Painting #29 Mighty Angel - Revelation 10:1,2,5

     The earth is ravaged, multitudes are slain, and the world’s inhabitants are benumbed with both wickedness and fear. Yet the cosmic and terrestrial rebellions continue. The tribulation period is only half consummated and there is one mighty trumpet yet to sound.

     All the terrifying judgments throughout the first half of the tribulation had ensued when the Lamb received the title scroll from the hand of God on His heavenly throne (Revelation 5:7). The inheritance of the world was His, by right of both creation and blood redemption. He was the rightful heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2) though He must still wrest His dominion from the great usurper and pretender, Satan, with all his host of fallen angels and wicked men.

     It is appropriate that at this midpoint of Christ’s work of reclamation, as it were, John be given, and through him to us, a fresh vision of the mighty Redeemer and His sure victory. He (and we) would now be ready to comprehend the fuller meaning of the great conflict of the ages and its imminent consummation. This is the grandeur of the beautiful drama in Revelation 10.

The Rainbow Crown

     John had already witnessed a glorious coronation. The four and twenty elders had received golden crowns (Revelation 4:4), which they had all laid down before the throne of the Creator (Revelation 4:10), acknowledging that He alone was worthy to be crowned with many crowns. Then, after the Lamb had received the Book (the title deed to the redeemed creation) John had watched Him receive a glorious crown as He rode forth on the great white horse of heaven, to conquer and regain His dominion (Revelation 6:2).

     And now once again he sees the mighty Conqueror, with the most glorious crown one could ever imagine gracing His head. Once He had worn a crown of thorns, but now He was crowned with God’s rainbow.

Revelation 10:1.     And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.

     This mighty angel can be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Both in the Old Testament and in the Book of Revelation, in His preincarnate state and in His postresurrection state, respectively, Christ is presented a number of times as a glorious angel (or “messenger”) of the Lord.

     That this angel is not one of the created angels (not even one of the seven powerful angels that stand in God’s presence) is evident from the context in general and from His appearance in particular. John saw Him coming down from heaven, thus to reach the earth itself. He is Creator, Redeemer, and Heir of earth and now is symbolically coming down to lay claim to His possession. Whether or not He is ready yet to take possession, He must at least let those in heaven and on earth know His claim.

     That He is the same glorified Son of man seen by John at the beginning of the Apocalypse is clear from three striking marks of identification. As He descended from heaven, He was arrayed in a glory cloud, His face was like the sun (it was not the sun, but “as it were” the sun), and His feet were “as pillars of fire.” 

     Those are precisely the characteristics noted by John in the first chapter of Revelation. “Behold, he cometh with clouds” (Revelation 1:7) was the initial testimony there. Furthermore, when He had first ascended into heaven (John had also been present then), it was recorded that “a cloud received him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9), and that He would someday return to earth “in like manner” (Acts 1:11). He had already descended from heaven to meet His redeemed ones “in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) but now, for the first time, He will stand again on the earth, and He comes in a cloud.

     Similarly, John had noted when He first saw the glorified Christ that “his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength” (Revelation 1:16), and “his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace” (Revelation 1:15), with the appearance of glowing-hot boots, thus making his feet seem as pillars of fire.

     But there is something new this time. The beautiful rainbow had been seen first by John above the throne of God, speaking (as it did in the days of Noah) of grace and salvation even in the midst of judgment. But now it encircles the head of Christ, the mighty angel. It is as though the rainbow had been above His head when He was seated on His throne and then had traveled with Him as He descended to earth.

     In any case, it is singularly appropriate that His crown should be God’s beautiful rainbow. The definite article in the original – “the rainbow” – indicates that it is the bow specially associated with God. In the first biblical reference to the rainbow, right after the great Flood, God spoke to Noah of “my bow” (Genesis 9:13). As noted earlier, the bow had also been seen by Ezekiel about God’s throne (Ezekiel 1:28).

     In the Old Testament, the same word is used both for the rainbow and for the weapon (“bow” and arrow). Perhaps there is thus a suggestion in the rainbow that God is a God of both grace and judgment. That is, even in the midst of judgment, God’s grace is still extended and multitudes will be saved out of the great tribulation (Revelation 7:14). By the same token, those who spurn God’s grace must experience His wrath. “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29).

