Revelation 10 - God will wait no longer

PARENTHESIS BETWEEN THE 6TH & SEVENTH TRUMPET

The world is now given its final warnings before the Great Tribulation (last half of the 7 years) begins. These are the Seven Thunders and the Two Witnesses that God will send to Israel to warn His people to “get right” with Him while there’s still time. After the end of the Battle of Ezekiel chapters 38-39, God will have brought every living Jew to Israel, leaving none behind:
Ezekiel 39:28: Then my people will know that I am the LORD their God -- responsible for sending them away to exile and responsible for bringing them home. I will leave none of my people behind..

Even though many will have already been martyred during the Seal and Trumpet judgments, especially among those who’ve turned to Jesus, there will still be a huge population of religious Jews in Israel with a fully functioning Temple:
Daniel 9:27: He will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. Then as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the end that has been decreed is poured out on this defiler."

The Abomination of Desolation will put an end to the sacrifice and offerings, but that won’t happen until the middle of the last 7 years, described in Revelation 13.

The trumpet judgments, which cover the second quarter of the Tribulation are described in chapters 8 and 9. But, we have now reached a parenthesis in Revelation 10:1-11:13 before the seventh trumpet. Revelation 11:14 constitutes the last of the trumpet judgments, which follows chronologically Revelation 9:21 (And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their immorality or their thefts).

There is still one terror (woe) left and it contains the seven vial judgments.

(1) THEN I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire.

• Then:
• After the 5th and 6th angels blew their trumpets in chapter 9 and the remaining inhabitants of the earth (after 1/3 are killed) still did not repent.
  
• Another mighty angel:
• “Another” (allos) means “another of the same kind.” The mighty angel is an angelic being of the same kind, but different (another) from either the sixth angel in 9:13 or the mighty angel in 5:2.
  
• I don't believe this is Jesus because this angel is the same kind as before and will swear by God in verse 6, which is inappropriate for Christ. Nor is it any of the seven angels with trumpets. However, many others believe this is Jesus Christ, based on the description given of the angel as being in a position of great power over the earth and as possessing majesty.
• Coming down:
• Commentators note that John’s vantage point is now earth and not heaven. He watches as the mighty angel comes down from heaven.
• Later, another angel, not called mighty, but having great authority, comes down from heaven to announce the impending fall of Babylon in Revelation 18. The angel who binds Satan, an assignment necessitating great authority and power, also is said to come down from heaven in Revelation 20.
  
• Feet ... fire:
• His feet like pillars of fire speak of judgment.
  

(2) And in his hand was a small scroll, which he had unrolled. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.

• Small scroll - Greek biblaridion:
• By now, the Lamb’s book has had all seven seals removed (Revelation 8:1+) and probably lies completely open too. As intriguing as these similarities may be, this book is undoubtedly not the seven-sealed scroll for it is said to be smaller and in 5:1 the 7-sealed scroll is described by the Greek word biblion, whereas here the diminutive form is used, biblaridion. Even so, many expositors believe it's the same scroll, only now unrolled.
  
• Right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land:
• The theme of this chapter is the declaration of God’s intention and right to take possession of the earth—both land and sea—and to bring to fulfillment the many prophetic themes found in Scripture which point to the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.
• Spanning the earth and the sea symbolized the formal taking possession of both; or the formal expression of the purpose to do so. Joshua took possession of the promised land in Joshua 1 and Jesus is preparing to take possession of the earth. Remember that Satan offered the world to Jeus in Luke 4:5-6.
  
• Joshua 1:3-4: I promise you what I promised Moses: 'Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you --  from the Negev Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and all the land of the Hittites.'
  
• Luke 4:5-6: Then the Devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The Devil told him, "I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them -- because they are mine to give to anyone I please.

(3) And he gave a great shout, like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered.

• Seven thunders:
• At first, you might think this was simply a poetic way of describing the rumble of thunder, but verse 10:4 makes it clear that the thundering sounds were actual voices speaking words.
• Thunder, as we have seen on Mt. Sinai, indicates God’s presence. Throughout the Old Testament and in Revelation 4-6, thunder is associated with the judgment of God on the earth. In the gospel of John 12:29, God's voice sound like thunder to those who did not understand his words. These seven thunders deal with God’s presence, God’s judgment and possibly were God’s voice.
  
• John 12:28-32: Father, bring glory to your name."Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, "I have already brought it glory, and I will do it again." When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him. Then Jesus told them, "The voice was for your benefit, not mine. The time of judgment for the world has come, when the prince of this world will be cast out. And when I am lifted up on the cross, I will draw everyone to myself."
  
• Psalm 29 is often called “the Seven Thunders of God”. In that Psalm, seven times the voice of the Lord thunders over the earth in judgment.

(4) WHEN the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But a voice from heaven called to me: "Keep secret what the seven thunders said. Do not write it down."

