The Sweet and Bitter Message of the Gospel

10.

There I am.

Good grief, Mazzon.

We're trying to really echo tonight.

All right, there we go.

All right, we're making our way through the book of Revelation,

and I thought there's a chance we're going to get through a whole chapter tonight.

We'll see how we do, but we've made it through the seven seals.

We've made it through six trumpets,

and now as we're approaching that final trumpet,

something interesting happens,

and it's the same thing that happens in the book of Revelation.

And it's the same thing that happens after the sixth thing in the judgment series.

So if you'll remember in the judgment of the seven seals,

after the sixth seal, there was an intermission, right?

You'll have to go back in your Bibles to look at that,

but there was an intermission,

and before the seventh seal happened,

we have this break, this pause,

because you get through the six seals,

and the big question is, okay,

all this stuff is going to happen,

these mountains are going to fall,

the sun's darkened, stars are falling,

and the big question is, okay,

well, how are God's people going to make it through this?

And so there's a pause before the seventh seal to say,

okay, here's how God's people are going to make it through it.

God seals his people,

and everyone who is sealed is going to be protected from these judgments.

They don't have to worry about that.

We read about the innumerable multitude,

and they're in heaven with Jesus,

and they're singing praise and glory to Jesus for the salvation.

They have, and then you get the seventh seal, right?

So now we've had six trumpets,

and there's another intermission,

because there's another purpose.

It's answering another question.

And the question that we're going to be dealing with here,

as we go through the intermission this time,

is we're going to see that both of these intermissions,

they give a description of God's people.

So, for instance, in the first description,

that first intermission tells us that God's people

are those who are sealed by God.

They're the ones sealed by the Holy Spirit.

And the second intermission,

it's going to add another description.

It's going to say that God's people are those

who have received, treasured, obeyed, and proclaimed God's word.

And so you read about these judgments,

because again, remember, as we've gone through the trumpets,

we've been saying repeatedly

that the trumpet judgments are only affecting who?

People who don't believe, the unbelievers, right?

They're not allowed to touch or affect anyone who has the seal of God.

And so if you're like, okay, I think I have the seal of God,

but maybe give me another description.

That's what this intermission is answering.

It's like, okay, you want another description?

God's people are those who have received, treasured, consumed,

believed, and proclaimed God's word.

The church is called to bear witness to Christ

by proclaiming the gospel.

And that message, that message of the gospel,

it is a sweet message, is it not?

But it's also a bitter message.

And that's what we're going to learn in this passage.

So look with me at verse one, chapter 10.

The Bible says,

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven,

wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head,

and his face was like the sun,

and his legs like pillars of fire.

Now we're going to pause there for a second,

because there are many people who look at this,

a lot of commentators look at this,

and they say that this is a picture of Jesus.

They see the mighty angel, he's coming down from heaven,

wrapped in a cloud, rainbow over his head, face like the sun,

legs like pillars of fire.

They say this is a picture of Jesus.

What do we think?

Church, yay or nay?

You say nay?

Alright, we've got one nay.

I like the confidence.

Anybody else want to agree or disagree with Doug?

Is it Jesus?

Is it not Jesus?

Alright, I'm going to agree with Doug then,

since he gave us the only answer.

What if he had not?

Can you imagine?

I'm going to agree with Doug.

I think this is not a picture of Jesus,

and why would I say that?

Well, because first of all, and primarily,

Jesus is nowhere referred to in the Bible as an angel,

or even a mighty angel.

So it's unlikely that it's Jesus.

However, it is important to note that this mighty angel

is supposed to represent God's presence on earth.

Where do we get that?

How do we understand or know that it's supposed

to represent God's presence on earth?

Okay, yeah, that's part of it.

I mean, look at the description.

The description really gives it away,

because first and foremost, he comes down from heaven.

Where does God live in heaven?

That's kind of a trick question.

He is everywhere, but manifested glory in heaven.

