Revelation Sermon - 23

Revelation:

Revelation 10:1-11

1. Introduction – This morning we come to the 2nd interlude of Revelation. We are right in the meat, right in the heart of the book of Revelation – the unveiling, the pulling back of the curtain about Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ.

a. Let’s not lose sight of that as we look and study these visions. If you’ll recall we are right in the middle of a large section that started in chapter 6 and stops at chapter 20. So far, we’ve seen…

i. The breaking of the 7 seals. Seals 1-4 the horsemen, seals 5-6 the martyred church…then an interlude that showed God’s people being sealed.

1. In 8:1, the 7th seal was broken and silence fell on heaven for half an hour.

a. Out of the 7th seal come the 7 trumpets, representing God’s holy and righteous judgments.

i. Trumpets 1-4, God judges various part of the earth. Trumpets 5&6 God judges unrepentant humanity.

b. And just like with the seals, in between the blowing of trumpets 6&7 there’s this section called the interlude.

i. If you remember back a few weeks when we studied the first interlude in chapter 7, remember that interlude answer a question posed in chapter 6… “Who is able to survive?” When God pours out his wrath, who can survive it?

a. And the answer came in that first interlude, “Those who have received the seal of God.”

i. And we saw a glorious picture of all of God’s redeemed gathered around his throne worshipping him.

c. Well – after the blowing of the 6th trumpet, we come to this strange section with a mighty angel and John eating a scroll. What’s it’s purpose?

i. Much like the previous interlude, this section, along with the 2 witnesses in chapter 11, answer another question posed by the 6th trumpet.

1. And here’s the question this interlude seeks the answer…. “What is the church to do?”

a. In light of God pouring out his righteous wrath, in light of people still refusing to repent – what are God’s people to supposed to do on earth?

i. The answer to that question is found in the 2 scenes that make up this interlude.

d. And in this interlude, we once again see the spirituality of Revelation on full display. This isn’t simply a book of visions and weird creatures…it’s a discipleship manual…teaching Christians fundamental aspects of the Christian life.

i. It teaches us how to remain faithful to God in a world that is actively rejecting him.

1. So, we’re going to take some time this morning and walk through this scene.

a. We’ll look at the meaning of the images. We’ll look at how this scene answer the question posed earlier.

i. And we’ll look at ways the scene of John eating a scroll from a mighty angel applies to us today in 2018.

2. The Angel – The scene starts out with John seeing a mighty angel coming down from heaven.

a. One thing I want to point out in this scene is that the setting has changed.

i. Back in chapter 4, remember John saw a door open in heaven. He was granted access to the glorious throne room of God…and everything that we have read and studied since has taken place in the throne room.

1. The living being, elders and angels worshipping; the Lamb taking the scroll; the breaking of the seals, the blowing of the first 6 trumpets; all of those visions took place against the backdrop of the throne room of God.

a. But now, John is back on earth, and he sees a mighty angel descending.

b. On a couple other occasions, we’ve seen John refer to mighty angels. Back in 5:2 – a might angel called out “Who is able to take the scroll, break its seals and open the scroll?”

i. In 7:2 – a might angel is seen coming out of the east carrying the seal of God.

1. But this might angel seems different, because unlike the other mighty angels – John goes in to great detail describing his appearance.

c. Hear again how this angel is described…surrounded by cloud; a rainbow over his head’ face shone like the sun; feet like pillars of fire… do these descriptors sound familiar?

i. The description of this angel is a combination of previous descriptions of God on his throne in chapter 4 and of Jesus in chapter 1.

1. These descriptors have led some to believe that this angel is actually God or Jesus, but I believe we have to be true to the text and what John saw and we have to see this as an angel.

d. However, the descriptors used here play a very important role. That the angel has similar characteristics to God and to Jesus, shows us that this angel has been given divine authority to make his announcement.

i. That the angel looks like the Father and like Jesus shows us that he came from their very presence.

