The Book of Revelation: Part 20, A Small Scroll

Revelation 10:1-11 (BSB)

We are in chapter 10 of the Book of Revelation. In John’s vision, the sixth trumpet, which heralded the second woe, was sounded, and one third of humanity was killed. Does that mean the seventh trumpet is about to sound and bring the third woe we were warned about? Not yet.

This second woe has not finished yet. More things need to happen. Just as there seemed to be an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals being opened, there is another interlude, but technically all of this is still part of the second woe that takes place after the sixth trumpet has sounded. We know this because it’s not until Revelation 11:14 that we learn that “The second woe has passed.”

The first time we saw an interlude, the winds were paused so that God’s servants could be sealed, then the seventh seal was opened. When the seventh seal was opened, there was silence for half an hour, and then six trumpets sounded, bringing six different judgments on the earth. It seems like these trumpets are still a part of the seventh seal being opened. And as the seventh trumpet has not yet sounded, it seems that God is still giving people time to repent. He’s still showing mercy and allowing an opportunity for repentance even while His terrible but rightly deserved judgments have been taking place.

What will happen during this interlude before the seventh trumpet is sounded and the third woe begins? John will tell us about three different things he was shown, but this week, we will look only at the first: a new scroll that he is given. Let’s read the text and find out what happens.

Revelation 10:1-11 says:

1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire. 

2 He held in his hand a small scroll, which lay open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 

3 Then he cried out in a loud voice like the roar of a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded their voices.

4 When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to put it in writing. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”

5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven.

6 And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay! 

7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants the prophets.”

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the small scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.”

9 And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” 

“Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”

10 So I took the small scroll from 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 turned bitter.

11 And they told me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

Even though this chapter is taking place within the second woe of the sixth trumpet, this seems to be a new vision entirely. No longer does John seem to be seeing into the throne room of Heaven. Let’s keep that in mind as we go back through this passage, taking it one verse at a time.

Verse 1 says, “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire.” 

The angel is described so vividly and majestically, it’s natural for us to wonder if it’s supposed to be Jesus, but I don’t think it is Him because, as we read in the chapter, I don’t think Jesus would swear by Himself, nor do I think that John would refer to Jesus repeatedly as an angel.

The cloud, though, is clearly symbolic of God. In the Old Testament, God’s presence was shown by a cloud, and also by a pillar of fire, which is what John said the angel’s legs were like. Exodus 13:21 says, “And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night.”

The rainbow should naturally remind us of the rainbow God placed in the sky after He flooded the earth: it was a promise that He would never flood the earth again, and a symbol of the covenant He would make with all people.

John said that the angel’s face was like the sun, and perhaps that is because the angel came down from Heaven. In Heaven, the angel would have seen God’s glory. We know from accounts of Scripture that anybody who has been in God’s presence glows brightly. Moses, for example, glowed so brightly that he had to veil his face. Exodus 34:35 tells us that after he spoke with God, “the face of Moses was radiant. So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.”

So not only is the angel bright and magnificent, but verse 2 tells us that the angel, “He held in his hand a small scroll, which lay open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.”

Is this small scroll what is left of the larger scroll after it has been unsealed? Or is it a new scroll? For one thing, the word is slightly different. The Greek word here in chapter 10 is biblaridion: Little book, small scroll. The Greek word for the seven-sealed scroll is biblion: Book, scroll, document. But I think John would have said that it was the same scroll, just smaller, if that’s what it was. Maybe most importantly, though, earlier, we were told by the angels that only the Lamb is worthy to take the other scroll and break the seals to open it. Revelation 5:4 told us that no one else was worthy to even look inside it. So, I think this small scroll is a different scroll.

But still, some theologians, like N.T. Wright, for example, think these scrolls are one and the same. He says, “The Lamb has removed the seals; now the scroll can be read, and John is to be the one to do it” (p. 94).

And it could very well be the same scroll. We know the original seven-sealed scroll was in the throne room as the Lamb was opening it. And interestingly enough, we still have never been told what that scroll says. There are a lot of theories, but whether that scroll is ‘the title-deed of man’s inheritance’ as some theologians think, or whether it is telling what the seven seals signify, or whether it is something else entirely, I’m not sure that we can say with certainty. But as I’ve mentioned before, the important thing not to miss about that scroll is what it tells us about the Lamb. And as we’ve been told that the Lamb is the only one who is worthy to open the scroll, it is He who has opened each seal. So, if this scroll has now come down from Heaven and is given to John, what might that signify?

