 Revelation 10. I began reading at verse 1, read to the end of the chapter and get into Revelation chapter 10. Let's begin reading together at verse 1. I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with the cloud. Rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand, and he set his right foot on the sea, his left foot on land, and cried with a loud voice as when a lion roars, and when he had cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered the voices, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered and do not write them. The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be no delay, that there should be delay no longer. But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel when he's about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished as he declared to his servants the prophets. Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, go take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth, and I went to the angel and said to him, give me the little book. He said to me, take and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach became bitter. He said to me, you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. What we have now, and let me give to you some very basic things related to this passage, what we have here is what is called a parenthetical section. This is a section that starts in chapter 10 and goes into chapter 11 verse 14. And this section that we're looking at is not necessarily in what would be called chronological sequence, but what it does is it's giving us some insight into how to understand the prophetic scenario that we have here in the book of Revelation. And so this is a parenthesis, if you will. What we have here, and we'll begin by looking at verses 1 through 3, is notice how he says, I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven. So let me just lay a basic foundation as we move into this. I'll begin by saying that throughout the book John has used the words I saw to reveal a new vision that he's received. We saw that already in chapter 4 verse 1, and he used that same formula in chapter 7 verse 1, as well as chapter 7 verse 9. So this is the way that he speaks concerning revealing something new that he's received. Here we have him speaking about, now notice, another mighty angel. Now I'm going to give to you something here. You know, I could actually omit doing this as fully as I'm going to, but just so that I can give you something more thorough, what we have here is a picture of either an angel or Jesus. There are those who believe that what we see here is actually a description of Jesus, and I'll show you that. And there are others that would say, you know, this is really a description of Jesus or that angel. So let's look at it. Notice there are those who say this appears to be Jesus, and the reason they believe that is because notice he has what would be called symbols of authority. For example, he is clothed with a cloud. When he's describing this angel, notice it says here that he is clothed with a cloud. Well, when you look in Daniel chapter 7 verse 13, Daniel said, I saw in the night visions, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. So in Daniel 7 13, what you have is a picture of Messiah, and he is there coming with clouds, and therefore clouds can be associated with Messiah. This angel is associated with Messiah, or clouds rather. In Mark 13 26, Jesus said, then shall you see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. So one, these symbols of authority include first a cloud. A cloud can be recognized as being associated with Messiah. So there are those who say, well this angel is Jesus. A second reason they would say that is because he has a rainbow. There's a rainbow on his head. Now, when you look in the book of Genesis chapter 9 verses 12 through 15, a rainbow is a symbol of mercy in the midst of judgment. In Genesis 9 12 through 15, God said, this is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. It shall be when I bring a cloud over the earth that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh, the water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. So he has a rainbow. A rainbow is a symbol of mercy in the midst of judgment, often associated with Messiah. A third thing, his face is like the sun. Now when it uses a picture, his face is like the sun, that would be evidencing the fact that he has come from the presence of God. In Exodus 34-29, it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand. When it came down from the Mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And so this this face like the sun is evidence of being in the presence of God, which some would say Messiah obviously is in the presence of God. And then fourth, his feet are like pillars of fire. Fire in Scripture is often used as a symbol for judgment. Someone wrote, it all began in Genesis. Adam and Eve were barred from the Tree of Life by a flaming sword which turned every way. Genesis 3-24. Next, the Lord reigned upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire. Genesis 19-24. In Egypt, there was hail and fire mingled with the hail. Exodus 9-24. Nadab and Abiu offered strange fire before the Lord and there went out fire from the Lord and consumed or devoured them. Leviticus chapter 10. In Korah's uprising, a fire from the Lord and consumed them is found in Numbers 16 35. Elijah prayed fire down from heaven. 