Unveiling the Sealed Mysteries of Revelation

Well, tonight we're in the book of Revelation, and we are still in chapter 10.

We're in verse 4 tonight. We're picking up with an unusual answer, an unusual answer.

Look at verse 4 of chapter 10. When the seven peals of thunder had spoken,

I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying.

Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.

The seven peals of thunder did not merely make a loud noise,

but they communicated information that John was about to write.

In fact, in obedience to God's commands, John had already written,

if you remember, much of what he saw in his visions, right?

In fact, in chapter 1 of Revelation, John relates that he was in the Spirit,

if you remember, on the Lord's day.

And he said, I heard behind me of a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.

Saying, write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches,

to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, and to Sardis,

and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

That was all the way back in chapter 1, verses 10 or 11.

And later in the chapter, though, the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ,

He commanded John. He gave him a command.

He said in verse 19 of chapter 1, he said, Write the things which you have seen

and the things which are and the things which will take place after these things.

And John was also, he was specifically commanded to write each of the letters,

if you remember, to the seven churches.

And later in Revelation, as we'll see, John would once again be commanded to

write what he saw in his visions.

But before John could actually record the message of the seven peals of thunder,

that he heard a voice from heaven.

Saying what? What did it say? Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder

have spoken and do not write them.

Now, whether that voice was that of the Father, Jesus, or an angel,

is not revealed to us in Scripture.

But the command, however, here clearly originated with God.

And the very one who had commanded John to write.

And so the reason John was forbidden to record the message of the seven pills

of thunder is it's not revealed.

I mean, there's no point in us sitting here and trying to come up with some

reason because it's just not revealed in Scripture why he was told not to.

It may be that the judgment that they uttered is simply too terrifying to be revealed.

I don't know. But any speculation here to the specific content of their message

is just pointless, I think. We just don't know, like I said.

But God wanted it to be known.

Had he wanted it to be known, I should say, he would have not forbidden John to actually write it.

If you remember, though, in the Bible, in Daniel, he also was forbidden to record

certain elements of his visions.

In fact, in Daniel chapter 8, verse 26,

Daniel 8:26

he was commanded there that the vision of the evenings and mornings,

which has been told, is true, but keep the vision secret, for it pertains to many days in the future.

And later he was told, go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and

sealed up until the end of time.

And that was in Daniel 12. In fact, the apostle Paul, if you remember.

Was, it says in 2 Corinthians 12, called up into paradise and heard inexpressible

words, which a man is not permitted to speak.

There are some truths that God has chosen not to reveal.

We don't like that, do we? We just don't. I mean, we want to know all the details.

And if it were left up to mere humans, I just firmly believe that even Paul

and John and Daniel, you know, told not to reveal.

You know, you would think that somewhere down the line, some human would let it slip, right?

But God saw to it that they're not going to reveal this.

They're not going to reveal it. He commanded them not to reveal it.

And so, in fact, Deuteronomy 29, 29 is a verse that's just a theme because it deals with this.

It's a theme for me because it says, the secret things belong to the Lord our

God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may

observe all the words of the law.

Even though we may not like it there are some secret things that belong to the

lord they're mysteries that if god wants us to know he will reveal it and if

he does it we need to leave it with the lord and just be content to leave it

there and god thunders here with his voice,

wondrously doing great things which cannot be comprehended joke says in joke

37 but the words of the seven peals of thunder here, they fall into that category.

And it's just, they're the only words. I found this very, very interesting,

but they're the only words in the book of Revelation that are sealed.

The only words in the book of Revelation that are sealed.

Well, that leads us to an unusual announcement though.

Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his

right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever,

who created heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and

the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer.

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound,

then the mystery of God is finished as he preached to his servants the prophets

that's verses 5 through 7 of chapter 10.

So in a solemn act, the angel whom John saw standing on the sea and on the land, it says in verse 2.

Now, that gives you the sense. This was massive. This angel was massive, right, that he saw.

Lifted up his right hand. Remember, we talked about this last week.

