No More Delay
Revelation • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
It is amazing to consider how many people ask the same questions concerning, God, His plan, and the current state of affairs. Three types of questions Why If and When - Why does God allow sin to run wild, why does God allow sinners to prosper, why does God allow Satan and his demons to deceive and destroy. If there is a God and He is holy why doesn’t He stop the carnage and corruption? If God loves His people why does He allow them to suffer? When will God judge the wicked? When will God judge Satan and put him away? When will Jesus come? When will the righteous be vindicated and the wicked punished? These questions are questions that have been asked since the beginning and continued to be asked all throughout history. These questions are in everyone’s hearts and everyone’s thoughts.
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help and you do not listen or cry out to you about violence and you do not save? 3 Why do you force me to look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
4 This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.
12 Are you not from eternity, Lord my God? My Holy One, you will not die. Lord, you appointed them to execute judgment; my Rock, you destined them to punish us. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous? Why are you silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?
Man has been crying out - how long oh Lord! Crying for intervention. When will He come? Why are the heavens silent and why does God delay? The Lord has promised that the time will come when He will delay no longer. That day and the seventh trumpet are inextricably tied together.
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 10
“There will no longer be a delay, 7 but in the days when the seventh angel will blow his trumpet, then the mystery of God will be completed, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
One day the delay will end and the time will come when the mystery of God and His supposed silence will end. The seventh trump will announce then end - the end of sin, the end of the kingdom of men and will announce Jesus Return and He will reign forever and ever.
But before that trumpet is blown we find ourselves in Chapter 10. We must be prepared and get a grip on what is being revealed. The removal of the delay.
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like pillars of fire, 2 and he held a little scroll opened in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea, his left on the land, 3 and he called out with a loud voice like a roaring lion. When he cried out, the seven thunders raised their voices.
4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down!” 5 Then the angel that I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.
6 He swore by the one 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, “There will no longer be a delay, 7 but in the days when the seventh angel will blow his trumpet, then the mystery of God will be completed, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
8 Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
Unrevealed Revelation
Unrevealed Revelation
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, his legs were like pillars of fire, 2 and he held a little scroll opened in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea, his left on the land,
3 and he called out with a loud voice like a roaring lion. When he cried out, the seven thunders raised their voices. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down!”
Revelation ended with the 6th trumpet which ushered in the end of all things. Again we find ourselves in this interlude (we will find another during the bowl judgments also) before the seventh trumpet is sound. The interlude serves for dramatic purpose but also to reveal the mercy of allowing more opportunity for repentance. “It is as if God brought things to the brink, then pulled back a little to grant mankind more time to repent.” — Guzik
In this interlude John looks and sees another (allon or allos - another of the same kind) angel coming down from heaven - this angel is not one of the seven with the trumpets or one of the four. This angel is described as being wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head. His face shining like the sun and his legs like pillars of fire. He holds a small scroll in his hand. Then this angel put his right foot on the sea and the left on the land - colossal in size as he straddles land and sea. He calls out with a voice like a roaring lion.
This angel has been interpreted by some to be the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly can fit the description - Wrapped in a cloud similar to the shekinah glory of God that was a pillar of fire at night and a cloud during the day. Face like the sun - could be descriptive of the glory of Jesus - face shone like the sun as full strength - Revelation 1. The legs of fire another description such as we first saw in Revelation 1 - feet like fine bronze fired in a furnace. The voice like a roaring lion - like the Lion of Judah. In his hand is a scroll - like in chapter 5.
This description certainly can point to this angel being Jesus. However there are also migthy angels described in the same way. In fact of them was Lucifer - arrayed in such glory before his fall. The cloud is a description perhaps of the cloud of judgment with the array of a rainbow - mercy in judgment together.
When he cried out the seven thunders raised their voices. When the seven thunders spoke John was about to write but was commanded from heaven to seal it up and not write it down. This is the one part of Revelation that will not be revealed until it is time. One thing for certain though the seven thunders will be heard and understood when they are heard. In the appropriate time their message will be clear.
The Approaching End
The Approaching End
Revelation 10:5–7 (CSB)
5 Then the angel that I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 He swore by the one 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, “There will no longer be a delay, 7 but in the days when the seventh angel will blow his trumpet, then the mystery of God will be completed, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
I believe it is here that we can see that this angel is most likely not Jesus. The angel standing and straddling the land and the sea raised his right hand to heaven and swore an oath. This is the reference for the raising of the right hand to swear an oath by the way. The oath was sworn by the one 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. It is very strange to think of the Lord Jesus making this oath. This angel is amking a vow to speak the truth of God.
The angel straddling the land and sea is not only pointing to the colossal size, but also to the increasing percentage affected by the judgments. 1/4, 1/3, and now one whole. Angel clothed and arrayed with judgment - showing that the following judgments will cover the entire world.
What does the angel swear, promise and then speak? “There will no longer be delay” - Some have interpreted this to be there shall be time no longer, but this is an error of interpretation. Chronos - the word used here is where we get chronology from. Chronos can be interpreted time but also interpreted delay - which must be intended here in order to avoid such issue as the apocalyptic vision is only half completed here and there is much yet to unfold. Delay fits the context of the fact that judgment and outpouring of the wrath of God on iniquity has waited long enough.
