A Strong Angel with a Small Scroll
Revelation 10:1-11
As John describes in chronological order the judgments Christ will release during the future Tribulation period, he does so as a sequence of three, seven-fold sets in a row: 7 seal judgments, 7 trumpet judgments, and 7 bowl judgments. Each seventh judgment introduces the following set but is also preceded by a dramatic intermission and pause that provides additional background information for the readers to take in.
Another Dramatic Intermission
Before Christ opened the seventh seal judgment and the seven trumpet judgments were revealed, John (1) explained God’s mission for 144,000 faithful Jewish witnesses (Rev 7:1-8), (2) gave a glimpse of Tribulation martyrs who were praying in the throne room of God (Rev 7:9-17), and (3) described a brief moment of silence in heaven (Rev 8:1).
Now before the seventh trumpet judgment is revealed and the seven bowl judgments begin, John gives us another dramatic pause. Here he (1) describes a mighty angel who made a solemn announcement (Rev 10:1-7), (2) reveals a bittersweet assignment he received for himself (Rev 10:8-11), and (3) explains God’s special mission for two designated witnesses on Earth, including their death and resurrection (Rev 11:1-14).
In this lesson, we’ll take a closer look at the first two parts of this intermission and leave the third part – the two witnesses – for a subsequent study.
A mighty angel makes a solemn announcement. (Rev 10:1-7)
Here John introduces another angel descending from heaven to Earth.
- He describes it as a “mighty” (or “strong”) angel, so it had an impressive, powerful appearance.
- Then he said it was “from heaven,” which identifies it as a good angel who served God rather than a fallen angel who served Satan.
- He also said it was “another” mighty angel, which likely refers back to the mighty angel in God’s throne room who cried out loudly, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” (Rev 5:2). Yet another mighty angel will make an appearance and give an announcement near the end of the Tribulation (Rev 18:21).
We don’t know whether this angel made (or will make) an actual visible appearance or whether John saw what occurred (or will occur) in the angelic, spiritual realm, though invisible to the human eye. The latter may be more likely.
Is this angel Christ?
Attempts have been made to identify this angel as Christ himself due to some similarities with Christ’s glorified appearance in Rev 1. This seems unlikely, though, because not only does Revelation never describe Christ as an angel anywhere else, but more importantly, John would definitely not describe Christ as “another of the same kind,” portraying the Son of God as being somehow equal to another angel.
Is this angel Gabriel or Michael?
Attempts have also been made to identify this angel with other well-known angels in Scripture, such as Gabriel or Michael, but since John doesn’t view the angel’s specific identity as important, neither should we. While it's possible that this angel is one of these well-known angels, it's just as possible that it's another unnamed angel we've not been introduced to before. We should focus instead on the angel’s impressive appearance and especially on what he does and speaks since we cannot say more than this with any certainty.
The angel had an impressive appearance.
John provides us with additional details about this angel’s appearance (Rev 10:1-2):
- Clothed with a cloud
- A rainbow over his head
- A face like the sun
- Feet like columns of fire
Regarding the appearance of a cloud, rainbow, and sunlight in tandem, we can envision how these factors correspond with one another. The cloud droplets encircling this angel bending the bright light from the angel’s face would produce a brilliant rainbow. This rainbow differs from the one surrounding God’s throne, however, because that one produced an emerald glow (Rev 4:3), whereas this one produces the normal, multicolored appearance with which we’re most familiar.
The reader should also recall similar (but not identical) descriptive details from Christ’s appearance (Rev 1) and the throne room of God (Rev 5). These similarities indicate that this angel has come from the very presence of God on a sacred mission from God.
This natural phenomenon of a rainbow is a God-given guarantee from God to Noah (and all mankind after him) that he would never again judge the world through a worldwide flood (Gen 9:12-17). It’s worth pointing out here that this rainbow reminds us that though the Tribulation features many forms of terrible judgments, flooding is conspicuously absent. It’s also impactful to observe that while the rainbow at this angel’s head draws attention to God’s mercy, the fiery columns at his feet draw attention to God’s fiery judgment.
The angel did some significant things.
