The Secret in the Scroll
REVELATION 10:1-11
(December 19)
The things John is seeing are just beyond our imaginations. I have to wonder what his thoughts are as angel after angel, creature after creature, come into his line of vision. The magnificence of it all would be an amazing sight. But it seems like it would also be terrorizing. Yet, John just stands there, taking it all into his mind, so that he can record it all for you and me.
The next thing that appears before him is another angel coming down from heaven. This angel is surrounded by a cloud and there is a rainbow over his head. With a face as bright as the sun and feet like pillars of fire, he holds a small, opened scroll.
He lands on earth with one foot on land and the other on the sea. He shouts mightily and the seven thunders answer him. This was something John was getting ready to write down when a voice from heaven said to him, "Keep secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down." (Verse 4)
Doesn't that make you wonder what the seven thunders said? My curiosity is most definitely peaked by the secret!
The angel raised his right hand toward heaven and swore an oath in the name of God. The waiting time was almost up. When that seventh angel finally blows his trumpet, God's plan will be fulfilled, just as he had told the prophets long ago.
John heard the voice speaking to him again, telling him to take the scroll from the angel. When he took it, the angel told him, "It will be sweet as honey in your mouth, but it will turn sour in your stomach!" (Verse 9)
John ate the scroll, and it was just as the angel had said it would be.
This was not the same scroll that was mentioned in chapter 5. The scroll in that chapter was a revelation of judgments against evil. We are not told what the contents of this scroll are.
In Ezekial 3:1, Ezequiel has a vision. In that vision, he was told to eat a scroll filled with judgements against the nation of Israel. The taste was sweet, but the contents brought destruction. So, we might assume the scroll John ate also contained some type of judgement.
What does this mean? How are we supposed to decipher the message in the eating of these scrolls?
We can compare it to God's word. It is so sweet to those of us who believe in it and live by it. It brings us the sweet reward of salvation. But to those who do not believe, the judgement it brings is very bitter.
Think about it. There is some scary happenings in this book. But they are made much less frightening by our assurance that we are children of God. Imagine not having that assurance? How terrifying would the words be to someone without the hope of salvation?
And while there are very descriptive explanations of what is to come for those who do not follow Christ, there are also many secrets in the scrolls ... the unknowns of exactly what this will feel like, how much pain and suffering there will be, how long eternity feels like, how often regret will wash over them. These are secrets merely because they are unknown. Our human minds cannot even begin to imagine the depths of what is to come.
All the more reason we need to share the love of Jesus and the power of God with those around us, so that they can live in the assurance of what we know instead of the fear of the secrets in the scrolls.