But second, he's wrapped in a cloud,

and all throughout the Bible, the reference of being wrapped

in a cloud, or the imagery of being in a cloud,

is a symbolic picture of God's presence here on earth.

So you remember in the book of Exodus,

when God was leading his people,

what did he appear as by day?

Pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by night.

So the cloud is representing God's presence

all throughout the Bible.

But then third, notice this, the angel has a rainbow

over his head.

Why is that significant?

Anybody remember?

Okay, that's part of it.

Anything in Revelation?

You have to think back to chapter 4 in verse 3,

where we get this picture of God seated on his throne.

And if you remember back to Revelation 4,

it says that above God's head, there's a rainbow.

An emerald rainbow, which is odd when you think about a rainbow.

You don't think of primarily one color,

but it's a full rainbow too.

It's connected.

And so you have this picture of God seated on his throne

with a rainbow over his head,

and now you have an angel appearing,

and he is surrounded by a rainbow as well.

And it was a picture of God's covenant faithfulness

harkening back to the ark, as Doug has said.

But then notice this, the angel's face,

it shines like the sun, which is set of both the Father

and of Jesus.

And then also the angel's legs are like pillars of fire,

which is similar to the description of God

that we get in the book of Daniel and in Revelation.

So what you need to understand is that,

although this angel is not God, this angel is not Jesus,

the angel is meant to be a representation

of God's presence here on earth.

He comes as the king's ambassador.

That's a good way to think about him, right?

So think back to the old days.

If the king were to send an ambassador to another kingdom,

that ambassador, when he got into that other kingdom,

he was the manifestation of his king's presence in that kingdom.

He would wear the royal emblem of the kingdom.

He would have the king seal with him,

and he had the authority to barter

and make decisions for the king.

He was representing his king's presence in that kingdom.

Well, that's what this angel is doing for us here.

He is representing God's presence on earth,

and he's been given authority to act on God's behalf.

And so this is what we read happens with the angel

in verses two and three.

He had a little scroll open in his hand,

and he set his right foot on the sea

and his left foot on the land,

and cold out with a loud voice like a lion roaring,

and when he cold out, the seven thunders sounded.

So now we have another scroll.

Do you remember where the first scroll was?

We've read about one scroll before, right?

Y'all remember that?

Earlier in the book of Revelation,

John's all upset because there's this scroll.

Yeah, no one's worthy to open it

because it's got seven seals upon it,

and no one was found worthy to open the scroll

or break the seals,

and then they see the lion of the tribe of Judah,

the one who is like a lamb who's been slain,

but he's standing.

It's a picture of Jesus, right?

And so we read about that scroll,

and now we read about this scroll, the little scroll.

And another thing, commentators believe that this scroll

is the same scroll as the one we read about earlier

in the book of Revelation.

They say that this is the same scroll

as the one that had the seven seals on it.

They come to this conclusion by saying that

the scroll is only called little now

by comparison to the size of the angel,

who apparently is so giant,

he can have one foot on land and one foot on sea.

So they say in comparison to such a big angel,

the scroll looks little.

They also say that this scroll is open now

because you can see that the description there says it's open,

because Christ has already opened the seven seals,

and so the scroll is now open.

And so for those reasons, they say this is the same scroll

as the one we read about earlier.

What do we think?

Those are some pretty compelling reasons.

I'm going to set you all up where the answer is not no one time.

I feel like you all lean towards the next.

Do we think this is the same scroll?

Okay, Doug says no again.

Doug's no all night. That's just a go-to answer.

Anybody else? Same scroll, different scroll?

What are we thinking?

Okay.

There you go.

I'm going to agree with Doug too.

I'm just going to agree with Doug on that.

I'm unconvinced that it's the same scroll for a few reasons.

Number one, because I don't think it's called little

book, I don't think it's switch to that.

But two point dimensional book,

will be running of mathematical science,

of going from a point to a point,

but does a number of things do change this book?

I mean, are there any,

yes, I didn't think it could make out

the one on the squareん

when it says those minutes?

No.