The little book was in the left hand in verse 2. To heaven where God dwells.

And that's the standard gesture for taking a solemn vow. We'll find that all

throughout Scripture and Deuteronomy, Daniel.

And to take such a vow is to affirm before God that one is going to speak the truth.

And that vow indicated that what the angel here was about to say was of the

utmost importance, and it was truthfulness.

Now there are some who suggest that

the angels act violates the prohibition given

by the lord himself in matthew 5 34 and

35 against taking oaths uh where it says it says but i say to you make no oath

at all either by heaven for it is the throne of god or by the earth for it is

the footstool of his feet or by jerusalem for it is the city of the great king

but obviously i want y'all to think for a moment tonight,

obviously a perfect holy being could not do anything contrary to God's commands.

And so the Bible does not, I want y'all to see, this is a truth that we all do well to remember.

The Bible does not forbid the taking of vows, but rather the evasive swearing

of oaths with the intent to deceive.

And that's what the scribes and Pharisees did, Matthew 23, That's exactly what they did.

Scripture records the oaths of such godly people, if we look at it, as Abraham.

Abraham in Genesis chapter 21, Isaac, David, and the apostle Paul.

Genesis 21 · chapter mention

And furtherly, the Bible actually records that God himself has taken oaths.

And that's in Genesis 22, 16 and 18, Luke 1, 73, Acts 2, 30. Those are just a few.

And that might be another topic for another day. But the angel took his vow

in the name of him who lives forever and ever,

who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it,

and the sea and the things in it.

And that designation of God, it really stresses his eternality, doesn't it?

I mean, it's really his sovereign power that we've talked about in and over

every single thing in creation.

It identifies God as the ultimate cause of all that is.

In fact, if you remember, Paul and Barnabas actually cried out to the crowd

at Lystra and sought to defy them.

They said, man, what are you doing these things? Why are you doing these things?

They said, we are also men of the same nature as you and preach the gospel to

you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the

heaven and the earth and the sea and all that's in them.

That's in Acts chapter 14. And so, in fact, if you think what Paul did,

Acts 14 · chapter mention

if you remember to the pagan Greek philosophers, y'all remember this,

on Mars Hill when Paul actually declared to them, he said, Men of Athens,

I observe that you are very religious in all respects, for while I was passing

through and examining the objects of your worship, he was looking,

in other words, at all their idols, right?

He said, I also found an altar with this inscription. Anybody remember it?

To the unknown God. And therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

Boy, Paul took what they had. I'm just telling you.

He took what they were doing there, and he saw this to the unknown God,

and he used it as a witnessing opportunity to point them to Christ, right?

He says, therefore, what you worship in ignorance, I proclaim to you,

the God who made the world and

all the things in it. That sounds very familiar to this passage, right?

Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands,

neither is he served by human hands as though he needed anything.

Since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things,

and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of

the earth, having determined their appointing times and the boundaries of their habitation.

That's in Acts 17. But in both instances here, I want you all to see tonight

that Paul identified God to pagan Gentiles as the source and the first cause

of the created universe.

And so he answered that most compelling question, if you will,

that's in each human, right?

Through the ages, that's the question of origins. This identification of God is the creator here,

Echoes that praise song You may have thought of this Of the 24 elders You remember

this one in chapter 4, verse 11 Worthy are you,

our Lord and our God To receive glory and honor and power For you created all

things And because of your will They existed and were created.

So that comprehensive statement that God created here in this verse,

if you look at it again, created heaven and the things in it and the earth and

the things in it and the sea and the things in it, it just reveals to us, y'all,

tonight that the scope of God's creative power is just all-encompassing.

And that's what this angel is reinforcing to us.

His purpose for his creation will be fulfilled through judgment,

renovation, destruction, and then recreation.

His purpose for his creation is going to be fulfilled through judgment,

renovation, destruction, and recreation.

And the specific content of the angel's oath here was that there will be what?

Delay no longer.

Now, he was answering the question of the martyrs, which was what? Anybody remember?