1 Kings 1, 10 and 12. And Malachi predicted a future day of burning in Malachi chapter 4 verse 1. And so fire is associated with judgment. So he's clothed with a cloud that's a rainbow upon his head, his face is like the sun, his feet are like pillars of fire. Therefore there are those who would say this is a picture of Messiah. Now notice in verse 2, he had a little book upon open in his hand. This little book perhaps represents his authority to execute judgment on earth. Remember in Revelation 5.7 he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of humus set on the throne. But you also see a picture of his right foot being on the sea and his left foot on land. This would be a picture of God being sovereign over land and sea and he's going to take it back from Satan. Now developing it a little bit further, the problem with saying that this angel is Jesus is someone would ask why would Jesus be identified as a mighty angel? Well in the Old Testament Jesus appears as what is referred to as the angel of the Lord. You see that in Genesis 16 as well as Judges chapter 2. And so someone say well he's referred to as an angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. That is called for those who take notes when Jesus appears in what is called his pre incarnate appearances. They are either called theophanies or Christophanies which is manifestations prior to the incarnation. And so with that said there are those would say that what we're looking at in chapter 10 is really Jesus. But I don't think so. So I gave you all of that for no reason at all. There are others who would argue that this is a mighty angel. He's delegated with authority but not the Lord Jesus. Why? Well there are good reasons. One Jesus never appears as an angel after the incarnation. He never does. Two this angel is referred to as another angel. The word another in the Greek language is a lot and the word a lot speaks of another of the same kind. Jesus Christ is not an angel and so when it speaks here concerning another angel this is speaking of an angel and the kind of angel he is would be the kind of angel that we've already seen in the trumpet judgments an angel. Third he's revealed as coming down from heaven but the second coming of Christ does not occur at this time and then verse six tells us that this angel now notice with me swore by him who lives forever and ever the one who created heaven this angel swore by him who lives forever and ever. Well Jesus is the one who created all things and without him nothing exists nothing was made that has been made. He is the creator and so Jesus Christ is an angel would be the one who is who is swearing by the one who created all things but Jesus himself would not be doing that and so I believe that what we have here is an angel and so this angel that we see is a mighty and powerful angel but he's an angel nonetheless and so it describes the angel in verse three as crying out with a loud voice as when a lion roars when he cried out seven thunders uttered their voices and now when it speaks in that way it's speaking of the volume of the cry but it also can speak of the authority that is being exercised as it cries out and notice it says when he cried out seven thunders uttered their voices now the seven thunders would be uttering their voices it's a picture of judgment the seven thunders represent the perfection of God's intervention in judgment upon the earth and so judgment is coming that's the whole picture here in verse four it says when the seven thunders uttered their voices I was about to write but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered and do not write them God does not reveal everything to man I can go on for a while on this I'm looking at the time Jared taking so much of my time uh I want to share a couple things with you very briefly the occult the occult speaks of hidden knowledge people who are involved in what is called occultism are those who are seeking hidden knowledge you find in the old testament you see also in the new testament and you see in ancient history what were called mystery religions or mystery cults and there's a variety of them of course we don't know all of them there's been so many through the history of man but there are some major cults that have existed that were based on exposing mysteries hidden things that the only way you could know these hidden things is if you were part of their system so you had to be initiated and indoctrinated in the occultic system in order for you to be able to get the revelation whether it be through oracles whether it would be through um you know throwing uh chicken bones or or um or chicken entrails or whatever I mean there were a variety of means that people would use to try and discern future it's called occultism and to this day we have it there are various religious systems on the face of the earth that that you may be familiar with that that have these kinds of practices in them and they're not you know some place out in some foreign land they're here on the face of the united states we have them here in california santeria and and various other cultic systems where there is an attempt to find or divine the will of the god through a variety of sacrifices and blood offerings and you name it i mean those are things that that some of you may be very familiar with i have a friend of mine who was a priest in santeria for a long time and he says it's a very dangerous occultic system a lot of sacrifice a lot of blood a lot of violence and so there are different systems even to this day that are attempting to find out what is called hidden knowledge god forbids us pursuing that some people will do that by doing their their horoscope some will go to palm readers some will get into weegee