• Keep secret:
• Evidently, the message is sealed and is never revealed in this book.
• The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:4 that there was a time when he, too, was caught up into heaven, and heard, he says, "things so astounding that they cannot be told".
  
• Walvoord: “This illustrates the principle that while God has revealed much, there are secrets which God has not seen fit to reveal to man at this time.”
• Do not write it down:
• This implies that John was writing everything down that he heard and saw.
  

(5) THEN the mighty angel standing on the sea and on the land lifted his right hand to heaven.

(6) And he swore an oath in the name of the one 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. He said, "God will wait no longer.

• Created:
•  John 1:1-3: In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make.
  
• Wait no longer:
• Habakkuk 2:2-3: Then the LORD said to me, "Write my answer in large, clear letters on a tablet, so that a runner can read it and tell everyone else. But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."
• Daniel 11:35: And some who are wise will fall victim to persecution. In this way, they will be refined and cleansed and made pure until the time of the end, for the appointed time is still to come."
  
• 2 Peter 3:9: The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.
  
• In Revelation 14:15, the angel is instructed to "Use the sickle, for the time has come for you to harvest; the crop is ripe on the earth."
• The KJV says there should be time no longer, but the implication that time ceases at this point is obviously untrue. The NIV translates it there will be no more delay.
• When the angel says, “God will wait no longer,” he means that once the seventh trumpet is sounded, God will act swiftly to establish His righteous rule on earth. Evidently, the seal and trumpet judgments will take some time to unfold, giving earth-dwellers time to repent (6:15-17; 9:20-21), but the bowl judgments will come very quickly allowing little or no time for repentance (16:1-17). 
  
• For 2,000 years, the world and even the visible church has pushed Him out. The world is a colossal wreck. God has put up with man’s insults long enough. Man has had his chance; governments of earth have had their chance; the visible church has had its chance. There can be no further delay.
• The apostate power on earth is to be openly dealt with. The sounding of the seventh Trumpet heralds the pouring out of the concentrated wrath of God on the guilty and apostate scene. The blows are short, sharp and unsparing (Revelation 16:1-21).
• Ray Stedman: "We read in Acts that the early Christians expected Jesus to return in their day. Paul certainly expected it in his lifetime. There are many places where it is clear that they were looking for his coming two thousand years ago. Every generation of Christians in every century since has been expecting the Lord to return in their time, but he has not come yet. Today we are expecting the Lord to return, probably before this century ends, and yet he may not. But when the seventh angel sounds, the Angel says, "there will be no more delay!" Then that strange, mysterious reluctance of God to carry out what he has so long promised will not only end, but will be explained as well. That is what we may look forward to. And when it happens, God will begin his reign on the earth."
• God will wait no longer to answer the question of “How Long” from (6:10) and the prayers of the saints in 8:3-5.
  
• A man clothed in linen made an oath almost identical to the mighty angel; he showed Daniel this specific time period that the mighty angel announces is coming to an end, which is "time, times, and half a time," or 3 ½ years in length:
• Daniel 12:6-7: One of them asked the man dressed in linen, who was now standing above the river, "How long will it be until these shocking events happen?" The man dressed in linen, who was standing above the river, raised both his hands toward heaven and took this solemn oath by the one who lives forever: "It will go on for a time, times, and half a time. When the shattering of the holy people has finally come to an end, all these things will have happened."
• The "time, times, and half a time" in Daniel 12:7 is the last 3 ½ year period leading up to the Kingdom Age, when Israel's power will be completely "shattered" in the middle of the Tribulation. This period of trouble, worse than anything ever experienced on earth, begins when Michael stands up to protect Israel and ends with deliverance of the Jewish believers who will enter the Kingdom and receive their inheritance.
• This 3 ½ year time of trouble is also described in Revelation 12, when Michael stands against Satan and throws him out of Heaven. The Hebrew word translated "shattering" in Daniel 12:7 can also mean "scattering." The "abomination of desolation" in the middle of the Tribulation "shatters" Israel's power. The beast takes over Israel and desecrates the temple, and the Jews lose their sovereignty as a nation and physically scatter; one-third of them find protection in the wilderness until the Lord returns to establish His Kingdom; the other two-thirds of the Jews perish (Zechariah 13:8-9).
• 
  Above image from: http://trackingbibleprophecy.com/revelation10A.php

(7) But WHEN the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God's mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets."

• RSV translates as follows:  “In the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled…”
• When the seventh angel blows his trumpet:
• This does not happen until 11:15, after a period spread out over at least forty-two months (11:2) or 1,260 days (11:3)—the prophetic equivalent of Daniel's "time, times and half a time". The accent falls less on no more delay (verse 6) than on the fact that what is to come is God's mystery (verse 7). Because the future is in God's hands, it is bright, despite all the terrible things John has seen.
  
