Andy Davis unfolds Revelation 10, pointing to the reality of God’s glory in both the physical and spiritual realms. Guest preacher at SEBTS on 3/16/22
Pastor Andy Davis unfolds Revelation 10, pointing us to the reality of God’s glory in both the physical and spiritual realms.
– TRANSCRIPT –
Father, we bow before your throne of grace, acknowledging that apart from you, we can do nothing. And Lord, we desire that this time be richly blessed, but we know that it’ll only be blessed if you send forth your Holy Spirit, the same spirit that inspired John so many centuries ago to write the Book of Revelation. Be with us now to interpret it and to apply it to our hearts. We pray in Jesus name, amen.
Turning your Bibles to Revelation chapter 10 to continue your incredible study in this book. The Book of Revelation, the apocalypses, the unveiling, pulls back the veil between the physical and spiritual world like no other book of the Bible. Now that veil is pulled back and as we peer into the invisible spiritual world, we can see more things there than we could possibly have conceived with our unaided imaginations. Certainly the most significant reality that we can see by the Book of Revelation is the glory of God. The triune God, God the Father seated on a throne of glory. God the son, Jesus Christ, pictured as a high priest robed and walking through the seven golden lamp stands and also as a lion, ready to roar out with power, as a lamb looking as if it had been slain. And God, the Spirit pictured as a sevenfold lamp stand blazing with the fire of holiness and of truth. The triune God is a central reality of the invisible spiritual realm that surrounds us every moment and no book of the Bible so powerfully reveals the hidden nature of God’s glory like the Book of Revelation.
But that’s not all that the Book of Revelation unveils about the spiritual realms, for there are awesome created beings that we would never have known about if we did not read them in this book and that includes beings we commonly call angels. We’re going to look today at a mighty angel that brings a scroll to the apostle John. The context here is that the apostle John is on the island of Patmos off the coast of modern day Turkey, exiled by the Roman empire for his bold faithfulness in preaching the gospel. On that tiny rocky barren island the apostle John was worshiping by the spirit on the Lord’s day, and he had a vision of Christ ministering to the seven churches. Christ entrusted through John letters to those seven churches that make up Revelation 2 and 3. Then John is commanded by Christ himself to ascend through the sky, through a doorway open for him in heaven to learn about the future. John was empowered, supernaturally empowered by the spirit, to ascend in a vision. He passed through that doorway into the heavenly realms, and immediately saw a throne in heaven with someone seated on it, the central reality of the universe. That throne is a throne of almighty God, the father, the creator and ruler and sustainer of the entire universe. God, the creator is worshiped in heaven in Revelation 4 by the twenty-four elders and by four living creatures and by a hundred million angels. In the right hand of God, there is a scroll sealed with seven seals and Jesus steps forward, the lion of the tribe of Judah, looking like a lamb that had been slain. Christ alone has proven to be worthy, Christ alone worthy to take the scroll and to break open its seals. When he had taken the scroll, all of heaven breaks out in cascading worship of Christ the Redeemer. Revelation 5, celebrating Christ the Redeemer whose blood purchase for God, people from every tribe and language and people and nation. Then Jesus began breaking open those seven seals, one after the other and as He did, events began unfolding on earth. The four horsemen of the apocalypse bring false peace and war, famine and death. The martyrs who were slain would be slaughtered for the word of God under the altar crying out for vengeance. And with the sixth seal, the end of the physical universe. At the end of chapter 6 the terror-filled inhabitants of the Earth seek refuge and they cry out. The great day of the wrath of God and of the Lamb has come and who shall be able to stand? Who shall be able to stand in the day of God’s wrath? Revelation 7 answers that question. The redeemed are able to stand in the day of God’s wrath. The redeemed sealed from every tribe of Israel and from every nation on the faiths of the earth, a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe and language and people and nation are able to stand in the day of wrath. Then the lamb breaks open the seventh seal, which gives way to the seven trumpets and the first six of these seven trumpets sound in Revelation 8 and 9, resulting in terrifying judgements on the vegetation. Green growing things, on the oceans, on the fresh water, on the sun, the moon and the stars, a demonic hoard is unleashed to torment the people like a plague of locusts and scorpions. A demonic army of 200 million to slaughter one third of the Earth’s population.
So we come to Revelation 10, and before the seventh trumpet sounds a vision of a mighty angel and a little scroll, and the recommissioning of the prophet John to speak future words of sweetness and bitterness that we desperately need to hear and even to eat. Listen now to Revelation 10, “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven and he was robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head and his face was like the sun. And his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll which lay open in his hand and he planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. And he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted the voice of the seven thunders spoke. 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.’ Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven, and he swore by him who lives forever 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.’ 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. 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.’ 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.’ 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. Then I was told, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.'”
Angels
So we begin in our exposition with the mighty angel described in verses 1-4. Who are angels? What does this word mean? The word literally means “messenger”. Angels are created spiritual beings who have not a physical experience or existence as we do, no birth, no aging, no death. There are spirits, not flesh and blood. There are good angels who obey constantly the will of God, and then there are wicked angels called demons led by their wicked king, Satan. Their activity in the Bible throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament is in some sense, summed up in Hebrews 1:14, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
What are the benefit of studying angels in scripture? First, understanding more of the complexity of the invisible spiritual realm that God has made. Secondly, knowing how protected we are, that angels fight for us and they keep us from being tempted and they keep us from being attacked beyond what we can bear. And thirdly, they give us servants of God to imitate in their passionate prompt, heartfelt obedience, so that we can fulfill the statement we constantly make in the Lord’s prayer, “may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The angels are the ones obeying God in heaven. All right fine, but what are the dangers of focusing on angels? Many false depictions, artistic depictions of angels drive me crazy. I mean, you’ve seen these pictures. Are there any female angels in the Bible? I don’t know. There may be one in Zachariah, a couple in Zachariah, but other than that, no. It seems like they might be warriors, but they’re always depicted either as little babies that need a diaper change or beautiful women with flowing hair. But in any case, the problem is starting with the artist’s own imagination and not with scripture. People are tempted to worship angels for their glory. Even John was tempted to do this twice at the end of the Book of Revelation and Satan zeros in on this, and even as we are told, Satan masquerades as an angel of light [ II Corinthians 11:14]. All of the false religions in the world are propped up by demons who are god and goddess impersonators because those who worship idols are really worshiping demons and that’s the danger here.