boards you know do you know what weegee means some of you know but some of you don't weegee you know we talk about weegee boards o u i j a all that is a combination of two words yes french and german we in french and ja in german it's just the yes yes board that's what it is how mysterious is that i just but that's what weegee is some of us did not it was a board game but a lot of people really do believe in and use that to try and discern future events what are they doing they're trying to delve in to knowledge that has been withheld from them and so they're trying to find a way to get to that knowledge in the book of deuteronomy in chapter 29 verse 29 we read the secret things belong to the lord our god but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may follow all the words of this law god in his word has revealed to you all you need to know that's why you don't go outside of the word of god to try and determine the will of god that's why you don't the secret things belong to the lord there are things that he doesn't reveal to us there are people in this room probably all of us at one time i've done this men when i see the lord i've got some questions to ask him anybody ever say that anybody when i see the lord i got some questions i'm going to be asking him i'm going to ask him oh really i don't think so one when we see him as he is you got no questions you've got no questions his power and his glory and his holiness will cause us to shrink back if it were not for jesus christ who makes us able to stand and two then we shall know even as we are known Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13 it'll all be known to us there will be no questions only answers but here on the face of the earth god says there are secret things that belong to me that i'm not revealing to you and so here in this passage in the book of revelation he wants to write down and it says that in verse four he says when the seven thunders uttered their voices i was about to write but i heard a voice from heaven saying to me seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered do not write them so these things don't belong to us they belong to the one who heard it and it's sealed now in verse five the angel whom i saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven and the things that are in it the earth and the things that are in it and the sea and the things that are in it that there should be no delay or there be delay no longer but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel when he's about to sound the mystery of god would be finished as he declared to his servants the prophets and so lifting up his hand to heaven symbolizes his taking of vow he does that in the name of the one who lives forever and ever notice the one who created all things he does that in the name of god what this is stressing is the fact that god is eternal and that god is all powerful and he says in verse six there will be delay no longer in other words when we were looking in chapter six verse ten and the martyrs were asking you the question how long until you avenge us their prayer is now being answered in verse seven it says in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel when he's about to sound that reveals the seventh trumpet judgment is about to come and it's not by the way a single event but it's going to cover some time the seventh trumpet judgment actually rolls into and includes the bold judgments that will be seen later on he speaks in verse seven of the mystery of god and it's going to be finished as he declared to his servants the prophets when it speaks of the mystery of god the mystery he speaks of is the full manifestation of his divine power it's speaking of the consummation of all things that's about to happen satan no longer will have his way on the earth god is moving to end his evil forever and god is about to establish his kingdom now as this is taking place in verse eight the voice which i heard from heaven spoke to me again and said go take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth and i went to the angel and said to him give me the little book and he said to me take and eat it it will make your stomach bitter but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth i took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth but when i had eaten it my stomach became bitter he said to me you must prophesy again about many peoples nations tongues and kings a couple things here that i think are very important one he's saying i want you to fully assimilate the word of god notice something his word will be sweet to you but it'll also be bitter to you his word is going to be sweet to you because you desire god to be honored but his word will also be bitter to you because the future that awaits unbelievers is going to be painful in ministry i'll get real practical for a moment here how do you how do i put it if if you if a person will teach the whole counsel of god it's it can be very difficult to do i'm going to get personal and i hope you don't think that i'm trying to to draw attention to myself i'm just trying to make it personal so that you can understand what i'm trying to say when i talk about bitter and sweet because this is what john is experiencing the sweetness of the word of god but the bitterness of its impact when people reject god it's painful there have been times before i teach over the years many times that just before i come out especially on sundays just before i come out that i'll stand at the door there for a moment realizing that the message that has to be taught today