Prevention. Right. How long? That was back in chapter 6, verse 10, right?

And the prayers of the saints in chapter 8, the phrase, but in the days of the

voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound.

It really indicates to us that the judgment of the seventh trumpet here is about

to come and that it's not a single event, but it covers days, right?

It indicates, excuse me, it indicates a time period or a period of time, I should say.

And that period indicates the seven bold judgments in chapter 16 that we're

going to get to here, not too long down the road, which would appear to require

some weeks or months to unfold, actually.

So the sounding here, the seventh trumpet, it brings the final judgment depicted

in the bowls of fury poured out on the earth.

And so the time of God's patience, in other words, is seen as having ended.

Now, that's a sad time, isn't it? The time of his patience is seen as having ended.

The time for the final acts of judgment is seen as being at hand,

and the time anticipated in the disciples' questions that were recorded in Matthew

23 that we looked at, Acts 1.

The prayers, get this, of all the saints of all the ages for the consummation

of God's kingdom are about to be answered.

And when that seventh angel sounds, in fact, if you skip ahead a little bit,

and we'll get there here down the road, but in chapter 11, verse 15,

the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,

and he will reign forever and ever.

I mean, on one hand, we can sit here and truly say, hallelujah, right?

I was going to scream, but I didn't want to hurt your ears, right?

Glory, thank you, Jesus.

But at that time, the mystery of God will have been finished as he preached

to his servants, the prophets.

But we'll talk about this more in a minute.

But even though this has come and this is a celebration, it's also sad in the sense that what?

It's grieving in hearts in the sense that people who have not turned to the Lord, that's it.

The judgment's coming, right? There is no hope.

You know, Paul actually wrote, he said, Now to him who is able to establish

you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus, according to the revelation of the mystery,

which has been kept secret for long ages past,

but now is manifested and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the

commandment of the eternal God has been made known to all nations leading to

obedience of faith. That's in Romans 16.

You see, mysteries that are hidden in the past that the New Testament reveals,

they include the mysteries of the kingdom. That's revealed in Matthew 13, 11, right?

The mysteries of Israel's blindness is revealed in Romans 11,

Romans 11:25

verse 25. We studied that a good while back.

The mystery of the rapture is revealed in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51.

1 Corinthians 15:51

The mystery of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 The mystery of Christ in Ephesians 3, 4,

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

And of Christ in the church is even revealed in Ephesians 5,

32 All those mysteries are being revealed And the mystery of Christ in the believer

We're studying this on Wednesday nights In Colossians chapter 1, verses 26 and 27,

Colossians 1:26

And the mystery of the incarnation 1 Timothy 3, 16 reveals that.

And Paul actually saw himself as a steward, if you will, or a guardian and dispenser

of these great mysteries.

To bring to light these mysteries, which for ages, he said in Ephesians 3,

9, for ages have been hidden in God.

But those mysteries are being revealed. They're being revealed.

The actual mystery of God, The mystery of God of which the angel spoke here

is that of the summing up of all things in Christ,

things in heaven, right, and things where else? On the earth.

And it's the consummation of God's plan and bringing his glorious kingdom in Christ to fulfillment.

It involves the salvation of those who've repented and put their faith and trust

in him. The Bible refers to us as the elect, right? and their place in his glorious

kingdom and all that goes with that.

It includes the judgment of men and of demons.

The mystery previously hidden refers to all the unknown details that are revealed

from this point to the end of Revelation.

When the new heavens and the new earth are created, God had preached the mystery

without all the details revealed in the New Testament to his servants,

the prophets in the Old Testament.

And men, if you think about it, like Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah,

Jeremiah, Joel, Amos, even Zechariah, they wrote of end-time events, all of them.

But much of the detail, much of the detail was hidden and not revealed until

when? The New Testament.

And that's when some of these began to be revealed that we talked about.

And more particularly, we look back in the previous chapters of Revelation to

believers living at that time in a world that's overrun.

