- Novelists go to painstaking detail when crafting stories to make the reader feel as though he or she is there. Has it ever occurred to you that we readers should engage the Bible the same way? What would it have been like to see what John saw in Revelation 10?
John, entranced by a heavenly vision, looked up far into the stratosphere and saw a gigantic angel, comparable in size to our planet. The clouds girded his waist and a rainbow crowned his head. There is no big-budget science fiction movie that could mimic such an awe-inspiring and terrifying sight.
This angel (speculated by some to be the Messiah) was difficult to watch for his head was bright like the sun and his legs were like massive pillars of fire. So while he would have been impossible to ignore, one could not look at him for very long without risking blindness. And imagine the heat radiating from his body. A head bright like the sun and legs of fire must have been intensely hot.
I have a hard time imagining this because my conception of angels has been trained by the art world, which has often portrayed them as slender human forms with delicate wings. Yet, while this angel was anthropomorphic (it had limbs and a head like a man), he did not look like a man.
He was so large that he was able to set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land without losing his balance. Apparently, the depth of our planet’s vast seas was inconsequential. It would be like you or me placing one foot on dry ground and the other in a small puddle. At this point we must pay attention to the imagery, as well. Note that his head pierced into the heavens and his feet rested on water and land, which signified God’s authority over all the created order. This reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:9-10:
“…making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (And this will happen. We read at the end of John’s Revelation about a new heavens and a new earth merged into one as the eternal dwelling place for the redeemed.)
Then came the sound of the angel’s voice, and what a terrible sound it was. John described it as the roar of a lion that was accompanied by peals of thunder. Imagine the volume and the heart-pounding fright John must have experienced. The first thing that comes to my mind when I imagine this is one of the final scenes of the movie, “The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe,” taken from C.S. Lewis’ book, in which Aslan (who is the Christ-figure in the story) rises from the dead and returns to vanquish the evil armies of the White Witch (Satan). As he approaches the battlefield, he unleashes a ferocious roar that stops everyone in their tracks. Everyone knows the king has returned and has a score to settle, so let anyone who dares to stand in his way beware.
Yet this scene in Revelation 10 is about what the angel bears. In his hand is a “tiny” scroll (compared to him) on which is recorded the mysteries of God. As fallible Christians, we often clamor for the impressive, similar to this splendorous angel. But God wants his children to remain focused on his word. It may seem “tiny” and at times, routine compared to the angelic, but in his word is the key to life.
From the beginning to the end of human history and beyond, the scroll reveals the answers to all questions. The seals have been broken by the Lamb and its wisdom is ready to pour forth. And similar to the prophet Ezekiel, John also had to devour the scroll (Ezek. 3:1-3). It was a scroll that was sweet to the taste, but bitter in the stomach. To John, a follower of Jesus Christ, God’s word was a treasure. But to the nations that it would judge, its words were bitter.
The chain of communication set forth was clear: God’s word was handed down from Christ to the angel, and from the angel to John. Now John had to communicate the message to the seven churches of Asia Minor to which he wrote. But it was not meant to stop with them. It was intended to be communicated to all the churches of the earth from generation to generation as part of the great Apostolic Tradition. Even today, we are to “eat” the scroll, internalize it, and pass it along to others so that we and they might be blessed. As John said in Revelation 1:3:
“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”
Join me on January 15 as we embark on our 2012 Winter teaching series on The Book of Revelation. It’s all about Jesus. It’s always been about Jesus. And it will forever be about Jesus.
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:36)