How are angels especially active in the Book of Revelation? Seventy-three of the 188 mentions of angels in the New Testament are found in the Book of Revelation. That’s a huge percentage, since Revelation is all about the unveiling of the invisible spiritual realms. It’s not surprising at all that angels figure so prominently in this incredible book. Angels are depicted around the throne of God, worshiping him continually. This is the most powerful activity and delight of angels. Angels are directly active in the Book of Revelation in unleashing the wrath of God on the Earth. For example, in Revelation 8 and 9, angels sound the seven trumpets bringing terrifying judgements on the Earth. Later Revelation 16 shows angels pouring out bowls of God’s wrath on the Earth and celebrating his justice in what He’s doing. Perhaps the most important role of angels up to this point in redemptive history has been their activity in delivering the word of God to the people of God, something we generally don’t think about. We do believe as evangelicals in the inspiration of the scripture by God through the Holy Spirit, but angels are depicted in some sense as messengers or deliverers of the Word of God to Earth. For example, in Revelation 1, an angel was tasked to bring the Book of Revelation itself to John. The law of Moses, it says was put into effect through angels, both Paul and Steven tell us this. Angels carry messages from God to the prophets, and that’s exactly what this angel is doing here in Revelation 10. He’s carrying a prophetic message in the form of a scroll to John. There is also, I believe a clear parallel between this incredible chapter Revelation 10 `and Daniel chapter 10. If you remember in Daniel, Daniel’s a prophet and God sent an angel, a mighty angel to bring him a revelation of the future of Israel of what would happen and it’s depicted in Revelation 11 on into chapter 12, or Daniel 11 on into Daniel 12. This angel is so overpoweringly glorious that Daniel’s on the ground laid out unable to breathe. It knocked him to the ground in terror.
We get that same kind of glory here with this angel, look at verse 1-3, “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head and his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. And he was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. And he planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land and he gave a loud shout, like the roar of a lion.” The text describes him as “another mighty angel”, in other words, he’s like some of the other incredible angels John has already seen so far in his vision. John describes him as mighty, he is powerful, a warrior able to make war. He’s coming down from heaven. This means John is now no longer in heaven in his visions, but he’s back down on Earth and the angel comes down to where he is. He is robed in a cloud. Often in the Bible, clouds represent the impending judgment, the wrath and judgment of God, the storm clouds of God’s judgment, yet there is a rainbow above his head, above the head of the angel. This of course, hearkens back to end of the flood in God’s promise. His face was like the sun, again, the sense of a radiant brilliant heavenly light. Angels shine like the sun and glory. His legs are like fiery pillars. This must remind us of the pillar of fire that protected Israel from Pharaoh’s army and then led Israel through the Red Sea and through the desert. He’s holding a little scroll laying open in his hand. The delivery of the scroll is the purpose, the focus of the entire vision. It is his reason for coming down from heaven to interact with John. It is called “little” but it’s impact on the world is incalculable. It’s like the relationship between a tiny mustard seed and a vast tree that grows from it. How can we calculate the impact of the revelation that the angel came to deliver to John? By contrast, the prophet, Daniel was told to seal up several of his visions for the future, their meanings would be hidden until the time came. Daniel 12:4 says, “But you Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.” I believe there are details in the book of Daniel that would be unintelligible unless you’re living through what’s going on there, and so it’s sealed up until the time of the end.
Now in this open scroll here in Revelation 10 lays the revelation of the mysteries that God will only grant through his prophet at the end of the world. Look at verse 7, “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.” The vision is about God granting the revelation of the final mysteries of God to the human race through the prophet John. Beyond the scroll, the angel takes a mighty stance on the surface of the earth, look at verse two and three. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land and he gave a loud out like the roar of a lion. So this stance is like one of a mighty warrior on the battlefield who cannot be moved from his position. John tells us that his right foot is in the sea, his left foot on the land. I don’t know why the right and the left foot are signified. If I can just say for all expositors, especially of the Book of Revelation, it’s good to say “I don’t know.” You don’t have to say it after me, but just learn to say “I don’t know.” When you don’t know, say “I don’t know,” so I don’t know why the right foot, then the left foot. I have no idea, but it’s told to us. It does give us however, a sense of this warrior angel’s mighty power, but also the sense that the message he comes to bring encompasses the entire surface of planet earth. It will affect all the creatures of the heavens, for the angel’s head reaches to the clouds and his face is like the sun. It will affect all the creatures of the Earth where his left foot is, and on the sea, where his right foot is. The Word of God, small as it may seem in his hand, is more permanent than any of them, “for heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s word will never pass away.” This angel voice also is like the roar of a lion, the overpowering might of God in his unbreakable word.