Recall that the martyred saints in heaven were concerned about God’s seeming delay
10 They cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.
How long oh Lord, how long has been the cry of God’s suffering people from age to age.
God’s delay has given opportunity to the scoffers to deny God’s word and even to question His sincerity.
3 Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires, 4 saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”
9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.
The end of delay a comfort to saints but judgment to sinners
When the seventh angel blows his trumpet the mystery of God will be completed or fulfilled. The meaning that the whole purpose of God in human history will stand revealed. Much in life difficult to understand - why Satan has any control, why wickedness seemingly prevails - but in that time the mystery will be fulfilled. In that time the Old Testament prophets will be fulfilled.
34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
In the Bible a mystery is not what is unknown - but what could not be known without revelation. If you could know by research or intuition then it is not a mystery biblically speaking. Mysteries must be revealed - therefore something can be known and be a mystery biblically speaking.
The mystery of God that has been declared to His servants and prophets
Ultimate conversion of the Jewish people - Romans 11:25
God’s purpose for the church is called a mystery - Ephesians 3:3-11
Bringing in the fullness of the Gentiles - Romans 11:25
Living presence of Jesus in the believer is called the mystery of God - Colossians 1:27-2:3
The Gospel itself is the called the mystery if Christ - Colossians 4:3
Perhaps also the unfolding of His resolution to all things
fulfillment of the establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth
the great questions of why - why does God allow Satan and man to rebel and to go their own way?
Though life is full of the mysteries of God it will not always remain mystery, He promises on that day all the questions of this day will be answered. All that was promised will come to pass in rapid sequence and without delay any longer.
Preach It
Preach It
8 Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
We arent told whose voice it is but John hears a voice from heaven instructing him in something that we could describe as odd and unusual. Take the book in the hand of the angel and eat it. John then says so I went and asked for the scroll and the angel said take it and eat it. Then the angel said that it will be bitter in your stomach but sweet as honey in your mouth. Remember this is a vision and John is a part of this vision and it will very graphically and emphatically illustrate the proper response to what is happening. Very reminiscent of Ezekiel chapter 2 and 3
6 “But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them and do not be afraid of their words, even though briers and thorns are beside you and you live among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words or discouraged by the look on their faces, for they are a rebellious house. 7 Speak my words to them whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.
8 “And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you: Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.” 9 So I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and there was a written scroll in it. 10 When he unrolled it before me, it was written on the front and back; words of lamentation, mourning, and woe were written on it.
1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 “Son of man,” he said to me, “feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
The idea portrayed is the necessity to take in God’s word and assimilate it to ones self. Why is it sweet? Because like all believers, John is waiting for the Lord to act. Ezekiel, waiting for God to act, when he heard that God was going to act, found it sweet; but when Israel rejected, it became bitter. So John takes in the word that God is going to act, and it’s sweet in his taste, but it turns bitter in his stomach, because he stops to think about what’s going to happen.
103 How sweet your word is to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I bear your name, Lord God of Armies.
9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are reliable and altogether righteous. 10 They are more desirable than gold— than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb.
The words of the Lord are sweet to believer but bitter for the rebellious and unbelievers for the same word that comforts the believer brings judgment to the non-believer. The idea of eating the book is to consume the word for ourselves and that we feed on the word of God. John was commissioned to proclaim and prophesy again but that is only possible if he had taken in the word of God for himself.
It is a sweet thing to be called and chosen as a messenger of God, but the message one is charged to give may be of foretelling judgment and doom and therefore bitter - both to speak and for those to receive. Whatever the content of the scroll - John is to prophesy to all men, the prophecy speaks to the fate of the entire world.
Conclusion
Conclusion
History is moving towards the inevitable triumph of God and though it seems that evil may flourish it cannot in the end be triumphant.
Right now we live in that delay. Judgment is held back. But somewhere, somewhere beyond the starry sky there stands a herald angel with a final trumpet in his hand. Somewhere behind the scenes that we can see he is waiting to hear the decree of the Lord God Almighty. There is a day, there is an hour, there is a moment, there is an appointed time when that angel shall sound and the world will become Christ’s. The mystery of God will be over, and God will say to Satan, “This is your destruction.” God will say to evil, “This is your last dominion.” And God will say to demons, “This is your last liberty.” And God will say to godless men, “This is your last hope.” And God will say to believers, “This is your last suffering.”
It’s coming. It’s coming.
In this wonderful chapter of interlude there is certainly still much hope. And the whole message of consummation to us who have asked the question, “How long, O Lord, how long?” is hopeful. Christ will be exalted, the kingdom come, hope realized, sin dethroned, Satan imprisoned with all his hosts, and the earth filled with righteousness, the righteousness of God and Christ on the throne.
But, oh, the bitterness, the price that sinners will pay. And like John we must preach, we must preach, again, warning people, warning nations in all languages, even people in authority like kings. So an interlude of hope with a serious touch of bitterness, calling us to evangelistic responsibility.