Just Eat it - Revelation 10:1-11

Okay, to kind of keep our orientation, this is the chart that I think a number of you may have it. We included it, I believe, in the binders that we handed out initially. So a number of you may have that. Nonetheless, we'll continue to keep it in front of you on the overhead here. from time to time, we'll put it up like we're doing right now.

This is the layout of the book of Revelation, and one of the reasons why we say understanding Revelation is a piece of cake is that it's just, there's the sequence right there. It is, with some references ahead and looking back as exceptions, it is generally a sequential book, and that's the intent.

We're right here, chapter 10, so it puts us just about a week out from reaching the halfway point, if you will, in terms of chapter count. Chapter 10 is a little different, though. Basically, it's a cover-today, one-study chapter, and it's 11 verses long. We'll touch on it all today. It's funny, it's got 11 verses and we just gave you 10 pages. So I don't know, that's pretty heavy coverage.

But there's some reason for that. And so here we are at the little book or the little scroll, actually. One of the things we've been pointing out is that there is a syncopation I would say, I think we've summarized it this way, Paul wrote like a lawyer, like a logician. You frequently see in Paul's writings, therefore, because of, since, those kinds of things. If this, then that. The book of Romans, for instance, was used a couple centuries back as an introductory course in logic for lawyers. They would follow the book of Romans and study it as an example of all the since and therefores and wherefores and becauses. And it has that logic. John, however, writes like a musician.

John writes with these ups and downs and he reaches a crescendo and then comes down and so he goes back and forth with basically eight syncopations as we'll see them. And we're right in the midst of that. This section during the Tribulation is chapter 6 through chapter 19, and that includes, as we pointed out, a number of the syncopations, the musical pattern that is followed in the book of Revelation. Chapter 10, is right here in the midst of those syncopations between earth and heaven. So what we're reading today is a heavenly scene. Why would we just say right out before even reading the passage that this is a heavenly scene? Why would we reach that conclusion? Why would we say that? Or let me ask you this clue. Where's John? Where's John watching things from? He's watching things from the heavenly scene. That's where he's been located. We're going to continue to see him seeing things primarily from the heavenly scene. So that's the pattern you're going to see there. The other chart that I believe we just a few weeks ago gave you a copy of is this one.

This is what I sometimes call the three sevens. It shows chapter 6 through chapter 16 And you'll see first seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, and then seven bowl or vial judgments. Those are the three sevens. We are getting towards the end of the trumpet judgments. We are right now at the first half of what I would call an interlude. Each of the three sets of seven judgments has an interlude between the sixth and the seventh. That pattern, and we have it marked at the top as an interlude, that pattern is consistent through each of the three sets of judgments. It's one of the additional reasons why I say the book of Revelation is a piece of cake to understand.

Because John, because he's a musician, you know how music has a system, doesn't it? Music has a system where you've got certain timing and you've got certain measures. Music has a system. John writes with a system. And this is John's consistent system all from chapter 6 till chapter 16. He stays with this system all the way through. Always an interlude between the 6th and 7th judgments. Three sets. of seven judgments each. Always an interlude between the sixth and the seventh. So here's John's musical pattern, if you will, that he carries out. We're in the first half of that today as we enter into chapter 10.

Are you with me so far? Have I lost anybody? I think as we were joking a little bit earlier, we've got some people that are gone today and elsewhere. There are some people that are elsewhere and that are here as visitors. And we have some of us that are here that, well, maybe they're not.

Anyway, so as we gather here, let's take a look. You've got on your handout Revelation 10, 1 through 11. Just eat it. OK. So where are we? We basically went through that with these charts here. And so I'll move past this first paragraph in writing here. So we will move right on there to verse 1 in Revelation chapter 10. It's there on page 1 of your handout.

I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like the pillars of fire. Now John has brought up for the second time And we call it an inspired prophetic masterpiece. It's an inspired prophetic masterpiece. The strong angel.

