WONDERFUL and glorious is this scene in the drama portrayed in chapter 10. It comes in as an important afterthought, beginning before the sixth trumpet ceased, and continuing beyond. As it could not well, in the divine plan of revelation, come into the description of the trumpet itself, the vision of chapter 10 comes in at the close of the sixth trumpet as a separate prophecy, even as the sealing work of chapter 7 follows the account of the opening of the sixth seal. The vision of chapter 10 is a prophecy of the great Advent movement of 1830–44, especially the last four years of this period.
Questions on the Text.
What glorious being was shown the prophet?
“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.” Verse 1.
What special things are said of him?
“And he had in his hand a little book open; and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth; and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.” Verses 2, 3.
What is said of the seven thunders?
“And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.” Verse 4.
What oath did the angel swear?
“And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and swear by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.” Verses 5, 6.
What did he say should be finished, and when?
“But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets.” Verse 7.
What was John instructed to do?
“And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.” Verse 8.
What instruction did the angel give him?
“And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.” Verse 9.
What was the prophet’s experience?
“And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.” Verse 10.
What further instruction was given?
“And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” Verse 11.
Note and Comment.
1. A Message of Obscurity.—As before shown in these studies, an angel not only stands for God’s superhuman agencies, but is symbolical of the people which God will use to do His work. God’s spirit messengers always work in harmony with God’s servants in earth. This angel, as has been shown and will be hereafter shown, represents the great Advent movement of 1830–1844. It reached its climax during the last four years, at the close of the three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days of the sixth seal, which closed Aug. 11, 1840. “Coming down out of heaven” to the earth is indicative of mighty power. Compare Rev. 18:1 with the angels of Revelation 14, who fly in mid heaven but do not come down to the earth. “Arrayed with a cloud” indicates obscurity. The message would not be fully understood. Some parts of its glory and brightness would be hidden from God’s people, but the rainbow, token of God’s mercy, is a symbol of hope. The glory of the message, symbolized by the sun, shines upon the cloud of obscurity and its rain of tears, and paints on its blackness God’s covenant bow. “Pillars of fire” would be indicative of refinement in the furnace of affliction. All this was true of the earthly actors in the great advent work of the period of which we have spoken.
2. A World-wide Message.—The angel placed one foot upon the sea and one upon the land, showing that the message would be sent to all the earth. That was emphatically true of that message. Hundreds of ministers in England and Europe gave the message. It was preached in oriental lands by Joseph Wolfe and others. Ministers of all denominations, the most active and earnest of which was William Miller, preached the message of the near coming of the Lord in America. Some writers tell us that publications on this subject went to every missionary station on the earth. In some instances little children preached the coming of Christ with a power which carried conviction to hearts and with a courage and zeal which threats and imprisonments could neither daunt nor suppress.
3. Seven Thunders.—The seven thunders spoke in response to the great voice of the angelic message. What they said we do not know. John was forbidden to write. Evidently they could not be understood or comprehended. Rather were they not the expression of the complete and varied experiences of God’s children during that time of triumph, persecution, and disappointment?
4. The Importance of the Message is indicated by the awfully solemn manner of its giving.5The mighty angel swears by the everlasting God, the Creator of the heaven and the earth, and the burden is that time shall be no longer; that the closing work of God shall be no longer delayed. Compare with Dan. 12:7.
5. The Message and Its Basis.—The message is summed up in the expression, “There shall be time no longer.” Verse 6. The proof of this is presented in verse 7, namely, that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings “which He hath declared unto His servants the prophets.” The time must be that declared in connection with the Gospel by the prophets. The mystery of God is “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16) and is plainly declared to be the Gospel (Eph. 6:19). God has declared this Gospel through all His prophets, notably through Isaiah and Daniel. How graphically are the sufferings and glory of Christ set before us in Isaiah 53 and following chapters! So also in Daniel; not only is the Gospel of Christ and His kingdom set forth in declaration, but its power and wisdom is demonstrated in the flesh of Daniel and his companions. Neither in Isaiah nor in the other prophets, save one, is time connected with this Gospel message; but in Daniel’s visions of God time is a prominent feature. We have the “time and times and half a time” (1,260 year-days) of Dan. 7:25; the 2,300 year-days of Dan. 8:14; the former period repeated in Dan. 12:7; and the 1,290 and 1,335 year-days of verses 11, 12. All these periods are connected with the giving of the glad tidings.
