After describing six terrible trumpet judgments which result in millions of people being killed, John is given a vision of a mighty angel with a little scroll that instructs him about what he has to do. The change of subject matter in chapter 10, however, indicates that we have another parenthesis, as there was between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals in chapter 7. Understanding the general structure of the Revelation requires understanding this short chapter.
REVELATION 10:1
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with ya rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and ahis legs like pillars of fire.
Another mighty angel, sends us back to Revelation 5:2. There, “a mighty angel” is associated with the large scroll. That John indicates that this angel is another limits the possible referent. Some have attempted to argue that this angel is none other than Jesus Himself. However, this point should not be pressed. It would appear safer to allow the text to limit our discussion.
Three angelic beings are identified as “mighty” in Revelation. The first occurrence appears in Revelation 5:2. The second is in Revelation 10:1 and the final ocurrence is in Revelation 18:21. What is the significance of “mighty angels”? The characteristics associated with “another mighty angel” in Revelation 10:1-7 are closely parallel to an angelic being described in Daniel 10:5-6 and 12:5-7. These similarities have given some interpreters the basis to see a connection between these two texts.
Based on Revelation 5:2; 10:1 and 18:21 mighty angels are revelatory angels That is, they specifically communicate to man information from God. In Revelation 5:2, the mighty angel communicates the identity of the Person worthy to open the sealed scroll. In Revelation 10:1, he communicates a significant transition in the program of God. In Revelation 18:21, he communicates the destiny of the capital city of the beast empire. Similarly, and angelic being in Daniel 10 communicates the destiny of the Jews and Jerusalem.
Daniel 10:21b states, “there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince”. The verse literally says, “Yet there is none who shows himself strong (mighty) with me” Hebrew language emphasizes the continuing nature of these angelic beings. That is, they are continually mighty. Therefore, Michael and this angelic beings have always being mighty angels. In Revelation 10:1, the adjective mighty comes from the Greek word ischuros. In Daniel 10:21b, the verb to show himself strong comes from the Hebrew word chazak. The verb form used in Daniel 10:12b means to prove be strong/mighty/corageous.
Therefore, like this angelic being, Michael is a mighty angel. Notice again Daniel 10:12b, “Yet there is none who shows himself strong (mighty) with me against these forces except Michael your prince”. Michael is described as “one of the chief princes”, in Daniel 10:13, which demands that there is more one chief prince. The apostle Jude indicates that Michael is an archangel (Jude 1:9). Thus the angel who speaks in Daniel 10 and Revelation 10 are probable both of the same type as Michael, the archangel.
Wrapped in a cloud, with ya rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and ahis legs like pillars of fire, is similar to the description given in Daniel 10:5-6 and Revelation 1:13-15. In both passages, a case can be made that Christ is the referent. However, the fact that the description in Revelation 10:1 is specifically identified as an angel should settle the matter of the identity of the angel here.
REVELATION 10:2-3
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.
It is critical that the reader understands that John’s personal involvement in the scene that constitutes the tenth chapter of Revelation will not be repeated in the future! In other words, when the events of the book of Revelation begin to unfold this mighty angel will not descend from heaven and communicate with John again. The event recorded in chapter 10 occurred literally at the time that John received the book of Revelation. We have the benefit of what occurred because several important details are given to us. However, the event itself, the angel coming down to talk with John will not happen again. This is critical to understand the importance of John’s vision. That this is a correct conclusion is supported by several facts. First, in order for these events to happen again literally, the apostle John must be resurrected from the dead. Second, John will have to eat the little scroll again. Third, John would have to prophesy again concerning end time events.
The single most important point of chapter 10 seems to be the angelic announcement that “in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled”. Now that we know this fact, there will be no need for the mighty angel to descend from heaven to report a fact already known by the reader of Revelation.
He had a little scroll, is an obvious contrast with the first mighty angel of chapter five. In chapter 5, the book is in God’s hand and it is sealed. In chapter 10, an angel has the book and it is opened. Similarly, Ezekiel 2:9-10 reports a heavenly being gave him a scroll to be eaten. The importance of the little book will be seen shortly.
Open, in contrast to the scroll of Revelation 5, this little book is opened. This indicates that John would see the contents of the page exposed. If it were in a language that John could read, he would be able to read whatever was visible to him.
He set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, describes the stance of the mighty angel. The importance of the angel’s stance will become evident later. However, it is important at this point to recognize that both land and sea are under the authority of this angelic being.
