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An All-Consuming Vision | Revelation 10:1-11 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Thank you, priest team, thank you church for your voices.
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  I can go on and say thank you, thank you, and thank you again
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  and again. But I will say this, I am
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  thankful that this church loves the Bible because we love the
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  God of this word. And so, yes, this is a
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  celebratory time. We're recognizing our fourth
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  year anniversary, but we will put no pause to our study in the
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  Book of Revelation. And so let's come now together
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  to Revelation chapter 10. And our goal is to read all of
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  this together. We're going to do that right
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  away and then seek God's help to understand it as we always do.
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  The Book of Revelation chapter 10, beginning in verse one.
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  Then I saw another mighty Angel coming down from heaven, wrapped
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  in a cloud with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like
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  the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.
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  He had a little scroll open in his hand, and he set his right
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  foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and called out
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  with a loud voice like a lion roaring.
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  When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.
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  And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write,
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  but I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up what the seven
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  thunders have said, and do not write it down.
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  And the Angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the
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  land, raise his right hand to heaven, and swore by him who
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  lives forever and ever, who created heaven, and what is in
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  it, The earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it.
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  That there would be no more delay, but that in the days of
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  the trumpet called to be sounded by the 7th Angel, the mystery of
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  God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the
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  prophets. Then the voice that I had heard
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  from heaven spoke to me again, saying, Go, take the scroll that
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  is open in the hand of the Angel who is standing on the sea and
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  on the land. So I went to the Angel and told
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  him to give me the little scroll.
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  And he said to me, Take and eat it.
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  It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it
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  will be sweet as honey. And I took the little scroll
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  from the hand of the Angel and ate it.
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  It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it,
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  my stomach was made bitter and I was told you must again prophecy
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  about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.
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  Father, we humbly ask for your help.
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  Lord, we pray that you would deposit the energy in our minds,
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  the openness in our hearts, the power for the delivery of this
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  word. We pray that you would cover
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  every single element of this moment that we may leave here,
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  knowing that we've heard from you and that you would receive.
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  Oh God, what is your due? Our submission and our worship
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  in response to these truths. Have your way Lord, oh have your
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  way. Be exalted in this place.
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  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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  Now, we would think that after learning about the 5th and 6th
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  trumpet, and naturally, we would be led to examine the final
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  trumpet, the 7th 1:00. But that's not what happens, is
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  it? Instead, we encounter an
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  interlude. There is this intentional
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  interruption with a profound vision before us, and if we're
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  actually careful in our study of revelation, we would have picked
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  up by now that there seems to be a pattern.
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  If you zoom out, you would recognize that this has happened
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  before. Remember, we are still looking
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  very carefully at the three series of judgements that God
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  will perform in the last days before the return of His Son.
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  Three sets, each consisting of seven events.
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  And if we zoom out, we would realize that with the first set,
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  the seal judgments, and now the second set, the trumpet
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  judgments, there is this break between the 6th and the 7th act.
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  So let's rewind. Do we remember what happened in
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  the first set of judgments when the Lord opened the 6th seal?
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  Well, we didn't immediately go to the 7th.
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  We received this vision in Revelation 7 of the 144,000
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  servants of Israel who were set aside for a purpose, following
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  with the innumerable amount of people who are standing before
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  the throne of the Lamb and worshipping Him.
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  And only after that we go to the 7th seal.
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  Well, the the same thing happens now with the 6th trumpet, the
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  second set of judgements. We don't immediately go to the
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  7th trumpet, but there is this pause, and we receive yet
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  another vision, and the same pattern will occur again.
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  When we look at the final set of the six bowls of God's wrath,
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  there is this brief little pause between the 6th bowl and the
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  7th. Well, this is interesting, but
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  we have to ask the question why? Why did the Holy Spirit include
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  these interludes in this way? And the answer is actually quite
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  simple. It's in order to reorient the
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  reader and to offer encouragement that as the
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  curious and longing student is examining these terrifying
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  episodes that are being predicted about the last days,
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  there would be these helpful breaks that strongly encourage
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  the faithful, reminding them that God is sovereign over all
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  these things that will unfold on the earth and that the Saints in
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  the end will be triumphant. That's what we see here.
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  So listen very carefully. Although the Book of Revelation
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  prophecies about chaos, it is not chaotic in itself.
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  This book is beautifully crafted.
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  It is organized, it is carefully structured, and we should all
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  perceive that. So we have an understanding of
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  why we have this break and why really it's a pattern.
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  But is there more to learn about this vision that we just read
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  together? Answer Absolutely.