Then comes the seven thunders and the limitation of the revelation, look at verse 3 and 4, “When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 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.” We don’t know what the voices of the seven thunders are. Perhaps they’re other mighty angels whose voice sounds like thunder. They say certain things that it seems are intelligible. John, he understands them, but he’s forbidden from writing them down, they’re sealed up. They’re not given to the human race. Like what happened with the apostle Paul when he was caught up to paradise. It says in II Corinthians 12:4, “He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” In other words, he can’t put them into words and he’s not allowed to try, but that work was somewhat given to John and not to Paul to describe heaven. Thus, there are some mysteries that God will reveal to the human race, then there are others He will not reveal to us. And so we have in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord, our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.”
Now, I believe as I’ve written in my book on heaven, there’ll be no secrets in heaven. Everything that God has ever thought about the unfolding of redemptive history will be made plain to us in due time in heaven. Now that’s the heavenly education. I could easily lurch off into that right now and I’d love to do it, but I’m going to stick to Revelation 10. Right now there are many things that have not been revealed to us, they’re secret. In verse 5-7, we have the message from the angel. We could sum it up in one phrase, “There’ll be no more delay.” No more delay, that’s what we’re talking about but he takes a solemn oath. Look at verse 5-6, “Then the angel I had seen on the sea and one the land raised his right hand to heaven and he swore by him who lives forever 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.'” We have this angel in this powerful stance, he raises his right hand to heaven and takes an oath. This is an oath stance. The taking of this oath is for the purpose of giving a sense of absolute certainty to John. “Oaths are taken and they give certainty,” the Book of Hebrews tells us that. He swears by the eternal God, the God who lives forever, whose kingdom never changes. He swears by the creator God, the king of all creation. The text looks at all the spheres of creation, heaven, Earth, and the sea in it, extending to all the creatures that dwell in those spheres. The God who made the heavens and all that is in them, the God who made the Earth and all that is in it. The God who made the sea and all that is in it. This is the God of the universe. The God of all creation. The angel saying, “By him, I swear. I promise.” What do you swear? Verse 6, there’ll be no more delay. The unfolding of the plan of God seems so slow to us, doesn’t it? As we go through it, we’re forever asking, “ How long, oh Lord?” I mean honestly, even the angels long to know the answer to this. In Daniel chapter 12, one of the angels asked that very question, Daniel 12:6, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” We see the martyrs under the altar in the fifth seal asking the very same question. They’re in heaven and they’re asking in Revelation 6, “How long Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the Earth and avenge our blood? How long will it be until we’re avenged?” Then they’re told to wait a little longer, but there will come a time when human history will come to an end, rapidly even. Now this is in the middle of the seven trumpets.
The next thing that will be in the Book of Revelation is the sounding of the seventh trumpet, so we should effectively transport ourselves in our minds and our hearts to that point in history. All of these events have happened, including the terrifying ecological plagues described in Revelation 8. Then the even more terrifying, demonic plagues described in Revelation 9. That when those things have happened, the time will be very short indeed, at that point, very short. Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:22, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, the Lord has shortened them.” So what is the significance of this promise? Those days will be so severe, so terrible, so terrifying that it will be vital for the people of God to know that they will not last very long. I actually think this is what the counting of the days, the mysterious counting of the days at the end of the book of Daniel is all about. They’re just not going to last long, and the people living through it will need to know how long. There’s a mysterious counting of the days that we can’t understand, but they’ll know exactly what that’s about, and so the mystery of God in those days finally will be accomplished. Look at verse 7, “But in the days when the seventh trumpet is about to sound or 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.”
When you get to that point in redemptive history, it’s not going to be very much longer. The mystery of God will be fulfilled. Now what is that? The mystery of God is his plan for redemption. It is God’s plan for the human race. Lots of passages speak about this mystery of God, but I like Ephesians 1:9-10, the best of all. There it says, “And he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure. Which he purposed in Christ to put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on Earth together under one head, even Christ.” That’s God’s purpose for redemption. Sin had a fragmentation grenade effect on the universe, blowing it apart. Christ and his redemption puts all things back together and makes them one under one head, even Christ. That’s the mystery of God’s purpose. That’s what this is all about, an end to the fragmentation grenade explosion that sin and wickedness has had on God’s beautiful universe, the end to rebellion and disunity caused by sin. This is the mystery that was hidden in the mind of God before the foundation of the world, but it’s been gradually revealed step by step by God’s holy apostles and prophets. The Book of Revelation represents the final stage of prophetic unfolding of the mysterious plan of God in writing ahead of time, given to us to read like we’re doing this morning. In the days of the seventh trumpet, the end of all those messages, all the messages ever given throughout the Old Testament, prophetic books, and throughout the New Testament as well, all the messages of the prophets and the apostles will be accomplished, they will be fulfilled.
The Scroll
To that end, the angel has come to recommission the apostle John to finish his writing, the rest of the Book of Revelation. So the mission of the angel is the commissioning of John, again, verses 8- 11. “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, standing on the sea and on the land.'” So the giving of the scroll, as I said, is the whole reason for the mission of this mighty angel for his descending from heaven to earth. Verse 9 says, “So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll.” But the angel told him something about the scroll and the effect it would have on him and indeed on every faithful heart that receives its message. Look at verses 9-10, “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.’ 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.” The angel told John to eat the scroll, representing the prophetic Revelation of the future. Ezekiel ate a scroll in Ezekiel 3 that tasted sweet in his mouth, similar to that. So also Jeremiah 15 said that he ate God’s words and they were his joy and his delight. The eating of the scroll represents the total absorption of the Word of God into our very being. Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God to eat, that it nourishes our souls to the very depth of our being. John is to take this message into his mouth and to digest it inwardly. Now the sweetness of the word of God in our mouths is well known. Ezekiel celebrates it. Jeremiah celebrates it, but John’s experience would be different. Sweet, yes but also bitter in his stomach. The final outcome of the Book of Revelation is utterly glorious: the final salvation of the elect from every tribe, language, people and nation. Jesus said, “The righteous will shine like the son in the kingdom of their father are going to be radially glorious,” and the fact that the new Jerusalem will descend out of heaven like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. With the radiant glory, there will be no need for the sun or the moon to shine, or a lamp to shine because the glory of God will irradiate that entire world, the new Heaven, new Earth and the new Jerusalem. That is glorious. What could be sweeter than that?