And called out with a loud voice, is typical of angelic communication throughout the book of Revelation. It is critically important for the reader to understand that John is describing what he sees happening during his reception of the book of Revelation of Jesus Christ. We are not told exactly what the angel said.
The seven thunders sounded. Such thunders do come from the throne of God (Rev 4:5) and dramatically emphasize the importance of God’s message and purposes (Rev 8:5). The number seven emphasizes the completeness of the message.
REVELATION 10:4
And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down”.
Seal up what the seven thunders have said, seems inappropiate at this point because John has not written antyhing down that the seven thunders said in order to seal it up. However, the sealing of something was intended to keep it safe. The point seems to be that John must keep the particular information shared by the seven thunders secure. The way he would accomplish this would involve two things. First, he must not write it down and secondly, he must never tell anyone what was said. He was to secure it in his own mind.
John clearly heard what the seven peals of thunder had spoken. And he was about to write it down. If he had, that too would have become a part of the book of Revelation at this particular point. But, God told him not to write it down. So, we do not know what those thunders spoke and we do not want to speculate. But considering the seven seals, the seven trumpets and the seven bowls of wrath that come later in chapter 16, we certainly do not think it was anything pleasant. It was probably something just as terrible as all these others.
This also teaches us that there are certain things that God reveals to us personally that we should not share with others, since they are meant for us alone. The apostle Paul had the same experience (2 Cor 12:2-4), and no doubt others God’s servants (Rev 1:1) have had it through the centuries.
REVELATION 10:5-7
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.
And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land, should clear up any confusion about who the “mighty angel” is at the beginning of this chapter. For those who want to make the “strong angel” Jesus Christ, John clearly states, “and the angel”. This severely limits the reference. That this is a unique angelic being cannot be debated, but he is certainly not Jesus Christ.
Raised his right hand to heaven, has a very limted background in Scripture. Some read the modern notion of appearing in court, raising the hand and pledging to tell the truth, back into the Bible. There is but one occasion in Scripture where a hand is raised in accordance with truth telling. Daniel 12:7 records an angelic being who lifts both right and left hands to heaven when pledging truth when communicating revelation to mankind. There are no other examples of this practice recorded in Scripture. However, the practice of lifting hands in Scripture is well attested. Psalms 28:2 records the psalmist indicating that he lifts his hands toward the holy sanctuary. Leviticus 9:22 indicates that Aaron, the priest, raised his hands to bless the people. Ezekiel 36:7 states that God lifted up his hand against the nations which were around Israel. The NASB has translated this verse, “I have sworn that surely the nations... will themselves endure their insluts”. This may or may not be an example of oath taking. It seems safe to say that the lifting of the hand is a gesture that symbolically appeals to God as witness and vouches safe the statement about to be given.
Swore by him who lives forever and ever, heightens the significance of the statement about to be made by the angel. Scripture is replete with examples of sworn oaths. The swearing of an oath bound the oath-taker to his promise. To keep his promise resulted in blessings, but to break one’s oath resulted in curses. Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20 command that Israelites were to swear by the name of God. God, Himself, swore oaths as indicated in Numbers 14:20-25. In our modern culture, oath taking is seldom used. Our knowledge is limited to affidavits and notaries. However, in ancient Israel oath taking was an important part of the culture. In the biblical sense, an oath was a promise between two or more people in which the name of God was invoked as witness and guarantor. Unlike a vow, where man promised God, the oath contracted man and man with God’s watchfulness. According to Matthew 23:16-22, the Lord Jesus condemns the Pharisees for abusing the oath taking policy. Evidently, they had figured a way to make an oath that was not morally binding. This Jesus condemns.
Him who lives forever and ever, indicates the witness and guarantor of the oath about to be taken. It is none other than God, Himself. Like the high priest in Matthew 26:63, this angel takes his oath, “by the living God”. In the OT, “As the Lord lives”, served the same purpose (Judges 9:19 and Ruth 3:13). It is the eternality of God that is invoked as guarantor of the oath.
Who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, continues the description of the person who will witness and guarantee the oath about to be taken. Interestingly, the Lord Jesus in condemning the pharisaical practice of His day indicates that they were employing “heaven”, “earth”, and “the city of Jerusalem” as witnesses and guarantors of their promises (Matt 5:33-37). A practice condemned because the Pharisees had failed to understand the significance of their statements. To swear by heaven was to swear by the very throne of God, Himself. To swear by the earth was to swear by the “footstool of His feet”, i.e God’s domain. To swear by Jerusalem was to swear by “the city of the great King”, i.e. Jesus, Himself. Jesus indicates that a man’s promise should not need a guarantor.