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  And as I was meditating on this passage throughout the week,
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  something stood out to me. I realized that as John was
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  describing this vision, all of his senses were engaged in the
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  experience. Did you notice it?
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  He says in the beginning that he saw something.
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  Then he says I heard. And then by the end he talks
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  about touching and tasting. The only thing really left out
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  is him smelling. But those details are meant to
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  signal that what John is seeing here is extremely profound.
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  It is all consuming. And when learning this upon
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  meditating on it, my prayer has become Lord.
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  As we look at it now and examine what He saw and heard and
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  touched and tasted made impact us in every way possible in an
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  all consuming way. So that's exactly how we're
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  going to organize our time today.
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  We're going to begin by looking at what John saw, then what he
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  heard, then what he touched and what he tasted and made the Holy
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  Spirit do something special in each of us As a result.
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  Shall we begin what he saw? A mighty Angel, verse one down
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  to verse 3 tells us. And we learned last week that
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  after describing powerful demons and hordes of fallen spirits who
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  will wreak havoc on the earth, John now refreshingly sees a
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  holy Angel descending from heaven.
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  But this is no ordinary Angel, he says.
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  She's a mighty Angel. And we quickly learned why.
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  Did you see the descriptions of this heavenly messenger?
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  They are impressive, so impressive that it has LED some
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  to designate this Angel to be Christ himself because the the
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  features that you find here in verse one are very similar to
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  the descriptions of the Lord Jesus back in Revelation 1.
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  So some are satisfied in saying this Angel is actually Christ
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  himself. I respectfully have to disagree
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  and I'll give you a few reasons why.
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  First, John writes, I saw another Angel, another Angel.
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  That word, another in the original describes not another
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  category, but another of the same kind.
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  And so the original reading you would, you would recognize that
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  he's actually speaking about an Angel of the same kind, of the
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  ones that we just previously studied.
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  There would be another Greek word used to introduce a
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  different being of a different category, which would be Christ.
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  He is no Angel in the sense of a created being.
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  He's above the angels, so we know right away that this mighty
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  Angel is another in the sense that he's following the sequence
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  of the angels that have been mentioned beforehand.
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  Secondly, whenever John speaks about Jesus in the Book of
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  Revelation, there is never any ambiguity.
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  Almost every time there is a messianic or divine title
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  attributed to him, and we've seen that continually as we
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  started this book all the way up to this point.
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  We're going to continue to see that.
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  And so there's no secret about who Christ is in this book.
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  Virtually every time he makes an appearance, it's obvious.
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  Mighty angels, on the other hand, have appeared before in
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  this book, specifically in chapter 5 and in chapter 18.
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  And in those contexts, it's so evident that these are
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  subordinate created beings, though they are mighty.
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  Lastly, though there are more reasons we can give, the fact
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  that this mighty Angel descends from heaven to earth should be
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  enough to dispel the notion that this is Christ, because
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  depicting Him in this way would suggest a coming back to the
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  earth that does not align with the characteristics of His
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  second coming. He is going to return to the
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  earth, and that's coming at the end of the tribulation, not at
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  this point. So it'd be very confusing to
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  suggest that this is the Lord Himself.
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  But acknowledging that this is not Christ is not the main point
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  of this description, is it? There is much to learn and with
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  all the features that we see, I want to focus on 2/2.
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  What's above this angel's head and where his feet are planted.
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  Let's talk about what's above his head and where he decided to
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  stand. What?
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  Why are we told that there is a rainbow arching over him?
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  Why do we need to know that? Well, we have to remember that
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  in Genesis 9, the Angel was a symbol that God chose to do
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  what? To make a promise to humanity
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  that he would never judge the world by what?
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  By a flood again. And for some reason, it makes a
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  reappearance. And I believe it's an
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  encouraging thought. It's as though John wants us to
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  see that the mercy of God is still in the mind of God, even
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  as he is ready to unleash His greatest judgments, that the
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  Lord has not forgotten His promise.
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  And this one detail teaches us that you and I have no reason to
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  ever fear that in the the fury of God's holy wrath that He
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  would break His promises in the pursuit of it and the execution
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  of it. No matter how bad people get.
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  And, and at this point in revelation, it's going to be the
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  worst that the world has ever known.
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  He will never allow his judgement to be exercised with
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  with clouded anger or unrestrained passion.
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  Instead, he is ever mindful of his pledges.
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  He is stable and He is steadfast.
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  And I want you to just imagine the trepidation, the fear that
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  we would live in if the Bible even gave us the slightest clue
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  that this God, who owns everything and is is above
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  everything, is capable of turning back on His Word.
