Revelation 10:1-4

The Angel and the Little Scroll

1Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."



Dig Deeper

After a long day of work some time ago, my wife had called me while on her way home. She had a few things that she had asked me to tell our sons, messages which I quickly passed on to them. She then told me that she had stopped and grabbed some ice cream treats for them and would be home in a few minutes. She wisely asked me not to tell them, though, because this was simply not information that usually handled well. They would tend to get so excited and impatient that, particularly our youngest would get himself in trouble before the treat actually arrived.


Human beings often tend to think that we have a right to all available information. We rarely stop to consider situations in which we're simply not ready for the information at hand. This was precisely Adam and Eve's problem. They desired knowledge that they were not yet ready to possess. In fact, the entire history of mankind has proven that we, as a whole, often have more knowledge available to us than we have the moral capacity to control wisely. In this passage John is given information and told to seal it up and absolutely not pass it on. We simply do not know the nature of that information but we can be sure that, despite how much we may want to know, we're simply not ready to know it until such time as God chooses to reveal it (it is likely that the message has something to do with the glory of the age to come, but that too is just speculation).


10:1 - The key question to ask here at the very beginning of this passage is who is the mighty angel coming down from heaven? We would do well to remember that the word for "angel" can mean "messenger" as comfortably as it can specifically refer to an angelic being. The fact is, this is likely no one else other than Jesus Christ, the "angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament. This begins to become clear if we look again at the description of Christ in Rev. 1:14-16 and with God on His throne in Ezek. 1:25-28.


There are, however, four other indicators in this passage that it is Christ being described. First, The angel is robed in a cloud. This image brings to mind the glory cloud which is filled with uncountable numbers of angels (Deut. 33:2; Ps. 68: 17), but only God can be said to be robed with it (Ps. 104:1-3). In addition, the basic point of reference rises from the fact that God was clothed with the cloud in the Tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-38; Lev. 16:2). The imagery of being robed in a cloud would never be used of a mere angel.


Second, the angel had a rainbow above his head. We learned in Rev. 4:3 that the rainbow was pictured around the throne of God. This imagery also makes reference to Ezekiel's description: "Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell face down, and I heard the voice of one speaking" (Ezek. 1:27-28).


Third, the angel's face was like the sun. This is similar to the description of Jesus in Rev. 1:16, as well as being reminiscent of of his face in the account of the transfiguration (Matt. 17:2). He is the rising sun (Luke 1:78, Ps. 84:11, 2 Pet. 1:16-19). The imagery of the sun is often used to describe the glory of God sitting in judgment (Ps. 19:4-6; Ezek. 43:2; Zech. 14:7; Mal. 4:1-3; Rom. 13:12).


Fourth, His legs were like fiery pillars. This phrase is probably intended to remind us of the pillar of fire and cloud (the glory cloud) that led the Israelites (Ex. 14:24). Evidently, the smoke and fire of the cloud symbolically represented God's legs as He walked before the people in the glory cloud (Ex. 13:21-22; 14:19, 24; 23:20, 23); He came in the cloud and stood before them (Ex. 33:9-10; Num. 12:5; Hag. 2:5). The evidence seems to be stacking up to make a pretty convincing case that the angel coming down from heaven is, in fact, Jesus Christ (remember this is symbolic and does not imply that Jesus is of the same class as the heavenly angels).


10:2-3 - The angel was holding a little scroll, while planting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. "Sea and land" is Old Testament language for all of the earth, so this figure towers symbolically above everything on the face of the earth. It is also true, however, that the "sea" is often depicted as Gentile nations in contrast with the land of Israel (2 Sam. 22:4-5; Ps. 65:7-8; Isa. 5:30; 17:12-13; 57:20; Jer. 6:23; Lk. 21:25; Rev. 13:1, 11).


He cries out with a loud shout like the roar of a lion. We have learned by now that the voice coming from the cloud is arrestingly loud. Psalm 29 describes aspects of the voice including that it is powerful, majestic, and breaks mighty cedars into pieces. In a response of worship to the voice, the seven-fold thunders spoke as well.


10:4 - Of course, the question we really want to know here is, what did the seven thunders say? John was preparing to write it down when a voice from heaven told him to seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down. There is not much point speculating as to what John heard; we will never know in this age. It is clear, however, that God wanted John to record the fact that the message was only for him and not for the Church. The point is that there are many things that God will not reveal to us in this age. At the end of the Revelation, John is told not to seal up the prophecy (22:10). The message of the book as a whole was contemporary in nature and meant to be shared. In contrast, the message from the thunders points to the distant future and so, was to be sealed up just as Daniel was told to seal up his prophecy until the time of the end (Daniel 12:4). If the entire book of the Revelation was concerning the distant future for the first-century audience and was dealing with the end of all things, then there would be no need to conceal the message of the thunders. It only needed sealing because it's message was for a different time than the rest of the prophecy.



Devotional Thought

The fact that God reveals much information to us in the Bible but still conceals much shows us that He is so concerned with us that He only gives us what we need to know. God does not want to overwhelm us or give us more knowledge than we can handle. This was Adam and Eve's problem in the Garden. They disobeyed God and took more knowledge than they could handle. Spend some time meditating today on both the wonderful things God has revealed to us but also the fact that He does not reveal all things to us. Thank Him for His careful concern for us.