The longest of all these periods is the 2,300 prophetic days of Dan. 8:14: “Unto 2,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (or justified). The sanctuary in the past was the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the temple in Jerusalem. Both of these were types or shadows of the sanctuary on high, where our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, ministers. See Ex. 25:40, and Hebrews 8 and 9. These days—including and noting in their wonderful sweep the restoration of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, the anointing and crucifixion of the Messiah—carry us forward to the time when, according to the ancient type of sanctuary and temple (Leviticus 16) the High Priest finishes His general mediatorial work once for all, and enters upon the close of His ministrations,—the remembrance of all cases before God, the blotting out of the sins of the faithful of all ages, the cleansing of the records in the sanctuary above and in the lives of the church beneath, the separation of the two classes, righteous and wicked, and the close of mediatorial work for men.
The 2,300 days (years) reach to the beginning of that closing work. They begin at the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem (Dan. 9:25; Ezra 7:7–26), B. C. 457, and reach to A. D. 1844. At the close of that period definite, prophetic time ended; beyond that date there is to be no precise periods nor basis for setting dates for Christ to come. All that reaches beyond that to the great consummation is the undefined, indeterminate “days of the voice of the sounding of the seventh angel.” The sixth trumpet ceased its sounding Aug. 11, 1840. A little period intervened between that and the sounding of the seventh trumpet, covered by the word “quickly” (Rev. 11:14). We surely must conclude that the sounding of the seventh angel began at the very time when the finishing of the mystery of God began, when Christ entered upon His closing work before the ark of God, containing the law, the rule of the judgment. This is also shown to be correct by the fact stated in Rev. 11:19, that when the seventh trumpet sounded, there was seen in God’s temple the ark of His testament, containing His law. The message which the angel of chapter 10 symbolizes is, therefore, a time message; and in this, as in every other respect, it was fulfilled by the givers of the Advent Message in 1840 to 1844.
6. The Little Book.—Rotherham renders from Westcott’s and Hort’s Greek Text a little scroll, “opened,” implying that it had been closed. Now there is but one book among the prophets which declares the Gospel message in connection with time, as there is but one book among the prophets which was ever said to be closed or sealed; this little book opened must refer to that one book. That book is the book of Daniel. We have before seen that the book presented Gospel time messages. This is what is said of its closing: Daniel asked, “O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he [the angel] said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white; and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12:8–10, 4. The little book in the angel’s hand was the book of Daniel, given to John as the representative of the church in the time of the end.
7. Eating of the Little Book.—The eating of a book is indicative of its reception, its absorption, the receiving of its message. Thus the reception of the message Ezekiel was to give was symbolized. Eze. 2:8–10. It was sweet in the mouth, showing the glad reception of the Gospel of the kingdom by the believers in that movement. After being received it was bitter, showing the bitterness of the disappointment of those who were expecting Christ in 1844, and the Master did not come. But did these disappointed ones fulfil prophecy?—They certainly did fulfil this prophecy, didn’t they? They were bitterly disappointed after their message of sweetness and light. Did not the disciples fulfil prophecy when they hailed Christ as King on His entrance to Jerusalem?—They certainly did. Compare Zech. 9:9 with Matt. 21:4–9; Luke 19:36–40. Jesus said that if His disciples should then hold their peace, “the very stones would cry out.” Why?—Because the prophecy must be fulfilled. But Jesus did not enter Jerusalem to take a throne and reign, but to die; and the disciples were disappointed and became a reproach to the scoffers. They thought He was to redeem Israel. Luke 24:21. And so it was in the great Advent Movement. William Miller was right in regard to the time, but wrong in the event to take place at the end of the time. The world needed his message, and to separate the chaff from the wheat, the love-servers from the time-servers and fear-servers, the disappointment was needed. God’s people saw the light, the glory; they felt the power; but they did not clearly see all behind the cloud. Yet over all the bitter disappointments and the dark cloud of obscurity, the rainbow of hope arched the sky; and the message of disappointment was to be made clear by the message to follow, to be given to all nations, God’s everlasting Gospel message, which, when we reach it more fully, we will study. In this message we can see the wonderful fulfilment of the Word of God, even in man’s blindness.