“The
Little Scroll”
Revelation
10:1-11
April
28, 2024 YouTube
In
chapter 9 of Revelation, we saw the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets.
We saw that God allows the devil and his demons to attack all those who do not
have the mark of God on their forehead – which is the indwelling of God the
Holy Spirit. We saw that the horrible
things prophesied in chapter 9 – the fifth and sixth trumpets with affect those
who never believe savingly in Jesus, but not those God has chosen to have His
mark on them. Be comforted and filled
with hope – you who believe in Jesus savingly and bear His mark on your
forehead – Gid will not allow these terrors to harm His people.
After
John writes about the fifth and sixth trumpets, we have a break before the
seventh trumpet. Just as we saw a break in the revealing between the sixth and
seventh seals, now we have a break between the sixth and seventh trumpets. John
– and the readers and hearers of Revelation – are given a moment to catch their
breath and remember that the book of Revelation is a book of comfort and hope
for all those who believe savingly in Jesus.
It is a book that prepares us for what God will do and allow, and in our
thanks, we ought to be spurred on by this warning to proclaim the Gospel to
everyone we can – calling them to faith and repentance that they might avoid
the things we are being told.
In
our text this morning, we hear about the seven thunders and the little scroll.
“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.”
Who is this angel? We need to remember that the word that
is translated “angel” can also be translated “messenger” – which would include
a person or being that proclaims.
This mighty angel is said to come down from heaven wrapped
in a cloud.
We read at Jesus’ ascension: “And while they were gazing
into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said,
‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was
taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into
heaven’” (Acts 1:10-11, ESV).
The
mighty angel has a rainbow over His head.
After
the waters receded and Noah’s family came out of the Ark, Noah offered a
sacrifice, and God answers the sacrifice:
“’I
establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by
the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the
earth.’ And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me
and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between
me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the
clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living
creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to
destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember
the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh
that is on the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that
I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth’” (Genesis, 9:11-17,
ESV).
And
the angel has a face like the sun and legs like pillars of fire.
And
we remember these words at the beginning of Revelation:
“Then
I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven
golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man,
clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of
his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of
fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice
was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from
his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining
in full strength” (Revelation 1:12-16, ESV).
We
have every good reason to understand the mighty angel to be Jesus.
“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, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion
roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.”
Jesus
is holding a little scroll in His hand.
And He sets His right foot on the sea and His left foot on the land. The
word “foot” can mean “conquest” and “possession,” so, here we see that Jesus is
Sovereign over the land and over the sea, the movements and powers of humanity,
everything in all of Creation are under His authority and submit to His Will. Everything that is happening today is under
His Sovereign control. He is the roaring lion, the Lion of Judah.
Paul
writes:
“and
what is the immeasurable greatness of [God’s] power toward us who believe,
according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above
every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And
he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the
church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians
1:19-23, ESV).
Be
comforted, Church, no matter what happens and no matter how things might seem, Jesus
sovereignly rules over every molecule in all of existence.
“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
are seven seals and seven trumpets, and seven bowls, and also seven thunders,
but God tells John not to write down what he heard in the seven thunders. God
forbids John to write down what he hears.
Why?
No
clear reason is given, but the commentators give some potential reasons. Derek Thomas says that first, there are some
things that God does not tell us so we will learn to be dependent on God.
Second, Deuteronomy 29:29 says the secret things belong to the Lord. Third, it may
be something the Church has no business knowing. And fourth, it may be that the thunders told
about a delay in God’s judgment (Let’s Study Revelation, 84-85). It may be one of these reasons, or perhaps
another.
We
turn back to the mighty angel.
“And
the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand
to heaven 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, 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
question is raised about how God (the mighty angel/Jesus) could swear by God
(the Father)?
There
are three things to remember:
First,
there is One God Who is Three Persons.
God is One in Being. There are
not three gods, but One God in Three Persons.
The Father is not the Son, nor the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the
Father, nor the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit is not the Father, nor the Son. There is a distinction among the Three
Persons of the Trinity, yet each Person is the same One God. (We need to leave
further examination of the Trinity to another sermon. Just try to grasp what we have just
described.)
Second,
Jesus prayed to the Father. We remember
on Maundy Thursday:
“Then
Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his
disciples, ‘Sit here, while I go over there and pray.’ And taking with him
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then
he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and
watch with me.’ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed,
saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless,
not as I will, but as you will’” (Matthew 26:36-39, ESV).