There are three places in Revelation. You see them in your text box right there. The quote and listing of those three places. The first one is in Revelation 5-2. That was immediately before and in preparation for the tribulation period. Here in this passage, Revelation 10.1, in the midst of the tribulation period, shortly before the halfway point in time, and then the final appearance will be towards the end of the tribulation, the chapter right before the end, Revelation 18.21. Three strong angels. John is even very specific here in verse 1 where he says, another strong angel.

So he's keeping count. He's noticing this pattern of right around the beginning of the tribulation, right around the middle, and right around the end. And he's very specific. He doesn't say just each time, A strong angel, but D. He gets specific, he's keeping count, he uses words to keep this thing in order.

And that again goes back to John's systematic pattern and musical writing ability. Paul's not so concerned about what's the middle and the beginning and the end and keeping these patterns. John is. Why? John writes like a musician. That's John's pattern of writing. He writes as if he was writing according to a musical system. Okay.

Even his use of This another means another of the same kind. So he was very specific in his choice of the Greek word for another. More specific than the English comes across as. So it's not just another strong angel, but another of the same kind strong angel. So he's that specific about it. Does it make sense to conclude that these angels are apparently different from the other angels?

You know, it's real interesting. Because this keeps cropping up. Remember we said last time you had the angels that blew the trumpets? Even towards the end, when this present heaven and earth is gone, he's still going to make note of that particular one. Here's what's interesting. John keeps track of the very point you noted, and that's that he's looking at these particular assignments or kinds or classes of angels, And he's very particular about that, keeps count of them, keeps making reference to specific ones.

At the same time, notice something. John does not break the pattern that you see in Scripture, and that's that we only have throughout all of the Bible two angels that are named in the entire Old and New Testament. Their names? Gabriel and Michael. Those are the only ones that are named. So you're right, but what's interesting is while he is very specific, he sidesteps naming the angels. Let me ask you a question.

Why would that be all that important? Why would the authors of scripture, John included, be very specific about these strong angels and show exactly where they point up and carefully choose his words, another of the same kind, and he's keeping count, at the same time avoid using names. Why would he do that? Why would that matter?

Possibly angel worship? Yes. One thing is we have into our own time those who are prone to appeal to angels rather than to the Lord. those who are prone in various religious groups, in religions of their own making, those who are prone to point to angels instead of the Lord. And so he is very clear on the one hand that he knows this category of strong angels, keep in count, every time they show up he uses a very specific language, but then the flip side is that he very carefully avoids giving all this angel name and pointing too much attention to angels. Yeah, question?

It's almost what the Catholics do with Mary. You have Jesus and Mary, and Mary becomes almost equal to Jesus. Yeah, well, and even in some of the theology included in Catholicism, plus other groups within Christendom, they even have certain angels, you know, and make too much of angels. Yeah, Norm, you had your hand up?

A few years back, we had a thinker Anyway, he had done something nice for this family. And so they didn't want him to know who was being nice back. And so they, every day, wanted to have something on his doorstep as a surprise, and asked Eleanor if she would put it out on the doorway.

But we found out that one of the items was clear. You can see it. And it was an angel. And this went on for a couple weeks. That was before we knew a thing about angels, however, and it was amazing, though, how they bypassed the Lord and everything else that might have been directed by to do things for them. They saw that he was an angel in his own way. This underscores, I'm glad you asked the question, this underscores a very important point. that keeping things in the place where Scripture has them is very important.

These are good angels in the sense that these are angels in alliance with the Lord. These are angels obedient to the Lord. And yet, is it not possible to get something distorted even making reference to a good angel? Yes, it is. And John is very clear, he's very consistent. He's very direct and systematic in his communication. He knows exactly which angels these are and uses all the right Greek words and everything, but never gives the angel in his writing undue attention, except for those two places where he does worship an angel and he records the angel corrected him both times.

Yes? There are some churches that are named St. Michael's and all angels? Yes. Yeah, there are some churches that even they'll even use the word saint along with an angel and get things confused that way. Yeah. Let's see another hand up here. Okay. All right. Yes.