1. Elsewhere in the Bible, in Hosea and Amos, God’s voice is compared to the roar of a lion.

a. So here in Revelation 10, that the angel speaks and his voice sounds like the roar of a lion, shows us that he is speaking the very words of God – having come from the very presence of God.

e. And after the description of the angel – we are told multiple times throughout this chapter where the angel is standing.

i. One foot on the sea and one foot on land. Significance?

1. This image represents God’s rule and reign over everything. Having been sent from the very presence of God – the angel represents God’s sovereign control over everything…

a. The heavens and everything in it, the sea and everything in it, the land and everything on it.

f. On last thing about the angel and then we’ll move on.

i. The significance of this angel is also this…as great and powerful and majestic as this angel is…it is still only an angel – a created being.

1. We must remember that God is infinitely greater, infinitely more powerful and infinitely more majestic.

3. 7 Thunders and the Scroll – Moving on to a couple mysterious objects we find in this chapter…the mysterious 7 thunders and the little scroll. We’ll start with the thunders.

a. Remember way back in chapter 1, john saw and epic vision of Jesus standing in the middle of the 7 lampstands.

i. And do you recall what Jesus said to John? “Write down what you see and send it to the seven churches.”

1. John took that to heart – obviously because we have this book.

a. So, John wrote down the vision he saw of Jesus, he wrote down the dictated letters to the seven churches;

i. He wrote down the epic throne room scene, the worship, the breaking of the seals.

1. The sealing of God’s people, the blowing the trumpets, the falling of the angel to earth…

b. And here when John hears the 7 thunders, he was about to follow that original command until he’s told not to record them.

i. And since they aren’t recorded for us, we can’t speculate as to what John heard and saw.

1. Apparently, the thunders were quite articulate because he was going to write down what he heard and saw.

a. But what does this mean? Why is John commanded to NOT right this down?

c. Well, the silence of the 7 thunders shows us that God knows more about the future than we do.

i. It means that there are some aspects of the future that God chose not to let us in on.

1. God, in his sovereignty, chose not to disclose this information to his people. So we have to be comfortable with a little bit of mystery.

a. The life of faith is full of mystery. Trusting God means believing that he has a good plan for our lives and for the world… faith means trusting that God will accomplish his purpose, even if we don’t fully understand how and why he is doing things.

d. So we can’t and we won’t waste time speculating about the thunders.

i. But I want us to rest in their mysterious omission – and take it to mean that God knows all – even if he does not reveal all to us.

e. And the scroll – what is it? What’s written on it? Why is it mentioned? And why is John commanded to eat it?

i. Again, this little scroll is mysterious. We aren’t told its content. Some have thought that this is the same scroll mentioned in chapter 5, whose seals Jesus broke over the next couple chapters.

1. The scroll that is now open and being revealed.

f. But, this scroll in chapter 10 seems different. It’s described differently – called a little scroll.

i. A whole lot of attention was paid to the scroll in God’s right hand, the one that Jesus took and opened.

1. This scroll simply laid open in the angel’s hand. And the content of the scroll of history has yet to be fully revealed, so why would John be commanded to eat it?

g. This is most likely an altogether different scroll. Again, we have to be OK with a little bit of mystery, as some things in this Revelation go unexplained.

4. John & the Little Scroll – But the big question to ask and answer this morning is “Why is John commanded to eat this scroll? Weird, right?

a. Well, believe it or not, John isn’t the first person in the Bible to be commanded to eat a scroll.

i. In his commissioning and calling as a prophet, Ezekiel was also commanded to eat a scroll.

1. And the passage of Ezekiel’s mirrors this passage in Revelation.

b. In Ezekiel 2&3, we read about God intervening in Ezekiel’s life and calling him to be a prophet to rebellious Israel.

i. He was told that people wouldn’t listen to him, that he would get scowls fro people and the people would continue in their rebellion.