But it comes at a terrible cost, as we travel the journey there. The destruction of this present world, the destruction of all the unbelievers, their condemnation under the wrath of God is bitter for us. This is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem. This is why Paul says in Romans 9, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of the unbelieving of my people, the Jews.” And so Ezekiel 33:11 says, “As surely as I live declares a sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways. Why will you die? Oh, house of Israel?” I think that’s the bitterness of all of this as we read the judgment and destruction that’s coming, and the condemnation in the lake of fire that will certainly come on unbelievers.
So then John is recommissioned to preach to the nation. Verse 11, “I was told you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” John’s eating of the scroll results in his writing of a prophetic message that the entire world must hear. “John, you must prophesy. It is necessary for you to do this. You must write this message down for the world.” John is called by God, and he has no choice in this matter, he must do it. The Greek’s a little unclear, either “you must prophesy about many nations” as in the ESV, meaning they are the topic of his prophetic words, or “before many nations”, as in the KJV meaning they are the audience. But either way, that’s the focus. Here we have peoples, nations, languages, but also mentioned are kings. Now the word of God overrules and outlasts worldly kings. Isaiah 40 says, “He brings princess to naught and reduces the rulers of the world to nothing. No sooner are they planted. No sooner are they sewn. No sooner do they take root in the ground then he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. The word of God however, lasts forever and ever.” However, Isaiah 52:15 says some of those kings may well be converted. Some of those kings of various nations might hear the word of God and believe. As Isaiah 52:15 says, “So will he, Christ, sprinkle many nations and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see and what they have not heard, they will understand.”
Application
Well, that’s the text. Let’s take a few minutes on application. First of all, thank God for the written word of God. Thank God that we have this Bible that came from the scroll and we get to read these words. What a gift this is from our loving God to give us this scripture. Secondly, understand the reality of the invisible spiritual realms that surround us. God hides them from you because you can’t handle seeing them, Daniel was on the ground unable to breathe. If you saw the battle going on around you every day in the heavenly realms, you would be unable to function. As Jesus said, “I have much to say to you more than you can now bear.” Now I believe when we get to heaven and we see our lives in retrospect, we’ll be able see it because we can handle it. But right now we just learn from the Bible about the invisible spiritual realms and the warrior, the mighty holy warriors that are fighting for us, but you must know that their wicked counterparts are as powerful as they are. These angels and demons, it seems in the book of Daniel, battle it out on roughly equal terms. That’s the battle, the warfare that’s going on, but God’s purpose always will prevail.
Thirdly, understand the terrible road that still lies ahead of us before God’s glorious plan is fulfilled. Think about all of the people that are concerned about the ecology of the Earth. They’re green people, so to speak. Have they not read what’s going to happen in Revelation 8? I don’t have any problem with being concerned about ecology, we are stewards of the Earth, but God’s going to rip it to shreds and that’s a judgment. It started from the very beginning when he cursed the Earth because of Adam’s sin. This is the consummation of that curse and it’s going to be completely destroyed. A third of the sea is going to turn to blood, a third of the drinking water turned to blood. It’s going to be destroyed, burned up. Let’s understand also the judgments that are going to come on the wicked and the unbelieving of the world, and let’s grieve over it. The grief for sin is not for heaven. The grief for the lost will not be in heaven, we’re not going to mourn at all then. It’s for now, it’s to motivate us to share the gospel to lost people. That’s why we weep. That’s why we move and understand that.
Fourthly, let this chapter warn us against all the evils and deceptions of sin. Ephesians 5 puts it this way, “Among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place but rather thanksgiving. For of this, you can be sure no immoral, impure or greedy person, such a man as an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things, these sins God’s wrath is coming on the earth.” All the wrath we read about is caused by human wickedness and sin, so we as God’s holy people must flee from these evil things.
Fifth, let’s understand the delay. The text says at that point, there’ll be no more delay. Right now, there is a delay going on and we need to understand the reason for it. As we look around and see everything going on as it always has, it seems from the beginning of creation, we could be lulled into a sense that these things aren’t really going to happen, but they are going to happen, they’re coming. The delay, Peter tells us in II Peter is for salvation. This is the reason why God is waiting. He is patient with us not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. That’s the reason for the delay. Therefore, sixth, let’s be active in sharing our faith. The passion we have at FBC Durham right now, and we’ve been and praying for it for weeks now, is that a durable culture of evangelism that results in constant effective outreach to the lost in our community will result in the conversion of many people. That’s what we’re praying for. This seminary is committed with the word to sending missionaries to the ends of the earth and even within our own nation. We need to be passionate. As Peter said, “To look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming by evangelism and missions.”
Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for Revelation 10. Thank you for the things that we’ve learned and the ways that we can apply this text to our hearts. Thank you for the power of the Word of God and this little scroll that started little, but has had a massive impact on the fate of the earth. Lord, we pray that we would drink in and eat the word of God and that it would be sweet and bitter as it needs to be in our hearts to motivate us to the action and the good works you’ve called us to do. Now, we pray in Jesus name.