if i rightly divide the word is going to be painful to some people it's going to be painful at first it surprised me i have to be honest with you at first it surprised me because i came from a time where to me truth was important i want to hear truth i came out of a religious system i'll be honest with you in my experience the religious system i came out of didn't tell me the truth just didn't just didn't i i i'll get personal i'll give you a personal application to this um i was about seven years old i was in church and the priest told everybody if you want to take a vow to never drink take a vow to never drink and make a promise to god that you will never drink he said i want you to stand to your feet right now so i can pray for you and so i'm a little boy seven years old and i'm saying man i want to serve god someday i want to serve god so i stood up at the age of seven he kept looking at me the priest kept looking at me this is a very serious promise now there's other people standing up not everybody but there are other people but he's looking right at me and then and i just kept looking back at the priest because i want to be i want to be a person who knows god and yeah i i won't drink i'm seven years old and he's looking at me the very you know in this church and and he prayed for everybody that that they'll not drink the same church had a festival and they sold beer okay they sold beer and the first beer i ever tasted was when i was seven after i took the vow and it was the beer i stole out of the icebox from the church it's a true story true story we found it we found an icebox open it up it was filled with beer after catechism and we walked home drinking beer i was seven years old first time i ever drank but i got beer from the church who had a priest who had people standing up saying that they're taking a vow to god not to drink that was my hypocritical environment where you say one thing and then sell where forbidding later on for probably that's what i thought religion was saying one thing and doing another having one person pray for you that you won't do something when in reality he will sell you that which he's making you promise not to do that's how i looked at religion that's what i thought faith was it's something that you put on once in a while and take off later on it doesn't really impact it doesn't really change so that's why i went in the direction i did not the only reason there are so many others of course but that was part of what made up my religious background and so when i got saved it was because i was hungry for truth i'll take it a step further and i won't take you into chapter 11 today because of jared you want to know god you want to have a relationship with the lord and you want people to tell you the truth and i have a friend who's telling me jesus christ is the way the truth in the life david you need to commit yourself to jesus christ your sinner and david the religion that you're practicing the religious faith that you hold to hasn't set you free and david you need to come to faith in christ my friend would tell me and he would quote scriptures and i got angry because i was i was raised like some of you i wonder how many people were raised in the catholic church with raise your hand let me know good portion of you good portion of you know exactly what i'm talking about then don't you i'm not condemning them just stating the facts i went to see my parish priest i said to him this one of my friends is going to this Protestant church and he keeps arguing with me and he's using the bible and i want some answers because i believe that i was raised in truth i was telling him i believe that and i need to be helped so i can respond to the things he's saying and my priest looks at me i'll never forget how he leaned back in his easy chair and he crossed his legs and kind of relaxed and he said you know i've tried eastern mysticism i've tried various religious beliefs and i came back so will you that was his answer and i looked at him and i thought you know now you have to understand i'll go a little further i was a doper i was an alcoholic but i wanted to know what truth is and i went to whom i thought could give it to me and when he did not give me anything my friend was giving me bible and he gave me his experience i walked out of that room at the age of 20 and i said he doesn't have truth if he had it he'd have given it to me he doesn't have truth now i didn't come out with this instant you know manifestation of jesus there shining in angels singing and trumpets blaring and uh come to me i just said there's something wrong here there's something wrong here he doesn't have anything to offer me and that's when i began to say there must be something else out there that i'm just not getting so i went to a church they had a guy who actually opened the book and taught out of it it was called calvary chapel and he talked as if jesus was in the room and he talked as if the holy spirit was a person and not just the silent partner of the holy trinity and they sang songs that were alive and current and something that i could relate to and the people who sat around me weren't judging me because i was barefooted and i had long hair it just was an entirely different experience and i sensed something there i sensed something there that i hadn't sensed in the church i used to go to i didn't know what it was but there was something different about this place and i knew it but i didn't know what it was until a few months later when somebody through the gospel explained to me what it was it's jesus it's his