How did he know? How do you know what? They have a ring on their shoulder. Oh, you know, it's real interesting. He doesn't say how he knew. So I think we're left to speculation as to how we knew that this angel was particularly strong. He wasn't unclear in which ones were strong. And in fact, a lot of the angels show various kinds of, you know, extraordinary power and ability. But these particular ones he was able to identify. He doesn't tell us how. So I think To step into that, we could be correct, but we're probably speculating. And so I don't know. I could speculate, but I'd have to also couch it as that. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

What's interesting is John writes a lot, but he does not always give us all the whys and wherefores as to why he described things this way and that. So we can ask questions that aren't answered directly, and then the careful thing to do is to say, you know, this is speculation, and leave it at that. I mean, go ahead and speculate, but couch it in those terms. Yeah.

Didn't Joshua as well. Oh, in the military. It may be. Do you have some reference to that? Yeah. I'm not immediately aware of that, but that's something we can take a look at. It's interesting that in Daniel chapter 10, 13, where he says, Michael, one of the chief princes. Now, one of a serious error. A serious error.

Because that's one thing the scripture doesn't do, is get the angels and Christ mixed up. But the Jehovah's Witnesses do exactly that. They mix up Michael, the archangel, with Christ. And it's funny, what does Jude say? Here is Michael when arguing with Satan. He says, the Lord rebuked you. Well, wait a minute. Isn't he the Lord? Isn't Christ the Lord? How is that Michael? You know, that doesn't make sense, does it?

Okay, here's on page 2, the second reference to the strong angel is in chapter 10. He's described in such powerful terms in this passage as we will see that one could almost think that this angel was actually Christ himself, and some have come to that conclusion. However, there are some good reasons for seeing this strong angel, this second one, here in chapter 10, as an angel indeed, but not Christ. And we have on the bullets here, first, the strong angel in chapter 10 is another angel.

The Greek means another of the same kind. Are there others of the same kind as Christ? No. So, for that reason alone, we could say this strong angel is not Christ. The same word pair, strong angel, in the other two contexts is clearly not Christ the Lamb. Christ the Lamb is repeatedly referenced differently than the angels. And these other two, the chapter 5 and chapter 18 references that are on the first page there, those don't match the description of Christ in any way.

Christ is not known to come to earth before it is time for him to do so because when he comes again, every eye will see him. I say that because the three angels, not all, but some of them do, Three strong angels do stand in earthly contact. Christ is not known to come to earth before it is time for him to do so because when he comes again, every eye will see him. Every eye will see him when Christ comes again. The strong angel swears an oath by him who lives forever and ever. So here is the strong angel. What does he do? He swears by him who lives forever and ever. Who's that? This is God who lives forever and ever. Christ is deity.

Contrary to what Jehovah's Witnesses teach. And then finally, that gives one the impression that this angel is not the Lord himself. distinction between the two. The third strong angel shows up towards the end of the Tribulation period upon the destruction of Babylon. This place is a strong angel about at the beginning, middle, and end of the Tribulation, which is a nice symmetry in time, actually, and fits with John being a musical writer. John writes with a musical pattern rather than a logical pattern that Paul uses.

The first two strong angels have scrolls in hand. That's interesting too. The first angel was a strong angel and he had what scroll in hand? The first scroll in Revelation is the scroll that has how many seals? Seven seals. So the first strong angel has this scroll in hand that's seven seals. This one here, as we'll read shortly, also has a scroll in hand. The last strong angel casts a millstone into the sea and pronounces a judgment.

Another fascinating word pattern that comes out of this passage is the phrase, down out of heaven. And I was fascinated to find this. Something that's interesting, today's ability to search using computer programs allows something to come out that I haven't seen before and that is the particular and very specific nature of John's use of word pairs and phrases. Previously concordances, you couldn't do that as easily as you can now. So down out of heaven, down out of heaven or down from heaven in the New Testament, I will say that it always comes from the pen or the mouth of John.

