Revelation 10: The Little Scroll

¹Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. ² He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, ³ and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. ⁴ And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” ⁵ And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven ⁶ and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, ⁷ but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹ So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰ And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. ¹¹ And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” (Revelation 10, ESV)

We now come to the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets. Just as there was an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals, so there is a parenthetical interlude here. The interlude is not to be though of as something that happens historically between the sixth and seventh trumpets, but things that happen all during the church age between Christ’s first and second advents. The interlude provides further information on the church age. In this interlude, John is recommissioned as a prophet to the ungodly to prophecy their idolatry and wickedness and that their unfaithfulness will result in their doom. Further, in chapter 11 the vision of the persecution of the witnessing church shows the basis of the judgment of the persecutors.

Verse 1: John sees a mighty angel coming down from heaven. What is this angel? The angel is: (1) wrapped in a cloud, (2) has a rainbow over his head, (3) has a face like the sun, and (4) his legs are like pillars of fire. Looking at each of these descriptions:

Cloud. Only God comes in a cloud in the Old Testament, except for Christ in Daniel 7:13 where the Son of Man comes in the clouds to received authority from the Ancient of Days. The Daniel passage is referred to in the New Testament: Matthew 24:30; 26:64; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27; Acts 1:9; Revelation 1:7; 14:14-16. Each of these passages in the New Testament refers to Christ. The Son of Man is given the attributes of God indicating this Son of Man is Christ.

Rainbow. The rainbow on the head indicates a divine being. Ezekiel 1:26-28 describes God with a rainbow around him. This passage in Revelation provides a similar description.

Face like a Sun. This corresponds to the previous description of Christ in Revelation 1:16.

Legs are like pillars of fire. Daniel 10:6 and Revelation 1:15 speak of feet burnished bronze, while this passage speaks of legs like pillars of fire. The reason is to give the image of God in the wilderness with Israel where he appeared as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

This image of Christ is of God’s presence in the wilderness with Israel. Here Christ is present to guide the faithful witnesses of the New Israel through the wilderness of the world. The rainbow is an expression of God’s faithfulness to carry out his promises. That this is Christ is also confirmed in verse 3 with a voice like a lion. Christ is appearing like the divine angel in the Old Testament to commission his prophet.

Verse 2: The angel has a little scroll, small enough to swallow. The scroll contains what will happen “about many peoples and nations and languages and kings” (verse 11). This scroll refers to what will happen at least in Revelation 11-16. The scroll is also similar to the scroll in Revelation 5. The similarities are:
(1) Both scrolls are opened.
(2) Both scrolls are held by Christ.
(3) Christ is likened to a lion.
(4) Both are allusions to the scroll of Ezekiel 2.
(5) Both scrolls are related to the end-time prophecy of Daniel 12.
(6) Both scrolls concern the future of “peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Thus the meaning of the scroll in Revelation 5 is similar to the meaning of the scroll in Revelation 10. This contains God’s plan for redemption and judgment. This plan was set in motion by Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. Christ is worthy to take this scroll because he was the faithful witness and redeemed his people through his death and resurrection. This scroll would appear to cover history from Christ death until he returns. Christ, wearing the rainbow, has taken over the authority from the Father to execute the contents of the scroll.

With this open scroll, Christ sets his foot on the land and sea. Since his legs are pillars of fire, this indicates that Christ will be judging earth dwellers over the entire earth. This indicates Christ’s sovereignty even over the upcoming dragon in Revelation.

Verses 3 - 7 – Crying out with a loud voice like a lion. This has the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion in the Old Testament (see: Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8), once again giving evidence this angel is Christ – or a powerful representative bearing a strong resemblance to Christ.

When the called out, seven thunders came out. There is an allusion to Psalm 29 with its sevenfold thunders. Again, this seems to indicate Christ is speaking, as the thunders in Psalm 29 come from the Lord. Further, Psalm 29 seems to speak of judgment of the ungodly. The thunders contain a revelation that John understood and was going to write. The angel tells John not to write it down. The content of the thunders are sealed up, which means hidden. What are the thunders? We can only speculate. It could be another judgment cycle, like the seals or trumpets. Perhaps at this phase of the trumpets, just before the final judgment, the thunders might be a cycle of final judgment. Some speculate that this cycle was canceled because there is going to be no more delay in the coming of the final judgment. It could also be a recapitulation cycle that occurs in parallel with the seals and trumpets that conveys no further useful information. It could also be that God has reserved some things in history for only him to know and is showing that he is not revealing all that will occur.

The imagery of the angel bears an allusion to Daniel 12. This will become even clearer with the scroll. Daniel was presented with a scroll, which was sealed until the time of the end. Daniel does not understand the words and they are sealed. John hears the thunders and understands, but the words are sealed from everyone else.

Verses 8 – 10. John is given a scroll from the angel. It is referred to as the “little scroll (v. 9). Apparently there is not much distinction between a “scroll” and “little scroll” in which this is used. This opened scroll of Revelation 5, where the seven seals are opened, is the scroll John is commanded to eat. The scroll is sweet to the mouth, because God’s word is sweet and God’s love for his people is sweet. But the scroll is bitter in the stomach because it contains judgments against the earth dwellers. John is commissioned to prophecy to all peoples, nations, languages, and kings.