Pastor Andy Davis unfolds Revelation 10, pointing us to the reality of God’s glory in both the physical and spiritual realms.
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Father, we bow before your throne of grace, acknowledging that apart from you, we can do nothing. And Lord, we desire that this time be richly blessed, but we know that it’ll only be blessed if you send forth your Holy Spirit, the same spirit that inspired John so many centuries ago to write the Book of Revelation. Be with us now to interpret it and to apply it to our hearts. We pray in Jesus name, amen.
Turning your Bibles to Revelation chapter 10 to continue your incredible study in this book. The Book of Revelation, the apocalypses, the unveiling, pulls back the veil between the physical and spiritual world like no other book of the Bible. Now that veil is pulled back and as we peer into the invisible spiritual world, we can see more things there than we could possibly have conceived with our unaided imaginations. Certainly the most significant reality that we can see by the Book of Revelation is the glory of God. The triune God, God the Father seated on a throne of glory. God the son, Jesus Christ, pictured as a high priest robed and walking through the seven golden lamp stands and also as a lion, ready to roar out with power, as a lamb looking as if it had been slain. And God, the Spirit pictured as a sevenfold lamp stand blazing with the fire of holiness and of truth. The triune God is a central reality of the invisible spiritual realm that surrounds us every moment and no book of the Bible so powerfully reveals the hidden nature of God’s glory like the Book of Revelation.
But that’s not all that the Book of Revelation unveils about the spiritual realms, for there are awesome created beings that we would never have known about if we did not read them in this book and that includes beings we commonly call angels. We’re going to look today at a mighty angel that brings a scroll to the apostle John. The context here is that the apostle John is on the island of Patmos off the coast of modern day Turkey, exiled by the Roman empire for his bold faithfulness in preaching the gospel. On that tiny rocky barren island the apostle John was worshiping by the spirit on the Lord’s day, and he had a vision of Christ ministering to the seven churches. Christ entrusted through John letters to those seven churches that make up Revelation 2 and 3. Then John is commanded by Christ himself to ascend through the sky, through a doorway open for him in heaven to learn about the future. John was empowered, supernaturally empowered by the spirit, to ascend in a vision. He passed through that doorway into the heavenly realms, and immediately saw a throne in heaven with someone seated on it, the central reality of the universe. That throne is a throne of almighty God, the father, the creator and ruler and sustainer of the entire universe. God, the creator is worshiped in heaven in Revelation 4 by the twenty-four elders and by four living creatures and by a hundred million angels. In the right hand of God, there is a scroll sealed with seven seals and Jesus steps forward, the lion of the tribe of Judah, looking like a lamb that had been slain. Christ alone has proven to be worthy, Christ alone worthy to take the scroll and to break open its seals. When he had taken the scroll, all of heaven breaks out in cascading worship of Christ the Redeemer. Revelation 5, celebrating Christ the Redeemer whose blood purchase for God, people from every tribe and language and people and nation. Then Jesus began breaking open those seven seals, one after the other and as He did, events began unfolding on earth. The four horsemen of the apocalypse bring false peace and war, famine and death. The martyrs who were slain would be slaughtered for the word of God under the altar crying out for vengeance. And with the sixth seal, the end of the physical universe. At the end of chapter 6 the terror-filled inhabitants of the Earth seek refuge and they cry out. The great day of the wrath of God and of the Lamb has come and who shall be able to stand? Who shall be able to stand in the day of God’s wrath? Revelation 7 answers that question. The redeemed are able to stand in the day of God’s wrath. The redeemed sealed from every tribe of Israel and from every nation on the faiths of the earth, a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe and language and people and nation are able to stand in the day of wrath. Then the lamb breaks open the seventh seal, which gives way to the seven trumpets and the first six of these seven trumpets sound in Revelation 8 and 9, resulting in terrifying judgements on the vegetation. Green growing things, on the oceans, on the fresh water, on the sun, the moon and the stars, a demonic hoard is unleashed to torment the people like a plague of locusts and scorpions. A demonic army of 200 million to slaughter one third of the Earth’s population.
So we come to Revelation 10, and before the seventh trumpet sounds a vision of a mighty angel and a little scroll, and the recommissioning of the prophet John to speak future words of sweetness and bitterness that we desperately need to hear and even to eat. Listen now to Revelation 10, “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven and he was robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head and his face was like the sun. And his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll which lay open in his hand and he planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. And he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted the voice of the seven thunders spoke. 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.’ Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven, and he swore by him who lives forever 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.’ 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. 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.’ 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.’ 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. Then I was told, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.'”
Angels
So we begin in our exposition with the mighty angel described in verses 1-4. Who are angels? What does this word mean? The word literally means “messenger”. Angels are created spiritual beings who have not a physical experience or existence as we do, no birth, no aging, no death. There are spirits, not flesh and blood. There are good angels who obey constantly the will of God, and then there are wicked angels called demons led by their wicked king, Satan. Their activity in the Bible throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament is in some sense, summed up in Hebrews 1:14, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
What are the benefit of studying angels in scripture? First, understanding more of the complexity of the invisible spiritual realm that God has made. Secondly, knowing how protected we are, that angels fight for us and they keep us from being tempted and they keep us from being attacked beyond what we can bear. And thirdly, they give us servants of God to imitate in their passionate prompt, heartfelt obedience, so that we can fulfill the statement we constantly make in the Lord’s prayer, “may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The angels are the ones obeying God in heaven. All right fine, but what are the dangers of focusing on angels? Many false depictions, artistic depictions of angels drive me crazy. I mean, you’ve seen these pictures. Are there any female angels in the Bible? I don’t know. There may be one in Zachariah, a couple in Zachariah, but other than that, no. It seems like they might be warriors, but they’re always depicted either as little babies that need a diaper change or beautiful women with flowing hair. But in any case, the problem is starting with the artist’s own imagination and not with scripture. People are tempted to worship angels for their glory. Even John was tempted to do this twice at the end of the Book of Revelation and Satan zeros in on this, and even as we are told, Satan masquerades as an angel of light [ II Corinthians 11:14]. All of the false religions in the world are propped up by demons who are god and goddess impersonators because those who worship idols are really worshiping demons and that’s the danger here.