Charles Ellicott said in his commentary: “The vision is a representation that he who comes armed with the witnesses of Christ’s presence comes also with that ever open proclamation of God’s love and righteousness. The little open book is that gospel which is the sword of the Spirit, the weapon of the Church, that Word of God open to all, hidden only from those whom the god of this world hath blinded.”

Ellicott seemed to interpret the book of Revelation from the historicist point of view, meaning that the different seals, trumpets or woes all have taken place at different times in church history. So from that perspective, he quotes from someone named Elliott who was also a historicist, and says, “Elliott regarded this little roll as the Bible opened anew to mankind at the period of the Reformation.”

Ellicott went on to qualify that statement, though, and said, “In every age the reverent study of the Word of God has given freshness and strength to forgotten truths.” But I have to say, if we were to look at history and find a time in which to place this vision, then Elliott could be correct. For at no other time in history than the Reformation had there been a moment when the Bible became more readily available. The printing press had recently been invented, and literacy rates and translations of the Bible had begun to increase. Since that time, the only other moment in history might be when the iPhone was invented and people globally gained access to Bibles on their phones and in their languages.

Barnes, who lived in the 19th century, long before the internet, also supports the interpretation that the little scroll is the Bible, and the period it is describing is the Reformation. He says that many of the priests in the time preceding the Reformation, “Many of them were unable to read; few had access to the Bible; and those who had, drew their doctrines rather from the fathers of the church than from the Word of God.”

If we interpret Revelation from a historicist point of view, then the Reformation is definitely a possibility. But I don’t know if we should view this vision from that perspective or not. As we’ve been seeing as we carefully study this book, though, clearly not all these events are future events. But whether they are meant to refer to specific moments in time or are meant to be representative of events in general, that remains to be seen, though.

But John said that angel “placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.” That image might tell us that the message of this scroll is for all people and all places because the angel is standing on both land and sea. And if this little scroll is the Bible, then it could signify that the Word is going out into the whole world.

Or, alternatively, it could simply be showing us that the angel arrives with the authority of Jesus Christ, who made both land and sea. And it might indeed be showing us that because then verse 3 says about the angel: “Then he cried out in a loud voice like the roar of a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded their voices.”

Again, this might cause us to think this angel is Jesus. After all, earlier in Revelation, we heard that Jesus is the Lion of Judah. Revelation 5:5 said, “Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals.’”

But I think John is just trying to communicate that the voice with which the angel spoke was very loud, and possibly a bit scary. And also, that the angel is speaking with authority from the Lion of Judah.

After the angel cried out (which, by the way, he doesn’t tell us if the angel said anything or just sort of roared), then “the seven thunders sounded their voices.”

This phrase is so interesting because John said, “the seven thunders.” He states it as though the thunders are a group. They are personified because somehow, they speak. But as verse 4 tells us, we don’t get to know what they said.

Verse 4 says, “When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to put it in writing. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.’”

John didn’t write it down at that moment because he was stopped from doing so. That tells me that he had probably been writing everything else down at the moment that he saw and heard everything. At the very least, he must have been taking detailed notes as he’s seeing the vision. Some people have also noted this and then drawn the conclusion that this is proof that John wrote the whole thing on the island of Patmos and not later on once he’s in Ephesus. But really, it doesn’t give us a definitive answer either way. He could have taken these notes and then wrote them up officially later on in Ephesus, or he could have completed the whole thing immediately during and after the vision had concluded. We don’t know.

What we are told is that John is supposed to seal up what the seven thunders spoke, and he is not supposed to repeat it. Whereas all the seals that we’ve seen the Lamb open, John has written that down and was told to tell others about it. That leads us to conclude that what the Lamb unseals is supposed to be told. What is sealed is not. Or at least, not yet.