     What a marvelous sight it will be! John saw Him (and so shall we) coming down from heaven, arrayed in a cloud of glory and crowned with the beautiful bow, to stand once again on the earth.  

The Little Book and Seven Thunders

Revelation 10:2.     And he had in his hand a little book open; and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.

     When the mighty Lord reaches the earth, He will stand astride the earth and the sea, thus claiming ownership of both. He was, after all, their Creator. “The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land” (Psalm 95:5).

     But He is also their Redeemer, and their Inheritor, having purchased it all back with the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20). Furthermore, we who are His by right of redemption are joint heirs with Him (Romans 8:17; Hebrews 9:15). When He reclaims and rules the earth, therefore, we shall reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 1:6; 2:27).

     This, apparently, is the meaning of the “little book” open in His hand. This is not the same “book” which He had previously received from the One on the throne (Revelation 5:7). That book (or scroll), sealed with seven seals, had by now been completely opened, with all the seals broken, one by one. As discussed earlier, this great scroll represents the “title deed” to the earth, and it was only the Lamb who had the right to receive and open it. He is now laying full claim to its ownership as He stands on both land and water.

     The little book in His had is a different book, however. The “book” is the Greek biblion, but the “little book” is the Greek bibliaridion, recognized as a diminutive of biblion. In English, we might use the terms “book” and “booklet.”

     When one inherits or purchases a large tract of land, it is permissible and common to subdivide that tract into many smaller lots, which can then either be sold to many subsequent buyers or transmitted to many subsequent heirs. Thus, many may eventually acquire an interest in the one grand original inheritance.

     It is most likely, therefore, that this “little book” is a “little title deed,” that portion of Christ’s inheritance which is to be awarded to His joint-heir, the Apostle John, who appears here in the capacity of a representative Christian believer caught up to heaven at the time of the rapture. This diminutive title scroll was not sealed, as the grand title scroll had been, but was already opened. The purchase price had already been fully paid and Christ can thus award freely and graciously any such portion of His inheritance as He may choose, to His own joint-heirs.

Revelation 10:3.     And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

     Here is another link to the description of Christ as given in Revelation 1, both passages noting the sonorous majesty of His voice. There His voice was likened to that of a great trumpet and to “the sound of many waters” (Revelation 1:10, 15). Here it is compared to the roaring of a lion. There is no record of what He cried with a loud voice, but the context would indicate that it was a mighty proclamation of ownership, calling on earth’s inhabitants to reject the great usurper and to submit to their true Lord.

     There is no recorded human response to His cry, and the dwellers on earth, despite all the terrible judgments they had experienced, continue blindly in their rebellion. The only response was a great sevenfold thundering from heaven. These thunders were not mere physical phenomena, however, such as the thunder following a lightning flash; for the sounds carried intelligible messages – voices.

     John had earlier noted that there were thunderings proceeding from God’s throne (Revelation 5:5) along with voices. It is probable that these seven thunderous voices which followed the great cry of the Lord as He stood on earth, therefore, were nothing less than seven pronouncements from the very throne of God.

     The rainbow has already reminded us of the Flood, and now the seven thunders do the same, for thunder was first heard by man at the Flood, even as the rainbow was first seen then. Before the Flood, there had been no rain (Genesis 2:5), and thus no rainbow and no thunder.

     The seven thunders, roaring forth from God’s throne, clearly correspond to the sevenfold “voice of the Lord,” as recorded in Psalm 29. This psalm is a magnificent vision of the terrestrial and celestial phenomena which occurred at the great Flood. See my book, Sampling the Psalms (San Diego, CA: Creation-Life Publishers, 1973) pp. 38-43, for a full exposition. Its association with the Noahic Deluge is certified by its tenth verse: “The Lord sitteth upon the flood.” The word here is the word mabbul, which elsewhere applies uniquely to that specific cataclysm.

     In this psalm, the phrase “voice of the Lord” occurs seven times, each introducing a new phase of the Flood. The first is at verse 3, introducing the first great peal of thunder ever heard by man: “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.” Since then, there have been other occasions when God’s voice was heard through a thundering (John 12:28-30).

     At this point the judgments of God will have been visited on the entire earth almost as severely as in the waters of the Deluge, and the worst trumpet is yet to blow. It would be appropriate for a similar sevenfold thundering to pour forth from God’s wrath at such a time.