Always. And you notice in that, see that text box listing there? I have one exception that you may think, oh, but wait a minute Vern, Luke wrote that. Yes, he did. And when Luke wrote it, who was he quoting? John. So John, even though it appears like an exception in Luke 9, 54, this is a John phrase that even Luke comes to quoting.

So you see the listing there in the Gospel of John, Luke beating the exception that we explained, and then Revelation chapter 3 through 21, this down out of heaven is something specific to John. All of John's use of this phrase in the Gospel of John are from a passage in John chapter 6 where Christ calls himself the bread of life. Where did the bread of life come from? Down out of heaven, right? It came from heaven. So that's the place in John chapter 6.

And then in Revelation, it does something different. He spreads the terms, the phrases, down out of heaven or down from heaven from chapter 3 to chapter 21. Chapter 3 written to a church and chapter 21 in the New Jerusalem. Past this present heavens and earth. So he spreads it throughout the book.

Now, let's take a look at page 3. This strong angel, I'm looking at the second paragraph on page 3. It's clothed with a cloud, has a face like a man, a rainbow is around his head, and he has feet like pillars of fire. Now that's kind of amazing. How many of you have seen that? Not me. Not me. I doubt any of us have either. What's that? It's a UFO, he says. Okay, alright, now you've got the explanation.

The phrase is similar to that of Christ in some places, but angels in other places, such as the angel in Daniel chapter 10. I think I was pointing back to the reference in Daniel that Gene brought up for us here. It's clear from numerous passages, and we'll read more of them in this book, that unfallen angels are at times given to display the glory of the Lord. Unfallen angels are at times given to display the glory of the Lord.

Is that bad? That angels display the glory of the Lord? What's the typical reaction of human beings when they are given to see an angel? What's the typical reaction? Good thing I wasn't chewing any gum. And a common, not universal, but a common response Yeah, a common response out of the angel. First words out of the angel's mouth is, do not be afraid. Do not fear. Fear not. Those kinds of first words are commonly found. Not universally, but commonly found when angels show up.

And John makes the mistake, twice in this book, he records it, which to me is John showing his is both his humanity, but also his humbleness, his humility, and that he worshipped an angel and the angel corrected him. Twice he makes that mistake, or at least twice it's recorded for us. It's possible he made the mistake even more, but he certainly brings it up twice in this book.

We read about the pillar of fire in the Old Testament. Given the descriptions of angels in this book and others, the face radiant like the sun and legs like pillars of fire are similar. What is a bit different, however, are the clouds and the rainbow. Now, when you hear about a rainbow, what Old Testament passage do you think about?

This is about Noah, right? I mean, that's what comes out. It's not about gay pride. Alright. Genesis 9, 11-16, the Lord makes a covenant with a bow in a cloud. And so what we have is that passage there in the text box. I won't read through it, but you'll make note easily underlined and bolded and italicized of the covenant and the bow and the cloud and those patterns there in Genesis chapter 9. So we've got those word patterns that come out. And those things also come out in this verse. What was the rainbow a sign of? What aspect of God's character comes out with the promise of the rainbow? That's right, no more worldwide flood because God has what character? He's merciful. God is merciful so that expresses his character.

By the way, was Noah pleading no more of this? No. God promised this without human request. It came not from man's pleading, but from God's character. The same thing is true of Christ dying on the cross. Did Christ die on the cross because people were begging for it? No. God often expresses His character at times that human beings are not asking for it. God often expresses His character at times that human beings are not asking for it because he is the one who initiates the action out of who he is. Not because we're pleading, be merciful, be loving, be gracious. God does so with his own initiative because that is his character.

That's who he is. Verse 2, And he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and is left on the land. Now, in doing so, one of the things we see is while John's perspective is heavenly, where are this angel's feet? On the earth. So as John's perspective is heavenly, he's watching this from heaven, and yet there's something here that has an earthly contact. And by the land and the sea, what kind of a scale do you figure? Is this angel just standing on the beach? You see a scale that's kind of outside of human scale, isn't it? The land and the sea. This is extraordinary. I don't know if he has his feet in the water or on it, but that's what you see. Okay. It says on, so we'll assume that he's like walking on water.