Some theologians think these seven thunders must be like the seven trumpets, and they were, or are, seven more terrible judgements which were not allowed to happen. They reference what Jesus said in Matthew 24:22, which says, “If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.” But Jesus seems to have spoken that statement about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem which happened in A.D. 70, so I think all of that might be a bridge too far.

I like the point Ellicott makes about whatever statements the seven thunders spoke. He says, “Whatever they were, they were perfectly intelligible to the Evangelist. He was on the point of writing down their utterances.”

Then, verses 5-7 tell us more about the angel with the little scroll. It says, “Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven. And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: ‘There will be no more delay! But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants the prophets.’”

We don’t know if the punctuation that indicates this as a direct quote is accurate or not. The Greek language does not use punctuation like the English language does. So, I’m not sure that we should think this is a quote from the angel. Maybe it is, but maybe it’s not.

Even if it’s not a direct quote, the message is clear: There is to be no more delay. In other words, there is no more time. Before this moment, people had time to repent. Now, there is no more time. After the seventh trumpet sounds, there is no more delay.

As to the “mystery of God” being fulfilled, this is a term that Scripture uses to refer to God’s plan of salvation. We might think a mystery is something that is unknowable, but the Bible doesn’t use this word that way. As HELPS Word-studies explains: “In the Bible, a ‘mystery’ (3466 /mystḗrion) is not something unknowable. Rather, it is what can only be known through revelation, i.e. because God reveals it.”

I think that’s important to remember because John wrote that the mystery of God will be fulfilled—the mystery will be revealed. All that God has set out to do and accomplish will be made complete. The mystery of God—all the things that have been hidden from us—will be disclosed after the seventh angel sounds his trumpet. Only then will the mystery of God be understood.

Then John says in verse 8, “Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, ‘Go, take the small scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.’”

Typical of John’s style of writing that we see in his epistles, he repeats that the angel was standing on the sea and on the land, and that the little scroll is in the hand of the angel, and it’s open. He doesn’t want his readers to miss that point.

Then, verse 9 says, “And I went to the angel and said, ‘Give me the small scroll.’

‘Take it and eat it,’ he said. ‘It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’”

This is very similar to a vision that the prophet Ezekiel had. In Ezekiel 3:1–15, it tells how Ezekiel was given a scroll and told to eat it. He did, and it was sweet as honey in his mouth, but then later, in verse 14, he states, “So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the LORD upon me.”

John’s experience sounds much the same. In verse 10, John adds, “So I took the small scroll from 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 turned bitter.”

The word translated “ate” is the Greek word katesthió, and it means “To devour, consume, eat up.” Other verses in the New Testament that use this word are translated as “devoured.” John ate it up without hesitation. He ate the whole thing.

Then verse 11 adds: “And they told me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.’”

He “must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.” Two words stand out to me: again and about. When did he prophesy before? And why is it “prophesy about” and not “prophesy to”?

John has been prophesying. He’s already written down the seven letters to the seven churches, he’s written down what has happened as the seven seals were opened, and he’s written down what’s happened as the six trumpets have sounded and the first of the three woes have taken place. He’s still detailing this second woe. Now, he’s being told it’s necessary for him to prophesy again.

Because of how this is worded, many theologians think that from this point on, John will go back over the same information again, detailing the same period of time and events, and then finally end with the grand finale. But I don’t think that’s quite right. I think John will do exactly what this angel says: he will prophesy some more about what these many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings do. After all, back in Revelation 7:9, John had said that he “saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” This is the same list, except instead of “tribe,” it is “king.” All those people are there before the throne and the Lamb. How did they get there? They became followers of Jesus. How did that happen? Through the message of the Gospel, which is quite possibly represented by the little open scroll in the angel’s hand.

All of those people had heard the Gospel message, believed in Jesus and repented of the sins. They had been forgiven and washed clean. And as we’ve seen from these first six trumpets being sounded, not everyone repents when encountering God and His righteous judgments. Even when faced with impending death, not everyone cries out to God for help.

What will it take to make people repent? This is the question that the Bible poses to us over and over again. We see God make promises of blessings to people, entering into covenants of love with them, then the people break the covenant and walk away from Him. They reap the sin that they sowed, and God calls them back to Him. Sometimes they repent and return to Him. Always He forgives them when they repent. But the people don’t always repent. Sometimes they just continue to sow destruction.