     However, there was mercy in that judgment and so will there be in this. In fact, the very crown of Christ – the majestic rainbow – is itself the testimony and assurance that God still spares the earth.

     As a matter of fact, the final thundering or “voice of the Lord: in Psalm 29, called forth new life out of the buried earth, dispersing the floodwaters and beginning a new world. “The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory” (Psalm 29:9). This “resurrection” thundering seems to be an echo of that in Psalm 104:6, 7, which also describes the retreat of the Flood. “Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.”

     We are not told what the seven thunders from the throne uttered, though John apparently understood the messages. It was God’s design for us to know they had spoken, however, and John was thus allowed to record that fact. The very context demands that the message be one of great physical judgment, as it had been long ago when they spoke at the Flood, but the rainbow also demands that the judgment be tempered with mercy, as it had been at the Flood. Indeed there is a hint that the judgment of universal destruction is even to be postponed for a little season.

Revelation 10:4.     And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

     This seems at first to be a strange command. Had God merely wanted to restrain John from recording the commands of the seven thunders, there would seem no need to have him mention them at all.

     Evidently, God wanted us to know not only that the seven thunders had spoken, but also that the fulfillment of their utterances had been delayed. It is as though the time for final destruction of the ungodly had come and the thunders were ready to call it forth, just as they had at the great Flood. Christ had descended from heaven and proclaimed His ownership of land and sea. But then God intervened once more. Despite man’s continued, and now seemingly implacable, rebellion, God is still long-suffering, still extending His open arms and waiting for “Yet seven days,” He had told Noah (Genesis 7:4), giving the antediluvians one last opportunity. Now He seems to say again, “Yet a little longer.” As in the days of Sodom, He will spare the world for even a few righteous.

     There is a very similar scene at the end of Daniel’s prophecy – possibly the same scene. Daniel had heard the angel speak of the terrible tribulation that would come just before his people would be delivered and resurrected (Daniel 12:1, 2). But then, like John, he had been told to “shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4). In response to the question, “How long?” (Daniel 12:6), another angel “held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half” (Daniel 12:7).

     From other Scriptures (Daniel 4:16; 7:25; Revelation 12:14; 13:5), it seems clear that the “time” referred to is a “year,” so that one time plus two times plus half a time means three-and-a-half years. Daniel then was told again “the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Daniel 12:9).

     Both Daniel and John seem to have heard terrible words of final judgment on the world of wicked men in the very last days, but both were told to withhold them for a while. It would be yet three-and-a-half years before their final imposition. Meanwhile, the judgments would intensify, and men could still choose to flee from the even greater wrath yet to come.

Revelation 10:5.     And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven.

     God manifests Himself in varied ways, though always through His Son (John 1:18). To John, He has already been seen or heard as the glorified Son of man (Revelation 1:13), as the Creator on His throne (Revelation 4:2, 11), as the Lamb in the midst of the elders (Revelation 5:6), as the angel with the prayers of all the saints (Revelation 8:3), as a great voice from heaven (Revelation 4:1; etc.), and now as the seven thunders and the mighty angel of the rainbow crown. He is both infinite and finite, omnipresent and localized, many yet One, Son of God and Son of man.

     John has just heard Him as the thunders, then as the heavenly voice instructing Him to seal up the words of the thunders, and now again his attention is directed to Him as the angel astride the land and sea. This time he watches the angel lifting His hand heavenward, preparing to speak to and for the One on the throne.

     This act of lifting His hand identifies him yet more clearly with the man, or angel, seen by Daniel, as noted above (Daniel 12:7). In the next verse here in Revelation, we are told that He “sware by him that liveth for ever and ever,” exactly as the man seen by Daniel had done.

This fact constrains us to inquire more exactly into the description given of Him by Daniel and, when we do, we find indeed that He is, once again, none other than our glorified Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Daniel identified Him as “the man clothed in linen” (Daniel 12:7), the one he first saw after three weeks of fasting and prayer, when he himself was an aged man in the court of King Cyrus. Note the description: “Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and His eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude” (Daniel 10:5, 6).

