Revelationchapter 10
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Speaks with:Revelation 10×4Daniel 12×3Ezekiel 2×2Revelation 4×2Ezekiel 3×2Revelation 16×2
Summary
Chapter summary
Another interlude, and one of the strangest. A strong angel comes down arrayed with a cloud, the rainbow upon his head, his face as the sun, his feet as pillars of fire, a little book open in his hand; he sets one foot upon the sea and one upon the earth and cries 'as a lion roareth'. And seven thunders utter their voices. John is about to write, and a voice from heaven stops him: 'Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.' In a book that unseals everything, one thing stays sealed. Then the angel swears 'that there shall be delay no longer.' John is told to eat the little book: bitter in the belly, in the mouth 'sweet as honey,' Ezekiel's scroll handed to a second prophet.
Context
Apocalyptic · John — Revelation overview
- A. 1–7 A Mighty Angel and Seven Thunders Sealed Up
- B. 8–11 Sweet in the Mouth, Bitter in the Belly
The outline
A.A Mighty Angel and Seven Thunders Sealed Upvv. 1 to 7
Read vv. 1 to 7 →B.Sweet in the Mouth, Bitter in the Bellyvv. 8 to 11
Read vv. 8 to 11 →
The world behind this chapter
Revelation 10The history
The angel is described the way divine glory is described elsewhere — clothed with a cloud, a rainbow on his head, a face like the sun, feet like pillars of fire. He plants one foot on the sea and one on the land, a posture that claims everything.
He holds a little scroll, open. The big scroll of chapter 5 was sealed; this one is already open and small enough to hold in a hand.
Seven thunders speak and John is about to write it down and is told to seal it up and not write it. That is unusual in a book whose whole business is disclosure, and it says something plain: not everything gets told.
Then John is told to take the scroll and eat it, and that it will be sweet in his mouth and bitter in his stomach. Ezekiel was told to eat a scroll before he preached to Israel, and Jeremiah spoke of God's words being eaten as joy. The message has to go through the messenger before it goes out of him.
He is told he must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings — a man in exile on a small island being told his work is not finished and its reach is not small.
What it meant to them
For the seven churches, this pause said their prophet's authority came from the same throne as the judgments. He did not select this material; he ate it, and it made him sick.
The sweetness and the bitterness together are the honest note. Good news about God's kingdom coming is sweet. What it means for the world that refuses it is bitter. A messenger who feels only one of the two has not swallowed the whole thing.
Sources cited
- Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
- Colin Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Revelation 10. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.