Bittersweet Truth: Revelation: 10:1-11 | When God’s Word is Hard to Swallow

Have you ever experienced something both sweet and bitter at the same time? Revelation 10 vividly illustrates the sweetness and bitterness of God’s Word. In this sermon, we explore the authority of God’s Word, the certainty of His unfolding plan, and the challenge of proclaiming His truth—even when it’s hard to swallow.

We are reminded that God’s Word brings comfort and joy, yet it carries a weight of responsibility and conviction. Join us as we unpack this powerful passage and consider how to live as faithful witnesses to His truth in a world that desperately needs His Word.

📖 Scripture Reference: Revelation 10:1-11

✝️ Sermon Points:
📌 The Authority of God’s Word (Revelation 10:1-4)
📌 The Certainty of God’s Plan (Revelation 10:5-7)
📌 The Bittersweet Reality of Proclaiming God’s Word (Revelation 10:8-11)

First Reformed Evangelical Presbyterian Church is a Confessional Presbyterian and Reformed church committed to Christ-centered preaching and scriptural fidelity. Our mission is to glorify God through faithful worship and growing disciples of Jesus Christ.

💬 Connect with Us: https://connect.efrc.me
📺 Subscribe to Our Channel: Don’t miss future sermons and devotional content! Hit subscribe and click the bell icon to stay connected.

Transcription:

So imagine with me that you're sitting down at your table and you're about to enjoy a nice, warm slice of toast with peanut butter on it, and you've drizzled some excellent exquisitely sweet honey on it. And when that sweetness hits your tongue, it's a delightful experience.

But now imagine that someone hands you a small glass of lemon juice as a chaser for that. Not sweet lemonade, straight lemon juice. And so you take a gulp of it, and the tartness almost makes your eyes water, because it's so strong. So strong that you come to a full understanding of why lemonade is not only diluted with water extensively, but why it is so profusely sweetened.

Sweetness and bitterness could not feel any more opposite. They are very different tastes and flavors, yet they often come hand in hand for us as we experience life. Well, this contrast captures for us the essence of the passage for today. In Revelation 10, John is given a little scroll to eat, one that is sweet as honey in his mouth, but then turns bitter in his stomach.

And this is a vivid picture of what it means to encounter the Word of God. His truth, it brings comfort, it gives us joy, but at the same time, it carries with us a weight, a burden of responsibility, of being convicted of our sin, and sometimes it even gives us sorrow. So we're gonna be focusing on the authority of God's word today.

We're gonna also look at the unshakable nature of the plans of God. And then we're gonna close up today by talking about the bittersweet reality of God's revelation. So as we consider these ideas, we will understand the importance of proclaiming God's word, even when the message is hard to swallow.

So let's step into this passage today as we consider our first point and look at Revelation 10, verses one through four. So as we land in this passage today, it's important that we do a very quick refresh on where we closed up last time, last week. So we looked at Revelation 9, 13 through 21, and what we saw there was a sobering reality of humanity's stubborn refusal to repent.

You'll remember that even in the face of God's clear and just judgment, people were refusing to turn from their sin. And our main points last week were the precision of God's sovereign hand, the devastating consequences of sin, and the tragedy. of seeing hearts that are hardened against the mercy of God. And we saw that the message of that sixth trumpet was a call for us to reflect, reflect on our need for repentance and to rest on the grace that is found in Christ alone.

So that is the context moving us to Revelation 10. And while a lot has happened during the sounding of these first six trumpets here in Revelation, as I mentioned before, the details of these trumpets have been relatively scant. We've seen moments like this in Revelation before where there is A lot happening, but very little details. Vivid apocalyptic imagery, but described in very limited words.

But then, suddenly things slow down, and we start to see some deeper, interesting details of this vision that John is telling us about. So what John observes in what we've read today is an angel descending from heaven. And this angel is wrapped in a cloud, has a rainbow over his head, and then this angel's face is like the sun. Also has legs like pillars of fire, and we're told that this angel has a little scroll in his hand.

Now, if you're like me, when you read this initially, it comes off as really confusing. I think what I do is I try too hard to imagine what all this looks like instead of thinking about the words. But what I've found is that The best way to read stuff like this in Revelation is to stop and try to get the full image out of my head and think about what each part of the angel is trying to tell us here.

So the cloud calls us back to the idea of the presence of God. Think about the cloud that led the people of Israel in Exodus. And remember, the idea of a cloud often in the Old Testament and in the New Testament at times is the idea of God coming in judgment as well. Then, think about the rainbow. You know what the rainbow is. It's meant to bring our minds to that covenant that God made with Noah.

What we're meant to see here is this is a covenant God who is faithful. We're reminded of the promises of God in this image. Well, then we have the angel's face shining like a sun. And this reflects the radiance of God's glory and his unapproachable holiness. And then we have the legs like pillars of fire.

And that's meant to call to mind to us God's righteous judgment that he is unmoving. but it also calls us back to this idea of the pillar of fire in the wilderness too, how this guides us. Well then, we have the little scroll. Well this represents God's revealed will. Now it's small enough, we'll talk about that in a little bit, it's small enough for John to take in and internalize, but yet we see that it's weighty in significance.