     The identification is beyond doubt. This man is the same one seen by John at the very beginning of Revelation. Note the marks of correspondence:

DANIEL 10:5, 6    REVELATION 1:13-16

clothed in linen ………………………………………….…….….. clothed with a garment

girded with fine linen ……………………………………………………….. golden girdle

body like beryl ……………………………………………… head and hair white as snow

face as lightning ……………………………………….…………. countenance as the sun

eyes as lamps of fire ………………………………….…………… eyes as a flame of fire 

arms and feet like polished brass ……………………………………… feet like fine brass

voice like a multitude …………………………………..………….. voice as many waters

     There is almost perfect correspondence. The only significant difference seems to be that Daniel described His body as like a beryl, a brilliant crystal like stone. However, He was clothed with a garment to the foot, so that the only visible parts of His body were His head and hands and feet. John described His head as white like snow, and both described His limbs as like glowing brass, so that even these descriptions agree. Daniel saw Him as a “man,” but obviously far greater than mortal man, and John said He was like unto the “Son of man.” John “fell at his feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17) and Daniel “retained no strength” (Daniel 10:8). Clearly the two are the same.

     But there is one great difference. In Daniel’s case, he “saw this great vision” (Daniel 10:8), a theophany. It was Christ in preincarnate state, arraying Himself for a time in the form He would, after Calvary, enter to inhabit forever. John saw Him, however, not in a vision but in reality. It was John who was translated forward in time, to participate directly in the great events of the end times, events which had been given to Daniel only in prophetic vision. John saw Christ not in a preincarnate theophany, but “alive for evermore” (Revelation 1:18).  

Time No Longer

     And now this same Christ, seen by both John and Daniel, is also identified plainly as the mighty angel, claiming ownership of earth and ocean (having already, as the slain Lamb, purchased it with His blood), lifting up His hand to heaven, swearing by the Eternal One on the emerald throne.

Revelation 10:6.     And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that herein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.

     The one who “liveth for ever and ever” is, of course, the Creator on His throne (Revelation 4:10, 11), and also the Lamb (Revelation 5:13). There can be none greater. “Because He could swear by no greater, he sware by himself” (Hebrews 6:13).

     Although the final judgment has been deferred, as it were, for yet a time and times and half a time, there will be no delay beyond that. This is the meaning of the statement that “there should be time no longer.” The space/time universe has been established forever, and there could be no ending of time as such without the annihilation of space as well. As a matter of fact, time will still be measured by months in the new earth (Revelation 22:2). It is just that the time when “the mystery of God shall be finished” is near at hand.

     The identification of the Creator is very explicit, and carries us back to Genesis 2:1. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” Even more explicitly is there a reference to the wording of the fourth commandment. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is” (Exodus 20:11).

     It is significant that the sworn assurance that there will soon be a consummation of all things appeals to the fact that there was a creation of all things. A universe without a creation would necessarily be one with no purpose. Since it did begin in creation, however (and creation means special creation, of course. Natural creation is a vacuous concept, since the laws of nature are conservative or destructive, never creative), and since the Creator, by definition, cannot be capricious, therefore the universe does have a divine purpose, and that purpose will surely be consummated.

     God indeed is long-suffering. He has accomplished a wonderful and winsome plan of redemption, and desires all men to come to repentance and salvation (2 Peter 3:9). He has waited year after year, and century after century, for lost men to accept their Savior, but He will not compel them against their will. Finally, He has, against His own will, it almost seems, reluctantly initiated the terrible judgments of the day of the Lord.
But even in these, many are saved, and He will joyfully receive those who come to Him out of the great tribulation.

     But those who have persisted in hardening their hearts throughout the successive waves of chastisement for three and a half years are surely beyond hope, it would seem. Nevertheless, our “God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10) will endure such vessels of wrath yet another three and a half years, exhausting every last drop of His cup of patience. But that will be the last delay; then cometh the end.

Revelation 10:7.     But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. 

     John receives the promise that there will be no more delay. The seventh trumpet will echo for three and a half years, as the same Christ had told Daniel in his preincarnate state, but that would be the end. That this final trumpeting is to be prolonged is suggested by the reference to “the days” of the voice [Greek phone, meaning “sound”] of the seventh angel.”