Therefore, we can conclude that the purpose of the angelic oath calling upon the eternal Creator of heaven and earth is not to vouch his promise as true. Rather, God guarantees its ultimate fulfillment.
That there would be no more delay, begins the critical prophetic declaration of this angelic being. That translates a Greek word that function much like modern quotation marks. Unfortunately, the Greeks did not use quotation marks to indicate direct speech. Instead, they introduced direct speech with the word hoti. The prophetic declaration continues to the end of verse 7. Delay expresses the sense of the text and it is an appropiate translation of Revelation 10:6. In response to the question of the fifth seal martyrs, God indicates that His eternal plan is suffering under a self imposed “delay” in punishing the wicked earth-dwellers who are responsible for the on-going death of His elect (Rev 6:9-11). We can conclude that the condition for God’s self-imposed delay—the completion of the predestined number of martyrs—has been met. God is therefore free to begin the final fase of His judgment of the living earth-dwellers.
But that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, is important to say the least. One would normally expect this phrase to begin with the word for. This would indicate the reason for why the delay ends. “But” seems unnatural at this point. Alla (but) is the strongest Greek term used to indicate contrast. By the use of alla, the angel is emphasizing the fact that the “delay” will certainly end with the sounding of the seventh trumpet. In the days makes clear that the time will not cease with the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet. This indicates that some amount of time will precede or follow the sounding of the seventh trumpet.
The mystery of God would be fulfilled, is the second critical fact revealed by this angel. The mystery of God, is the special work in Jesus Christ to bring many Gentiles to glory. This effort on the part of God concludes or is finished just prior to the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet. This by definition necessitates that God’s special work in Jesus Christ to bring many Gentiles to glory does not conclude with the Rapture. This is easily proven given that the beheaded martyrs of Revelation 20:4 who are resurrected in close proximity to the beginning of the milennial reign of Christ reign with Him for 1000 years. Paul states in 2 Timothy 2:12: “if we endure, we will also reign with him...” To reign with Christ in His temporal kingdom is a privilige shared by those who are saved during this present age. That the beheaded martyrs refer to Gentiles and not Jews can be discerned from the fact that the woman (Israel) is put in protective custody for three and a half years (Rev 12:6,14). The beheaded martyrs are those who resisted the mark and the worship of Antichrist (Rev 20:4), but held to the testimony of Jesus. Since they are resurrected near the beginning of the millennium, they must have died after the Rapture, else they would have been taken at the Rapture.
Just as he announced to his servants the prophets, concludes the revelatory message of the angelic being. His servants the prophets, is most often used to refer to the OT prophets (2 Kgs 9:7; Jer 7:25; Zech 1:6). A biblical mystery by definiton involves revelation not previously given. According to the apostle Paul, the mystery of God was “hidden from past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints” (Col 1:26). The critical question concerns this: What did God announce to the Old Testament prophets? As the sentence is written—just as he announced to his servants the prophets—the object is not stated. That is, what God announced is not stated in the sentence. It must be discerned from the context. What God announced to His prophets was the fact that when His special work was done, the end would come. The prophets did not fully understand all of God’s special works in the world, but they clearly understood that once God finished, the end would come. The angelic being of Daniel 12:7 states as much when answering Daniel’s question concerning “the end of these wonders”. Daniel writes, “And I heard othe man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished”.
REVELATION 10:8-10
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.” 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.
Take and keat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey, is paralleled in Ezekiel 2:8-3:3. As with Ezekiel, John is instructed to eat a scroll (book) that proves to be sweet as honey in his mouth. That is a picture of the grace of God that comes to us through His word. But by the time that word got inside him, it was bitter. This indicates that the truth in the word judges our sin. It is not just grace but truth too. In the Book of Revelation, we see alternate pictures of grace and of judgment. It is alternately sweet and bitter—right through the book. A broken heart is a prerequisite to the proclamation of God’s judgment and wrath. The symbol of eating the scroll pictures the complete assimilation of the message of the Lord. The prophet who proclaims the message is not unrelated to its impact—it becomes part of him. It is the same for all believers—we give out in worship what we assimilate of Christ in meditation and study of the word of God. In Revelation 5:4 John weeps “loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it”. Now that it is open, he realizes that its contents are bitter. The Lord’s day is not a pleasant subject, not even for a prophet: “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him” (Amos 5:18-19).
