Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

For Christmas, I got my wife a vinyl record player.

I am sure that will make some of you laugh.

With all of our technological advancements and gadgets, your millenial pastor bought his wife a gift that you all probably asked for when you were teenagers!

But there is nothing like a vinyl record.

It isn’t like playing songs on Spotify.

You can do that and leave it on as background noise for hours with no thought of what you truly want to listen to.

But with vinyl, you have to make a choice of what music you want and you have to tend to it.

You have to flip the record.

Sometimes, I will listen to old albums on Spotify and they have a lot of weird interludes and I will think, “Well that is a strange place to put a little intro or outro for no reason?”

But now that I am listening to some vinyl, I have realized that a lot of those interludes are there to close out the side of the record or start the side of a record.

That is what interludes do.

They give the audience a chance to catch their breath and prepare for what is to come.

They give the listener a chance to pause and re-calibrate.

Or maybe even flip the record.

Tonight we are seeing our second interlude in Revelation.

The first one came in the 2nd Cycle, in between the breaking of the sixth and seventh seals and it served the purpose of letting us know that God is still saving His people.

In the seals we saw how until Jesus returns there will be:

Conquest

War

Famine

Death

Martyrdom

Judgment

And then this haunting question was asked after the breaking of the 6th seal:

The first interlude in Revelation 7 answers that question.

The redeemed of God are able to stand because they stand in Him.

They are the sealed servants of God on earth

They are the great multitude who worship Him in heaven

Things will be bad in the world until Christ returns, but the interlude reminds us that God is still operating on time in His plan of redemption.

The second interlude is found in between the 6th and 7th trumpets.

The 6th trumpet showed us the horror of war on earth until Christ returns—this sounding alarm that warns us of how terrible sin is that causes such war and how we do not want to be on the wrong side of Christ when He brings war against His enemies

It comes on the back of the 5th trumpet, which saw demon locusts flying out of hell to torment the lives of unbelievers

The first four trumpets showed creation being assaulted.

So what this second interlude does is provide a brief break from the imagery of judgment and demons and give the reader a chance to breathe.

It gives the reader a chance to consider the weight of what they have seen before the 7th trumpet sounds and final judgment begins

This interlude is longer than the first one.

It will stretch from the beginning of chapter 10 to 11:14.

After that, the 7th trumpet blast will come and the wrath of the Lord comes down upon the earth

We will deal with the first portion of the interlude tonight and it will have something to say to us about the nature of mission until Christ returns

THE MIGHTY ANGEL (v. 1, 3)

This interlude in Revelation 10 begins the same way as the interlude in Revelation 7. In that first interlude, John saw four angels.

In this interlude, he sees one.

A mighty angel.

When you read the description of this angel, it is tempting to think that it is Jesus.

He comes down from heaven wrapped in a cloud and his legs are like pillars of fire.

It it reminiscent of God leading the people out of Egypt with the cloud and the flame

The rainbow over the head makes us think of the rainbow that we saw around God’s throne in chapter 4

His face that is shining like the sun is like Jesus’ face which was shining like sun at full strength back in chapter 1

When he calls out with his voice in verse 3, it is like a lion roaring

Reminding us of Jesus, who is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah in chapter 5

And yet, despite all of that imagery, I don’t believe this is the Lord Jesus here.

The biggest reason I don’t think this is Jesus is because Jesus is not called an angel in Revelation in any other place and I tend to think it is pretty clear when He shows up

There are mysteries in Revelation, but it is pretty obvious when Jesus, who is the whole point of the book, walks on to the stage

So for me, I don’t think this is clear enough.

But there are other reasons that I don’t think it is Jesus.

In verse 6, the angels swears by the Lord and the most natural reading of that would be to assume that if the angel is swearing by the Lord, he is not the Lord.

Also, it says “Another mighty angel...”

This is a reference to the beginning of chapter 5:

This is an angel like the angel in chapter 5

If that is the case, why does He have so many of the qualities of Jesus?

Because the angel is reflecting the glory of Christ to us.

Much like the angel of Daniel 10.

THE LITTLE SCROLL (v. 2, 5)

You see that the angel is holding a “little scroll” in his hand and it is open.

I believe this is the open scroll of chapters 5-6.

The scroll that was in the hand of the Almighty with all of history between Christ’s first and second coming written on it.

No one was worthy to open it but Jesus.

When He began to open the seven seals, we saw in the scroll the way history would unfold until Jesus comes back.

Conquest

War

Famine

Death

Christian martyrdom

And of course, it all culminates in His return where He will set things right

Jesus has opened up the scroll and now the angel holds it.

And as he does, he assumes the posture of an oath.

His right and left feet are firmly planted in verse 2

In verse 5, you see that he raises his right hand to heaven and then in verse 6, he swears.

He makes an oath.

One foot is on the sea and one is on the land, which tells us that the information on the scroll is for everyone.

It is a global message.

It is for every nation.

That is why John will be charges to prophesy about its contents to everyone:

THE LION AND THE SEVEN THUNDERS (v.

3-7)

In verse 3, the angel roars like a lion.

This is the sound of judgment.

Judgment is about to close down like a lion’s jaws on the earth.

Time is running out.

We know this is the sound of judgment because it draws on language from Joel and Amos.

So Amos is pronouncing guilt and over Israel and warning of God’s judgment and what does he say?

We see Joel speak about God’s judgment in a similar way.

However, in the case of Joel 3, the roar is directed at all the nations—not just Israel:

Now, when the angel’s voice roars, John says that the seven thunders sounded.

And the angel tells John to seal the thunders up.

Don’t write it down.

(v.

4)

This is odd because it seems to go against what John is charged to do at the beginning and end of the book of Revelation:

So why is John being told to seal up the seven thunders and what are they?

Is it information about the future that God is concealing so that we would trust Him more until Christ returns?