THE BOOK OF REVELATION: REVELATION 10:1-11

Speaker: Gary Peters

Passage: Revelation 10:1-11

I had to tell the first gathering that I had to turn off notifications because the Chicago Bears played earlier, and I would have found out that they crushed the team that they were playing. So I’m in a good mood. The rookie quarterback threw for four touchdowns. I’m in a really good mood. Yes, finally. Anyway, where was I?

How many were here last week? What an incredible teaching it was from Pastor Dustin. If you weren’t here, it’s probably the most succinct teaching I’ve ever heard, covering two chapters in twenty minutes. But it was incredible. And we learned in that teaching, in chapters 8 and 9, that there’s an army of 200 million demons released from the abyss. Say, Well, if God is love, how does that happen? Well, the fact is, sometimes the earth– and especially nations– and even people sometimes get leaders over them that they deserve. They keep pushing the envelope, pushing the envelope.

But to put that in perspective, the United States’ population is a little over 300 million. At the time of John’s writing of Revelation, historians believe there were about 170 million people on the planet, so this demon horde was more than the people that even populated the planet at the time. 

But today, there’s a shift. It’s a haunting picture in chapter 7 of the power of darkness within our world. However, in chapter 10, we see a shift. It’s one of those shifts that we saw in chapters 4 and 5, where John is weeping because he can’t find anybody to open the seals, and the angel comes to him and says, Calm down. Stop weeping. Come up here. Focus on Who’s on the throne. 

REVELATION 10

And in chapter 10, after all of that talk about the judgments that are going to come and the demonic horde, let’s begin reading, because there’s a shift. God is saying something to us this morning. 

“I saw another strong, mighty angel coming down from Heaven clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head, and his face was shining like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little scroll, which was open, and he placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. And he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. And when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from Heaven saying, seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them. Then the angel whom I had seen standing on the sea and on the land, raised his right hand to Heaven, and he swore by Him Who lives forever and ever, Who created the Heaven and the things in it, the earth and the things in it, the sea and the things in it, that there will no longer be a delay, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he was about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he announced to his servants the prophets.” 

I’m looking forward to that day. “Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again, speaking with me and saying, ‘Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.’” And I went and said to the angel, basically, Hand it over. Can you imagine, as a human being, seeing this creature and going, Fork it over? Just give me the scroll. I mean, it’s incredibly bold. 

“‘Take it and eat it,’ the angel said, ‘it’ll make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth, it’ll be sweet as honey.’ So I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth, it was sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, in my stomach, it was made bitter. Then they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again concerning many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.’”

THE MIGHTY ANGEL

There are two main topics that we see in this chapter. The first is there’s this mighty angel. This strong, large, majestic angel is mentioned three times in the book of Revelation: in 5:2, here in 10:1, and in 18:2. But in this case, this is the most descriptive of the three, and it’s almost Christ-like, though it’s not Christ Himself. 

Listen to this, clothed in a cloud, which is a sign of God’s glory. Jesus is going to come back in the clouds. On the mount of transfiguration, there was a cloud. So this is God’s glory. He had a rainbow on his head, which is God’s mercy and God’s covenant. 

His face was shining like the sun, which was God’s exaltation. He had legs like pillars of fire, which means that God judges correctly. And he had an open scroll in his hand, which is God’s directive and God’s calling. It’s not Jesus, but definitely a special messenger, a herald of Christ. And furthermore, this angel that is mighty emphasizes the power and being of the One Who sent him, the One Who created the earth, the One Who created the seas. 

See, God, through John, is making a contrast between chapters 8 and 9, which have these judgments and this demonic horde. And one angel- one mighty angel- puts his foot on the land and his foot on the sea. This is a big dude, right? It’s huge. Think about it. And to the ancient world, the sea meant the chaotic aspect of life, and the land was stable. 

How many know we can live on land? We’re not fish. We need to breathe the air. How many of us have stood at the ocean at times and gone, Wow, I feel so small. So small. The vastness of it. And so God is saying He’s the God of that which is chaotic, and He’s the God of that which is stable, and we need to understand that. 

GOD DOESN’T ALWAYS SHOW US THE WHOLE PICTURE

And he cries out with a loud voice like a roaring lion, which turns into seven peals of thunder. And John is about ready to write some things down because he thinks God’s going to speak again, and God says this: Seal it up. God told Daniel to seal some things up until the last days.

Sometimes, you and I want to know the whole picture. I heard somebody once say that God, in His mercy, keeps us from knowing the future. Today’s got enough stuff. Matthew says in chapter 5, There’s enough worry today; don’t worry about the future. It says in Proverbs 25:2 that it’s the glory of God to conceal the matter, and it’s the glory of kings- how many of you know we are kings- to search out the matter. But sometimes God’s answer is, You’re not going to understand this. What’s taking place in your life or in the world, you’re not going to understand. 