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  There would be no sustainable hope for you and I if we were
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  even given a hint of God doing such a thing.
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  But no, instead we come here and our hope is reignited.
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  Why? Because the symbol of God's
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  faithfulness that is introduced to us in Genesis is still being
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  upheld at the very last book in Revelation.
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  His reliability remains unbroken.
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  That's what we find here. Yes, he is ready to judge.
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  Yes, he's ready to bring the final cycle of judgement before
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  the return of the culmination of all things.
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  But all we see a rainbow to show us that God has not forgotten
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  his Word. He has not forgotten His mercy.
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  But what about the placement of the angels feet?
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  It says in verse 2 that he set his right foot on the sea and
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  his left foot on the land. Now that might not be
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  significant until you realize that that details repeated 2
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  more times in this chapter. So in verse 5 and in verse 8 we
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  read again that this Angel is standing upon the sea and
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  standing upon the land. What's the emphasis?
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  It's very obvious to show us the absolute control and sovereign
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  ownership that God has over this entire world.
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  It's under His feet, represented by this Angel.
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  You know where my mind went, That wonderful declaration in
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  Isaiah 66 verse one. Thus says the Lord, heaven is my
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  throne, and the author is what the earth is my footstool.
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  What is this house that you would build for me?
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  And what is this place of my rest as a way of communicating
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  and conveying His His greatness? The Lord wants his people to
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  envision this planet as a piece of furniture to God, as his foot
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  rest. And that's not just to
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  illustrate His vastness, but to also under score His Majesty
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  that it's all under Him, it's all subjugated to Him, it's all
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  for him and through him. Nothing is outside of his
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  influence. And as glorious as that is, yes,
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  we have this vision of the bigness of God.
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  But in that same declaration in Isaiah 66, it becomes even more
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  heart stirring when you realize that this massive God is willing
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  to draw near to us creatures. What does he say in Isaiah 66
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  verse two? Let me remind you, it's so
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  powerful. All these things my hand has
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  made and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.
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  But this is the one to whom I will look.
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  He was humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
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  You know that word there when it says, But this is the one to
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  whom I will look. That's not a quick glance,
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  that's a meditative glance. That's a careful attention
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  granted to something. And this awesome God who lays
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  his feet, figuratively speaking, on this planet, looks on the
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  person who is broken, who recognizes their neediness, and
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  who trembles at God's Word, who reveres him.
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  God says, I look up. This awesome God looks upon such
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  a person, and this is what John sees.
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  He sees this. If this mighty Angel could have
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  his feet on the land and the sea, how big is God?
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  And we can call him Father, and you can call him anytime of the
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  day, in the middle of the night. And he does everything in his
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  power and wisdom to take care of you.
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  It's a wonderful thought, it's a wonderful thought that this
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  world he plants his feet on, and yet in Christ we're told that we
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  are seated with him in heavenly places.
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  What kind of grace is this? It's an amazing thing to
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  consider. But we now move on to what John
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  heard, which is really the second point.
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  What he heard, the seven thunders.
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  So he writes after this mighty Angel called out with a loud
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  voice like a lion roaring, that there were these 7 peels of
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  Thunder that follow that roaring voice.
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  So 1 Thunder clap, another Thunder clap, and another
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  Thunder, 7 in total. And this is more significant
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  than noise and rumblings because John tells us that in these
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  Thunder blast there was something being articulated,
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  something was being said because he was ready to write it down.
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  And that shouldn't surprise us, because more than once in the
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  Hebrew Scriptures we learned that God's voice is like
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  Thunder. And here it comes again.
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  And John. And verse 4 says that he was
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  ready to write down what was spoken in those thunderous
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  declarations. And that little detail alone is
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  special to me. What detail that John was ready
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  to write? What's so special about that?
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  Why do I need to know that John was ready to write?
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  I'll tell you why, because that was His mission in the Book of
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  Revelation. What was His purpose?
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  According to Revelation 119, Jesus told him right there for
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  these things that you have seen, the things that are and the
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  things that will take place after this.
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  So the fact that we see here in Revelation 10 that He's ready to
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  write speaks to the attentiveness and the readiness
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  of His obedience. Do you see that?
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  I see it at the moment He heard the sound, he remembered what he
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  was called to do, and he put that pen to his parchment and he
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  was ready to record it. That moved me, that put a smile
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  on my face when I was meditating on Revelation 10, because I see
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  a model of faithfulness. I see that though he was
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  commissioned in Revelation 1, he still was faithful 9 chapters
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  later. That he didn't get distracted,
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  that he didn't become slack in his service, that he didn't lose
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  momentum regarding his mission. He was the same.
