Revelation 10:1-11

Revelation 10:1-11

Ezekiel 3:1-15

The bittersweet taste of God’s word

Have you ever been in a situation where someone has set you up to fail?

May be it was a job they gave you, a project, a whatever…..

Perhaps someone has put you in a position where they knew you would fail.

They wanted you to fail for some reason.

Like Ted Lasso (see PPT), an American football coach was hired to manage a Premiere league soccer team, in the hope that the team would fail miserably.  I mean what would an American football coach know about the real football game?

Ted Lasso was hired out of spite from the new owner of the Richmond Football club. The new owner, had recently been through a messy divorce with the previous owner, and so out of spite and vindictiveness, this new owner hired a coach who had no clue about football (that is the proper football) in the hope that the team and the club would totally collapse. She was hoping this failure would strike to the heart of ex-husband.

Ted Lasso was set up to fail.

Did Ted Lassso fail?

Well, you will, have to watch the show to find out.

Although don’t watch the latest season, it has all gone a bit woke.

May be you have been set up to fail?

If so, may be you can spare some sympathy for the prophet Ezekiel.

The prophet Ezekiel, back in 560BC (ish) along with thousands of other exiles had just been taken captive from his homeland in Jerusalem and dragged to the city of Babylon. Ezekiel was witnessing his homeland of Jerusalem being destroyed, he was witnessing the temple of God being destroyed, he was witnessing the remaining few survivors collapse in hopelessness as they sat by the rivers of Babylon, wept as they remembered Zion…….and then…..after all that………….after all of that misery…..

God asked him to do something which God himself said would fail.

It is like God set Ezekiel up to fail.

And what did God want his servant Ezekiel to do?

Look at Ezekiel 3:4-7 with me:

And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. ⁵ For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— ⁶ not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. ⁷ But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.

God wanted Ezekiel to go and speak to the house of Isreal, that is the exiles that were left weeping by the rivers of Babylon and he wanted Ezekiel to speak God’s words to them. However, God made it clear that they would not listen to him.

What a job- go and speak to my people and they will not listen to you.

He might as well have told him to teach a year 9 maths class on a last lesson on a Friday. God and teach these pupils maths, they won’t listen, they won’t learn, but do it anyway.

Those words which Ezekiel was to speak, were words of lament, mourning and woe, but also words that brought hope through this warning.

Now, in theory, this should have been an easy job.

Ezekiel didn’t have to go to language school first and learn their language, he didn’t have to research their culture, he didn’t have to go in under cover as a NGO- Non- Government organisation.

No, Ezekiel spoke their language, he had felt their pain, he knew their culture.

And yet, as God instructed Ezekiel to go and speak his words to his people, God made it clear that His people would not listen.

Talk about being set up to fail.

Now before Ezkiel was commanded to speak to the people, he was also told in a vision to eat a scroll…..Yes eat a scroll…..and as we see from Ezekiel chapter 2, this scroll was a heavenly scroll since it had words written on both sides…..but more importantly as we look at our passage in Revelation today, this scroll that Ezekiel ate, tasted as sweet as honey (3:3) and yet it also left a bitter feeling (3:14).

These words of God that Ezekiel consumed had a bittersweet taste.

In the passage we are looking at today in Revelation 10, we see that the disciple John was also told to eat a scroll…”heavens bakery” and this scroll was also a heavenly scroll, this scroll also contained the words of God, and this scroll also tasted as sweet as honey and yet also left a bitter feeling in his stomach.

Look at Revelation 10:9-10 with me:

 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰ And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.

Now, both these scrolls that both Ezekiel and John were told to eat, contained the very words of God, and so the question must be asked, what is it about God’s word that is both sweet tasting as honey and yet also leaves a bitter feeling in the stomach?

Why is God’s word bittersweet?

Now, before we answer that question I just want to go through the rest of this chapter, chapter 10, and make a two observations.

The first observation is about this mighty angel we meet in verse 1The second observation is about the seven thunders we hear about in verse 3.

So let us first look at this mighty angel we meet in verse 1.

Now remember from chapters 8 and 9, that there were seven angels who had 7 trumpets. Six of these angels had blown their trumpets which represented God’s judgements on the earth, with the sixth trumpet representing God’s final judgement on the earth.

Now, before we get to the seventh trumpet at the end of chapter 11, there is a pause here in chapter 10, just like there was a pause when the seven seals were opened, and as we pause, we are given a picture of hope amongst all the judgement in these chapters, particularly as we consider this mighty angel.

From this text we are told quite a lot about this mighty angel

1.        He comes from heaven

2.        He is wrapped in a cloud

3.        He has a rainbow over his head

4.        He has a face like the sun

5.        His legs are like pillars of fire

6.        He has an open scroll in his hand

7.        His voice was like roaring lion

And 8, and perhaps most strikingly, is this angel is massive….huge…ginormous

Twice it says that this angel had one foot on the sea and one foot on the land/ earth

Who does this mighty angel sound like?

Yes, I think this angel is Jesus himself, and there are many godly commentators who don’t think this, and that’s OK.

Why do I think it is Jesus?