     The word for “begin” actually means “about.” In the same way that John was “about to write” (Revelation 10:4) the seventh angel is “about to sound.” He is not yet quite ready, however. The second “woe” has not yet quite run its course (Revelation 11:14) and only then will the seventh angel sound his trumpet (Revelation 11:15). The mighty angel has assured John that, even though the final devastations proclaimed by the seven thunders have been delayed, it will only be for a brief time. The seventh trumpet is almost ready to blast forth, and while its sound is still echoing throughout heaven, specifically for three and a half years, the mystery of God “shall also be completed.”

     But what is this “mystery of God?” This word (Greek musterion) is used commonly to refer to the secrets imparted to the initiates in the Greek mystery religions. Even though a precisely equivalent term does not appear in the Old Testament, the prophets are said to have been assured of the ultimate completion of the mystery of God.

     Although there are a number of mysteries referred to in the New Testament, the context here seems strongly to indicate that this mystery of God refers to the whole purpose and plan of God. Why has a holy God allowed evil to thrive for so long? Why do the righteous suffer? What is God’s ultimate purpose for Israel, for the Gentiles, for the Church? These and many other such questions pertaining to the ultimate reconciliation and accomplishment of God’s many purposes in creation will someday all be answered, and it is perhaps the combination of all these that is called here “the mystery of God.” In any case, all such mysteries of God’s dealing with men will finally be resolved and understood during these days of the sounding of the final trumpet.

     The prophets had, indeed, received such promises long ago. To Daniel had been promised that “all these things shall be finished” (Daniel 12:7). To Zechariah had been promised: “In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one” (Zechariah 14:9). The Psalms had prophesied: “His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed” (Psalm 72:17).  

The End Not Yet

     Although the consummation is sure, and the end glorious, John must still wait longer. The martyred saints in heaven must wait also (Revelation 6:9-11), as must the persecuted saints on earth. Furthermore, those who are redeemed, both those already in heaven and those still on earth, must still wait to receive their own inheritance, even as the Lord Jesus Christ still defers to take full possession of His. They can share to a degree in its privileges and responsibilities even while waiting, however, and this seems to be the theme of the next scene.

Revelation 10:8.     And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.

     This great voice from heaven speaks again to John, now for the third time (Revelation 4:1; 10:4), instructing him now to take what seems to be a most presumptuous action. The mighty angel, still standing astride land and sea, still thereby claiming right of ownership of all things, the one who had just proclaimed the imminent consummation of all God’s purposes in creation – that is the one whom John is commanded to approach and from whom he must take the book.

     The book is still open and still in his outstretched hand, evidently the same hand which had just been lifted up to heaven with the oath of certain consummation. The “booklet,” as noted above, seems most likely to represent the particular lot of Christ’s inheritance which is to be awarded to John and, in principle, representing also the appropriate share for each believer.

     In the parallel section in Daniel to which we have been referring, that prophet also awaits an inheritance. The Book of Daniel closes with exactly such a promise. “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel…. till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:9, 13). In analogous fashion, long ago did Joshua (whose name is the name as “Jesus”) divide up God’s promised inheritance in the land of Canaan, apportioning by lot the sections for each tribe and family (Joshua 19:51).

Revelation 10:9.     And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

     John, quick to obey the voice from heaven, no matter how presumptuous it might seem, immediately approached the angel to request the book. After the rapture, believers will all have glorified bodies like that of Christ (Philippians 3:20, 21), and thus will be able to move rapidly across space in whatever direction desired, as well as to see and hear events at great distances. Our present bodies are so constructed as to be governed by present physical force systems – gravitational forces, electromagnetic forces and nuclear forces. The resurrection body of Christ, however, although real and physical, was not so constrained. He could move quickly from earth to heaven and pass through walls. Presumably, since we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2), we shall also have such capabilities. John, translated forward in time in such a state, could thus move from heaven to earth as commanded. He “went unto” the angel in this way.

     The angel (that is, Christ), receiving his request for the little book, will immediately give it to him. It is, after all, his inheritance. However, there are serious consequences; it involves sober and bitter responsibilities, as well as great blessings.

     He is instructed by the angel to eat the book, seemingly a most strange command. Yet he would recognize this as something familiar to the experience of other prophets before him. David had said that God’s Law was “sweeter also than honey” (Psalm 19:10), and another psalmist had likewise compared God’s words to honey (Psalm 119:103). Jeremiah 15:16 gives similar testimony.