If we start with the symbols individually in this description and work from there, We come away with a better idea of what John is trying to convey to us here at the beginning of chapter 10. And there is a lot being expressed. And the idea is there is power here. There is authority here to what we're seeing.

The angel is standing on the sea and the land. There is authority over both of these places of creation then, right? Well then, there's a voice. And it's not just an ordinary voice. John tells us it's like a lion. When a lion roars, you pay attention.

And so to continue to convey this significance and power to us, we also see John tell us that this causes seven thunders to sound. You get the feeling here that something substantial is going on. That's what we're meant to feel here. What is happening, what is being spoken here, what is being done is happening with authority and with absolute power. It is from God.

Now, John is told, though, that the thunders have spoken something, but he is to seal it up. It isn't to be written down. It isn't supposed to be repeated. Now, naturally... The number one thing I think of when I read this is I wonder what is so secretive. Now, we can't know, and we must trust that God is wiser than us not to reveal what God heard in this vision.

But often we tend to get enamored with the stuff we can't know. We become obsessed with it and it makes us discontent and we end up speculating and obsessing over it. Have you ever been in the room and two people are clearly talking about something pertaining to you over text messages? You want to know what's happening. You know it's probably something good.

It's probably some sort of surprise. They're planning it via text so that you won't know. But instead of being happy that these people care about you, that maybe they're doing something nice for you, you naturally want to know what you aren't supposed to know. This is human nature. And I think we do the same thing with passages like this.

But the message here is that these verses are clear on the stuff that we're supposed to know, not on the stuff we're not supposed to. Think through the descriptions of this angel one more time. The God who is near to us, the God who keeps his covenant is holy, and he is firm, and he is strong, and he is protecting his people, and he speaks, and it has authority.

That should be enough for us, and it is enough for us. We need to trust in what God is speaking and what he has revealed to us. And so this vision of the mighty angel reminds us of something very important, that God's word is not just a source of comfort. It is the ultimate authority over our lives.

When we face uncertainty, discouragement, or even the reality of our sin, this passage calls us to trust in the one who speaks with power and stands firm over all things. And so we need to ask ourselves, Are we living as though God's word has the kind of authority that it says it has here in our lives? Do our decisions, our priorities, and responses to the challenges that we face in life reflect our trust in his unshakable word?

We say we believe in the authority and in the sufficiency of God's word, but does what we say we believe translate into our daily lives? So as we consider this, we also see that the angel's message doesn't stop with just the appearance that he has, this amazing image that we see. His actions and the announcement that he makes of no more delay point us toward God's unfolding plan for his world.

So let's move to verses five to seven to see the certainty of God's plan and how this truth is meant to give you and I comfort and strengthen our hope. So This part of Revelation, chapter 10, is a detailed interlude in this story of John's vision, and it continues here with the angel making an oath by the one who lives forever and created the heavens and all that is in them.

So the angel says that there would be no more delays. but that when the trumpet is sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled just as it was announced by the prophets who were servants of God. That's what I want us to make sure we see here today, that last phrase there. Because this brings us back to a theme that keeps being brought up throughout the book of Revelation for us.

What is happening and what is going to happen, it's the plan of God. And some of these apocalyptic visions seem so unbelievably chaotic. But in all of this, the plan of God is being accomplished. And we need to remember what that plan is. It is the salvation of his people.

The bringing about of the kingdom of God. Justice being done for the oppressed. We come to Revelation, and we're always looking for all kinds of signs, and we wonder what all of it means. But the repeated theme, what we're meant to truly understand as we read this book, is that God wins victory for his people.

He has come in Christ and he has claimed a people for his own possession. Sin and rebellion will not go unpunished. That is clearly said too. But where we find hope is in the fact that in the midst of all of this judgment, there is refuge in the Lamb who was slain.

Now, I said we want to focus on this phrase here, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. I think that when we think of the idea of prophets, I think we tend to atomize or look at the tiny details of the prophetic books. And we should. It's amazing to see the precision with which prophecies from the Bible come to pass. like Jesus being born in Bethlehem.

We talked about that during Advent. But we shouldn't look at individual details, those small things, at the expense of the whole. So what is the big picture of what the prophets are saying? What is the big picture of Bible prophecy? It's the fulfillment of the promise of the Redeemer that was found in Genesis 3 after the fall.

Each piece of the puzzle of Bible prophecy is important. But the bigger picture... is the one of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to fulfill that promise and crushing the head of the serpent. That's the point of Bible prophecy. We can't miss that. Again, we can look at the little details, but don't get obsessed with that corner piece.

Look at the whole puzzle as it comes together. The big story is God redeeming his people. And that's the big picture of prophecy being talked about by the angel in this vision, that God ordains all things to come to pass for the salvation of the people of God. What the angel is saying is that all of this is being fulfilled.