After the sixth trumpet sounded and one-third of the earth’s population was killed by the plagues proceeding from the mouths of the lion-headed horses, the people did not repent. They kept committing idolatry, murder, sorcery, sexual immorality and theft. And so, if John’s vision is showing a specific time in history and now this little scroll represents the Bible being translated into common people’s language and is to go around the whole world—being preached (being prophesied) to all people—then this vision could very well be foretelling to John the future that we know as the past.

What we know is that God brought judgment on the earth through the first six trumpets. Yet even that was not enough to correct people and cause them to repent. Well, we know that in the Middle Ages, the Church had become corrupt. It was largely split into two warring factions between the Church of the East and the Church of the West. Both sides focused on iconography, praying to saints, and worship of Mary. There was massive corruption and immorality in the leadership of both sides. It was common to seek conversion through coercion or violence, or by promising favor with those in charge. They also basically stole from the laity through the selling of indulgences, which, if the people bought them, then the priest pronounced them forgiven of their sins. None of what the leaders of the Church did seemed to bring about true repentance and conversion because none of the laity, and so little of the priests, could even read, much less have any access to God’s Word. The Bible was read to them in Latin which they did not speak or understand. The church services merely offered the people a diversion from their otherwise mundane lives. And we know the Middle Ages come to an end not long after the Black Plague sweeps the earth.

The vision of the little scroll coming down from Heaven could very well be showing the next move in God’s great plan: He revives His Word and raises up people to translate it. The world had already gotten more accessible due to all the global exploration that had recently taken place. Whether you call this new time the Reformation or the Renaissance, it is during this era that the Church would vastly increase the amount of missionaries being sent abroad to share the written Word with unreached peoples. If you have studied world history at all, you know that after this period, the Church grew exponentially. The Protestant movement completely reshaped the whole world, improving it dramatically as the Gospel message transformed people and nations. The world experienced many great revivals, leading the time after this to be called the Great Awakening.

What does this mean for us today? What should be our takeaway from this chapter? Before we move on to the next chapter and the other two things John shares with us before the seventh trumpet sounds, let’s not miss the most important point in this chapter. It is this: to accurately prophesy the Word of God, we must eat the whole Gospel.

The Gospel message is sweet to those who taste it, but there is bitterness after it’s eaten. Why is that true? As Psalm 34:8 tells us, we are to taste and see that the Lord is good. But the bitter truth is that unless a person tastes and sees that the Lord is good, believes in Jesus and repents of their sin and follows Him, they will face only the judgment of God. As that same Psalm warns in verse 21, “Evil will slay the wicked, and the haters of the righteous will be condemned.” The unrepentant people’s own sin will destroy them. But as that Psalm concludes in verse 22, “The LORD redeems His servants, and none who take refuge in Him will be condemned.”

The bitter truth is that time is running out; one day that seventh trumpet will sound. But it hasn’t sounded yet. There is still time to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

Have you placed your faith in Jesus? Are you following Him?

John ate the whole scroll; he tasted and saw the goodness of the Lord. But he ate the whole thing. Even the bitter parts. That tells us that we too need to eat the whole thing; we cannot just look for the sweet parts of God’s Word. We must devour the whole thing; even the parts that seem bitter to us—the parts that clearly tells us to repent and lay off sin—the parts that tell us that those who reject Jesus will face His judgment. That’s why we must also be willing to do the other necessary thing: we must be willing to tell others the truth of God’s Word, too.

Before the seventh trumpet sounds, John will tell us about two more things that happen, but the delay won’t last forever. One day, Jesus will return. Are you ready for Him? Have you eaten up God’s Word?

John describes Jesus as “the Word who became flesh.” He says in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So, have you tasted of Jesus and seen that He is good?

As Jesus said about Himself in John 6:53-55, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink.”

Let’s receive His whole Word, and be willing to proclaim it to the world, so they may hear it and repent before it’s too late. So they too may have eternal life through faith in Jesus.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us Jesus, who is the Word who became flesh. Thank You, Jesus, for willingly laying down Your life for us, and shedding Your precious blood on the Cross so we can be forgiven and washed clean. Help us to walk worthy of all that You have done for us. We love You and praise You. Amen.