Sunday School Notes: Revelation 10:8-10

⁸ And the voice which I heard from heaven again is [is] speaking with me and saying, “Go, take the opened scroll in the hand of the angel that stands upon the sea and upon the land. ⁹ And I went to the angel, saying to him to give to me the little scroll. And he says to me, “Take and eat it up, and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. ¹⁰ And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and I ate it up, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter.

I had hoped that we would finish the chapter, but we ran out of time, even for one more verse. Since the chapter and verse divisions were not part of the original text, it won’t be too terrible if we roll v. 11 in with the beginning of Chapter 11. In fact, thankfully, it actually makes for a nice transition between 10 and 11.

After the description of the mighty angel, and his vow–as the Lord’s representative–that there will be no more delay, our attention returns to the little scroll the angel is holding. The voice that told John to seal the words of the seven thunders speaks again, this time telling John to take the scroll from the angel’s hand. The voice (presumably of God) reminds us that the angel stands on the land and the sea. This is the third time in eight verses we’ve seen that description, so it must be significant. We’ve already noted that “standing on” something was a common way to signify dominion and lordship. So to say the angel’s feet are on land and sea indicates lordship over all creation. Either the Lord thinks John might have forgotten which angel He’s referring to (which is highly unlikely), or He is reminding John that he is about to take a small scroll from someone who represents global dominion. That scroll, therefore, is not just for John’s benefit; its contents will affect the whole of creation.

In passing, we note that while chapter 5 also has a mighty angel and a scroll, I don’t think this is the same angel in chapter 10, nor is it the same scroll. The scroll in chapter 5 was sealed with seven seals, whereas the scroll in chapter 10 is open. Also, the scroll in chapter 10 is called a “little scroll,” a term which is different to the “scroll” of chapter 5. Finally, the scroll of chapter 5 could only be open by Jesus, because only he is worthy to execute the contents of that scroll. John is able to take the little scroll in chapter 10, because he is commissioned with its use. As we will see, John is not the executor of the scroll’s message, but the one who will proclaim what it says. Only Christ is able to actually execute the judgments that John will proclaim. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… 🙂

John approaches the angel and tells him to hand over the scroll. The Greek uses an imperative, and though I’m sure John was very respectful, he knew that he was doing as the Lord commanded, so he could speak with boldness. Naturally, the angel complies with the command, but in doing so, he gives John further instructions: eat the scroll! The verb, katesthiô, is an intensified form of the verb “to eat” (esthiô). The angel wanted to be sure John consumed the entire scroll, and not stop halfway, or nibble on it. After all, as the angel warned, it will be bitter in his stomach, even though it’s sweet as honey in his mouth. He shouldn’t let the bitterness put him off devouring the whole scroll.

At this point, we paused to look at Ezekiel 2 and 3, particularly Ezekiel 2:8-3:15 (though the entire two chapters are significant for chapters 10 and 11 of Revelation). This is so clearly the context for the angel’s words, and this entire vision, I thought we would do well to spend some time looking at it. In Ezekiel 2, the prophet receives a divine commission: he is to go to rebellious Israel and proclaim the words of the Lord to them. The Lord tells him not to be afraid of their words or their attitude; they will know a prophet has been among them, regardless of whether or not they listen to him. Indeed, according to Ezekiel 3, Israel won’t listen because they have “a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.” (Catch the almost snarky humor in 3:4-6–the Lord tells Ezekiel he is to go to Israel, a people who speak the same language as the prophet, although if the Lord had sent him to foreigners, they would listen! That’s how hardened Israel had become.)

Just like John, Ezekiel receives a scroll written on both sides, and he is told to eat it. This action is symbolic of Ezekiel’s role as God’s spokesman, such that he literally makes the words of the Lord his own. These words are sweet because they are God’s words, and the word of God is life and refreshment to the soul, enlightenment to the eyes, and our very sustenance (Deuteronomy 8:3; Psalm 19:7-11), even if the message is unpleasant. The words on the back and front of the scroll are words of woe, lamentation, and mourning for Israel. Even though the words were sweet as honey in his mouth, 3:14-15 indicate Ezekiel was not rejoicing over the message he had to deliver. He was to take a message of judgment to unrepentant, hard-hearted Israel, and this gave him a feeling of “bitterness in the heat of my spirit.” The Greek translation of Ezekiel 3:14 doesn’t use the same word for “bitter” that the angel uses in Revelation 10:9 (pikros), but uses a word that can mean “indignation” or “impulse” (hormê). However, the Hebrew of Ezekiel 3:14 uses the word mar, which does mean “bitter” or “bitterness.” Clearly, it is the Hebrew underlying the Greek of Ezekiel 3:14 that the angel has in mind. Remember, the Greek Old Testament was a translation of the Hebrew, and while it was the standard text of John’s time, it was still a translation. The Lord would be fully aware of the original Hebrew, even if John wasn’t.

How does this help us understand Revelation 10:9-10? Like Ezekiel, John is given a message from the Lord in the form of a scroll. John is commissioned as God’s spokesman (not the executor of the judgments, as Christ was in chapter 5). But while Ezekiel’s message was for unrepentant Israel, John’s message is for unrepentant mankind (remember, the angel has his feet on land and sea). The hard-hearted nations of the Earth would include the unrepentant in the church (Jew and gentile), but if the true Israel of Ezekiel’s day is now the church, made up from people of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, then the unrepentant of Israel in Ezekiel’s time would now be similarly global in scope: hard-hearted Jews and gentiles throughout the world. The words John eats are sweet as honey, because they are the words of the Lord, but they are bitter to his stomach, because they are words of judgment.

In verse 10, the order of “sweet” and “bitter” are reversed. The angel tells him the scroll will be bitter in his stomach, though sweet in his mouth. When he eats the scroll, John describes it as sweet in his mouth, then bitter in his stomach. This may be to emphasize the bitterness by starting and ending with it, or it may have no more significance than that was the order in which the sensations physically occurred to John (mouth first, then stomach).

I said that the angel and the scroll in chapter 5 are not the same angel and scroll as in chapter 10, but both passages refer back to Ezekiel chapters 2 and 3, so there is a connection; that connection is judgment. We’ve seen how the seals and trumpets describe calamities affecting the world since the Resurrection. Christ in Revelation 5 initiated those calamities, but they are just a prelude to the coming final judgment. Ezekiel warned of this, as did all the prophets when they proclaimed the gospel God had given them (see 10:7). John is now the messenger of a last proclamation, a warning to the nations of the coming final judgment of God.

Next time, we’ll finish chapter 10 and, Lord willing, start chapter 11.