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  He was reliable, he was faithful.
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  And I don't know about you, but that caused me even in this to
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  ask the Lord help me imitate that kind of focus and
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  steadfastness in whatever you called me to do, no matter how
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  small, no matter how great. I want you to be able to see
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  Lord in me, someone that you can rely on, someone that you can
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  trust in, someone that you can Commission.
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  This moves me. He's ready to write.
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  And we should say, Lord, find me doing what you've called me to
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  do until you call me to do something else.
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  And that's exactly what John experienced.
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  Because as he's about to write, unexpectedly, another voice
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  comes to him and tells him to do what?
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  Seal it up and don't write it down.
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  Well, this is strange. Don't write it down.
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  And most Christians want to know why.
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  Why? Why was he told not to write it?
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  And what did he hear? And guess what?
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  I don't know. And that's the point.
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  That's exactly. We're not going to speculate
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  here. And no preacher should ever
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  attempt to try to make something where the Bible is silent.
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  That's a dangerous thing to do. But here's a worthy thought, at
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  least for me. I began to question, if the Lord
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  did not want us to know the message of these 7 thunders,
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  then why go through the trouble of telling us about them in the
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  first place? I think that's an appropriate
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  question, right? Maybe you've had this
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  conversation with someone, you're out with them having
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  coffee or maybe somebody in your living room and they all of a
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  sudden say, oh, by the way, I I know about this or that, but I
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  can't tell you about it. Have you experienced that?
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  It's like, OK, then why did you tell me that you knew about it?
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  If you're not going to tell me why probe me?
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  Why open my curiosity? But here's the difference.
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  The Lord is far wise or more intentional in what he does in
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  this vision. He's not trying to tease us in
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  this failing. He's actually communicating
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  something. And what he is reminding us is
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  that you don't need to know everything.
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  You don't need to know everything.
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  There are some things that are secrets that belong to Him, and
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  He has the prerogative not to share it with us.
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  Now, that bothers some Christians.
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  That especially bothers the skeptic.
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  But put simply, as His creatures, we are not given
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  answers or explanations to everything.
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  But here's where we can rest. Here's where we can hope that
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  what the Lord has revealed is essential and adequate.
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  Never forget this reference. It's a very easy one.
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  Many of you know it. And Deuteronomy 2929.
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  The secret things belong to who? The Lord.
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  The secret things belong to the Lord our God, But the things
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  that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.
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  Why? That we may do all the words of
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  this law. So understand what's being said
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  here in Deuteronomy, that there are some things God will keep to
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  Himself. And in Revelation 10 we're being
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  reminded there are some things that I know about that you will
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  never know about, at least now. But the things that He has
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  chosen to show us have a purpose.
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  And the way you can translate this verse in Deuteronomy 2929
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  is the following. What He has given us is
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  necessary for our obedience in pleasing Him and for our
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  well-being and our transformation.
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  That's it. What He's given us from Genesis
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  to Revelation, though, some things are not so obvious and
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  requires some investigation. The things that are outside the
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  realm of knowledge, you don't need to be concerned about it.
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  But because God in His perfect discretion has concealed those
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  things, because He doesn't see it fit or necessary for our
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  obedience or our transformation, everything that has been given
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  suffices. And there are a lot of
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  Christians, unfortunately, who spend too much time speculating
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  and debating about things that the Bible doesn't even give you
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  answers for. Instead of putting that energy
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  to what He has given you so that you can know his full pleasure
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  and his will and his wisdom and His grace.
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  But the careful student would have looked at this and say, OK,
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  I understand what you're saying preacher, but he revealed it to
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  John. I get it, God doesn't reveal
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  things to his, his creatures, those created in his image.
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  But why did John get to hear it and not me?
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  Well, you just now introduced another lesson for us, that yes,
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  God has hidden things from all of us.
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  There are some things that we'll never know on this side of
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  eternity, but there are some things that the Lord chooses to
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  perform on others and keep from us, and we should trust in His
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  wisdom as a loving Father when He does.
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  There's some things that God deposits in a person, a brother
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  or a sister, that He will never give us, and vice versa, and we
• 24:38
  should be equally trusting when we perceive that.