So this strong angel had in his hand what most of our translations call a little book. And our inclination is oftentimes to picture this. But this kind of thing where you have it bound on one side, So far as we have any record or knowledge, this kind of thing didn't exist at the time of John. It was either at the time John wrote Revelation or afterwards, more likely, that books bound on one side began to be developed. Prior to that time, if you had something lengthy, it was either a collection of a bunch of leaves that were loose like this and maybe tied up, or a scroll. So this is actually a scroll that he has in hand more likely here and not a book bound on one side based on our understanding of things at the time.

So he has this little book. Now this is something interesting. The book is little. So it's like a little scroll. What's interesting is We actually have, from biblical times, little scrolls. There's even one instance, more than one instance, where there's metal scrolls, small metal scrolls that have writing etched into the metal, pressed into the metal, and then rolled up from biblical times.

Then we're told further, I'm reading about three paragraphs down from verse two there. We're told further that the strong angel places his right foot on the sea and left foot on the land. Placing one's foot on something in the Jewish mind was to claim possession of it. Why would I point out the Jewish mind here? The fact that this is a Jewish picture. Why would I point that out? Remember what we said early in Revelation? John uses Jewish symbols, right?

And so we see this back in Deuteronomy where Moses tells the Israelites just before they are to enter the land of Canaan in Deuteronomy 11, 23 and 24, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you and you will dispossess nations By the way, nations plural, that's Gentiles, right, non-Jews, greater and mightier than you. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, from the river Euphrates as far as the Western Sea. Okay? Every place where your foot lands, that's the claim. So, there's the Jewish picture. So, this strong angel is claiming God's authority over and possession of what the strong angel is standing on. So, what is the strong angel standing on? He is standing upon the sea and the land.

In the Jewish mind, one would speak of the two parts of something that consisted of to describe the whole, such as evening and morning. And Genesis chapter 1 means the whole day. Day and night. And Nehemiah is used for praying and guarding all the time.

Or heaven and earth means everything that's created. So this strong angel placing one foot in the sea and one in the land means he is sustaining a claim for the Lord of all the earth, sea and land included. This is the Lord's. Is there a psalm that this makes you think of? The earth is the Lord's. The earth is the Lord's. So we see in verse 2, and then again in verse 5, and again in verse 8, even verse 6 speaks of the Creator of sea and earth. God's claim to what He has created is not forgotten, nor should we forget it. Nor should we forget it.

Then verse 3, And He cried out with a loud voice as when a lion roars, And when he cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices." I don't think there's any question here, but he's underscored it. With a loud voice, and a lion roars, as a lion roars. Remember, we said among the several things that allows us to interpret Revelation easily, one of the things that helps is the repeated use of like or as. This is one of them. He said with a loud voice, which ought to be clear enough, but he underscores it with, as when a lion roars. So he's essentially redundant here. Direct statement and then comparison. And when he cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. Wow. Now, the strong angel cried out with a loud voice.

John compares it to a lion's roar. Both Isaiah and Joel, Old Testament prophets, make use of the lion roaring as a figure of the Lord's powerful statement of his claim to the earth. Isn't that interesting? So, when this lion roars, he's drawing upon, remember we said Revelation is 70% out of the Old Testament? So what is he doing? He's drawing right out of the word pictures that Isaiah and Jeremiah have already used that Isaiah and Joel have already used that make the claim, when the lion roars, this is the Lord's claim to the entire earth, land and sea.

So John, when he writes about the seven peals of thunder, I'd like to know more about it, so let's read the next verse. When the seven peels of thunder had spoken, this is verse 4, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven. By the way, here's from heaven. When things happen, where do they happen from? Heaven, right? From heaven. A voice from heaven saying, seal up the things which the seven peels of thunder have spoken and do not write them.

What had John been told in chapter 1, verse 19? Write the things that you have, the things you've seen, past tense, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. So what's John's assignment? Write. Write, write, write. So what's going on here? Don't write. Isn't that interesting? I think this is a very curious place to find this. Write this, write this, write this, write this, write this. Don't write that! So this is a very curious exception.