     Ezekiel was given a “roll of a book” to eat, a book containing “lamentations, and mourning, and woe.” When he ate it, as commanded, it was sweet as honey to the taste, though its message was bitter, and would embitter all Israel against him, as God’s prophet (Ezekiel 2:8-34).

     Not only the prophets, but every faithful witness of God through the ages can testify to similar experiences. The Word of God and the teaching thereof are a great joy, sweeter than honey, a rejoicing of the heart to the one who truly knows and serves the Lord. But others reject it bitterly and seek to oppose and destroy its testimony, sometimes even slaying those who bear its witness.

     And if this situation has been true in former ages, it will be more so than ever during the tribulation period, for all those servants of Christ who are still living on the earth at that time. John, however, represents the raptured saints in heaven, who no longer can be harmed by human persecutors. The roll he eats thus represents his own inheritance, in particular, not the words of the Lord in general.

     Even so, as a glorified joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17), he must also “suffer with him,” even in the responsibilities of the inheritance. This is why the title scroll is wonderfully sweet to the taste but bitter to the belly. Joint-heirship with Christ involves not only reigning with him but also judging with Him. We must participate – at least in observation, if not in implementation – in the remaining judgments, climaxed when we come to earth with Him at Armageddon (Zechariah 14:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Jude 14; Revelation 19:14).

     The Lord will have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11), and neither shall we. He is long-suffering, and so we should be, but the time will come when the wicked must be judged. Whether those remaining unconverted are friends or loved ones or merely the great multitudes for whom Christ died and whom we should have sought to win, they must finally be judged.

     And evidently, beginning at this midway point in the tribulation, when John (representing us) receives and appropriates to his own life the title-deed of his inheritance, all the resurrected saints must participate with Christ in these final judgments. “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2). This will be a necessary, but bitter, bitter experience.

     “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron: to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord” (Psalm 149:6-9).

     That is not all. The martyred tribulation saints will finally be resurrected; “and judgment was given unto them” (Revelation 20:4) as well. Then all the saints, from before and during the tribulation “reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6). Each overcoming believer “shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father” (Revelation 2:27). Yet another duty of judgment follows this. “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?’ (1 Corinthians 6:3).

Revelation 10:10.     And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up: and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

     Sharing in Christ’s inheritance will not be all sweetness and joy, at least not until after the final judgment. This symbolic act of eating the little book was given to stress vividly to John, and to all other believers as well, the true bittersweet nature of the great honor of sharing in His inheritance. We will know, in that day, after the resurrection and our own purging at His judgment seat (1 Corinthians 3:11-15) both the full demands of His righteousness and the great depths of His mercy and love. As we participate in the necessary judgments of fallen angels and unrepentant human beings, we will fully acquiesce in their justice but also weep with Christ when they die.

     Note that the roll turned bitter as soon as it was eaten. This indicates further that both the sweet and the bitter aspects of the joint-inheritance were to begin immediately. The first half of the tribulation period apparently, as far as the raptured saints are concerned, will be a time of observation and preparation for their service. The second half will require full participation.

Revelation 10:11.     And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

     The Lord Jesus Christ finally, in the person of the rainbow-crowned angel, issues a final word to His servant John. After viewing the awful judgments of the seals and trumpets, then seeing the Lord descend from heaven to assert His heirship over the earth, and finally hearing the roaring proclamations of the seven thunders, John might well have assumed his more immediate ministry of writing in a book what he had seen (Revelation 1:11) was about ended.

     But the task was only half finished. He must not only participate in the bitter judgments yet to come, but write about them as well. He, of course, was writing “what he had seen” – that is, history. But to those who would read what he had written, it would be prophecy.

     Therefore, he must take up his pen once again. The word “before” (Greek epi) is better rendered simply “of.” There were still many peoples, nations, languages, and rulers about whom he must write, those who would be the climactic objects of the cumulated wrath of God through the ages. In spite of all the devastating plagues, there were still multitudes of people in the world, and these were all uniting for one final, desperate assault against God. Further, there were still many witnessing Christians alive, and many unsaved who might still somehow be reclaimed, with hearts not yet irretrievably hardened. He must write of these also – possibly even for these, as they might yet read the Scriptures in these closing days.