• 24:42
  Not envious, not angry, not comparing, not coveting,
• 24:47
  resting. Oh, how many verses drum that
• 24:52
  truth? Well, let me give you 1 after
• 24:55
  listening this, this the gifts of the Spirit in First
• 24:58
  Corinthians 12. Paul says this at the end of
• 25:01
  First Corinthians 12 verse 11. All these are empowered by 1 and
• 25:05
  the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as He
• 25:11
  wills, as He wills. That's something that shows us
• 25:18
  at least two things. One that the Spirit of God is
• 25:22
  the one who works in each of us. He, he's the author of any
• 25:26
  blessing that flows out of us, and that should destroy all
• 25:31
  pride in any sense of superiority.
• 25:33
  The Spirit is the one who apportions these gifts, so how
• 25:36
  dare we boast in any of them? And he says that to the same
• 25:39
  group of believers. But more than that, it also
• 25:42
  confirms how He works in each of us uniquely.
• 25:47
  And that should destroy and demolish envy and disunity as a
• 25:51
  result of our jealousy, perhaps. So instead of looking at
• 25:56
  somebody else and saying I want what you have and I'm actually
• 26:00
  going to fight you for that, and I believe I should have that
• 26:03
  position and I should have that recognition.
• 26:05
  Realize that it's the Spirit of God who works in that person.
• 26:09
  And so instead of causing rage, it should cause you to rejoice.
• 26:13
  This is God's work. This is God's doing, so we have
• 26:19
  to train ourselves to understand that that yes, I even when we
• 26:22
  see John, he receives his revelation.
• 26:24
  Why? Why John and not another
• 26:25
  apostle? Well, historically he was the
• 26:27
  last living one, but just in terms of principle, again, we
• 26:32
  have to step back and realize God's sovereignty and all these
• 26:35
  things. And so this is what John hears.
• 26:37
  He hears thunders, he hears the message.
• 26:39
  We don't get to hear it, but what a lesson about how we need
• 26:42
  to humble ourselves and things that we can't understand or
• 26:46
  perceive in our own lives. But finally we come to what he
• 26:50
  touched and tasted, and we're going to combine these things.
• 26:55
  The little scroll. Let's read again verse 8 of
• 26:58
  Revelation 10. Then the voice that I had heard
• 27:03
  from heaven spoke to me again, saying go, take the scroll that
• 27:06
  is open in the hand of the Angel who's standing on the scene on
• 27:09
  the land. So I went to the Angel and told
• 27:10
  him to give me the little scroll, and he said to me, take
• 27:14
  and eat it. It will make your stomach
• 27:16
  bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.
• 27:20
  And I took the little scroll from the hand of the Angel, and
• 27:22
  I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.
• 27:25
  But when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter, bitter.
• 27:27
  And I was told you must again prophecy about many peoples and
• 27:30
  nations and languages and kings. So in preparation to write down
• 27:36
  the remaining prophecies about the last days, John,
• 27:41
  interestingly, is not told to write anything down, at least
• 27:44
  yet. He's still to eat something.
• 27:50
  And amazingly, this is not something unique in our Bibles.
• 27:56
  We've seen this before. But before I get to that, here's
• 28:00
  what the Angel foretold. When you put this scroll in your
• 28:02
  mouth, it's going to be sweet to your taste, but when you digest
• 28:05
  it, it's going to be bitter. Now, why would these judgments
• 28:13
  be sweet? Why would these remaining
• 28:15
  prophecies and predictions be something enjoyable?
• 28:19
  Well, because they would speak of the fulfillment of our
• 28:23
  salvation. They would speak about the
• 28:24
  return of Christ, the establishment of his Kingdom,
• 28:27
  Him dealing with wickedness forever and ever and ever.
• 28:29
  And to the believer, that's sweet, that's wonderful.
• 28:33
  We relish in that. We find hope in that.
• 28:35
  We realize He's going to conquer, He's going to triumph,
• 28:37
  and we will reign with Him. That's why it's sweet, but it's
• 28:42
  also bitter because the same prophecies that hold promise for
• 28:46
  the redeemed carry a message of doom for the ones who have
• 28:50
  denied him. And that's really the experience
• 28:55
  of reading through the Book of Revelation.
• 28:57
  It's a mixture of sweetness and bitterness because we realize
• 29:01
  our future, but we also think of the future of those.
• 29:04
  Maybe if some we know and it turns our stomachs and it causes
• 29:08
  us to be heavy hearted, but that's just the reality of it.
• 29:14
  This dramatic picture of John eating the word, by the way, as
• 29:17
  I mentioned earlier, is nearly identical to different accounts
• 29:21
  in the Scriptures, namely Ezekiel.
• 29:24
  You remember Ezekiel early in his ministry in chapter 2, he
• 29:26
  was told to do something very similar, take this scroll and
• 29:30
  eat it and it was going to be sweet to him.
