Earlier in our study there was a pause between the opening of the sixth seal and the seventh seal. Today there is a pause between the blowing of the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet. During this pause John sees a mighty angel holding a little scroll. We discuss how Chapter 10 of Revelation compares with Daniel 12 and Ezekiel 3, plus we discuss the possible identity of this mighty angel and we talk about what may be contained in the little scroll.
"Then I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun and his legs were like fiery pillars." (Revelation 10:1) Some very well-respected scholars identify this angel as Christ, while many other well-respected scholars think he is be the archangel Michael. We will briefly discuss both these theories.
I personally don't think he is Christ, although there are a couple of similarities between his description and the description of Christ in Revelation 1. But I think if this angel were Christ, John would know it. He immediately knew who the Lord was when He appeared to him on the Isle of Patmos, in spite of how different He looked from when He walked the earth as a man. John immediately knew who the Lord was when he saw Him in heaven in His role as the Lamb who was slain. Also it's only in the Old Testament that we see Christ referred to as "the angel of the Lord" during His pre-incarnate appearances. Ever since He became flesh and dwelt among man, He has been referred to by many honorable titles but not as an angel. If we look at how John describes this angel in the original Greek, he's saying, "I saw alloj (another, more, in the same order of) iscuroj (mighty, powerful, strong) aggeloj (messenger) come down from heaven." In other words, "I saw another mighty angel similar to the mighty angels I've already seen."
I feel that the theory that the angel of Revelation 10 may be the archangel Michael makes more sense than that the angel is Christ. This is because while the archangel Michael was providing the prophet Daniel with information about the end times, he did and said some of the same things the angel does in our passage today. We will compare the similarities as we go through Chapter 10.
When John sees the mighty angel, he tells us: "He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. 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.' And 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 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." (Revelation 10:2-7)
The prophet Daniel was given a great deal of information about the end times by the archangel Michael. In Daniel 12 a mighty angel who is communicating with him answers Daniel's question regarding how long it will take for the worst half of the Great Tribulation to be completed. The majority of scholars believe the angel of Daniel 12 is Michael because Michael is the one who has communicated with Daniel a number of times already. When Daniel asks his question of the angel, the angel lifts his right hand to heaven and swears by Him who lives forever, saying that this period would be for "a time, times, and half a time", which is generally interpreted as 3.5 years. (We have already learned in our study that the Antichrist will orchestrate a seven-year peace treaty which he will break halfway through and that the second half of his reign as world dictator will be the worst part of the Great Tribulation.) The angel of Daniel 12 and the angel of Revelation 10 both lift their right hand to heaven to swear by Him who lives forever, indicating that these two angels may be one and the same.
John says that when the angel roars, "the voices of the seven thunders spoke". The identity of the seven thunders is not clear. John doesn't give us any further explanation, and the authors of various commentaries and books on Revelation don't speculate much on the identity of the seven thunders because not enough information is provided. Whatever these thunders say, John is prohibited from writing it down. If we needed to know what they said, the Lord would have allowed us to know what they said. But in our specific time in history prior to the Great Tribulation, it is not necessary for us to know. The same thing happened when Daniel wanted to know more about the end times than he had already been told. The angel replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end." (Daniel 12:9) Daniel wasn't going to be on the earth in the end times and there were things he simply didn't need to know, things he would have been unable to understand in an era long before Christ was born. Would Daniel have known who the Lord Jesus was if He'd appeared to him as He appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos? No, because the symbolism of the aspects of Christ's appearance in Revelation 1 would have made no sense to him, but these things did make sense to John and to us. Would Daniel have had any idea what was happening if, like John, he'd seen Christ in His role as the slain Lamb standing before the throne of God? No, because he lived too long before Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world came into the world and gave His life for mankind.
When we began our study of the book of Revelation, we talked about how Revelation unseals the sealed things of the book of Daniel. Until the Lord Jesus came into the world in the flesh and dwelt among mankind, until He said and did things no mere man had ever done or said, until He gave His life on the cross, until He rose from the dead, and until He ascended to the Father, it was impossible to make much sense of the prophecies of Daniel. But when the risen and glorified Lord appeared to John and provided him with information about the end times, the prophecies of Revelation matched up with the prophecies of Daniel, thereby unsealing the things Daniel was told were "rolled up and sealed until the time of the end". This is because, ever since Christ ascended to heaven, we have been living in the last days leading up to the end times. This is because the people of our day who are not Christians need to understand the prophecies and take them to heart so they can be redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is because the people of our day who are Christians need to keep in mind the blessed promise that Christ will call for us soon and that we need not fear the Great Tribulation because during that dark time we will be with Christ in heaven. The people of Daniel's day did not need to understand these things because the time of the end was still too far in the future.
Is the little scroll in the angel's hand in Revelation 10 the scroll that the angel of Daniel 12 says is "rolled up and sealed until the time of the end"? I think it very well could be since the book of Daniel is unsealed by the book of Revelation. Here is what happens with the little scroll of Revelation 10: "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.'" (Revelation 10:8-11)
The angel quotes Ezekiel 3:3 when he tells John the scroll will taste like honey in his mouth but will turn his stomach sour. Ezekiel was also instructed to eat a scroll, a scroll that contained prophecies regarding his people. Some of Ezekiel's people would remain faithful to the Lord while some would continue to rebel against him. This is why the scroll was both sweet and bitter, because the future of the faithful and the future of the wicked were going to be very different from each other. The word of God is sweet to those who love Him, as King David declared, "How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103) The one who serves and loves the Lord draws comfort and strength from what He has to say. The promises and the blessings of the Scriptures belong only to those who belong to the Lord. To those who live in rebellion against Him, His word is bitter because the only words in the Scriptures that apply to the rebellious are words of judgment. The scroll John eats contains the fact that God is going to accomplish everything He has ever intended to accomplish for the creation, so the scroll tastes sweet in his mouth. The child of God ought to long for the day when His kingdom comes. But the scroll also contains judgment for the wicked, and this is a bitter thing even though the wicked bring their judgment upon themselves. God is righteous and must judge sin. We could not love or serve a God who won't judge wickedness and cruelty. We---the children of God---will rejoice on the day all wickedness is judged and when sin is vanquished forever. But for those on the receiving end of this judgment, the fulfillment of the prophecies of the end times will be a bitter thing, not a thing to be celebrated.
When the angel of Daniel 12 told him the prophecies he'd been given were sealed until the time of the end, the angel said, "Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand." (Daniel 12:10) In Revelation 10 the angel tells John, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." (Revelation 10:11) John lived a few more years after receiving the prophecies of Revelation. During those years he must have taught these prophecies to anyone who would listen. The words he wrote down were copied and sent to the churches and on out into the world. We are still studying these words today, so John has indeed continued to prophesy just as the angel said he would. And, just as the angel of Daniel 10 said, some take the words to heart (those who are wise) and some don't understand the words because they don't want to understand the words (those who are wicked). As we study the remainder of Revelation, we will learn about the glorious future of the wise and the terrible fate of the wicked.
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