Well, he is holding an open scroll in his hand.

In Revelation 5, we have seen that it was Jesus: the lamb who slain who took the scroll from the right hand of God, who was sitting on his throne, and opened it.

Now, when we get to Revelation 10, John describes this same scroll from chapter 5, as a little scroll. It appears little now, in comparison to how big Jesus is, he has one foot on the sea and one foot on the land/ earth.

In Revelation 1, Jesus, the son of man is described as having feet like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace just like pillars of fire, similar to the description this mighty angel. Jesus is described as the Lion of Judah, hence his voice would sound like a lion, just as the voice of this mighty angel is described. Jesus is depicted in the same terms of his father, who sat on the throne, with a rainbow, reminding us of his faithfulness to us, just as the mighty angel has a rainbow over his head. Jesus is often depicted in the clouds as a symbol of God’s glory, just like this mighty angel.

But perhaps the most convincing proof that this mighty angel is Jesus is that he is described as the sea and land being under his feet.

In the Old Testament, whenever something is put under one’s foot, it is a symbol of rule and power.

In Genesis 3, the serpent is crushed under the foot of the foot of the offspring of Eve.

In Psalm 110: 1 says, The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

We saw in the book of Joshua, that the necks of the enemies were put under the foot of the conquering king.

And so this mighty angel is Jesus, because just like the pause in the opening of the seven seals, this pause in the blowing of the trumpets gives us great hope.

The hope is this……

These judgements that happen upon the earth may seem overwhelming, but remember….Jesus is bigger.

Our problems may be big, but Jesus is bigger.

And so brothers and sisters, whatever you may be facing today, remember that there is nothing, nothing that our God cannot fix- the earth is His footstool.

The second thing I want to look at is the seven thunders, from verse 3.

Look at verses 3 and 4 with me:

When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. ⁴ And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”

Now, no-one knows what these seven thunders were. We can guess that they were similar to the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven bowls of God’s wrath, but no-one knows and more importantly, we don’t need to know.

God has not revealed this to us and so we don’t need to know.

God in his mercy and grace, stops us from knowing some things.

He protects us from knowing too much, just like a parent protects their children from knowing all the gory details of a car crash.

Perhaps God kept the seven thunders hidden from us, because they are truly, truly awful- we don’t know.

Now with those couple of observations made, I want to return to the original question I posed….why is God’s word bittersweet?

You see, after John had seen the horrific judgements of the six trumpets and he then saw Jesus standing and ruling over it all….. John was told to eat the scroll which contained the word of God and then he was told to basically keep preaching, teaching, and spreading God’s words to all the world.

Just look at verses 10 and 11 with me again.

¹⁰ And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. ¹¹ And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Now, when John was told to prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings, it actually literally translates from the Greek preposition- Peri, to mean “unto” he was told to prophesy unto many peoples and nations and languages and kings, which is better translated in English that he was told to prophesy against many peoples, languages, nations and kings.

Just think about this brothers and sisters.

Just as John was told to keep prophesying against many peoples and nations and languages and kings, we too have been commissioned to keep sharing the good news of Jesus with everyone who may listen or not.

We too have the same gospel message to spread, repent and believe before it is too late.

And this is why God’s word can seem bitter to us.

Because as we continue to hold firm to God’s word, as we continue to faithfully proclaim and plead with people to come to repentance and belief in Jesus, we will face opposition. This is what the word of God does, it challenges and when some people are challenged, especially those in positions of authority (hence why john is specifically told to prophesy against kings), they don’t like and as a result they “shoot” the messenger.

The apostle Peter was put into prison and crucified upside down

The apostle Paul was put in prison and killed

Our Lord Jesus himself was crucified.

Brothers and sisters, if we truly are living and speaking the gospel, it will be bitter in one sense, bitter in the sense that we will face opposition, bitter in the sense that it will cause division in families and friends.

And perhaps, the most bitter pill we swallow, is when we face opposition from within, just like Ezekiel faced opposition from his own people, the house of Isreal.

However brothers and sisters, despite God’s word brining us opposition, God’s word is first and foremost sweet as honey. It is only God’s word which brings life and life to the full.

And if we don’t find God’s word sweet, let us ask and plead that it will be sweet to us, because it is.

God’s word is described as a two edged sword in Hebrews 4:12.

Look at that verse with me:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The two edge sword of God’s word, symbolises God’s judgement and cleansing.

Judgement and making clean

Judgement and making peace

Judgement and making us right with God

What does this mean for you and me?

It means that when we read something from God’s word, or we hear something from God’s word which causes us discomfort, which perhaps convicts us of sin, it means that it can feel quite bitter at first, it may sting, but then as God’s word convicts us, brings us repentance, it cleanses us and ultimately brings us Joy.

God’s word brings us Joy and we must, we need to delight in it, why?

When opposition comes to God’s word and it will, we will be more likely to keep holding to the truth of God’s word if we believe it is good and right and sweet. We are less likely to hold to God’s word if we are just doing it out of duty, out of tradition or some other motivation.

Let us taste and see for the Lord is good.

Let us pray.