Revelation 10 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Rev 10:1-4

1 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. 2 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, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 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.’

A. Find Out:

1. What did John next see? v.1a
2. How was he described? v.1b (4 descriptions)
3. What was he holding? v.2a
4. What did he do? v.2b,3a
5. What also was heard by John? v.3b
6. What was John told to do? v.4

B. Think:

1. What are we told about the size or magnitude of this divine messenger?
2. Why do you think we were not told the content of the seven thunders?
3. Why should such a passage therefore be included in the Scriptures?

C. Comment:

      We have read today verses which could be written off as a waste of time, but “all Scripture is profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16), so let’s see what it says to us.

      First, perhaps it shatters our ides of angels being human size figures. The angel that appears here is enormous. It planted one foot ON the sea and one foot ON the land. That denotes bigness!!

     Second, we see that things happen that God DOESN’T want us to know about. When we consider such an idea more fully we are reminded that the Bible is FULL of partial revelation. We believe not because we have TOTAL revelation of God but because the little we have impacts us so much that we trust Him for the rest. We are really told very little about God, about heaven, about so many other things.

     We may then ask, why should something like this be recorded in such outline that it leaves us wondering? The answer is simply that it DID happen so John recorded what he could of it. It is passages like this that should convince us of the veracity of the revelation! It did happen, otherwise there would be absolutely no point whatsoever of writing it down. Yes it confirms the veracity of the vision!

D. Application?

1. The word of God is true, completely true!
2. Thank God for the little we are shown!

Passage: Rev 10:5-11

5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 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! 7 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.’

8 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.’

9 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.”’ 10 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. 11 Then I was told, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.’

A. Find Out:

1. What did the angel promise? v.6
2. What will happen? v.7
3. What was John told to do? v.8
4. What did the angel tell him to do? v.9a
5. What did he also warn him about? v.9b
6. What was he then told to do? v.11

B. Think:

1. What is this great angel doing in the first part of this passage?
2. How, in this passage, does John move from being an onlooker to a participator?
3. What is about to happen?

C. Comment:

      This passage falls into two parts. First, we have John observing what was happening, then John being involved in it. First of all, John saw the angel make a solemn promise that the purposes of God, as revealed in the Bible, were about to come to fulfilment. The seventh trumpet apparently is going to herald the last stage in the purposes of God for the earth!

     Following that, John finds himself being instructed to get involved in what he sees before him. He is instructed to take the scroll and so he asks the angel for it (remember what we said yesterday and note the detail! If this had just been a dream, he would have simply taken it, but it is real, and he respects the authority of the angel and asks for the scroll). Why should the scroll taste good but go bad in his stomach? This tells us that things often look good at first sight but as we consider them, chew them over and digest them, then the full implications come through to us and they don’t then seem so good any longer! Finally (? as a result of what he has eaten? -knowledge of God’s purposes), John is told to get ready to speak again God’s purposes for the world.

D. Application?

1. God is looking for participators, not just onlookers!
2. The truth sometimes can be unpleasant!