1. But he was called to do it anyway, and at the end of his calling, we are told that Ezekiel ate a scroll…and it too was like honey in his mouth.

c. Actually, we’re told a lot throughout the Bible that God’s word is a sweet as honey.

i. Psalm 19, Psalm 119. We read that Jeremiah received the word of God and they become a delight to him.

1. So, the eating of the scroll – what does it represent and why is it both sweet and bitter?

d. The eating of the scroll has to do with John’s recommissioning to his prophetic role.

i. Eat this and continue preaching, is what these verses amount to.

1. What does the eating of the scroll represent? The eating represents John internalizing God’s Word.

a. He wasn’t a robot, blindly walking around, mindlessly repeating words.

i. No, John ingested, became one with the Word of God.

1. John took to heart, and took into the very core of his being, the message he was about to share.

e. I think there’s an important lesson in there for us – if we want to reach more people for Christ, we must make sure we are internalizing, ingesting, and becoming one with God’s Word.

i. When we internalize it, we’ll find that it is indeed sweet – it’s a joy, a delight, it is life giving and sustaining.

1. But the scene also says this scroll John ate turned bitter in his stomach…why?

f. Well, for John, for the 7 churches, for the church throughout history, the church today…our message of salvation through the blood of Jesus alone has often been met with resistance.

i. The bitterness symbolizes the suffering, persecution, and even martyrdom that witnessing often leads to.

1. But this scene, the next scene and the whole book of Revelation, tells us that Christians can’t let those things stand in our way.

a. John’s stomach turned sour, but he was commanded to preach anyway.

i. And the letter of Revelation reminds us that persecution and even martyrdom is actually the path that leads to victory, not defeat.

g. So, John ate the scroll. It was sweet in his mouth and bitter in his stomach to symbolize his experience and the church’s experience.

i. It is a sweet sweet thing to be called by God to be his messenger.

1. But it will lead to some bitter experiences as we face resentment, suffering, persecution and even death.

5. Application – So what does this scene mean for us today?

a. We must internalize the Word of God. Not literally eat, but we have to ingest, and become one with God’s Word.

i. We must make sure that any witnessing or evangelism we do comes from our firsthand experience of God – and not based simply on information we’ve heard about him.

1. It’s a sweet thing to be God’s messenger, so we must make sure we are feasting and meditating on the sweetness of God’s Word.

b. What I love about the Bible is that it is so raw, so honest and realistic, and this scene is no different.

i. What this scene teaches us is that if we are wholeheartedly devoted to God’s message, we will experience hardship and persecution. There will be bitter times.

1. The message isn’t bitter – but the resentment and rejection we face from the world is.

a. We need to know that just because we follow God – it doesn’t mean our lives are going to be problem free and happy go lucky all the time.

i. We will experience hardships because of our faith in God. The Bible is honest and realistic about that, and anyone who says differently is ignoring those certain parts of the Bible.

ii. But what we need to find courage in is the fact that Jesus said we are blessed when we face persecution for his name’s sake.

1. We are victorious when we follow the way of suffering that was laid out for us by Jesus himself.

c. And finally, and maybe most important of all this morning – we must keep on preaching.

i. We can’t let resentment and rejection and persecution hold us down.

1. Ezekiel ate the scroll, he was told people wouldn’t listen to him…and he went anyway.

a. John at the scroll – it was both sweet and bitter…and then he was commissioned to keep on preaching – to keep on warning the nations of God’s coming judgment and calling them to repentance.

d. And the commanded to keep preaching still applies to us today. We live in a world that is increasingly hostile toward the Christian message…but we can’t let that hold us back.

i. As God’s people, we have been commissioned to preached the gospel to our world. And we must be confident in the fact that the God we serve is bigger and stronger and greater than anything this world can throw at us.

1. We should be filled with confidence knowing how big our God is – knowing that if we are persecuted, we will be vindicated.

a. And we must reach the world with a message that is so impacted our lives, that we can’t help but share it with those who haven’t heard it yet.

e. Next week we are having church in the park. 10:00. Wear your red and white!