Next, John describes some details about what the angel was doing (Rev 10:2-3):
- He held a small scroll in his hand
- He placed his right foot on the sea
- He placed his left foot on dry land
- He cried out with a loud voice (like a lion’s roar)
What was this little scroll?
As you might expect, people debate what may have been written on this little scroll. The fact is, John never tells us what – if anything – was written on this scroll. When he speaks about the scroll, he emphasizes instead not what it said but what it represented, so that’s what we should focus on when we read this passage.
According to Rev 10:8-11, this scroll represented God’s message of judgment. A similar example occurred for the Old Testament (OT) prophet Ezekiel when God presented him with a similar, unidentified scroll (Ezek 2:9-3:3ff). A key difference between them is that the message of judgment God gave to Ezekiel concentrated on the nation of Israel, but John’s message of judgment concentrated on all nations and ethnicities (Rev 10:11).
Regardless of what this scroll had written on it (if anything at all), it served primarily as a sensory object lesson for John that depicted the bittersweet nature of prophesying the remaining judgments that God was commissioning him to declare.
What was the angel doing?
That he placed his two feet on the sea and the land respectively likely indicates the comprehensive scope of his mission, to announce divine judgment to the entire world rather than to one specific location or another.
How was his voice like a lion’s roar?
By crying out with a loud voice, this angel commanded John’s attention. That the loud cry resembled that of a lion may further indicate not only the loudness of the angel’s voice but also its stunning, overpowering effect.
The roar of a lion is one of the most terrifying sounds in the animal kingdom. In some cases, a lion roars to warn of imminent danger, which may be similar to the intentions of this strong angel’s cry – announcing the imminent danger of God’s next judgments.
What were the seven thunders?
To add to this terrifying spectacle, John tells us that when the angel cried out, seven thunderous sounds followed, each of which said something. At this point, we’re reminded that as John is observing all that we read in Revelation, he is writing down what he sees and hears because that’s what God had originally commissioned him to do (Rev 1:11).
In this case, however, a voice from heaven (either an angel or God himself) instructed him to “seal up the things that the seven thunders said” (Rev 11:4). This is prophetic language for withholding information because God said to do so (cf. Dan 12:4, 9). What these thunders said, only John knows (and he’s dead now, so he can’t tell us). What we know is that knowing what they said isn’t necessary for God’s purposes in our lives today.
Knowing that they happened and visualizing them in our minds is enough for now and so is familiarizing ourselves with what God did authorize John to tell us. This is yet another humbling reminder that we don’t know everything there is to know; we only know what God has told us, and we should be responsible with what he’s revealed (cf. Deut 29:29).
I like how Leonard Thompson describes this passage as an “electrifying buildup,” for so it is![1] The loud, lion-like cry followed by the seven thunderous voices leads to a most solemn announcement by this powerful and magnificent angel.
What did angel announce in such a solemn way?
With his hand raised towards heaven, in the motions of a formal oath, this angel swears by the greatest of all references – God himself (Rev 10:6). To heighten the solemnity of his announcement, the angel invokes both God’s eternality and his creation of all things (Rev 10:7).
In this announcement, the angel declares in the most solemn terms possible, that God would delay his judgment no further (as though the previous judgments were somehow “holding back!”).
This delay likely refers to the first intermission of the seal judgments when the Tribulation martyrs cried out, “How long?” (Rev 6:10). “The answer to the prayers of the saints found in the trumpet series (cf. 8:3-5) is now about to receive its final fulfillment.”[2]
John goes on to record that what is about to occur would bring to final fruition all that God had foretold through both the Old and New Testament prophets (Rev 10:7). Until John’s time and ours today, only some of the OT and NT prophecies have been fulfilled. But with the sounding of the seventh trumpet and the pouring out of the seven bowls next to come, these historic prophecies would all be completed at last.
When the seventh trumpet sounds, we get a clear picture of what this “mystery of God” entails (or that which God has revealed). It is none other than the final and full establishment of God’s universal kingdom over all kingdoms and powers through Christ (Rev 11:15).
John receives a bittersweet assignment. (Rev 10:8-11)
After the imposing strong angel completes his solemn announcement, the attention shifts from what John observed to John being spoken to directly. In Rev 10:8, a voice from heaven instructs John to approach the strong angel and ask for the little scroll. In Rev 10:9, we read that John obeyed the voice and received further instructions from the angel.
