The Bittersweet Book:A Mighty Angel and His Little Scroll

Osborne is right. So in the meantime, we will trust in the plans of our sovereign God and marvel at His mysterious ways. After all, He is God and we are not—a lesson we mere mortals too often struggle to remember.

REVELATION 10:5-7

In Isaiah 55:11 our God promises us, “So my word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.” When our Lord speaks, His word is certain, sure, and trustworthy. It will come to pass. You and I can count on it. In a powerful and sovereign declaration, the mighty angel swears that which God “announced to His servants the prophets” (10:7) “would be fulfilled” (ESV). Indeed, “there would be no more delay” (10:6 ESV). I believe the drama of Daniel 12 finds its fulfillment in these verses.

In an act of solemn oath taking, the angel of 10:1 raises his right hand to heaven. This is the only time an oath is taken in Revelation. In Matthew 5:34-35 Jesus spoke against frivolous and deceitful swearing. His brother James taught the same lesson (Jas 5:12). However, throughout Scripture godly men and women such as Abraham (Gen 21:25-31), Isaac (Gen 26:26-31), David (1 Sam 20:12-17), and Paul (Acts 18:18), along with Jesus (Matt 26:63-64) and God Himself (Heb 6:13), took oaths as a witness of confirmation to speak the truth (MacArthur, Revelation 1–11, 284). This angel swears an oath, and he takes it in the name of the living God “who lives forever and ever” (10:6). This acknowledges His eternity (see 1:18; 4:9-10; 15:7). Furthermore, He is the God who created heaven, the earth, and the sea and “what is in it” (spoken three times for emphasis). He is the sovereign Creator. He alone is the uncaused Cause, Aristotle’s “Unmoved Mover,” the Source and ultimate Cause of all that is. This angel could not have sworn by any greater. God will confirm His Word.

The message of God’s servant angel is twofold: First, “there would be no delay” (ESV), literally, “there will no longer be a period of time.” This answers the question of the martyrs in 6:10. God will not stop or delay the remaining judgments. Evil will now run its course quickly as antichrist rises from the abyss (11:7) and emerges as a world ruler (see 2 Thess 2:3-12; Rev 13:1-18). God and evil, the Lamb and the dragon, are headed for cosmic conflict, a global showdown. It will happen soon.

Second, when the seventh angel sounds to send forth the seven bowls (ch. 16), the mystery or “hidden plan” (Gk musterion) of God will be fulfilled, completed, finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. In the New Testament a mystery is a truth previously concealed but now revealed (e.g., Eph 3:2-11). God’s plan and purpose in creation and redemption, made possible through the blood of the Lamb, is now revealed plainly. It is nothing less than the answer to the prayers of the saints throughout history, “Your kingdom come . . . on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). The time is now. The kingdom will come. God has willed from eternity past the complete and final defeat of evil. That day is coming. You can trust God to complete His work. We may fail Him, but He will never fail us! His word is certain: “God has instigated the final events of world history, and nothing can delay them” (Mounce, Revelation, 399).

REVELATION 10:8-11

These verses are the most applicable and practical in this passage of Scripture. They have a clear relevance for every generation of believers and followers of the Lamb. The imagery is striking, and the meaning is self-evident. The “little scroll” of verse 2 reappears and takes center stage. It is mentioned three times in verses 8-10. God’s Word comes with authority. Its promises and prophecies are certain to be fulfilled. However, it is of little or no value to us personally if we do not take it, read it, feed on it, and then proclaim it. It is a bittersweet book to be sure. It is a book that will change us. It is a book that leaves no one the same. Life and death are in its words. How then do we respond to this word?

The voice from heaven speaks again (10:4). The voice is almost certainly the voice of God. This voice commands authority and demands obedience. John is told to “go” and “take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel.” Both “go” and “take” are imperatives of command. No doubt John needed such a word to approach such a mighty angel (10:1). Interestingly, the scroll lies open. For you and me, we also have an open book God has prepared for us to read. It is called the Bible. As John is commanded to go and take this little scroll for his spiritual edification, God commands us to go and take His big book and explore its truths. For us there is no intimidating angel to approach. There is an open book ready for the taking. All you have to do is go and get it.