• 29:33
  Even though there were woes and lamentations on that scroll, he
• 29:36
  had to eat it. You find Jeremiah testifying in
• 29:39
  chapter 15 that he had found God's Word and he ate it and it
• 29:43
  became a joy and a delight to his heart.
• 29:46
  What about the psalmist David? How many times I see you spoken
• 29:49
  about the Word being like honey to his lips, being enjoyable and
• 29:53
  delightful? Yes, we see this consistently,
• 29:57
  and the fact that so many of God's faithful servants have
• 30:03
  been recorded to engage with God's Word in this way tells us,
• 30:10
  by way of principle, how we should also experience His Word.
• 30:16
  And I want to give you a few points to consider.
• 30:19
  First, we are to believe that the source of our spiritual
• 30:24
  nourishment and deepest delight is in the Word.
• 30:29
  That's the first thing to neglect.
• 30:33
  This Word guarantees weakness. It guarantees A vulnerability to
• 30:40
  spiritual ailments and other issues that you would expect
• 30:44
  with your body if you ignore feeding it and a healthy diet.
• 30:50
  But the the language consistently in the Bible when
• 30:53
  it comes to the word with God's most faithful messengers is not
• 30:56
  nibble on my word. Let's not sample it.
• 30:59
  Let's not stick a toothpick in it and take out whatever you
• 31:01
  have and eat it for the week. Eat it, eat it like a meal, this
• 31:08
  is a meal and feast on it. Chew it, which speaks of
• 31:13
  meditation. Digest it.
• 31:14
  Let it impact the deepest part of who you are and watch how
• 31:18
  overtime it will work in and through.
• 31:20
  You have to approach this word. This language is not just being
• 31:23
  poetic, it's signaling to something.
• 31:26
  This is your food. Can I ask you something?
• 31:28
  What's your diet like lately? What is it?
• 31:32
  Have you eaten recently? And listen, being fed once or
• 31:37
  twice a week from this pulpit is not going to be enough.
• 31:40
  Anything you hear from this pulpit should be supplementary
• 31:42
  always. You personally, with this scroll
• 31:46
  that has been given to you, what do you do with it?
• 31:50
  Well, every time we see it being presented to one of these
• 31:52
  prophets, they devoured it, they ate it.
• 31:57
  But secondly, you and I also must be willing to accept the
• 32:01
  sweet and the bitter of the Word.
• 32:05
  There are too many Christians, unfortunately, who are selective
• 32:08
  in their interaction with the Scriptures.
• 32:11
  So they want the wisdom but not the warnings.
• 32:14
  They want the promises, but not the punishments.
• 32:18
  They want the success, but not the suffering.
• 32:22
  They want heaven. But preacher, don't you dare
• 32:24
  talk about hell. They want Christ as Savior, but
• 32:29
  Christ as judge, Christ as destroyer.
• 32:35
  You can't pick the sweet and leave out the bitter.
• 32:40
  You must be willing to take it all in.
• 32:44
  I told you how this is very reflective and it parallels
• 32:47
  almost Ezekiel's experience. Ezekiel is a little bit more
• 32:49
  detailed though and how he was told to eat his scroll of his
• 32:53
  time. Let me read you one verse from
• 32:56
  Ezekiel 31. The Lord says, Son of Man, eat
• 33:01
  whatever you find here. I love that.
• 33:06
  Eat whatever you find here. Eat the scroll and go speak to
• 33:10
  the House of Israel. Eat whatever you find here.
• 33:14
  You can't discriminate. You can't be picky.
• 33:20
  You have to understand that everything from the genealogies
• 33:22
  to the miracles has to be part of your diet.
• 33:27
  Everything from the prophecies of judgement to the prophecies
• 33:30
  of hope. You have to be willing to put it
• 33:32
  on your plate, eat whatever you find here.
• 33:37
  And that's that's one of the the treasures of expository
• 33:42
  preaching. Maybe sounds fancy, but it's
• 33:45
  very simple where you go to the Bible as a church and you cover
• 33:49
  books at a time, chapters of those books verse by verse.
• 33:53
  Why? Because it forces you to have a
• 33:54
  balanced diet if you just remain topical.
• 33:58
  Everybody has an inclination, A leaning, and you might be
• 34:01
  repeating yourself or going to text that you prefer that are
• 34:04
  less controversial. No, no, no, when you go to a
• 34:06
  book and you're saying we're starting this book, you got to
• 34:08
  go through all of it sweet and the bitter.