How are angels especially active in the Book of Revelation? Seventy-three of the 188 mentions of angels in the New Testament are found in the Book of Revelation. That’s a huge percentage, since Revelation is all about the unveiling of the invisible spiritual realms. It’s not surprising at all that angels figure so prominently in this incredible book. Angels are depicted around the throne of God, worshiping him continually. This is the most powerful activity and delight of angels. Angels are directly active in the Book of Revelation in unleashing the wrath of God on the Earth. For example, in Revelation 8 and 9, angels sound the seven trumpets bringing terrifying judgements on the Earth. Later Revelation 16 shows angels pouring out bowls of God’s wrath on the Earth and celebrating his justice in what He’s doing. Perhaps the most important role of angels up to this point in redemptive history has been their activity in delivering the word of God to the people of God, something we generally don’t think about. We do believe as evangelicals in the inspiration of the scripture by God through the Holy Spirit, but angels are depicted in some sense as messengers or deliverers of the Word of God to Earth. For example, in Revelation 1, an angel was tasked to bring the Book of Revelation itself to John. The law of Moses, it says was put into effect through angels, both Paul and Steven tell us this. Angels carry messages from God to the prophets, and that’s exactly what this angel is doing here in Revelation 10. He’s carrying a prophetic message in the form of a scroll to John. There is also, I believe a clear parallel between this incredible chapter Revelation 10 `and Daniel chapter 10. If you remember in Daniel, Daniel’s a prophet and God sent an angel, a mighty angel to bring him a revelation of the future of Israel of what would happen and it’s depicted in Revelation 11 on into chapter 12, or Daniel 11 on into Daniel 12. This angel is so overpoweringly glorious that Daniel’s on the ground laid out unable to breathe. It knocked him to the ground in terror.
We get that same kind of glory here with this angel, look at verse 1-3, “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head and his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. And he was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. And he planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land and he gave a loud shout, like the roar of a lion.” The text describes him as “another mighty angel”, in other words, he’s like some of the other incredible angels John has already seen so far in his vision. John describes him as mighty, he is powerful, a warrior able to make war. He’s coming down from heaven. This means John is now no longer in heaven in his visions, but he’s back down on Earth and the angel comes down to where he is. He is robed in a cloud. Often in the Bible, clouds represent the impending judgment, the wrath and judgment of God, the storm clouds of God’s judgment, yet there is a rainbow above his head, above the head of the angel. This of course, hearkens back to end of the flood in God’s promise. His face was like the sun, again, the sense of a radiant brilliant heavenly light. Angels shine like the sun and glory. His legs are like fiery pillars. This must remind us of the pillar of fire that protected Israel from Pharaoh’s army and then led Israel through the Red Sea and through the desert. He’s holding a little scroll laying open in his hand. The delivery of the scroll is the purpose, the focus of the entire vision. It is his reason for coming down from heaven to interact with John. It is called “little” but it’s impact on the world is incalculable. It’s like the relationship between a tiny mustard seed and a vast tree that grows from it. How can we calculate the impact of the revelation that the angel came to deliver to John? By contrast, the prophet, Daniel was told to seal up several of his visions for the future, their meanings would be hidden until the time came. Daniel 12:4 says, “But you Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.” I believe there are details in the book of Daniel that would be unintelligible unless you’re living through what’s going on there, and so it’s sealed up until the time of the end.
Now in this open scroll here in Revelation 10 lays the revelation of the mysteries that God will only grant through his prophet at the end of the world. Look at verse 7, “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.” The vision is about God granting the revelation of the final mysteries of God to the human race through the prophet John. Beyond the scroll, the angel takes a mighty stance on the surface of the earth, look at verse two and three. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land and he gave a loud out like the roar of a lion. So this stance is like one of a mighty warrior on the battlefield who cannot be moved from his position. John tells us that his right foot is in the sea, his left foot on the land. I don’t know why the right and the left foot are signified. If I can just say for all expositors, especially of the Book of Revelation, it’s good to say “I don’t know.” You don’t have to say it after me, but just learn to say “I don’t know.” When you don’t know, say “I don’t know,” so I don’t know why the right foot, then the left foot. I have no idea, but it’s told to us. It does give us however, a sense of this warrior angel’s mighty power, but also the sense that the message he comes to bring encompasses the entire surface of planet earth. It will affect all the creatures of the heavens, for the angel’s head reaches to the clouds and his face is like the sun. It will affect all the creatures of the Earth where his left foot is, and on the sea, where his right foot is. The Word of God, small as it may seem in his hand, is more permanent than any of them, “for heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s word will never pass away.” This angel voice also is like the roar of a lion, the overpowering might of God in his unbreakable word.