So let me see.

since he's a representative of God and is representing God's presence here,

that's all that's doing is showing that God is sovereign over all creation.

He stands on the sea, he stands on the land, it shows that he's sovereign over all creation.

In fact, in ancient Hebrew thought, there were basically three spheres of existence, you could say.

You had, this is going to be, again, I'm not an artist, but that's a pretty good cloud, alright?

So there were the heavens which encompassed the sky and what we would call space and things like that,

and obviously heaven is over the heavens, and then there was the sea and then there was land,

and those were the only three things, there were the heavens, the sea, and the land.

And so what's interesting is you have all three here, right?

Where does the angel come from?

It comes from heaven, and he's got one foot on the sea and one foot on the land,

and if this is all that they believe exists, it's showing that God has sovereign control and rule over everything.

That's all this picture is communicating, it's not meant to be a picture of how big an angel is,

it's meant to communicate to us that God is sovereign over everything that exists.

Now another reason I think it's unlikely that this scroll is the same one is, I think it's called little,

not again because of a comparison of size, but because the first scroll that had the seven seals on it,

you remember we said that was the entirety of God's plan of redemption, that was the whole thing, you know,

from start to finish, but this scroll, it only contains, as we're going to see later in the passage,

it only contains what God has revealed to us in his word.

And so it's little in comparison to the fullness of what there is, right?

So what we're going to see later is that everything has not been revealed to us, there are still plenty of mysteries,

but God has revealed to us what we need to know in his word.

So this scroll is called little because this scroll is representing what God has revealed to us in his word.

Yeah, it's like the reader's digest version, right? It's what we can handle for now.

Another reason I think it's a different scroll is because God's going to tell John to eat this scroll,

and he doesn't say that with the first one, does he?

Not when it stays and no one eats it, but God is going to tell John to eat this scroll.

And also one other reason is because as far as we know, the first scroll never leaves Jesus' hand, right?

When they're saying, hey, we haven't found anyone who's worthy, the lamb comes and he takes the scroll,

and he opens the seals, and we never hear about him passing that off to anyone.

We never hear about him passing it off to an angel or anything else.

So I do believe it's a different scroll.

It's the scroll containing the portion of God's plan that he reveals to his people in his word.

And so look at verse 4. It says, when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write,

and I heard a voice from heaven saying, seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.

Okay, so what did the seven thunders say?

We don't have good answer. I like it. Quick and confident. We have no idea.

They are probably another series of judgments like we have with the seven seals or the seven trumpets,

the seven bowls of God's wrath. Here we have seven thunders, but we're not privileged to know what they say.

God has decided to seal those up. And what I want to really enforce here is what we were just saying,

is that in the word of God that we have, the Bible, God has revealed to us everything we need to know

for salvation and obedience to him. And this has happened in work throughout all of redemption history.

So in the beginning, when the Israelites just had the first five books of Moses,

they had everything they needed to know at that point for faithfulness to God.

And as the word continued to be inspired and written down, every generation had what they needed to know for faithfulness to God.

That's the sufficiency of Scripture. God's word is sufficient at all times, no matter how much of it has been revealed.

But today we have the completed 66 books of the Bible. We have everything we need to know for salvation, faithfulness, and obedience to him.

One day everything is going to be revealed, but that day is not today, which means there are still mysteries,

which is a good reminder for everyone who thinks that they know everything, you don't.

You don't know everything. You don't have it all figured out. For everybody who is obsessed, especially with the book of Revelation,

and they write books on it, and they come up with charts and details and all this kind of stuff about everything that's going to happen,

it's a good reminder to take a step back and realize there are things that are going to happen that you don't know are going to happen,

because we're not privileged to have information. And if God thought we needed to know it, he would have revealed it to us.

We have all we need to know. So here's my detail for you. If you're trying to figure out, you're in the bookstore,

which books on Revelation do I need to get, which books do I need to avoid, what do I need to believe about Revelation?

Here's my default answer. The more detailed an end times chart is, the more likely it is to be wrong.