REVELATION 10:11
And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings”.
You must again prophesy, is loaded with importance. You, meaning John the apostle is placed in an emphatic position. Must, is the English translation of the Greek verb dei. This is the verb of divine necessity. This is God’s explicit will. As with other prophets, John has no choice (Amos 3:7-8; Jer 4:19). Prophesy, is John’s job description. He must proclaim the message God’s has given him. Perhaps, as John realized the awful suffering God’s judgment will bring on mankind, he hesitated. His hesitation no doubt came from his bitter stomach. But the angel orders him to continue his task.
The command “You must prophesy” reminds all preachers of God’s word that we cannot compromise. God’s word must be proclaimed no matter how it affects or offends people. We should speak God’s truth in love, of course, but there is so much compromise in the pulpits of our churches. The Bible’s message on judgment, God’s wrath, and hell is rarely heard or understood by today’s culture. Yet there is no message more important for our world than that which Revelation clearly presents. May God help us to be faithful to it and heed what it says.
Again, signals that Revelation 1:3 and what follows through Revelation 9:21 is prophetic. John is going to do what he has already done. This is indication of the start of a flashback. What follows (chapters 11, 12, 13 and 14) are the details of the seals and trumpets presented again, from different perspectives—a close-up description of what has been briefly covered in the earlier chapters.
About, is but one sense of the Greek word epi. A better translation at this point is the term against. John must prophesy against many peoples and nations and languages and kings. Revelation chapters 15-20 focuses on God’s wrath in fulfillment of His promise to the fifth seal martyrs’ cry for justice against the living earth-dwellers. God will judge and avenge the death of his people, which is detailed by John in the remaining chapters of Revelation.
Many peoples and nations and languages and kings, defines the scope of John’s prophecy. This list of four ethnic groups occurs seven times in the Revelation (Rev 5:9; 7:9; 10:11, 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 17:5). No two lists are presented in the same order. This argues that John is focusing on the universality of the human population.
Interestingly, Revelation 11:7 focuses on the universality of the human opposition to God’s sovereign rule. Revelation 12:3 focuses on the kings who are in opposition to the eternal plan of God for Israel. Revelation 13:1-2 focuses on kings in opposition to God’s sovereign rule on earth. Therefore, John in fact prophesy against many peoples and nations and languages and kings. In chapters 11, 12, 13 and 14 we see John prophesying again what he had digested from that scroll—a bitter message of judgment and condemnation to a mankind beyond redemption.
The apostle did not actually prophesy on earth, neither then in Patmos nor yet in the future. Rather, he has prophesied and will yet prophesy through his book: “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God agave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place” (Rev 1:1). No doubt the substance of this prophecy contained in this book will form the testimony of the two witnesses of the follwing chapter (Rev 11:6,7). The supernatural power of the written word should never be underestimated.
CONCLUSION & SUMMARY
Things progress sequentially through the seals and trumpets until the end of the age in Chapter 10. Then everything stops and the last three and a half years are explored over and over again in more detail from different viewpoints as the details of the seals and trumpets are presented. The layout of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse in the gospels is the same way. Jesus lays out sequentially the general course of the events up to the very end of the age at Matthew 24:14 and then stops, then goes back over the last three and a half years zooming-in on the most important characters and events. When the angel tells John in Revelation 10:11 that he is to profesy again “about many peoples and nations and languages and kings”, that is indication of the start of the flashback. What follows (chapters 11, 12, 13 and 14) are the details of the seals and trumpets presented again, from different perspectives—a close-up description of what has been briefly covered in the earlier chapters.
- Chapter 11 deals with the 1260-day witness period of the two witnesses and the seventh trumpet.
- Chapter 12 deals with the simultaneous venture of the woman into the wilderness for three and a half years.
- Chapter 13 deals with the first and second beasts and the simultaneous authority they are given over the saints.
- Chapter 14 deals with the last portion of the three and a half years from the time at which the harvest (rapture) takes place and the 144,000 israelites firstfruits are sealed for protection.
All these events are just a close-up of the details and main characters of the seals and trumpets. John is prophesying again, just as he was told to do (Rev 10:11). Chapter 15 marks the return of the sequential order of Revelation.
- - - - - - - -