The mystery of God is made known, and it isn't a surprise. It's what is coming to pass because God has ordained it. It has been promised. It has been spoken of since the foundation of the world. Now, it's happening slowly by human standards, but it happens in his time because he keeps his promises. He is a God who keeps his covenant with

And the message being conveyed to the readers of Revelation is that you have been struggling with persecution, you are experiencing tribulation, but God is in control. And those folks who received this book have likely wondered, where is God? Where is He right now? We are suffering. But the angel is saying, the whole story is coming together.

The individual pieces of the puzzle were scattered on the table, but now it is coming together and they will see the most amazing picture that there can be, the salvation of the people of God. And while when the pieces were scattered on the table, it seemed as though it could never come together to that beautiful picture. The result was never in doubt. Because God is a God who keeps his covenant.

He keeps his promises. His promise to his people is unshakable. So this vision reminds us that no matter how chaotic life feels, God's plan unfolds exactly as he has ordained. His promise to redeem his people and bring justice is not delayed, forgotten. It isn't uncertain. God is always right on time.

So when we face challenges, when we experience doubts or seasons of waiting, we can trust that his covenant with us is unshakable and his purposes are good. And this waiting and this trusting in God's plan isn't something that we do passively. As we see this passage close up today, John is called to take that little scroll and consume it.

And this symbolizes a deep personal responsibility to internalize God's Word and to proclaim it. So let's move to verses 8 through 11 to explore this bittersweet reality of carrying God's message. So really, let's be honest, the vision gets really strange here. When you pictured this in your mind as I was reading it, and you were told that there was a small scroll in his hand, you're imagining this gigantic angel with all these, you know, the rainbow, the cloud, the pillars, standing on the land and on the sea.

You weren't imagining that that little scroll, even though they said it was little, you weren't imagining that John could eat it, right? So this image gets even more different than we started out imagining it because it turns out that this thing that we would never imagine as being a snack is now being consumed by John. The angel tells him to take and eat and he warns him about the effects of ingesting this scroll.

Now, do you have a food you loved the taste of, but when you eat it, you pay the price? You can't wait to consume it, but you know you are going to have heartburn that will make you miserable very soon after you enjoy it. I'm sure most of us have something that does that to us. And so we understand what the angel is telling John here.

That's the basic message. We can get this. We can understand this. This is a helpful imagery for us. But what's happening here with this imagery? Well, the Word of God is sweet. It contains the promises of God for his people. It contains good news. It contains the prophetic word that John is receiving.

It's a glorious announcement of the rescuing of God's people. But the bitterness reminds us that it comes at a price. Evil is not defeated by just a swiping of the hand. The judgment of God is severe and there will be suffering. You know, we all want justice. in the world, but we often forget that there is a price for that.

It is difficult to see judgment can be a bitter thing. And despite the difficulty of proclaiming and pronouncing these judgments, we read that John is to be faithful to proclaim the prophetic word that is being delivered to him. Even though it's a hard thing for him to speak, his speech is not supposed to be muted.

He is to faithfully proclaim the word of the Lord, and we see that it is an important word that he has proclaimed, and we also see that it affects many because it goes to many peoples and nations and languages and kings. This word of God's justice goes beyond the churches in Asia that this is being written to. It goes beyond Jerusalem. It goes out to the ends of the earth and it must not be silenced.

And this part of the vision challenges us to embrace the bittersweet reality of God's word. You know, we love the sweetness of his promises. The good news of salvation. The faithfulness of God to redeem. But we can't ignore the bitterness that comes along with it. The judgment against sin. The call to repentance. The difficulty of proclaiming hard truths.

Just like John, we're called to take in God's Word and let it shape us deeply, even if it is uncomfortable, even if it's bitter. And we're also called to share it boldly, trusting God to use our faithfulness for His purposes, even when we struggle, when we find it hard to deliver that message. So the question that naturally comes from what we've read here, from this truth that we see, are we willing to do this?

Are we willing to let the Word of God penetrate our lives? Will we proclaim His truth with courage and love, even if it's difficult and costly? It's easy to consume the sweetness, right? but we can't forget that there's a difficulty in doing it, that we must do.

So as we close up and we think of the big picture being painted for us in this chapter, we see that Revelation 10 has a vivid image for us of the authority of God's Word. It shows us the certainty of His plan, but also the bittersweet

reality of proclaiming the truth of God.

And these words that we have heard today call us to reflect on how we live in response to this truth.

Do we truly trust in the authority of God's word?

Does it guide our decisions and shape our priorities?

Are we resting in the certainty of God's plan even when life feels chaotic or unclear?

And are we proclaiming his word faithfully, embracing both the sweetness of his promises and

and the hard truth of repentance and the cost of discipleship.

So as we leave this passage today, let's commit ourselves to trust and obey the word of God.

For he is the one who speaks with power and unfolds his plans perfectly.

And as his people, we have the blessing of sharing his message with the world, even when it's hard to swallow.

His word is worth proclaiming because it brings life, hope, and salvation.

So let's take this truth from here into our lives this week, living as people who have been transformed by the unshakable word of God.

Amen.