The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Revelation 10:8-11,
"Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: 'Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.' So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, 'Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but "in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.'"' I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, 'You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.'"
John was told to take a scroll from the hand of an angel and eat it. This follows where John was told not to write everything down. As God's prophet, he was not to tell everything, but just those things God wanted told. Following John's eating of the scroll, he was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
The reference to eating a scroll comes from the book of Ezekiel, where in Ezekiel 3:3, the prophet was told to eat a scroll. In that passage we are told it was sweet as honey in his mouth, just as John's scroll was in his mouth. However, in Ezekiel 1:1, where Ezekiel was to told to go and speak to the people of Israel, Israel was not on a good footing with the Lord, "The people of Israel are not willing to listen to you [Ezekiel] because they are not willing to listen to me [the Lord], for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate." Ezekiel 3:7.
So too, when John had eaten his scroll, and where the words of the Lord were as sweet as honey in the mouth, as with Ezekiel, the prophecies the scroll contained were devastating to the recipients, as with Ezekiel, and turned John's stomach sour in a figurative sense.
I am reminded there are times when God's people receive his word, finding them satisfying, enjoyable, and sweet to the soul. However, having received them and sensing the Lord's desire that we pass on his words to those around us, we just may find it something akin to turning stomachs sour. There are those who are unwilling to listen to what it is the Lord wants us to speak to them about as we share the gospel with them.
I have to think this was the case for John as he was to tell of the horrific judgments of God.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
"Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: 'Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.' So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, 'Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but "in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.'"' I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, 'You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.'"
John was told to take a scroll from the hand of an angel and eat it. This follows where John was told not to write everything down. As God's prophet, he was not to tell everything, but just those things God wanted told. Following John's eating of the scroll, he was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
The reference to eating a scroll comes from the book of Ezekiel, where in Ezekiel 3:3, the prophet was told to eat a scroll. In that passage we are told it was sweet as honey in his mouth, just as John's scroll was in his mouth. However, in Ezekiel 1:1, where Ezekiel was to told to go and speak to the people of Israel, Israel was not on a good footing with the Lord, "The people of Israel are not willing to listen to you [Ezekiel] because they are not willing to listen to me [the Lord], for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate." Ezekiel 3:7.
So too, when John had eaten his scroll, and where the words of the Lord were as sweet as honey in the mouth, as with Ezekiel, the prophecies the scroll contained were devastating to the recipients, as with Ezekiel, and turned John's stomach sour in a figurative sense.
I am reminded there are times when God's people receive his word, finding them satisfying, enjoyable, and sweet to the soul. However, having received them and sensing the Lord's desire that we pass on his words to those around us, we just may find it something akin to turning stomachs sour. There are those who are unwilling to listen to what it is the Lord wants us to speak to them about as we share the gospel with them.
I have to think this was the case for John as he was to tell of the horrific judgments of God.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
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