What did John do with the scroll?
John was told to eat the scroll, which implied that John would need to identify with and internalize the message of the judgments which were about to come, which he himself would write down for the world to hear. A similar dramatic portrayal of prophesying divine judgment occurred for both the OT prophets Ezekiel (Ezek 3:1-3, literally?) and Jeremiah Jer 15:16, figuratively).
The angel also disclosed the side effects of John eating this scroll and he did so, using two opposite sensations which John would go on to experience (Rev 10:9). At first, the scroll would taste fresh and sweet like honey, indicating that it would be an appealing and enjoyable message to share. Yet after the effects and outcomes of his message settled in, the message would take on a sharp, uncomfortable effect making it difficult to digest.
What happened when John ate the scroll?
True to angel’s instructions and full disclosure, John ate the scroll and experienced these very effects.
- The way that John describes this experience in straightforward terms at least suggests that he actually ate the scroll. (If this was so, I’m sure he was glad it was a little one.)
- It may also be possible for this to have been some kind of unique, prophetic experience that did not involve eating a physical scroll. Yet if this is so, then what should we say about how Ezekiel claimed to do the same thing (Ezek 3:1-3)? As we know from another of Ezekiel’s prophetic experiences, God also assigned him to eat loaves of bread made with low-quality grain baked (and smoked) over human feces and animal feces respectively (Ezek 4:9-15), so God is not averse to asking prophets to eat strange things.
How did this commission both renew and intensify John’s responsibility?
This aside, this chapter ends with a renewed commission for John. I say renew because this isn’t a new commission but is an extended commission carrying over from John’s original commission to write this book, as the word again indicates (cf. Rev 1:19).
In the prophecies that are to follow, John will say things that carry serious implications for many people groups, nations, language groups, and political leaders. Yet what he would prophesy, though similar in nature, would be both more exhilarating and excruciating than anything he had yet prophesied to this point in Revelation. The remainder of Revelation would be more bittersweet than what has come before.
Key Takeaways
What can we take away from this unusual chapter in Revelation? I’ll offer two suggestions.
Study what God has revealed and don’t make a big deal about what he has not.
Though we’ve made this observation before, we should resist the urge to go prying around for things that God has not revealed to us. For instance, we don’t know the personal identity of the strong angel in this scene, nor do we know what (if anything) was written on the little scroll. To demonstrate this takeaway most clearly of all (or most obscurely, in fact), we don’t know what the seven thunders said!
As we study Bible prophecy, let’s commit ourselves to seeing and savoring what John has recorded for us in Scripture according to God’s authority and purpose. We should focus on what is said and revealed, not what is silent, obscure, and unknown.
As the prophet Moses said centuries before, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut 29:29).
We should also focus on the words, phrases, thoughts, and flow of the book in general in a chronological, Christ-centered, pastoral way that finds encouragement from the message as it has been given to us, one sentence, paragraph, and chapter at a time.
Bible prophecy is bittersweet.
On one hand, John will tell us about the unsurpassed celebration at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:7), then he will also tell us on the other hand about the feast of the vultures as they prey upon the flesh of the world’s armies that rebelled against God at Armageddon (Rev 19:21).
On one hand, John will tell us about the creation of a new heaven and earth which God’s redeemed children will enjoy and experience for eternity (Rev 19:1-7), then he will also tell us on the other hand about the fiery lake of burning sulfur where those who rejected Christ will suffer forever (Rev 19:8).
This is the bittersweet nature of teaching God’s judgment. On one hand, it’s captivating, comforting, exhilarating, and sweet to anticipate. On the other hand, it’s bitter, difficult, excruciating, and painful to contemplate.
These realities should encourage neither fear in our hearts nor silence in our mouths. We should study and share what we learn so that the full range of impressions will shape our hearts and minds. Only then will we appreciate Christ’s mercy and justice as well as we should.
[1] Leonard L. Thompson, The Book of Revelation, Apocalypse and Empire (Oxford: Oxford Univ., 1990), 67.
[2] Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1995), 68.
