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| Earl Gillespie |
The Mighty Angel and the Little Book
Revelation 10:8-11
Regardless of what happens to you or me, if we are born again “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). The problem with todays assessments of this verse is we are taught that regardless of what is happing it will come out good, in this life. The trials of Joseph are illustrated to show how God works. We are often taught that if he did it for Moses or the children of Israel he will do it for us. This is not a true assessment of the Word of God. It is scriptural unsound to compare people of an earthly entitlement with with people of a spiritual entitlement. We cannot understand how all things work together for our good - but we can believe and accept it, whether we understand it or not. “God cannot lie” (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). All the suffering, pain, disappointment and hell that a believer will ever know will be right here on earth in this body. Paul, whom I believe suffered as did no other man except Jesus Christ, said, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Be of good cheer! The best is yet to come! (John 16:33). God has a plan, God has a program; and you need not worry about God’s program - it is on schedule: “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). God knew in the beginning exactly what He would do, exactly when He would do it, exactly how He would do it. The pain and suffering that you endure is all a part of the test. We ought to remember the words of Jesus, "If you can endure, I will give you a crown of life." That should put everything in the proper prospective.
That may be a mystery to you and me, but God has a right to His own mystery. You and I need not dig into the things He does not want us to know. God has put up with sin and the devil for thousands of years, but when God pays, He will pay in full! In Revelation 14:15 the angel is instructed to “thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” When the harvest is ready, the Lord will reap. The reins with which God restrains Satan are unseen today: “Only He (the Holy Ghost) who now letteth will let, until He be taken out of the way” (II Thessalonians 2:7). If it were not for the Holy Ghost and His restraining power, the devil would take over completely in this earth. But the Holy Ghost restrains Satan and permits him to go only so far. Thank God we have the assurance that we are more than conquerors through the Lord Jesus, and “If God be for us, who can be against us?” To keep us from glorying in our own folly we ought to remember that it was the man that gave the devil his power over the earth. God gave man the authority in Genesis 1:28 and in Genesis 3:6 mankind began to follow the devil. The judgment of God is to take back or repair the damage man has done to his perfect creation. In Revelation 10:7, this mystery of God is about to be finished.
Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, the Heir of all things, will wrest the governments of earth out of the hands of Antichrist (the devil incarnate) and take over the governments of earth Himself (Isaiah 9:6, Luke 1:32,33). Just as surely as David sat on a throne, Jesus will sit on a literal throne in Jerusalem. The church is His Bride, we will be like Him, we will be a spiritual people. You and I will reign with Him here on this earth during the Millennium.There can be no Millennium until the devil is put in the pit (Revelation 20:1-3). Jesus will personally put the devil on the chain gang for one thousand years. This is the time element that Peter was speaking of, not the creation when he said in 2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Finally he will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10) and will be tormented day and night forever, eternally. He will be tormented along with those he led astray and damned. Jesus will reign with His Bride here on earth for one thousand years, and then after the battle of Gog and Magog, Jesus will reign forever (Isaiah 9:6,7). Evil now present will be openly put down and punished - destroyed once and forever. The whole creation now groans and travails, but will be delivered (Romans 8:22). We will not be bothered with Satan nor with ungodliness any more. The mystery of God is about to be finished. There can be no delay. Jesus is about to take over the earth.