I think that it's valuable for us to take a look at this and get some biblical perspective on what John has written here in chapter 4. Because you might think, heavens, I am really curious. I would love to know what John was told not to write. But wait a minute, he was told not to write it. Yeah. That's not so unusual because that's what's happened to Daniel. He wrote out all these visions and explained all this stuff, but at the end, it's just close up the books because it's not to be known until the end times. Seal it up. You're not going to be able to figure this thing out. Wrap it up. Wrap it up.

So we have that. Thank you for that example. Here's Job 40 verse 9 and Job 37 and 1 through 6 are similar. Or, do you have an arm like God and can you thunder with a voice like His? So this thundering is not just noise. It's the expression of His voice. Here's Psalm 1813, The Lord also thundered in the heavens and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. We've seen that in recent days. John 12, 27-29, Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came, where? Out of heaven. It came down out of heaven, but another thing from heaven came out of heaven. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered. Others were saying an angel had spoken to them. The Lord's voice repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments comes across to people as what? Sounding like what? Thunder. We've heard some of that in the last couple of days here. It comes across with that. Here we have a passage, the seven thunders.

Turn over, if you would, to the next page, top of page 6. Here's Psalm 29, 3-9. And remember, we said that 70% of revelation comes straight out of the Old Testament. In this passage, how many times is the voice of the Lord in that passage? Seven. The voice of the Lord, you see it underlined there, should be easy to count. Seven times. And one of the things right after the first one, for the glory of God does what? Thunders. Seven thunders. Isn't that interesting? Now for the real head-scratcher.

John next tells us that he heard a voice from heaven saying, seal up the things which the seven peels of thunder have spoken and do not write them. So you might look back at this Revelation 119 verse and say, wait a minute, wasn't John told to write things? Things he saw, right? And the things that will take place. Even in chapter 7 and 9, John made specific note, it was like doing eyewitness testimony, I heard the number of them. Here he heard and what does he write? Nothing. Why? Told not to.

One of the things that's important for us to collect as we look at Scripture is God has revealed an immense number of things in Scripture. Scripture is so deep Scripture has so much in it that there is no human being on this planet, I don't care how long you go to school or how much time you spend studying it, there is no human being on this planet that will fathom all the depths of God's Word. God's Word is so deep, there is no human being that can say, hey, I've got it all when it comes to God's Word. Every one of us is in a learning mode until our last breath. Because God's Word has so much in it. At the same time, while it has this infinite depth, its revelation to us is not exhaustive. It does not reveal everything about every possible question or topic we might come up with, does it?

Here are some of the passages that make that clear. The bottom of page 6, Deuteronomy 29, written to the Jews. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of the law. So here's Deuteronomy, given to the Jews shortly before they were to enter the Promised Land. The Lord tells them, look, what God's revealed, that's for you. Take it all in. Soak it up. Let it soak deep. But what God has not written, that's intentional. Here's Acts 1-7 to the eleven disciples. He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority.

So what do people do? They guess. They guess. They think, oh, it must be the Lord's going to come back here. The Lord's going to come back this time. Certainly the Lord's coming back here. Oh, it's gotta be the year 2000 at midnight. Or right before. Or right after. Or I've got the math worked out. I think it means this. The Lord is coming at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on July 28th. Yes, quickly followed by the phrase, oops.

There have been a great many times where people have sold all their belongings, I don't know why they bother, and put on gowns and stood on mountaintops. That happened, by the way, in the year 2000, so Y1K. It happened again with some groups, Y2K. It happened in the middle 1800s with what's called the Great Disappointment. Some people did that.

You had your hand up. it's not that you should try to seek the answers because the Jewish people were chastised because they didn't know the time of the coming of their king and it was possible to know that from scripture. Yes. They did know it, but they didn't accept it. What is a mistake is on the one hand to be blind to what is revealed. That was their error. On the other hand, to step beyond what is revealed. And so it's an important thing. Let me not be blind to what is revealed. At the same time, let me not be so presumptuous as to guess what the Lord has told me I cannot. It's interesting that the people that predicted the coming of the Lord that went out and sold all of their materials, that was another mistake. They wouldn't need it. Why sell it? And guess what?

