Context No. 3387 of 4322 · Revelation

Revelation 10:1-11: in context

1I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2He had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land. 3He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. 4When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don’t write them.” 5The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky 6and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay, 7but 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 declared to his servants the prophets. 8The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” 9I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” 10I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11They told me, “You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

John is given a little scroll and told to eat it: it will be sweet as honey in your mouth, but bitter in your stomach. And so it is, sweet to taste, bitter to digest. Then he is told, you must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.

This is a picture of receiving and proclaiming God's word. The word of God is sweet, it is truth, it is God himself speaking, and to take it in is a delight. But it is also bitter, for it contains hard truths, including of coming judgment, and to carry and speak it brings sorrow and cost. The prophet cannot have the sweetness without the bitterness; to truly take God's word into himself is to feel both its joy and its weight. And having eaten it, sweet and bitter together, John must go and speak it. To receive God's word fully is to know it as both a delight to taste and a burden to carry and proclaim.

Do I receive God's word in its fullness, both its sweetness and its bitter, costly truths, and am I willing to carry and speak it as it is?

Sources

Revelation 10:9: "Take it and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."
Revelation 10:10: "It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter."
Revelation 10:11: "You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."