John approaches the angel and requests the scroll. The angel responds by telling him to “take” it and to “eat it.” Both verbs are imperatives. John is to take the scroll and devour it, to completely eat it up. The Old Testament background is plainly Jeremiah 15:16 and Ezekiel 2:9–3:3. What a powerful image for how we should approach the Word of God! This book is honey (Pss 19:10; 119:103; Prov 24:13), better than bread (Matt 4:4), meat (1 Cor 3:1-2), and milk (1 Pet 2:2). Here is a diet for spiritual health and nourishment. However, we can expect a twofold reaction when eating and digesting this book. It will be sweet in our mouths, but it can be bitter to our stomachs (10:9-10). It is sweet in our mouths because it reveals the gospel—God’s goodness and grace, His love and mercy, His plans and purposes, His will and His ways. It is bitter to our stomachs because it is a word of judgment to unbelievers and a word of persecution and suffering for believers (Beale, Revelation, 552–53; also Osborne, Revelation, 404, and Mounce, Revelation, 210). To my mind, MacArthur puts it well:

All who love Jesus Christ can relate to John’s ambivalence. Believers long for Christ to return in glory, for Satan to be destroyed, and the glorious kingdom of our Lord to be set up on earth, in which He will rule in universal sovereignty and glory while establishing in the world righteousness, truth, and peace. But they, like Paul (Rom. 9:1-3), mourn bitterly over the judgment of the ungodly. (Revelation 1–11, 288)

There is joy and sorrow, sweetness and bitterness, gladness and sadness when God’s Word does its perfect saving and sanctifying work in our lives.

God, by means of His angel, has a commission (or recommission) for John. Though it is not identical, the commission is similar to the Great Commission the Lord Jesus gave the church (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). These are words of important application for all of us. “You must” sounds a moral imperative, a moral and spiritual obligation. You must prophesy, preach, and proclaim again (see 1:11,19). He is to prophesy “about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.” Fourfold classifications are common in Revelation, occurring seven times. The inclusion of “kings” occurs only here. Osborne says, “This is probably added due to the presence of the ‘kings of the earth’ in 6:15; 16:14; 17:10-11 as rulers of the nations and persecutors of the saints” (Revelation, 405). Like the book itself, proclaiming God’s Word to the nations is bittersweet. It is a positive word of redemption to those who believe, and it is a bitter word of judgment to those who refuse to repent (9:20-21) and who persecute God’s people (11:1-14). Our assignment is to go. Our calling is to proclaim the good news of the gospel. In the midst of judgment, God is announcing through His prophets the good news of His grace revealed in the gospel of His Son. The sweetness of faithful obedience cannot be soured by the bitterness of persecution, rejection, suffering, and even death.

Chuck Swindoll is a faithful Bible teacher God has used to bless many lives. I count myself as one of those lives. His insight on applying Revelation 10 is just about perfect and is a wonderful way to conclude our study:

Just like John, we have roles to play in God’s ultimate plan. We can’t call ourselves “apostles,” and we don’t receive literal visions and revelations from God. We’re not required to swallow prophetic books to utter inspired words. But each of us has been given a crucial mission to share the good news of salvation with the world (Matt 28:19-20). Yet just like John, we must first internalize the message, allowing it to become a part of our own lives.

It’s true that the gospel of Jesus Christ involves both bad news and good news—bad news about lost humans subject to divine judgment but good news about the righteous Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who paid the complete penalty for us and saves us when we simply trust in Him. As ambassadors for Christ in this age, we must not only understand and accept the gospel ourselves, but we must also be able to communicate that message to others.

Have you accepted God’s commission on your life?

Or, like John, are you ready for a recommissioning from God? (Insights, 151)