Through the study I have been doing, I have become convinced that the interpretative key to Revelation is what happens in today’s chapter, Revelation chapter 10. (We are exactly halfway through our 6 week reading plan, by the way.)

I need to make this post longer than usual so as to explain the AMAZING importance of chapter 10. I’m not writing this for my health, but for you, so you better read it!

In the very first sentence of the book, John tells us what we need to know about the vision:

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John…. [Revelation 1:1]

Did you catch that?

It is the apocalypse of Jesus which was given to him by God.

Jesus has made the apocalypse known by sending it via angel to John.

God—>Jesus—>angel—>John—>us.

Chapters 2-3 are short messages from Jesus to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. They are the equivalent of a scribbled message on the top of the rest of the vision meant to draw the churches’ attention to particular issues of importance to Jesus.

John’s vision proper begins in chapter 4:

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. [Revelation 4:1-3]

John has been taken into the heavenly throne room, and he reports what he sees there: worship.

In the Lord’s prayer we pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” John sees that God’s will is already perfectly realized in heaven; on earth it is not so.

How will God’s will be done on earth? What’s God’s plan to make it happen?

John notices that the one on the throne (God), has something in his hand:

1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. [Revelation 5:1-4]

The scroll is some secret part of God’s plan for history—the way his kingdom will come on earth as it already is in heaven. When it looks it will remain secret, John begins to sob hysterically.

However, one of the angelic beings tells John not to cry:

5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” [Revelation 5:5]

And then John sees something that ought to catch our attention:

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. [Revelation 5:6-7]

Did you catch that? God gives the scroll to Jesus to open.

Remember Revelation 1:1? God—>Jesus—>angel—>John—>us.

We’re halfway to seeing that chain of transmission of the apocalypse. Now we just need to see an angel give a message to John….

Chapters 6-9 give us important information about what happens when the seals around the scroll are broken. We see how the opening of the seals brings warning judgments on earth. The warning judgments, however, do not cause people to repent:

20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. [Revelation 9:20-21]

If warning judgments won’t cause people to repent and turn back to God, then what will?

What is God’s secret plan to bring his kingdom to earth as it already is in heaven?

Revelation 10 begins to give us the answer.

After telling us that the inhabitants of the earth have refused to repent (9:20-21), this is what happens next.

Allow me to quote Revelation chapter 10 in its entirety:

10 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. 2 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, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. 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.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 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, 7 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 announced to his servants the prophets.

8 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.” 9 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. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

[Revelation 10:1-11]

John sees a “mighty angel”—described like no other angel in Revelation—who comes to John with a “little scroll” in his hand.

Remember what we learned in the first sentence of the book? John tells us that the document we are about to read is

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John…. [Revelation 1:1]

God—>Jesus—>angel—>John—>us.

In Revelation 10 we finally see John receive THE APOCALYPSE that he told us about.

This means that the previous chapters are NOT the point, strictly speaking, but rather they are important information we need to understand the point.

After the angel comes to John, he gives him the scroll and tells John to eat it. (The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel began his prophetic ministry in the same way—see Ezekiel 3.)

It’s like he is supposed to internalize the message before sharing it. And when he eats it, John tells us that it was sweet like honey at first, but bitter in his stomach—it’s good, but contains hardship.

And what is the message? It is how

the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. [Revelation 10:7]

The scroll that John has been given is God’s secret plan for history, now being revealed by Jesus, via the angel, to John.

The scroll is the point of the book of Revelation.

What does the scroll say?

We’ll have to read on to find out….

P.S. About the 7 Thunders….

John hears 7 thunders called from heaven by the angel, but then is told not to write them down. I think the 7 thunders are yet another series of warning judgments that God chooses not to send. Instead, God’s ultimate plan is about to be revealed.