need to remember who He is. Brett Davis said this chapter is like being in the middle of war, facing the onslaught of the enemy and looking up to see a massive red, white, and blue tank coming over the horizon. It’s not over yet. Evil will not prosper. That’s the message here!
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 for 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 image is used in Scripture continually, 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.
He had a little scroll open in his hand.
Don’t be thrown off by the adjective here; this scroll is probably the same one we’ve seen before--God’s plan for saving His people and destroying sin. We’re going to come back to this image in a second, as well because it has a direct OT correlation.
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…
This points to the magnitude of God’s authority (great and mighty like the roar of a lion) over all creation. Immutable no matter what we’re facing, this is our God. And→
His ways aren’t ours. Look at the end of verse 3 into verse 4. “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 truth to grab hold of, as well. There are things about God and His work that will be beyond us. We don’t like to think like that. We like to assume we understand everything, and anything beyond our comprehension is simply incomprehensible nonsense. Be careful not to fall into that attitude of arrogance. Humbly chew on these verses for just a second:
“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 55:8-11)
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 thing!
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 the God whose majesty should both comfort us and blow our minds! And blowing our minds with grace is exactly what He’s doing right now. Like at the end of verse 6 into 7→
“...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.”
His ways lead to salvation! The end is coming. That is one of the central messages of Revelation; it might seem like chaos prevails, but Jesus is in control and He’s coming back. 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 several times to refer to the Gospel, the good news of God’s plan to save us through Christ. Here’s one example. “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)
The end is coming. Sin will be defeated. It is easy to be bogged down by life. Don’t be. Instead, remember His power and providence and→
II. Consume His Word & Carry His Truths… Even When That’s Difficult.
“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.”
This is Our Purpose. We have a bridge here into what we’ll see next week in chapter 11. After being reminded of God’s power and provision, John is reminded of his (and our) mission. He hears the voice from Heaven tell him to get this scroll from the mighty angel… and eat it. Like I pointed out early, every indication is that this scroll is the same scroll we saw in chapter 5—God’s plan to save the world and destroy sin. It’s the gospel. In the face of tribulation, we’re called to remember God and share both His judgment and hope.
Now, this passage has a direct OT correlation to Ezekiel. Check these verses out: “9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. 1 And he said to me, "Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel." 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. 3 And he said to me, "Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it." Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. 4 And he said to me, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them…7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart." (Ezekiel 2:9-10, 3:1-4, 7)
See the parallels? He’s told to eat this scroll with writing all over it. He’s supposed to let it fill him up, then to go and share these words from God. He does, and it’s sweet like honey to his lips. I think we can understand the picture here, right? He’s meant to consume it, to take it in, to feed on it. It is the bread of life and the living water. And that’s what will prepare him for carrying the message of God to the world. However, he’s also told ahead of time this message won’t receive the popular vote because it will call people to turn from the sin they love.
John eats the scroll too, but he’s given a warning before he does. It’s going to be sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach. What’s going on there? Let me make two observations.
1. God’s Word brings life, so we should love it. That doesn’t mean you’ll never struggle with it. You will. But the experience of reading His Word should be like pure water in the midst of the desert. So, this is where you probably expect me to say, “Read your Bibles.” You’re right. Of course, I guess you could also choose to willingly die of starvation instead…but that’s up to you ☺️.
2. God’s Word is hard, so share it compassionately. It is wonderful, but not easy. It was bitter in John’s stomach because it reveals our sin and points to the judgment we deserve. Yes, this message brings life, but coming from death to life can hurt. 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 should weep for the lost.
Furthermore, it won’t be easily received. No one is “talked into” being saved because no one wants to naturally hear this message. People don’t want to hear there is a final judgment or that accepting Jesus will change everything about how they live their lives. The Holy Spirit changes hearts—then people are saved. We need to be aware of this. People won’t always be excited to hear this good news. When that happens, don’t be brash or indignant. Remember, the message was probably once hard for you too, and hold the words of Peter close→ “15 … 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). This is our purpose. This is our mission. This is what our lives are supposed to be about.
Alright, this might have been a bit ambitious for this morning, so let’s hit some quick→
TAKEAWAYS
In the face of final judgment and our personal trials, we need to remember→
God is powerful and moving. He has never lost control of the situation. You might feel overcome, but lift your eyes up to the hills and remember where your help comes from.
We have a wonderfully bitter-sweet mission. Eat His word. Dive into it. Grow from it. Rejoice because it gives you life. And struggle with it as you faithfully and patiently share it with those around you.
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