• Seventh ... trumpet:
• This trumpet, the third terror or woe, introduces the seven bowl judgments that will cover the events of the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation described in chapter 16. Most of what occurs from chapter 12 - 15 are scenes in heaven describing events which will occur on earth.
• Mysterious plan:
• The 'mysterious plan' is his total redemptive purpose, which includes the judgment of evil and the salvation of his people.
• Kelly identifies this “mysterious plan'” as the secret of His allowing Satan to have his own way, and man too (that is to say, the wonder of evil prospering and of good being trodden underfoot). God checks, no doubt, the evil in a measure, partly through human government and partly through His own providential dealings.
• Fulfilled - Greek teleo:
• The mystery is fulfilled or finished in the sense that God would then have no more to reveal about these kingdom plans beyond what He revealed to John. He had revealed His plans for the future kingdom to His servants the prophets in former times, but only partially:
• Hebrews 1:1-2: Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he made the universe and everything in it.
  
• Announced:
• The word "announced" is literally "to preach the gospel, or good news" (Greek euangelizo). The purpose of the mighty angel's oath is to assure John that the "bad news" of the first six trumpets is not God's last word.
  

(8) THEN the voice from heaven called to me again: "Go and take the unrolled scroll from the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

(9) So I approached him and asked him to give me the little scroll. "Yes, take it and eat it," he said. "At first it will taste like honey, but when you swallow it, it will make your stomach sour!"

• Approached:
• John is still on earth, not on heaven, to be near the angel standing on the earth and sea.
  
• Little scroll (the small scroll in verse 2):
• The clue to the scroll's contents may be within the last verse of chapter 10: "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings." The scroll is the judgments of the Tribulation and how God's plan will transpire. Upon eating it (taking it in), it is sweet, as we discover that the Lord is indeed bringing his kingdom to the planet and putting an end to evil. But, upon "digesting" it (discerning its meaning and contemplating it), we realize the "bitterness" that must take place, as billions die in the cataclysmic judgments that pound the earth.
• Take it:
• John could not be handed the scroll, he had to go and take it from the angel. It is the same with us in the Christian life; we must extend our hand to the Lord as He offers us His plan and purpose.
  

(10) So I took the little scroll from the hands of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but it made my stomach sour.

• Psalm 19:9-10: Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the LORD are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.
• Jeremiah 15:16-19: Your words are what sustain me. They bring me great joy and are my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I burst with indignation at their sins. Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook. It is like a spring that has gone dry." The LORD replied, "If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak words that are worthy, you will be my spokesman. You are to influence them; do not let them influence you!
• These verses Jeremiah should strongly speak to us, those who "bear your name"!
  
• Ezekiel 2:8-3:3: Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in being a rebel. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you." Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and it held a scroll. He unrolled it, and I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, other words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom. The voice said to me, "Son of man, eat what I am giving you -- eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. "Eat it all," he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey.
• The little book symbolizes God's message which contains both assurance to believers (honey) and terrible, horrible judgments of God’s holy fury to unbelievers (bitter).
• Swete: “Every revelation of God’s purposes . . . is ‘bitter-sweet,’ disclosing judgment as well as mercy.”
  
• Warren Wiersbe-The Bible Exposition Commentary: “God will not thrust His Word into our mouths and force us to receive it. He hands it to us and we must take it. Nor can He change the effects the Word will have in our lives: there will be both sorrow and joy, bitterness and sweetness. God’s Word contains sweet promises and assurances, but it also contains bitter warnings and prophecies of judgment. The Christian bears witness of both life and death (2 Corinthians 2:14–17).”
  
• God wanted him to digest the message of the book so that it would change him personally. The eating of this book by John is a picture of understanding the Bible and then applying it to experience by faith.
  

(11) THEN he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

• Prophecy again:
• Victorinus, who wrote the first commentary on Revelation in the late third century, understood this phrase to indicate John’s subsequent release from Patmos for how could John deliver what he must prophesy if he were to remain on Patmos?
• “You must prophesy again,” indicates that this chapter has been an interlude. It was an intermission between the first half of John’s message of judgment and the second half. The first half was unbearable and unbelievable; now, John begin the second half and is recommissioned to prophesy again. The response of the people does not determine the message.
  

This interlude marks the half-way point between the first half and second half of the 7-year tribulation. The Great Tribulation now begins. In 11:14, we learn that the terror or woe of the sixth Trumpet is over.

Revelation 11:1-4: THEN I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, "Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in sackcloth and will prophesy during those 1,260 days." The second terror is past, but look, now the third terror is coming quickly.

NOTES:

• Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois.
• Disclaimer: Source material for this study has been gleaned from many different sources. If you want further study, I have attempted to acknowledge these sources at http://revelationofjesustojohn.blogspot.com/2014/03/book-of-revelation-references.html
• Index to all our studies are at http://oakview-bible-fellowship.blogspot.com/