• 34:12
  And so we must be willing to do the same with our own engagement
• 34:15
  with the word of God. Lastly, this is so important.
• 34:22
  If you and I desire to be effective messengers of the
• 34:26
  truth, then we must first absorb the message ourselves before
• 34:30
  sharing it with others. In virtually every example of
• 34:36
  the prophets who are eating the scroll, there is a pattern.
• 34:40
  There is an order you must eat before you speak, and that is a
• 34:48
  profound truth. Notice what the last verse of
• 34:50
  our chapter is. After he told them to eat and
• 34:53
  after he ate it, you must again prophecy.
• 34:57
  He was only commissioned after he faithfully received the word.
• 35:02
  And it's no different for you and I.
• 35:05
  Again, if you actually want to be an ambassador of Christ that
• 35:08
  unashamedly shares the truth with your Co worker, with your
• 35:11
  family, with your church, you have to take God's word and
• 35:14
  allow it to internally process to get in your blood, so to
• 35:20
  speak, to settle there long enough.
• 35:23
  Listen until you feel it. John felt the message before he
• 35:28
  preached it. Why?
• 35:33
  Because when you feel it, when you experience it, you gain a
• 35:39
  vitality and an impression that can't be known otherwise.
• 35:44
  There is a vast difference between understanding the word
• 35:48
  and experiencing it. Big difference.
• 35:51
  And I think a lot of us here can tell the difference between
• 35:53
  someone who is teaching, for example, because they studied,
• 35:57
  and someone who is preaching because they have tasted.
• 36:01
  You could tell. You could tell.
• 36:04
  There's a conviction, there's a passion, there's a life that
• 36:10
  backs it up. And to any aspiring preacher in
• 36:14
  this place, though this is applicable to all of us, you
• 36:17
  need to eat the Word and feel it before you dare even open your
• 36:21
  mouth and share it with anybody else.
• 36:23
  What is it done to your soul? If it doesn't stir your soul,
• 36:26
  how do you expect it to stir other people's souls?
• 36:27
  This is the principle, John. Eat it and feel it, and then you
• 36:32
  prophecy. So if you are here, dear
• 36:36
  brother, and you are waiting on God to be used as a mouthpiece,
• 36:40
  can I tell you what you should be doing while you wait?
• 36:42
  Devour this Word all day as much as you can, with your schedule,
• 36:47
  your responsibilities, your hobbies.
• 36:49
  Devour it and eat it and let it move your soul.
• 36:52
  And when it moves your soul and you open your mouth, it will
• 36:55
  move other people's souls. And that's not just for the
• 36:58
  preacher. You don't need a pulpit to be a
• 37:00
  messenger. And so I understand that this
• 37:02
  applies to you as well. Father, husband, businessman,
• 37:06
  nurse. God wants you to taste His Word,
• 37:09
  and when you do, you'll be more effective communicator of it.
• 37:16
  Well, we can wrap things up, but I want to make one final remark
• 37:20
  because it's what's important to remember where this vision is
• 37:23
  leading us and what it's preparing us for.
• 37:24
  We gained a lot of practical truths from this, but let's kind
• 37:27
  of zoom out and look at this contextually.
• 37:30
  What is this vision really setting things up for?
• 37:32
  Let's go back to verse 5 down to verse 7, and this is our final
• 37:36
  portion today. It says in the Angel whom I saw
• 37:40
  standing on the sea and on the land, raised his right hand to
• 37:42
  heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who
• 37:44
  created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it
• 37:47
  and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more
• 37:50
  delay underlying that part. There's going to be no more
• 37:53
  delay here. That's a clue, by the way, that
• 37:56
  the Book of Revelation is chronological.
• 38:00
  Majority of it is. At least there are some
• 38:02
  flashbacks. There is no more delay.
• 38:04
  And then he goes on to say what but that in the days of the
• 38:07
  trumpet call to be sounded by the 7th Angel, the mystery of
• 38:13
  God will be fulfilled. So remember, there's an
• 38:17
  interlude. We saw the 5th and the 6th
• 38:19
  trumpet sounded and alarmed in the previous chapter.
• 38:21
  Now there's this break and this Angel is telling John to tell us
• 38:26
  we're about to sound the 7th trumpet.