And we’ve got to realize He’s God and I’m not. I remember very clearly in my life, I was very young in my faith, God said, I don’t have to ask your permission, Gary, to do anything. Well, couldn’t I be let in on it a little bit? And sometimes He does that. Sometimes, through His Word, we see things happen. But the fact is a lot of times, if we knew the future, it would freak us out. 

And so when this angel was standing on the land and the sea, he raised his right hand, and he swore by Him Who lives forever and ever– Who’s he swearing by? Who lives forever and ever? Who always has been and always will be? God, right? He’s the only non-created being in the world. Everything else we see is created in one way or another. God is the only One that’s infinite. God is the only One that’s always been. God is the only One that always will be. We’ve got to get it ingrained in our minds that God is the only One. He’s the only non-created being. 

GOD IS OMNIPOTENT

And a lot of us feel like there’s light over here, and there’s darkness over here, and there’s this giant cosmic battle that’s going on between light and darkness. It’s like an ant crawling up on my lap right now and me slapping it with my hand. There’s no comparison. God versus the devil–  there’s no comparison. 

Now, who gives the devil power? We do. How? By our actions, by our thoughts. If you are worried about the devil taking your life over, that means you’re not surrendered to God, or you don’t understand Who God is. God is so much greater. But what is God revealing through this? 

The first thing is that He’s omnipotent. He’s all-powerful. One angel from God– one angel from God– is greater than 200 million demons. That’s awesome. 200 million demons. 

That’s what he’s trying to draw, the contrast. Much like there’s nobody worthy to open the seal and the angel goes, Obviously you’re not from around here. Just quit your weeping and behold, the One Who’s sitting on the throne, He’s worthy to open the seals. That’s what we’ve got to understand. Our ways are not God’s ways, and His ways are not our ways. 

THE BOOK OF REVELATION REVEALS JESUS

The book of Revelation is supposed to reveal whom? Jesus. But what do we get our focus on? When we said we were going to study the book of Revelation, you’re like, Awesome, I’ll get to talk about the tribulations. We’ll get to talk about the Antichrist. We’ll get to talk about the rapture. We’ll get to talk about all the plagues. You realize we haven’t talked about a whole lot of that? Why? Because it was written to reveal Jesus, and it was written to the church to reveal Jesus. 

We want to know eschatology, prophecy, end times, demons, destruction, judgment. What’s the mark of the beast? Who’s the Antichrist? When’s the rapture going to take place? Is there a millennial reign? It’s Jesus we need to be concerned about because it’s Him that He’s trying to reveal. 

We need to hear the voice from Heaven. In contrast to what Pastor Dustin talked about last week, the voice from Hell is that of bitterness. The voice from Heaven is the prayers of the saints joining with the incense from Heaven, and God releases that on the planet. Satan is trying to release bitterness, trying to get us confused.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN

The second thing it reveals is that God is sovereign. He’s the sovereign Lord of Creation. Some of you are freaking out about what’s going to happen three weeks from Tuesday, and your whole life is wrapped up in it; What the heck’s going to happen three weeks from Tuesday? I want to tell you something that’s going to happen three weeks from Tuesday. God’s going to do what He wants to do. He is the God of the universe. We need to trust Him. 

Now, I believe we need to vote, we need to be informed, and we need to vote according to Christian principles. That is what God’s called us to. Matter of fact, Christians don’t vote very much. Let me just put this plug in: you’re an idiot if you don’t, sorry. You say, Well, my vote doesn’t count. How do you know? If you don’t vote, then you have my permission not to offer an opinion about what happens over the next four years. Fair enough? Yeah, fair enough. 

But the fact is, we get so wrapped up in things– our own life, not just our nation. By the way, you know, there’s a lot more going on than the 300 million people of the United States of America. How many know there’s a bigger planet than just us? God’s not an American. I just thought I’d let you know that. 

“Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle, the rulers plot together against the Lord and against His anointed one.” This is Psalms chapter 2. “Let us break their chains, they cry. Let us free ourselves from the slavery to God. But the One Who rules in the heavens laughs. He scoffs at them. He mocks them.” And it’s not like he’s mocking just to mock. He’s showing the stupidity and the foolishness of trying to plot against God. 

I love Jeremiah chapter 32. It says this, “Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.” The word of the Lord is coming to us right now at Vintage. “This is the word of the Lord. I am the God of all flesh. Is there anything too difficult for me?” Quit worrying about 200 million demons. It’s a lot of demons, I admit. But you know what? A third of the angels rebelled, a third of the angels. So, think that there are 200 million demons from the abyss; that’s not counting the other ones. Think how big the angelic host is. Think about it for a minute. I have yet to see God wake up and say, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let’s have counsel. What are we going to do today? I don’t know what’s happening. There are too many demons. 