Jesus,
Who is the same One God as the Father, prayed to the Father, Who is the same
One God as the Son, but they are different Persons.
And
third, we see elsewhere in the Bible where God swore by Godself, because there
is no one higher for God to swear by:
When God told Abraham that He would bless him and give
great blessings to his descendants, Abraham asked how he would be sure that
what God is saying to him will come to pass.
“[And
God] said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years
old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ And he brought
him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But
he did not cut the birds in half” (Genesis, 15:9-10, ESV).
God
tells Abraham that his descendants would not receive the land and other
blessings immediately due to their sin.
They would spend four hundred years in slavery, and then God would
deliver them and bring them to the land for their possession.
And
then God swore by Himself, since there was nothing and no one higher for Him to
swear by, that all these things that God promised will come to pass.
“When
the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming
torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with
Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to
the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites,
the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the
Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites” (Genesis 15:17-21, ESV).
Then
the angel says, “that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the
trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel [that is, the final trumpet],
the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the
prophets.”
What
is the “mystery of God” that would be fulfilled?
To
understand this, we need to understand that the word “mystery” can mean more
than one thing. We normally think of a mystery
as something hidden or unknowable. Mystery
can also refer to something that has been revealed or used to mean something that
is known or revealed which had been kept secret.
“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.’ 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.’”
What is the little scroll?
In ancient times, a scroll was a rolled-up text – think of
the scroll in the Jewish synagogue today.
The books of the Tanakh are written on a single piece of paper – or a
number of pages fashioned together into one.
The Tanakh is taken out and rolled open to the text in question. Think of Jesus at the beginning of His
ministry when He went into the Temple, and the scroll was opened to the book of
Isaiah, and Jesus spoke on the text.
John is given what is a small scroll compared with others.
` John is told to eat the scroll which will be sweet in his
mouth and bitter in his stomach. We may
remember that this is not unique – and John would have remembered this. As we read in Ezekiel:
“’But
you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious
house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.’ And when I looked, behold, a
hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 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. And he said to
me, ‘Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to
the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat.
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” (Ezekiel 2:8-10; 3:1-3, ESV).
After
this, God tells Ezekial to prophesy warning and judgement against Israel.
So,
what is the little scroll?
Based
on what Ezekiel is told, and what John is told, we can understand the little
scroll to be the Whole Word of God – God’s Word telling all of what God
requires for life and salvation – and specifically the Gospel. Like the little
scroll, the Gospel received in the mouth and spoke forth is like honey – there
is nothing sweeter and more enjoyable than understanding Who Jesus is and what
He has done for His people. However,
when this sweet great and glorious news is rejected, it is bitter in our stomachs
– we are mournful and dismayed by their refusal of the Only Way to salvation.
“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. And I was told, ‘You must again prophesy about many
peoples and nations and languages and kings.’”
John confirms, after eating the scroll, that this is the
Word of God – the Gospel – spoken of and now revealed to be Jesus, the Incarnate
God. This is a scroll that we must
digest into our innermost being. To be
obedient to God and His call on our life, we are to know all that God has said
about life and salvation for our sakes and for those we speak to – whether they
receive the Gospel or send us away.
And John is recommissioned – even on the Island of Patmos –
to proclaim the Word of God to peoples and nations and languages and kings. That is, everyone.
As so we are commissioned to proclaim the Word of God to
every type of people and every nation of the world, and in the language of
every people on earth, and to all people of every status.
We may better remember this commission as it came for the
mouth of Jesus to the eleven:
“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain
to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but
some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with
you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:16-20, ESV).
Jesus, the Sovereign God, has revealed Himself and the
salvation He gives to all the people He died for. Still, Jesus has not revealed everything to
us yet.
Jesus has given us the Gospel that we would know it in our
innermost being in all its sweetness and proclaim it to every person,
understanding that there will be a bitterness in our gut when Jesus is
rejected.
Jesus and the Father have sent the Holy Spirit to indwell
us, and we have been commission to proclaim the words on the little scroll. Let
us go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, You have given us the Truth of the Gospel and
told us to proclaim it to all. Keep us
from fear and keep the honey of Your Word in our mouths as we go forth. In
Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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