presence it's his holy spirit it's a love for god it's salvation it's faith it's grace it's the presence of the lord that's what i was experiencing and i didn't know that and so you you have to understand and there's a reason for me saying this and it's this i i i believe with all of my heart my responsibility as your pastor those of you who call me pastor is this to tell you the truth that's my job and i will not hold it back from you because it sets you free that's why i do it that's why it would be easier for me to say things you want to hear every time it's easy hey you're beautiful god loves you just the way you are go out to the bar afterwards have a beer talk about jesus it's cool i can't do that why because i want you to be not just saved i want you to be extraordinarily saved i want you to experience god and that's why i do what i do that's why i say the truth that's why i want you to know the truth because jesus said it will make you free and that's how you're set free to know the truth and by the way get into the first sweet and bitter i stand at the door sometimes and i say god this is going to hurt somebody i have to say it because if i don't i don't honor god i'm not dividing the word if i'm hiding from you the whole council of god and sometimes it hurts it sometimes hurts it's something you know you thank you for that that's encouraging but the bottom line is is it is a struggle i am just like anybody else when it comes to wanting people to love me just like anybody else i would like to make every one of you walk out of this room saying gosh i am so happy i went to church because i feel so good but i discovered a long time ago that sometimes you hurt a little bit before you feel good sometimes my lord has got to convict me so that i can turn from what's killing me and when i turn from what's turning from killing me and hurting me and hurting others he changes my life he deepens me strengthens me his presence is with me i learned what it means to walk through the value of the shadow of death i learned to know that he will not leave me he never forsakes me he is with me always even in the times that are difficult and when the word of god goes out and john is saying he's telling john it's going to be bitter and it's going to be sweet it's sweet because it's the revelation of god it's bitter because of the effect it's going to have on those who reject him any minister worth his salt any minister any pastor any minister of the gospel worth their salt is a person who wants to tell the truth because that is what god called us to do even if it hurts the person listening and it was not easy telling my dad you're going to hell it was not easy telling my mom that there were many conversations my mom and i had over the many years that she followed jesus christ where i sat down with her and she would get mad at me and there were times when my mom would slam her little hand on the table and yell at me because what i was teaching her she didn't appreciate it my mom was a little firecracker she really was and she would get mad sometimes and she would yell and she would want to argue and i would sit there patiently with her she's my mom and she'd say things to me and i'd letter and i'd say okay that's enough now you need to be quiet because this is what god's word says so if you can do that with your own mom you can do that with anybody i promise you i promise you because i loved that woman so much that i made a vow to god to only tell her the truth and the truth came from the word of god and it can be sweet to the taste for those who are saved god's word is sweet but for those who are rejecting it becomes bitter and as john has these words that he's ingesting assimilating digesting it's going to be sweet and it's going to be bitter in psalm 19 verses 9 and 10 the fear of the lord is pure enduring forever the ordinance of the lord are sure altogether righteous they are more precious than gold than much pure gold they are sweeter than honey than honey from the comb god's word is sweet but sometimes it leaves a bitter taste in those who are rejecting it and this angel is telling him very clearly here take and eat it it'll make your stomach bitter but it will be sweet as honey in your mouth assimilate and absorb god's word it will be sweet to you because you desire god to act and be honored but it will be bitter to you because the future that awaits unbelievers will cause you pain and indeed and indeed in a time when people are rejecting the lord those who love jesus and share and you know this when you share with your friends and family and they reject it doesn't it cause you pain it does it brings tears to your eyes well it's good for you it's you know and i'm glad you're change by the way you needed to change that's what my brother told me you needed to change man you're messed up but i don't i'm fine but you you needed to change and i learned a long time ago and i give you one last thing and this is practical for those who have ears to hear i never cried until i got saved that's the truth i didn't cry till i got saved and then i started crying for lost people friends and family people who don't know him and you do cry for the lost we've been indoors for a night but joy comes in the morning and when you go forth weeping bearing precious seed you shall doubtless come again rejoicing bringing your sheaves with you learn to cry for the lost and watch what god will do in your life yes it's sweet but for those who reject it it will leave a bitterness in your heart a sorrow and a pain for the lost people may we learn to cry for the lost