GOD IS FAITHFUL

The third thing is, God is faithful. So He’s omnipotent. He’s all-powerful. He’s sovereign. He’s the Lord of all creation, all the earth, and He is faithful, no matter how long it takes. I love what John gets here. What does He announce to the prophets? You know, there are still some prophetic words in this book that haven’t been fulfilled? There are still some things, some promises in your life, that haven’t been fulfilled. 

God is saying, I keep my word. The mystery of the ages is going to be revealed. I trust in that. I don’t have to know everything. This planet’s not my home. I am so glad that this planet’s not my home. One day I’m going to leave this place, and the older I get, the sweeter it looks. I’m serious because I’m grieved by what I see. I’m heartbroken by what sin does to people. It breaks my heart to see families torn apart. I want to see what God is doing. 

THE SMALL SCROLL

Not only do we see this large, mighty angel, we see this small scroll. What a contrast. Now, in comparison, if this is a gigantic angel, the small scroll is probably not that small. “Then the voice I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking to me and saying, ‘Go, take the scroll, which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.’” 

By the way, in eleven verses, God describes this angel as standing on the sea and on the land. It’d be like a foot in the Pacific Ocean and a foot in San Francisco. It’d be like a foot in the Atlantic Ocean and a foot in New York. It’d be like a foot in the Mediterranean and a foot in Israel. That’s how big this thing was. He’s the God of the chaos, and He’s the God of the stability, Who stands on the land and on the sea. 

And I went to the angel, telling him to give me the scroll. And then he took the scroll, he opened it, and he tasted it, and it was sweet as honey in his mouth, but in his stomach it soured. There’s some stuff here. Then he says, “And now that you’ve eaten scroll, go prophesy again concerning many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.” 

I encourage you, this week you have an assignment: read Ezekiel, chapters 1, 2, and 3, because what you see in Ezekiel 1, 2, and 3 is described in the book of Revelation. Ezekiel is seeing the same creatures that John sees. Ezekiel has experienced the same calling that John receives. What does that tell me? That the book of Revelation is not all that new. Follow me? Because it’s the same God that wrote both books. And in Ezekiel, the same thing happens. At the end, he receives his calling by eating a scroll that is both sweet to the taste and bitter in his stomach. 

HEAR, OBEY, EXPERIENCE, PROPHESY

What is God saying to us? First of all, four aspects of this calling; number one, we’ve got to hear the voice of God. If you don’t know what God is saying, go back to what He last said to you and do that. What is God saying? You’ve got to hear his voice. 

Number two, we’ve got to obey the voice of God. Sometimes, we don’t hear anymore because we haven’t obeyed what we’ve already heard. And God, in His mercy, keeps us from knowing more light, because we’ll be judged according to the light we’re not walking in. Obey the voice of God.

Number three, experience both the sweetness and bitterness of the scroll. Time out. I thought these commandments were sweet. They are, but working them out sometimes is bitter. Fact. It’s fact. The longer you walk with Him, the sweeter He becomes, but the more bitter life becomes. You understand the bitterness of that. 

Then, the fourth thing is prophecy, what the scroll speaks. I believe the scroll represents the word of God to both Ezekiel and John. It’s a new word that comes to them, but it’s the word of God. And the word that comes to you may not be the same word that comes to your neighbor. Quit judging somebody because they’re not walking in what you’re supposed to walk in. It’s different word, different light. Before we can prophesy, we must hear, we must obey, we must experience sweetness and bitterness, and then we must prophesy. 

I have met a lot of people who think they’re a prophet, but they haven’t heard, they don’t obey, and they hate when something’s sweet and bitter. True prophets have been tested by the Word of God, and their words have been tested. I’m tired of people saying, God’s going to do something, then God doesn’t do it. They say, Thus saith the Lord, or Here’s the word of the Lord, God’s going to do this, and God doesn’t do it. And I never hear, I missed God. I never hear an apology. That’s why I’m very careful of a “thus saith the Lord.” Matter of fact, I don’t say, Thus saith the Lord. Sometimes, I say, I think this might happen; this is kind of what I’m feeling; this is Gary; take it for what it’s worth, and if it doesn’t happen, then you can stone me. Not really. 

WE MUST HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO US

What I want to end with is this: I hearken back to Revelation 2 and 3. The statement to the seven churches of Revelation was this: “To anyone who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.” We’re going to get into chapter 11 in a couple weeks, where it says, Don’t measure the outer court. What was the outer court? It was the court where the Gentiles hung out. Don’t measure the outer court. Don’t measure the world. The church is great at measuring the world, but we’re not great at measuring our lives before Jesus. We’re great at pointing the finger at somebody, but we’re not looking at our own heart and allowing God to search us. 