The more detailed the chart is, the more likely it is to be wrong. I have plenty of advice like this.

You go to a Christian bookstore, and I can tell you which books to avoid. If the book cover has the picture of the author,

and he's smiling like this, or she's smiling like this, just avoid those books. That's just a great rule of thumb.

You go to the bookstore, if the author's picture is on the front, and it's a picture of them smiling, don't buy that book.

Odds are, it's from a prosperity preacher. I've got lots of nuggets like this. If you want more advice, just come to me for them.

The point is this. We need to be content with the revelation that God has given us. We don't need to go beyond His word.

We're going to learn about this in a couple of weeks in the book of Proverbs, where we read the book, the Bible literally says,

not to add to the word of God. His word is sufficient for us, and we need to be satisfied and content with the revelation that He has given us,

because it is what we need. We might want more. There are a lot of times we'd like more answers, right?

But we have everything we need. That's right. We don't need any more. There's a lot of Christian authors who put a lot of misinformation out there, Doug.

Revelation 10 verses 5 through 7. We'll go through this really quickly.

Revelation 10:5–7

And then the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay,

but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he had announced to his servants, the prophets.

There is an illusion going on here that's really easy to miss, right? But this is actually a reference back to the book of Daniel.

So Daniel chapter 12 verses 6 through 10. This is what we read in the Bible.

Daniel 12:6–10

And someone said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the stream, how long shall it be to the end of these wonders?

Now, think about how that harkens back to the martyrs under the throne of God who were saying, how long of God, how long?

Same question here in the book of Daniel.

And I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the stream.

He raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever.

Does this sound familiar like what we just read in Revelation?

Swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times and half a time.

So now that that's super clear to you when it's going to take place, we keep reading.

And that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all these things would be finished.

I heard, but I did not understand, right? So Daniel's like us. We're like, God, I don't get it. Give me some clarification.

Then I said, oh my Lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?

He said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.

So notice that John hears about the seven thunders. He's wanting to write it down and God says,

seal them up, shut them up until the time comes.

Same thing happening here in the book of Daniel.

But here's what's interesting is the reason that these are shut up and not revealed to us now is because God says there's going to be no more delay.

He says when that seventh trumpet sounds, that's the end.

So Daniel saw a similar prophecy from before and God said, shut up this book and seal it until the very end.

And when the end comes, then all things are going to be revealed.

John hears that for a time and then the angel immediately says, or the voice from heaven says, because the end's about to happen.

The end is upon us. They're not going to be sealed up for very long.

When that seventh trumpet sounds, that is the end of all of human history.

And then John receives his instructions here and notice what it says in verses eight through eleven.

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again saying, go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.

So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll and he said, take and eat it.

It will make your stomach bitter.

But in your mouth, it will be as sweet as honey.

And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it.

And it was sweetest honey in my mouth.

But when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

And I was told, you must again prophesy about or against many peoples and nations and languages and kings.

And so we actually have here another illusion to the book of Ezekiel.

And the Lord called Ezekiel to be a prophet. Ezekiel three verses one through three, if you want to write it down for later.

The Bible says, and he said to me, son of man, eat whatever you find here.

What does he find? A scroll.

Eat this scroll and go and speak to the house of Israel.

So I opened my mouth and he gave me this scroll to eat.

And he said to me, son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.

Then I ate it and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

Isn't that interesting? It's like the same picture going on in both circumstances.

And what you have in both circumstances is a messenger who is feasting upon the word of God.

He's consuming the word of God. He's feeding on the word of God.

It's nourishment to him and he finds that it is sweet as honey, but it's also bitter.

And John realizes the bitterness, he gets that bitter feeling in his stomach.

I'm wondering if it's anxiety because he's told right after it said that it's a bitter feeling in his stomach.

This reason I think it's anxiety is because he is told he's going to have to prophesy again.

The Bible says about in some of your translations, another good translation is against many peoples and nations and kings and languages.

So John is realizing in this moment he's going to have to go do the hard work of a messenger again.