Then comes the seven thunders and the limitation of the revelation, look at verse 3 and 4, “When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 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.” We don’t know what the voices of the seven thunders are. Perhaps they’re other mighty angels whose voice sounds like thunder. They say certain things that it seems are intelligible. John, he understands them, but he’s forbidden from writing them down, they’re sealed up. They’re not given to the human race. Like what happened with the apostle Paul when he was caught up to paradise. It says in II Corinthians 12:4, “He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” In other words, he can’t put them into words and he’s not allowed to try, but that work was somewhat given to John and not to Paul to describe heaven. Thus, there are some mysteries that God will reveal to the human race, then there are others He will not reveal to us. And so we have in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord, our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.”
Now, I believe as I’ve written in my book on heaven, there’ll be no secrets in heaven. Everything that God has ever thought about the unfolding of redemptive history will be made plain to us in due time in heaven. Now that’s the heavenly education. I could easily lurch off into that right now and I’d love to do it, but I’m going to stick to Revelation 10. Right now there are many things that have not been revealed to us, they’re secret. In verse 5-7, we have the message from the angel. We could sum it up in one phrase, “There’ll be no more delay.” No more delay, that’s what we’re talking about but he takes a solemn oath. Look at verse 5-6, “Then the angel I had seen on the sea and one the land raised his right hand to heaven and he swore by him who lives forever 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.'” We have this angel in this powerful stance, he raises his right hand to heaven and takes an oath. This is an oath stance. The taking of this oath is for the purpose of giving a sense of absolute certainty to John. “Oaths are taken and they give certainty,” the Book of Hebrews tells us that. He swears by the eternal God, the God who lives forever, whose kingdom never changes. He swears by the creator God, the king of all creation. The text looks at all the spheres of creation, heaven, Earth, and the sea in it, extending to all the creatures that dwell in those spheres. The God who made the heavens and all that is in them, the God who made the Earth and all that is in it. The God who made the sea and all that is in it. This is the God of the universe. The God of all creation. The angel saying, “By him, I swear. I promise.” What do you swear? Verse 6, there’ll be no more delay. The unfolding of the plan of God seems so slow to us, doesn’t it? As we go through it, we’re forever asking, “ How long, oh Lord?” I mean honestly, even the angels long to know the answer to this. In Daniel chapter 12, one of the angels asked that very question, Daniel 12:6, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” We see the martyrs under the altar in the fifth seal asking the very same question. They’re in heaven and they’re asking in Revelation 6, “How long Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the Earth and avenge our blood? How long will it be until we’re avenged?” Then they’re told to wait a little longer, but there will come a time when human history will come to an end, rapidly even. Now this is in the middle of the seven trumpets.
The next thing that will be in the Book of Revelation is the sounding of the seventh trumpet, so we should effectively transport ourselves in our minds and our hearts to that point in history. All of these events have happened, including the terrifying ecological plagues described in Revelation 8. Then the even more terrifying, demonic plagues described in Revelation 9. That when those things have happened, the time will be very short indeed, at that point, very short. Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:22, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, the Lord has shortened them.” So what is the significance of this promise? Those days will be so severe, so terrible, so terrifying that it will be vital for the people of God to know that they will not last very long. I actually think this is what the counting of the days, the mysterious counting of the days at the end of the book of Daniel is all about. They’re just not going to last long, and the people living through it will need to know how long. There’s a mysterious counting of the days that we can’t understand, but they’ll know exactly what that’s about, and so the mystery of God in those days finally will be accomplished. Look at verse 7, “But in the days when the seventh trumpet is about to sound or 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.”
When you get to that point in redemptive history, it’s not going to be very much longer. The mystery of God will be fulfilled. Now what is that? The mystery of God is his plan for redemption. It is God’s plan for the human race. Lots of passages speak about this mystery of God, but I like Ephesians 1:9-10, the best of all. There it says, “And he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure. Which he purposed in Christ to put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on Earth together under one head, even Christ.” That’s God’s purpose for redemption. Sin had a fragmentation grenade effect on the universe, blowing it apart. Christ and his redemption puts all things back together and makes them one under one head, even Christ. That’s the mystery of God’s purpose. That’s what this is all about, an end to the fragmentation grenade explosion that sin and wickedness has had on God’s beautiful universe, the end to rebellion and disunity caused by sin. This is the mystery that was hidden in the mind of God before the foundation of the world, but it’s been gradually revealed step by step by God’s holy apostles and prophets. The Book of Revelation represents the final stage of prophetic unfolding of the mysterious plan of God in writing ahead of time, given to us to read like we’re doing this morning. In the days of the seventh trumpet, the end of all those messages, all the messages ever given throughout the Old Testament, prophetic books, and throughout the New Testament as well, all the messages of the prophets and the apostles will be accomplished, they will be fulfilled.
The Scroll
To that end, the angel has come to recommission the apostle John to finish his writing, the rest of the Book of Revelation. So the mission of the angel is the commissioning of John, again, verses 8- 11. “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, standing on the sea and on the land.'” So the giving of the scroll, as I said, is the whole reason for the mission of this mighty angel for his descending from heaven to earth. Verse 9 says, “So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll.” But the angel told him something about the scroll and the effect it would have on him and indeed on every faithful heart that receives its message. Look at verses 9-10, “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.’ 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.” The angel told John to eat the scroll, representing the prophetic Revelation of the future. Ezekiel ate a scroll in Ezekiel 3 that tasted sweet in his mouth, similar to that. So also Jeremiah 15 said that he ate God’s words and they were his joy and his delight. The eating of the scroll represents the total absorption of the Word of God into our very being. Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God to eat, that it nourishes our souls to the very depth of our being. John is to take this message into his mouth and to digest it inwardly. Now the sweetness of the word of God in our mouths is well known. Ezekiel celebrates it. Jeremiah celebrates it, but John’s experience would be different. Sweet, yes but also bitter in his stomach. The final outcome of the Book of Revelation is utterly glorious: the final salvation of the elect from every tribe, language, people and nation. Jesus said, “The righteous will shine like the son in the kingdom of their father are going to be radially glorious,” and the fact that the new Jerusalem will descend out of heaven like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. With the radiant glory, there will be no need for the sun or the moon to shine, or a lamp to shine because the glory of God will irradiate that entire world, the new Heaven, new Earth and the new Jerusalem. That is glorious. What could be sweeter than that?