If I put on white robes, I'm not wearing that in heaven. It doesn't matter what I'm wearing, I'm not going to be wearing it in heaven. I can go out and pay whatever price and put the clothes on. Once I get out of here, it's not passing heaven's gates. I'll be wearing something else.

Some great tragedies have taken place within, I'll call it Christendom, over time with people not getting the picture. It is not for you. Not for you? Who is he talking to? The apostles! If the apostles don't get it revealed to them, what am I supposed to do? Oh, I'm not an apostle, but guess what? God told me this. That doesn't fly. Let's take a look at page 7 there.

Romans 11.33, Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways. He has out of His infinite understanding and by inspiration of the Holy Spirit revealed to us a great deal. But Scripture, as marvelous as it is, as miraculous as a book that you have right here in front of you, that is not exhaustive. That does not fully explain all that we are ultimately to come to understand.

One of the things we'll be taking a look at in the main service is the same truth Ephesians 2.7 says that we will be learning about God's grace. It will be demonstrated for us, and I am certain we will respond with infinite numbers of gasps at how marvelous it is. For how long? A couple of years? A few decades? Countless ages. Rolling ages after ages. A trillion years from now, if that means anything at all. we would be going, ah, at God's revelation of His glory and His grace.

Why? Because the depth of God's character is infinite. We don't get to the edge of God's glory. We don't get to the edge of God's grace. We don't reach some limit. Okay, well, let's see. After some big, vast chasm, we've just reached the edge of God's grace. Nope.

Not going to happen. infinitely on into the rolling ages. We will be learning about, having revealed to us, having demonstrated God's character because He is infinite. He has revealed His character in His Word. But we will not in our lifetime gather all the depths of it. That will take eternity. And this is a wonderful truth. This is a wonderful truth.

2 Corinthians 12.4, I, Paul, was caught up in the paradise and heard inexpressible words. Did you hear words? Yeah, but how do I tell you about it? Which a man is not permitted to speak. There's no way. Not only do I have no way to say it, I couldn't if I wanted to. So even Paul was limited And I would almost say multiple ways in what he was able to express, as much as he was able to reveal to us.

Verse 5, 6 and 7, 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 for ever and ever, who created heaven, the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there be delay no longer. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, this is the seventh trumpet judgment, right? Then the mystery of God is finished as he preached to his servants the prophets. The strong angel by his stance on the land and sea affirms the Lord's claim to it all.

We know from 1 Corinthians 10.26 that the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. Also from Psalms.

Scripture makes more than ten times the mention of the right hand than it does the left. I say that as a lefty. In the culture of the time, the right hand was one of honor and position. Isn't it weird in our language? Ambidextrous means two right hands. Being sinister is left-handed. I don't know. It's crazy.

Up to this point, we have seen in Revelation chapter 1 where Christ holds the seven churches in His right hand, the position of blessing here, such as the blessing of the firstborn son. At this point the strong angel makes an oath of the Lord proclaiming in the process God's eternality. God is the one who by his very nature lives forever and ever. More than one quarter of the uses of the phrase forever and ever in scripture are in Revelation, this book. Forever and ever, this book's got over a quarter of those occurrences in the whole Bible right here, this last book. The Strong Angel's Address of the Lord stands on one thing, God is the creator of everything. God is the creator of everything is what he takes a stand on.

It's interesting, in the first two missionary journeys of Paul, we have in each case a major discourse of Paul as recorded by Dr. Luke. In both of those discourses of Paul to unbelievers, What does he do? He majors in God as Creator as the opening part of his evangelical message. God's the Creator!

Now, now that you've got that clear, let me lay out the Gospel. It's the perspective that he starts from. The angel lays that out here. I mean, that's like the names of God. And isn't that what that's supposed to reveal? Because Scripture has different names for Him? Different aspects? If we just said God's the Creator, that would be true, but there's more to know, isn't there?

