Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”
Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”
Commentary
At this crucial time, when he had declared the sixth seal open, the pattern in Revelation 10 suggests that John received three revelations of new teaching. The first was the seven thunders, a message which had to be sealed up, i.e. kept secret, and not written down. The second was the words of the angel, that the mystery of God announced by the prophets was about to be fulfilled. The third was the little scroll which John had to eat, i.e., keep secret….The only teaching he could reveal openly was the message of the angel that the mystery of God was about to be fulfilled, after the seventh Trumpet. It is easy to identify this as the establishing of the kingdom of God and the destruction of those who had destroyed the earth (11.15-18). The rest was secret teaching which we should not expect to find in any written source, but it is likely to be the key to John's characteristic teaching and interpretation of Jesus. Here, in the vision of the angel wrapped in a cloud, the heavenly high priest again gave secret teaching to John. In a time of Parousia fervour in Jerusalem, when the seventh seal was expected, John's personal vision of the Parousia revealed to him another understanding of the LORD'S return. It was to be the LORD'S presence with his church rather than the future.
Musical Selection
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord.” Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped. Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Collect
Lord God, in Christ your Son you proclaimed salvation to all the world. Give us the grace, we pray, to prepare joyfully for his glorious birth. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