Think about it. We've studied this already up to this point.

The world is overrun by what?

Demons, murder, sexual immorality, drug abuse, thefts, unparalleled natural

disasters that are taking place.

The realization that God's glorious plan is on a schedule, is on schedule, I should say.

It's on schedule. It's coming right on time, right?

The promised kingdom is near when the earth will be filled with the knowledge

of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

In Habakkuk 2, verse 14. It's going to bring great comfort, though.

Habakkuk 2:14

It's going to bring hope in the midst of judgment here.

Again, who's the hope coming to here?

Who's this hope for?

The Christians who are in the tribulation, right? We're already in heaven.

But the Christians who are in the tribulation, this is hope for them.

And that leads us to an unusual assignment.

Look at this, we're going to pick back up in 8 through 11, chapter 10, 8 through 11.

And the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me and

saying, go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands

on the sea and on the land.

So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book,

and he said to me, take it and what? Eat it.

It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey,

so I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it,

and in my mouth it was sweet as honey when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.

He said, when I had eaten them, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to

me, you must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.

So the voice that John had heard from heaven in verse 4, forbidding him to record

the words of the seven peals of thunder, spoke to him again here.

And as he had earlier, John became an active participant right here in this

vision. He left the place as an observer to become an actor,

if you will, in the drama.

The voice said to him, go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel

who stands on the sea and on the land.

And by the way, once I see this, the third reference, this third reference to

the location of the angel, it

really emphasizes strongly that unusual authority he has over the earth.

And then in a graphic illustration here of what a proper response on the part

of believers to this impending judgment of God should be, what it should be.

Well, John was told this. He said, take it and eat it.

It will make your stomach bitter.

But in your mouth, it's going to be what? Sweet as honey.

The angel knew what John's reaction to this truth would be.

Obediently, like Ezekiel before him in Ezekiel 2, John in the vision symbolically

took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it.

And just as the angel had predicted, in John's mouth it was sweet as honey.

That's kind of like, oh, God's judgment. It's coming down. We've waited,

right? We've waited for this, right? Hallelujah.

I mean, it's all sweet as honey.

Just as the angel predicted, it was sweet as honey, but when he had eaten it,

his stomach was made bitter.

And that act of eating the scroll symbolized the absorbing and assimilating of God's word.

When John took in, in other words, the divine word concerning the remaining

judgments of the Lord, as the Lord took possession of the universe here,

he found the words written in the little book, both sweet as honey and bitter,

sweet because John, like all of us here tonight, all believers here tonight,

he wanted the Lord to act in judgment, to take back the earth that's rightfully

his, to be exalted, to be honored, to be glorified as he deserved.

But the realization of the terrible doom awaiting unbelievers turned that initial

sweet taste into bitterness in his stomach, as it should do to us, y'all.

In fact, you know, the scripture says that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

And all who love Jesus, I just want y'all to see this tonight,

all who love Jesus can relate to this.

Believers long for Christ to return. I mean, I can't think of anyone here tonight

that would say, no, I don't want Jesus to come back, right?

We pray, Lord, please come quickly. we long

for his return and to be with him in glory for satan

to be destroyed once and for all for the glorious kingdom of

our lord to be set up on earth in which he's going to

rule in universal sovereignty and glory while

establishing all in the world righteousness truth and peace but but us you know

here like paul here romans 9 1 through 3 i don't have you remember that but

in romans 9 it's like he mourned bitterly over the judgment of the ungodly.

I mean, Paul was mourning so much. He was like, if somehow, you know,

you guys could see the truth, you know, I would give it all up if I could,

if you'd just see the truth.

And so in keeping with this bitter, sweet experience here, John's told,

you must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.

Again, it indicates that John here was actually being commissioned a second

time to write the rest of the prophecies God was going to give him.

And so what he was about to learn would be more devastating,

and we're going to see this over the coming weeks, than anything yet revealed

and at the same time more glorious.

He was to be faithful to his duty to record all the truth that he had seen and

would soon see, and the prophecies that John would receive would relate to everyone.