The glad tidings were proclaimed to the prophets of old, although they did not understand. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). God’s public judgment of sin and the devil is imminent. He will soon judge the one who has afflicted God’s saints with evil and temptation, who has destroyed souls on every hand and who is responsible for the marring of earth’s created beauty. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel (not exactly when the seventh angel sounds) the mystery is at an end. Christ is about to reign. This is indeed glad tidings proclaimed by His prophets of old. We Christians today have a blessed hope which gives us strength and courage. This should be the mission of the church today, but it seems that the church have strayed. Entertainment, honors and blessings is the forefront of many religious services. The grace of God that saves us also teaches us to look for “the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-15). Believers seem to be in the minority today - and truly we are, in number. We seem to be losing the battle - but thank God we are not. We will win. We shall reign with Him on the earth. Are you ready for His return? What if Jesus should come today? Would you be left in the kingdom of Antichrist? Or would you be taken up to meet the Lord in the air? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
JOHN EATS THE LITTLE BOOK
8. And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
The book John saw in the hand of the Mighty Angel was the same book described in chapter 5. There it was closed; here it is open in the hand of the One worthy to open it. John was commanded to go and take the little book out of the hand of the Mighty Angel, and he obeyed immediately. He is then commanded to EAT the little book - and again he obeys. He eats the book and in his mouth it is as sweet as honey; but the moment it reaches his innermost parts it is bitter. There is nothing sweeter than the message of grace, redemption and peace; but there is nothing quite so bitter as the judgment message that God’s messengers must deliver. To eat is to make the thing one’s own, to incorporate it into one’s being. When John eats the little book, it is exceedingly bitter in his innermost being. Why? The book revealed the terrible, horrible judgments of God’s holy fury. The roll of God’s Word to Israel was in the mouth of Ezekiel “as honey for sweetness” (Ezekiel 3:1, 3). But that message carried him on a mission to which he “WENT IN BITTERNESS, IN THE HEAT OF HIS Spirit” (Ezekiel 3:14). It is not all sweet to be a fully consecrated believer . . . a prophet faithful! There is pain, suffering, bitterness, heartache, lamentations and woe when we see and fully realize the judgment that is to come upon unbelievers. The message of Grace is sweet and must be delivered. The message of judgment is bitter; it brings anguish and suffering - but it, too, must be delivered. - John tells us that God is love - and I believe it. - Paul tells us that God is a consuming fire - and I believe that.
- The Psalmist tells us that the man is blessed who walks with God - and I believe it. The Psalmist also tells us that God is angry with the wicked every day, and I believe that. To receive as his own - as the food of his soul - these precious title deeds of the blessed inheritance, thrilled John; he was filled with joy and unspeakable gladness. But those horrible scenes of blood, wrath and fury about to be poured out upon the earth’s dwellers brought bitterness to his soul. What did the Spirit mean when John was instructed to “eat the book”? The explanation is in John 6:53 “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.”
“THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK UNTO YOU, THEY ARE Spirit, AND THEY ARE LIFE” (John 6:63).Now - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Who was this? “The Word was made flesh.” Jesus wrapped God’s Word up in flesh and brought it down to man. When we believe the Word of God, when we assimilate the Word and take it into our minds and hearts (and into our daily living) we are eating the very life of Jesus. The Word of God is alive - Jesus said so: “The words I speak, they are spirit and they are life.” When we read and assimilate the Word of God, we are eating His flesh and drinking His Blood. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
A. Hear the Word of God.
B. Believe on Him (Jesus Christ).
C. You have everlasting life.
“By grace are ye saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but Incorruptible by the Word of God” (I Peter 1:23). John ate up the message of the little book. It was sweet in his mouth - but bitter in his soul. Read Jeremiah 15:16, John 6:49-58, Ezekiel 2:8 and 3:1-3. Prophecy both gladdens and saddens. It announces both joy and grief. It is wonderful - and horrible. It is refreshing - and yet it is bitter.
Is it sweet to you, when you look all around you and see the drunks, the dopers, the gamblers and the harlots, the liars, thieves and murderers? Is that sweet to you? You know if the Rapture should take place today they would be left behind. Is that sweet? As a believer, you know the wages of sin is death, and that all sinners go to hell and burn forever. Is that sweet? No, if you are a true child of God that is not sweet. It is bitter . . . extremely bitter. For that reason you and me ought to go after the lost as we have never gone after them before. The church need to become in soul winning, to warn the wicked man in his wicked way, lest he die in his sin.
Our chapter closes with these words: “And He said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” John was to prophesy OF them, not TO them - and he does just that in the following chapters of Revelation. The last verse of chapter ten leads us immediately into new phases of God’s fury and judgment, new scenes and circumstances. We will see in the following chapters the appearance of new personalities not referred to thus far.
Next
Revelation 11:
The Two Witnesses
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