• 38:29
  And I want to let you know that this is going to accelerate
• 38:33
  things, and the mystery of God in the sounding of the seven
• 38:38
  trumpet will be fulfilled. Now, the Greek word for mystery
• 38:44
  often refers to a divine truth that was once concealed, now
• 38:49
  revealed. Paul uses that word more than
• 38:51
  once in his letters. Something that was once hidden,
• 38:54
  now made to be known. And the mystery of God here in
• 38:57
  this chapter speaks about the hidden divine plan of God for
• 39:02
  the ultimate redemption and completion of history and
• 39:06
  salvation and judgment. The, the, the final phase of all
• 39:11
  things. That's the mystery of God that's
• 39:13
  being proclaimed here. And here's what's interesting.
• 39:17
  It's the mystery of God that has been proclaimed.
• 39:19
  What did he say? The last part there by the
• 39:21
  prophets, by the prophets. You know what that tells me?
• 39:26
  That the prophets of old have predicted the last days.
• 39:32
  They have spoken in their prophecies about the culmination
• 39:35
  of the age. Why is that important to know?
• 39:38
  Because what we believe about the end times as New Testament
• 39:42
  Christians is grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures.
• 39:45
  It's not separate. And why is that also important
• 39:48
  to know? You cannot afford to develop
• 39:52
  your framework, your doctrine of the last days, without engaging
• 39:57
  with the Old Testament. Do you know how many Christians
• 40:00
  are doing this these days? They're developing most of their
• 40:04
  doctrine thinking that the Old Testament has no relevance.
• 40:07
  Well, what are we told here in these verses?
• 40:09
  That the mystery of God concerning the last days will be
• 40:12
  fulfilled as spoken of by the prophets.
• 40:14
  So what do we know about the prophets in the end times?
• 40:16
  We should know because there's a continuity, there is a
• 40:20
  connection. And though they predicted it
• 40:24
  from the days of old, it was with lesser detail and
• 40:27
  specificity. Now we come to this book and we
• 40:30
  realize that mystery of God is becoming more and more clear.
• 40:34
  It's going to be fulfilled from this point on to the end of this
• 40:38
  text, and you and I are going to experience that.
• 40:43
  Another way of understanding what this mighty Angel is
• 40:45
  communicating is that we are approaching a clear
• 40:47
  understanding of the very end of the end.
• 40:54
  And that's going to happen with the seven bowls of judgement.
• 40:58
  And they're very unique for two reasons.
• 41:01
  One, they're going to be a lot faster than the previous sets
• 41:04
  and they're going to be a lot more destructive.
• 41:09
  So with that being said, John shows us many things that should
• 41:14
  consume us. Consume your thoughts, consume
• 41:18
  your affections, consume your sin and devour it and spit it
• 41:23
  out of your life. Let's ask God to help us apply
• 41:27
  these truths for His glory. Father, we thank you that You
• 41:47
  have led us in our study of revelation to the threshold.
• 41:51
  A turning point, really, of our understanding of the last days.
• 41:57
  But oh God, you have proven yourself yet again that even in
• 42:00
  a cryptic chapter like this, you can speak so practically to us.
• 42:06
  And Lord, thank you for showing us what John saw and what he
• 42:09
  heard and what he touched and what he tasted.
• 42:13
  Help us see how awesome you are. Help us hear what you have
• 42:17
  revealed and not be so concerned with the things that we can't
• 42:19
  understand. And help us taste the word, help
• 42:25
  us eat it. I pray, Lord, with my brothers
• 42:28
  and sisters, that we would wake up in the morning with a craving
• 42:30
  for the word, that we would learn how to snack on the word
• 42:34
  throughout the day and enjoy it and chew on it and, and just
• 42:37
  devour it, knowing that one of the fruits of it is that when we
• 42:41
  speak, it will come from a place of experience, not just
• 42:45
  knowledge. And Lord, thank you that you've
• 42:49
  given us this interlude to remind us that though this world
• 42:54
  will grow in its horror and devastation as you prophesied,
• 42:59
  you are in control. It's all permitted by you.
• 43:02
  You are supervising every detail.
• 43:05
  And if that's true for history, how much more for our lives?
• 43:09
  Help us rely. I don't know who came in here
• 43:12
  with a heaviness, but Lord, may they leave here lighter, knowing
• 43:15
  that this awesome God, he's near to the broken hearted and he
• 43:20
  looks upon those who tremble at his word.
• 43:23
  So Lord, help us tremble at your word and help us taste it at the
• 43:27
  same time. But we've come to worship you
• 43:29
  because we know that this book is true and that you are
• 43:32
  faithful. You are faithful to all your
• 43:34
  promises you'll never forget. Thank you for this.
• 43:38
  In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen.
• 43:41
  Brothers and sisters, let's stand together, let's sing,
• 43:44
  let's worship Him and honor Him and glorify him as his people.