“HOW LONG, O LORD, HOLY AND TRUE, WILL YOU REFRAIN FROM JUDGING AND AVENGING OUR BLOOD?” REV. 6:10. “THERE WILL BE DELAY NO LONGER.” REV. 10:6

Dear Friends,

The angel and the little book – (please read Revelation 10). Who is this angel? In Revelation 12:7-9 it states that Michael and the Lord's angels prevail over Satan and the fallen angels.  Thus, Michael is shown to be stronger than Satan; therefore, Michael could certainly be considered to be a "strong (or mighty) angel" and the one seen in this verse. (Also see Dan. 12:1 and Jude 1:9) Some say it is Jesus Christ but Ken Boa, Steve Griffith and others (Walvoord, MacArthur) believe it is not the Lord because vv. 5-6 show the angel raising his hand to heaven to swear by Him (God) Who created all things. When one swears to another in the Bible it shows the lesser swearing to the greater and we never see Christ doing this in the Scriptures as there is co-equality in the God-head. Also Christ Himself created all things (1 Cor. 8:6; Heb. 1:1-3). Finally, Christ is never called an angel in the New Testament and, unlike Christ, this angel comes to earth before the time of tribulation is over.

The point of this chapter (another parenthesis in the flow of events from 10:1 to11:14) is that God is showing He is still in control. Verses 2b-3 show God's authority over all creation. John may have been confused after what the Lord showed him in chapters 8 and 9 where Satan and his demons seemingly are in control as they torture and kill millions. As I stated before, the Tribulation is God pouring out His wrath on unrepentant man but He uses evil man (the Antichrist and others) and even Satan and his demons to administer His wrath.                           The little book – Again commentators differ on the contents of this little book. Some say it is the same as the scroll in chapters 4-6 (the scroll Christ opens to judge the world) but others disagree because it is a different Greek word; the scroll in chapters 4-6 is "biblion" and here it is "biblaridion." Also the scroll Jesus is breaking open in chapter 5 is not fully open but this one is. Griffith and others think that it is the part of the Revelation that is subsequent to the sounding of the seventh trumpet (i.e., chapters 11:19-19:21). Gaebelein believes that the book "stands for the prophecies in the Old Testament relating especially to Israel during the time of the great Tribulation, what is yet to come upon the earth, culminating in the personal and glorious appearing of the Lord to begin His millennial reign."

"When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And 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." Some say the seven thunders were seven more judgments that were withheld by God ("in wrath He remembers mercy" – Habakkuk 3:2) but others think these are judgments to come that are "sealed up" and revealed only to John at this time. (See Rev. 22:10; Dan. 12:4, 9; Deut. 29:29)                                                         

"There will be no more delay! (KJV wrongly translates this to say: "there should be time no longer") But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." The mystery of God has to do with prophecies given to Old Testament prophets, in this case, about the Day of the Lord when God will finally judge all evil. The mystery is that an All-Powerful, All-Loving God has allowed evil to go on so long with no seeming judgment. ["The angel is stating that there will be no more delay in rectifying the wrong government of the earth. Sin has held sway long enough. God's secret dealings are over, and His public judgments begin. Heaven is silent no longer, and man's day is about to close. The seventh angel is the one who sounds the seventh trumpet which brings God's final judgments (through the seven bowl or vial judgments) in rapid succession and ushers in the kingdom of "our Lord and His Christ." KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997] "Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,  "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."  (Revelation 11:15-18)

"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." ["For the believer, it is sweet to read of God's determination to glorify His Son where He was once crucified. It is sweet to read of the triumph of God over Satan and all his hosts. It is sweet to read of the time when the wrongs of earth will all be made right. But there is bitterness also connected with the study of prophecy. There is the bitterness of self-judgment (conviction of sin as we read God's Word) which the prophetic Scriptures produce. There is the bitterness of viewing the judgments which must soon fall on apostate Judaism and Christendom. And there is the bitterness of contemplating the eternal doom of all who reject the Savior. John was told that he must prophesy (warn of the coming judgment) to peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. The remaining chapters of Revelation fulfill this mandate."  MacDonald, William; Farstad, Arthur: Believer's Bible Commentary.]   And we too must warn others that the Lord's judgment is coming so they "will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

[" Now remember, at the time when this revelation is read by believers in the future, the earth will be full of satanic enterprises, demons running everywhere, murder, sexual perversion, drugs, sorceries, thefts, all hell dominating human society, men dropping dead, executed by demons, as we saw, massacring each other. And here comes the promise that God is going to step in and intervene. He's going to bring this whole thing to a screeching halt. The delay is over. Right now we live in that delay. Judgment is held back. But somewhere beyond the starry sky there stands a herald angel with a final trumpet in his hand. Somewhere behind the scenes that we can see he is waiting to hear the decree of the Lord God Almighty, there is a day, there is an hour, there is a moment, there is an appointed time when that angel shall sound and the world will become Christ's. The mystery of God will be over and God will say to Satan…this is your destruction. God will say to evil…this is your last dominion. And God will say to demons…this is your last liberty. And God will say to godless men…this is your last hope. And God will say to believers…this is your last suffering." John MacArthur]    

Until He comes,

Len and Kristen

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