Revelation 10:2,3

Revelation 10:2-3. The action of the angel is next described. First, he set his right foot upon the sea and his left upon the earth, thus asserting his supremacy over the whole world; and then he cried with a great voice as a lion roareth, thus intimating that something terrible was about to be revealed. Immediately thereafter the seven thunders uttered their voices. The analogy of the ‘seven churches,' ‘seven spirits of God,' etc., leads directly to the conclusion that these thunders are seven, not because St. John at the moment heard seven, but because they represent the thunder of God in its completeness and intensity. Two or three questions must still be answered in connection with these verses. First, as to the personality of the angel. On the one hand, it appears to be impossible to adopt the idea of many, that this angel is the Lord; for, throughout the Apocalypse, angels are everywhere distinguished from the Divine Beings, and in chap. 5 the ‘strong angel' spoken of is certainly neither the Father nor the Son. On the other hand, it appears equally impossible to think that we have before us simply a created angel. The mention of ‘the cloud,' of ‘the rainbow,' of the ‘face as the sun,' of the ‘feet as pillars of fire,' and of the ‘little book-roll in the hand,' leads us to something more. These are the characteristics of the Divine Lord Himself. The explanation is to be sought in what has been already more than once remarked, that in the Apocalypse the action of any person or thing is said to be effected by means of an angel who expresses it. We have here, therefore, neither the Lord, nor a mere creature executing His will, but a representation of His action. The angel by whom such representation is effected has necessarily the attributes of the Being whose action he embodies. Secondly, the light in which the angel appears is that of judgment, not of mercy and judgment combined. The ‘rainbow' is indeed the symbol of mercy, but everything else mentioned speaks of judgment. Mercy is alluded to simply because the Lord is gracious, and because it would convey an imperfect and false idea of His character were we to think of Him only as a judge. It is the Lord of love who judges. Thirdly, we have to ask as to the contents of the ‘little book-roll.' These we have already seen cannot be the same as those of the larger book-roll of chap 5. It is more difficult to determine what they are. Upon this point the most various opinions have been entertained. We cannot examine them, and must be content to note one or two particulars which may assist in guiding us to a satisfactory conclusion. (1) It is a well-known characteristic of the Apocalypse that it generally anticipates beforehand in some brief statement what is afterwards to be unfolded at greater length. We may be sure that the judgments contained in the little roll will meet us again in subsequent visions of this book: (2) The contents have an important relation to that work of prophesying or witnessing which is to distinguish the true people of God at the stage of their progress which they have now reached. The witnessing and not merely the suffering Church is to be comforted by the vision: (3) We have thus a point of connection with the consolatory vision of the two witnesses in chap. 11, and that too in a manner precisely analogous to the relation which exists between the two consolatory visions of chap. 7; there, suffering in the first followed by heavenly bliss in the second; here, action in the first followed by going up to heaven in the cloud (chap. Revelation 11:12). But the vision of the two witnesses, as we shall yet see, deals with the preservation of a faithful remnant in the midst of a professing but faithless Church which is cast out. The natural conclusion is, that the vision before us is also occupied with the same thought: (4) The effect produced upon the Seer by his action with the little roll is worthy of notice. When he eats the book the first taste of it is sweet: he has heard glad tidings and is filled with joy. When he has eaten the book, when he has had further experience of its contents, it is bitter. The bright dawn becomes clouded; joy gives way to disappointment and sorrow: (5) The whole symbolism is taken from Ezekiel 3, and it is reasonable to suppose that not merely the facts but the aim and spirit of that chapter were present to the Apostle's mind. Of the latter, however, there can be no doubt. The language of the fourth and fifth verses of the chapter is unmistakeable, ‘And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. For thou art not sent unto a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel:' (6) We shall find, as we proceed, that a large part of the Book of Revelation, its most sublime, if at the same time its darkest and most mysterious, part is occupied with the judgments of God upon a worldly and apostate Church. Putting all these circumstances together, it seems most natural to suppose that the contents of the ‘little book-roll' are occupied with the dealings of the Lord not so much towards the world as towards His Church in her connection with the world, when she yields to the temptations which the world presents to her, and when, from having been a pure virgin faithful to Him to whom she is espoused, she becomes a harlot. Thus also perhaps may we explain the epithet ‘little' applied to this book-roll in contrast with that of chap. 5. It is ‘little,' not as being less important, but as relating more immediately to the fortunes of Christ's ‘little flock.'