But it comes at a terrible cost, as we travel the journey there. The destruction of this present world, the destruction of all the unbelievers, their condemnation under the wrath of God is bitter for us. This is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem. This is why Paul says in Romans 9, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of the unbelieving of my people, the Jews.” And so Ezekiel 33:11 says, “As surely as I live declares a sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways. Why will you die? Oh, house of Israel?” I think that’s the bitterness of all of this as we read the judgment and destruction that’s coming, and the condemnation in the lake of fire that will certainly come on unbelievers.
So then John is recommissioned to preach to the nation. Verse 11, “I was told you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” John’s eating of the scroll results in his writing of a prophetic message that the entire world must hear. “John, you must prophesy. It is necessary for you to do this. You must write this message down for the world.” John is called by God, and he has no choice in this matter, he must do it. The Greek’s a little unclear, either “you must prophesy about many nations” as in the ESV, meaning they are the topic of his prophetic words, or “before many nations”, as in the KJV meaning they are the audience. But either way, that’s the focus. Here we have peoples, nations, languages, but also mentioned are kings. Now the word of God overrules and outlasts worldly kings. Isaiah 40 says, “He brings princess to naught and reduces the rulers of the world to nothing. No sooner are they planted. No sooner are they sewn. No sooner do they take root in the ground then he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. The word of God however, lasts forever and ever.” However, Isaiah 52:15 says some of those kings may well be converted. Some of those kings of various nations might hear the word of God and believe. As Isaiah 52:15 says, “So will he, Christ, sprinkle many nations and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see and what they have not heard, they will understand.”
Application
Well, that’s the text. Let’s take a few minutes on application. First of all, thank God for the written word of God. Thank God that we have this Bible that came from the scroll and we get to read these words. What a gift this is from our loving God to give us this scripture. Secondly, understand the reality of the invisible spiritual realms that surround us. God hides them from you because you can’t handle seeing them, Daniel was on the ground unable to breathe. If you saw the battle going on around you every day in the heavenly realms, you would be unable to function. As Jesus said, “I have much to say to you more than you can now bear.” Now I believe when we get to heaven and we see our lives in retrospect, we’ll be able see it because we can handle it. But right now we just learn from the Bible about the invisible spiritual realms and the warrior, the mighty holy warriors that are fighting for us, but you must know that their wicked counterparts are as powerful as they are. These angels and demons, it seems in the book of Daniel, battle it out on roughly equal terms. That’s the battle, the warfare that’s going on, but God’s purpose always will prevail.
Thirdly, understand the terrible road that still lies ahead of us before God’s glorious plan is fulfilled. Think about all of the people that are concerned about the ecology of the Earth. They’re green people, so to speak. Have they not read what’s going to happen in Revelation 8? I don’t have any problem with being concerned about ecology, we are stewards of the Earth, but God’s going to rip it to shreds and that’s a judgment. It started from the very beginning when he cursed the Earth because of Adam’s sin. This is the consummation of that curse and it’s going to be completely destroyed. A third of the sea is going to turn to blood, a third of the drinking water turned to blood. It’s going to be destroyed, burned up. Let’s understand also the judgments that are going to come on the wicked and the unbelieving of the world, and let’s grieve over it. The grief for sin is not for heaven. The grief for the lost will not be in heaven, we’re not going to mourn at all then. It’s for now, it’s to motivate us to share the gospel to lost people. That’s why we weep. That’s why we move and understand that.
Fourthly, let this chapter warn us against all the evils and deceptions of sin. Ephesians 5 puts it this way, “Among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place but rather thanksgiving. For of this, you can be sure no immoral, impure or greedy person, such a man as an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things, these sins God’s wrath is coming on the earth.” All the wrath we read about is caused by human wickedness and sin, so we as God’s holy people must flee from these evil things.
Fifth, let’s understand the delay. The text says at that point, there’ll be no more delay. Right now, there is a delay going on and we need to understand the reason for it. As we look around and see everything going on as it always has, it seems from the beginning of creation, we could be lulled into a sense that these things aren’t really going to happen, but they are going to happen, they’re coming. The delay, Peter tells us in II Peter is for salvation. This is the reason why God is waiting. He is patient with us not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. That’s the reason for the delay. Therefore, sixth, let’s be active in sharing our faith. The passion we have at FBC Durham right now, and we’ve been and praying for it for weeks now, is that a durable culture of evangelism that results in constant effective outreach to the lost in our community will result in the conversion of many people. That’s what we’re praying for. This seminary is committed with the word to sending missionaries to the ends of the earth and even within our own nation. We need to be passionate. As Peter said, “To look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming by evangelism and missions.”
Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for Revelation 10. Thank you for the things that we’ve learned and the ways that we can apply this text to our hearts. Thank you for the power of the Word of God and this little scroll that started little, but has had a massive impact on the fate of the earth. Lord, we pray that we would drink in and eat the word of God and that it would be sweet and bitter as it needs to be in our hearts to motivate us to the action and the good works you’ve called us to do. Now, we pray in Jesus name.