And so it is an important truth. It is a foundational truth. It's an essential truth. It is multiply revealed. As a matter of fact, here it is in Revelation, right? He's the Creator. I go to Genesis, what do I find out? He's the Creator. Scripture says it from beginning to end. But it is as important and foundational as it is, it is only one of the things that's revealed.

Right? Why? Because He's also a God of judgment. Yeah. We need to know all about God's character. And Scripture reveals other things even as important as the fact that He is our Creator. He reveals other things through His Word about who He is, that He is a God of mercy, that He is a God of love, that He is a God of holiness, that He is a God of justice. Scripture lays that all out.

Okay, we've run out of time, and so I'll leave it to you. Let me quickly point out some things. In verses 8 through 11, we finish the passage. John is told, and I'll just tell you in summary, John is told to eat the scroll, this little scroll that's in the angel's hand. We can make comparisons, as the text box does there, to places where both Ezekiel and Jeremiah were told to eat a scroll.

And again, here's another, what did I say before? 70% of Revelation is straight out of the Old Testament. Case in point. If you're puzzled by Revelation, read the Old Testament component two-thirds of the time plus. That's going to give you some further insight. Page 9 there.

Scripture has some things that are really sweet. However, it also has some things that are difficult. So how does the scroll taste? They sleep bitter in the stomach. There are both sweet and bitter things in Scripture. Things that you look at and you say, oh, that is wonderful. Anybody have a favorite verse? I'd have a hard time picking my ultimate favorite, but I do have some favorites. Those are the sweet parts. Anybody have a verse they say, well, that's not exactly my favorite, but that's in God's Word too? Yeah, there's those too, aren't there? Things you look at and you say, wow, this is a hard thing to swallow.

My brother who's pastored in California, by the way, he's doing much better. For those of you who are tracking, he's been doing phenomenally better. This next Sunday I won't be here because I'll be at my niece's wedding and he'll be performing it. We weren't sure of that. So anyway, he's doing much better.

Nonetheless, one of the things that he said is that it would be a whole lot easier if God didn't write some of the things that he wrote in his Word. It would be a lot easier for me, he said. But the truth is that we have everything spelled out in Scripture that's supposed to be there. And we need the sweet and the sour, or the bitter.

Okay. John is then told, okay, now you can write again. You can resume the writing here. That's another thing that comes out. At the very last part of the page is a response to a question that had been asked here. Stan had brought it up. This is another passage about a scroll. Zechariah chapter 5. There's a scroll that's 30 feet by 15 feet. That doesn't sound like a small scroll to me.

But it does have a particular point. It's like it's the ancient equivalent of a billboard, a flying billboard as a matter of fact. So it gets everybody's attention. It does however have a relationship with what we see here in this passage and that is it has the law on it.

It points to the Jewish focus and the Jewish message which has a strong implication for the time of the Tribulation, which is the time of judgment, and the Millennial Kingdom, which is a time of blessing. Go back, if you will, I'll have you do this on your own. Deuteronomy 28. The first, oh, about 14 verses or so, talk about the blessings of those who obey the law. That's the Millennial Kingdom. And the curses, that's the rest of the chapter. Oh, dozens of verses that spell out the curses. Right now, the Jews are getting the curses. The blessings are to come, however. And that's the Millennial Kingdom.

We've run out of time. We've got to stop, so let's pray. You also have a one-page appendix on there that addresses a question in writing that we looked at verbally last week. Okay, let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, we thank you for what you have revealed.

We thank you even for what you chose not to reveal, knowing that you will reveal what needs to be revealed in its time, and you have greater wisdom than we. We thank you for what you've made clear. We thank you for the wonderful deep truths that are brought out even in this brief passage here, this brief chapter. How wonderful to know your character. How wonderful to know that what you have revealed is about your character, even what you have chosen not to reveal is about who you are. We give you thanks for this. In Jesus' name, Amen.