He's going to have to go and proclaim the word of God to the same people who banished him to the island of Patmos in the first place.

Who had tried to boil him alive and kill him, who were persecuting him, who were killing other Christians.

He thinks he has it easy on this island right now. He is banished, but you know at least he's not dying.

And God says you're going to have to go again. You're going to have to prophesy again. Your work is not done.

And so here's my question as we conclude. What do we take from this passage?

We read about this, it's cool vision. We get a little insight into what John was going through, but what bearing does it have on our lives?

And two things I want to leave with you this evening is like John we must receive, believe, and consume the word of God.

We are called to feast upon it, to eat this word, to take up and read this word because this little scroll, it's the message of God's revealed word to us.

We have God's revealed word right here. And this word, it comes from the one who is the sovereign ruler over all creation.

It comes from the Savior who brings us safely through the judgments and this word is trustworthy.

And so the message for Christians is well when the world challenges this message of God, when they try to contradict the word of God,

when the world tempts us to compromise on the word of God, when we're labeled as hateful for standing firm on the word of God,

when the world offers us alternatives to the word of God, the Bible is saying here, we must remember that this word comes from the one who is the beginning and the end,

the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is seated on the throne, the one who rules over all.

It does not matter one iota what the world says because this word is true.

And it will always be true. It will stand throughout all of eternity.

The flowers fade, the grass withers, the word of God stands forever.

And so we must receive it, believe it, feast upon it.

And listen to me, when you feast upon this word, you're going to find it to be as sweet as honey, right?

It's going to be sweet. You read this word and you find the love of a father who goes to extraordinary lengths to redeem a rebellious people.

You read about the love of a savior who is willing to suffer and die to redeem a bunch of no good, unworthy sinners.

And if you can't call yourself that tonight and realize that, you haven't yet understood the message of the Gospel.

You read about the love of the Holy Spirit who then chisels away at that remaining sin in our lives.

We're like this unfinished sculpture where we're just this ugly block and the Holy Spirit comes and chisels away all that sin until what remains is a reflection of Jesus.

He makes us more and more like Christ.

You read this word and you find the promise of salvation, the promise of freedom, of renewal, of glory.

This message is as sweet as honey. Is it not?

But the second thing is that this message is also a bitter message too, isn't it?

We find it as sweet as honey because praise the Lord we've been redeemed.

But this is a bitter message and we have a bitter task.

Because like John, we have been commissioned by God to go and proclaim this message to the world and this message of salvation is also a message of judgment.

You go and you tell people that we are dead in our sins and that the only way of salvation is found in Jesus Christ and no other name and no other person

and that all those who refuse to repent of their sins and trust in Christ will receive the deserved punishment for their sins which is death and damnation.

And that is not a fun message to tell people, is it?

That is a bitter message.

It is a message that the world rejects.

It is a message that the world mocks.

It is a message that they make fun of.

They call us all sorts of hateful names.

They accuse us of all sorts of things.

You preach this kind of message in a world like ours and you are met with contentment.

People are angry.

People are, you get met with hostility and persecution, with confrontation and in some circumstances even death for proclaiming the message of the gospel.

It is a sweet message but it is a bitter task to go and proclaim this message to the world.

And so this passage is reminding us that we are called to be bold witnesses for Christ in this world.

It is not easy and God never promises that it will be easy.

He never says that the task before you is an easy one.

He says count the cost.

Take up your cross.

Died of yourself.

Follow me.

It is a hard calling.

It is not one that you should take lightly.

And so he is telling us tonight to receive this word, to believe it, to consume it, to proclaim it with boldness, with confidence knowing that the Lord who rules sovereignly over all things will guide his people.

He will protect his people.

As we said Sunday, his church will continue to stand.

His word will always be true and it will endure to the end.

And so this is a message we can trust and it is a message we are called to proclaim.

That is what this passage is saying.

Doug Angel, you get our word of wisdom tonight.

That is right.

That is exactly right.

How about closing us in prayer, Doug?