What he says is, If you have ears, then hear it. What are you overly worried or concerned about? Is it finances? Is it your job? Is it your love life? Is it your family? Is it the world? Is it the situation that you find yourself in? What are you overly concerned about? If one of God’s angels is greater than 200 million demons, isn’t He able to take care of what you’re worried about? If He has the entire universe in His hands, if He says, Let there be light and there is light, if He knows the stars by name, isn’t He able to take care of you? If He knows the number of hairs on your head, isn’t He able to take care of you?

GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT US

That’s the message of chapter 10. Remember, He’s the only non-created being. He’s omnipotent. That means He’s big, He’s powerful– He’s all-powerful. And it amazes me. We know that, and yet, when the angels see him, guess what they say? All power, all glory, all honor, belong to You. How many know they belonged to Him before they said that? 

But it was a revelation. A new revelation of Who He is brings to us an understanding of God. You’re God all by Yourself. You bring all this world together. You have my life, You have my concerns, and You know everything about me. David says, You’re intimately acquainted in all my ways. Lord, You know me. 

WALKING IN FORGIVENESS 

In closing, take time to hear, obey, and eat. And a lot of you are afraid to eat because you’ve experienced the sweetness that’s turned to bitterness. See, bitterness is the language of Hell. The language of Heaven is forgiveness. I’m not saying it’s fun. None of us wake up in the morning saying, Oh, awesome, I’m going to be rejected today. This is so much fun. How many have ever had that happen? I’m gonna wake up today and my spouse is going to serve me with divorce papers. Oh, bring it on. Thank you. It’s so awesome. 

See, we’re afraid to eat because we’ve experienced life sometimes not working out the way we wanted it to. We’re afraid to eat because we’re like, If God is omnipotent, if God is all powerful, why did He allow that to happen in my life? If God is so great, why did He do that? Why didn’t He intervene? Why didn’t He step in and say, stop it. You can’t do that. 

I wish I had all the answers. But you know how you walk in forgiveness? It’s this way: God, I don’t understand. I didn’t like it. I thought it was going to be sweet. I thought that marriage was going to be incredible. I thought my kids were going to love me and honor me all my life. I thought all of these things were going to happen. And yet, God, as I ate that, it got into my being, and sometimes it turned bitter because my kids hated me and my spouse hates me, and my job sucks, and I just don’t understand all these things. 

And as you get forgiveness, you realize this: there are a lot of things I’ve done to God. See, I was the one going, We want Barabbas, we want Barabbas. I don’t want Him anymore. I want the murderer in the place of the Redeemer. I don’t want that God in my life. I’ve shaken my fist at Him before. I’ve mocked Him on the cross, saying, If you are the Son of God, come down. That was you and I. He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities, the chastisement of my well-being fell upon Him, and by His stripes, I’m healed, body, soul, and spirit. 

HOW TO FORGIVE

And so we’ve got to understand, church, we’ve got to understand the fact of this, that the way we receive forgiveness is the way we should give forgiveness. And it doesn’t mean that forgiving somebody means, Oh, what they did to me was right, or What they’re doing is right, and it doesn’t mean you trust them. If somebody is a rotten, ugly person, you don’t have to trust them, but you release them. Say, God, they’re in Your care. I’m not going to hold that charge against them because You didn’t hold it against me. And when we walk in that understanding, then we don’t worry about the outer court. I am so ready for this election to be over. I am so ready for the church to quit fixating on things that don’t matter. I’m so ready. 

If you’re struggling with bitterness, come back to the sweetness. If you’re struggling with bitterness, I want you to bow your heads with me right now. I want you to put your hand on your heart and say, Lord, what they did to me was wrong. What has happened is wrong. But God, I choose, by the grace of God, to walk how You modeled. Father, forgive them because they did not know what they were doing. 

Some of your parents were kids having kids. Did you hear what I said? Grace them a little bit. They didn’t know what they were doing. Release them. They were kids having kids, and now you’re their same age, and you’re going, Why don’t I make those same mistakes? Because you’ve been graced. God, I forgive them. I release them into Your care, and I trust You now. I trust You in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

One other thing. I hadn’t been a Christian very long, and I was struggling with some bitterness and unforgiveness, and I had a guy tell me, Well, if you truly forgive, you’ll forget. What a stupid, stupid, stupid statement. And it actually almost destroyed me. Sometimes, forgiveness is this: you remember at 9:00, then you remember at 9:15, then you remember at 9:17, and then maybe it goes to where you don’t remember until the next week, but then you remember that week. And what you do is, each time you remember what they’ve done, you say, God, here, they’re Yours. They’re Yours, God. They’re Yours, God. They’re Yours, God. And pretty soon, the scar is not as acute as the pain, but you may walk with some scar tissue to remind yourself of what you’ve been forgiven of and how you can forgive others. God bless you.