Summed up in the four people groups of chapter 5 that we looked at,

verse 9 and chapter 7, verse 9.

It would apply to everyone everywhere.

So John is to warn of all the bitter judgments here, coming in the seventh trumpet and the seven bowls.

And as an exile, do you remember where John was exiled on the island of Patmos,

right? We saw that in chapter 1, verse 9.

He had no opportunity to preach to all nations, but he wants to write the prophecies

and distribute them so as to warn all the people of the bitterness of judgment

to come and of death and of hell.

Sinners everywhere may know because John recorded these prophecies that while

judgment is presently restrained, that's where we're at right now,

a future day is coming when the seventh angel will sound his trumpet and sin's

dominion will be broken.

The freedom of Satan and his demons will come to an end.

Godless men will be judged and believers will be glorified.

And so this chapter here, y'all, tonight, it represents, or it presents,

I should say, an interlude of hope, if you will.

Tinged with a little bit of bitterness there that reminds all Christians,

all of us sitting here tonight, of our evangelistic responsibilities to warn the world of that day.

Like I said, it's great. It's something we can celebrate. When all this comes

to a head, we're going to celebrate it.

We're going to be dancing, I'm sure, in our hearts, right, celebrating the kingdom.

But y'all, I don't know about you, but what about all of our friends and loved

ones who don't know Jesus?

What about the people that we have tried to share Christ with And maybe we've

just never seen anything happen.

I mean, it really, that's the bitterness in the stomach is the fact that people,

there are people who will never receive, never receive the gift that God offers.

We could pray, but we need to do all that we can.

Yes, prayer is powerful, but we need to obey the great commission.

We need to go out and spread the word.

Just like John here, you know, he wrote these things down as a witness to let

people know there is coming this time.

And so we need to take that seriously, y'all, seriously, that people are going to have an opportunity.

What a great grace opportunity there, even in tribulation.

But there is coming a time where it's going to all end, and that's where the

greeting comes. That's where the bitterness comes.

Any thoughts tonight just so far on this?

I've enjoyed the sin-depth study. I've always had service messages preached

from Revelation, but never, like, take it chapter by chapter and verse by verse.

And I was just thinking it's been really nice just breaking down Revelation

verse by verse sometimes each night.

Praise the Lord. You want to understand it a little better. Because I've always

heard Revelations is kind of hard to understand just because of all the stuff that's in it itself.

And there are, like we said, some mysteries that we don't know.

It's some symbolism we don't maybe have it all figured out.

But the things that God has revealed to us for make plain, right?

I don't know about y'all, but the things God has revealed, I have a hard enough

time dealing with the things he's already revealed than to worry about the things

he's chosen not to reveal, okay, at this point.

We might not can handle some of them. Like I said, some of those tonight,

some of those things that he was forbidden to write, might have just been too terrifying.

I don't know. Well, we won't know until we see the Lord, but I'm thankful we

have an opportunity still, y'all, to spread the worm.

And we need to take advantage, y'all. We need to be salt and light in this world

and be about our Father's business.

That's why we're here. The church is not a social club.

I mean, there's social connections, yes, and it's great.

We should have fellowship, true fellowship and all that, and we need each other.

We need to grow together in the body of Christ, but we're not a glorified social

club or a country club, if you will.

We're on a mission. We're an army.

We're God's army. We go out into the world and share the gospel.

We have a commission. It's called the Great Commission, right?

To go into all the world, make disciples, right?

And we're to go and to baptize them in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we just don't have time to sit around fighting each other, do we?

We don't have time to do that. We've got a mission to be on,

and we need to be quick about that and quick about doing those things that we've

been challenged to do from God's Word.

And I'll bet you I want my neighbors to know the truth. I want them to know

the forgiveness of Christ. I want my coworkers to know it.

I want those people that I love to know it. I want even strangers to know it

because I care about people.

God has given us a love for other people, even though we may not know them personally,

giving us a burden to reach people for His kingdom.