Rev 10:9 John Must Eat the Little Book 10/9/2005 ßà
#1. What Is the Little Book? (Rev 5:1, 10:8)
#2. John Must Eat the Little Book (Rev 10:8-9, Ezek 2:7-3:7,14, Jer 5:15)
#3. Thou Must Prophesy Again (Rev 10:11, John 8:34, 6:65-66, 17:9, 10:27-30)
Please open your Bibles to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Rev 10:1 (2X). We have already started in this chapter last week, but we did not finish this chapter. I did not spend any time speaking about:
And yet this is a very important subject, which we should not miss. It is such an important Book that John was commanded to eat it. And thus the title of this sermon is, “John Must Eat the Little Book” (2X). As you may have noticed, I never call the Prophecy of Revelation the “Book of Revelation”, for I have shown you 6 years ago in two sermons titled “One Book” and “One God” that actually the Bible is the One Book that God has written over a period of about 1500 years. Therefore it is a mistake to call the 66 documents of the Bible 66 books. Books as we know them did not exist in the OT time. At that time they were heavy scrolls, quite klutzy compared with the books we have today. The OT scrolls should be called “Prophecies”. The NT documents are nowhere called “books”, but they should be called “Gospels”, or “Epistles”, or in the case of Revelation it should be called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”, or “The Prophecy of Revelation”. Let us read again this Prophecy of Revelation from the start:
Re 10:1 ¶ 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:
Re 10:2-4 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. 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.
Re 10:5-6 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware 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:
Re 10:7 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.
When the last trumpet sounds, the Mystery of God shall be finished, and it shall be finished in such a way that it corresponds with what His servants the prophets have declared already. We will get into “the Mystery of God” in the present sermon. This is how far we have come last week. Then we read
Re 10:8 ¶ 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.
Re 10:9 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.
Re 10:10-11, 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. And he said unto me, Thou
must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
First of all we saw last week that this vision in chapter 10 is an
interlude. It is not part of the seven trumpets, for God intended it to be for
our comfort in the midst of our troubles in the FTP. Secondly, the Angel
of verse 1 is not an angel, but it is the Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly,
the voice of the seven thunders told us that Joh may not receive the revelation
of the mystery of the
#1. What Is this Little Book? (Rev 5:1, 10:8)
What does it represent? It is obvious that this entire scene is not meant to be understood literally. It is entirely symbolic in nature. John did not literally swallow a book. No one derives any benefit from swallowing a book, but rather from appropriating its contents by reading it. John did not experience this entire scene in the flesh, but in the spirit. This scene was shown to John in a vision, not in the flesh. And thus the Little Book represents something else than a book. Besides, this is not a book as we know it, like we have in our hand, but it is a scroll. It is much larger than a little book, and it contains two wooden rods within it. What does this Little Book represent? First of all we have to agree that it does not represent the Book that was sealed with 7 seals. Please put a sticker here in Rev 10, and turn for a moment to Rev 5:1 (2X). There we saw a Book that God has written, and that Only God knows.
Re 5:1 ¶ And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
And then Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the spotless Lamb of
God, came and took the Book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the
throne. This Book with seven seals was not a copy of something to be read by
mortal man. This Book was a symbol of the decree of God. It was God’s plan for
His creation, and only Christ was privileged to open the seals thereof and read
it. This is not the same book as the Little Book in Rev 10. First
of all, this Book with seven seals is called a Book, whereas in Rev 10 it is
called a Little Book. Secondly, the Book with seven seals was closed and
sealed, whereas the Little Book was open in the hand of Christ. Thirdly,
the Book with seven seals was not a copy of the decree of God, but it
represents the decree itself. We cannot believe that the decree of God is given
to John in order that he should swallow it. Fourthly, the Book with
seven seals is the property and can only be in the possession of the Lamb that
was slain, since there was no one else worthy to open the Book except the Lamb
of God. Therefore it is out of the question that this could be the same book as
the one in Rev 10. Please turn back again to Rev 10:8 (2X). But
is this open Little Book in Rev 10 related to the closed Book in Rev 5?
And yes it is. First of all this Little Book is found in the hand of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is here portrayed as a mighty Messenger come down from
heaven, to bring a message to His servants of whom John is the first; it is a
message by His mighty appearance as well as by a written message in a Little
Book. Secondly, we see that when John eats this Little Book, the effect of
it is that he must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and
tongues, and kings. On the other hand the Book with the seven seals was the
decree of God regarding the fate of peoples, and nations, and tongues, and
kings. It was the decree itself regarding them, with a view to the bringing of
the
This Little Book contains the message of the 7th Trumpet. Six
seals have already been opened and six trumpets have already blown. They
revealed that the
If we glance over the rest of this Prophecy of Revelation we can see what
things John must still prophesy concerning many peoples and nations and
tongues and kings, and that it is not a pleasing message. It is not a
message of peace and gradual development, but it is a message of Judgment and
battle and destruction and vengeance. He speaks of the holy city and of
the temple and of the two witnesses who are killed in the city and taken to
heaven on account of the testimony which they give. He speaks of an awful
conflict between the woman who brings forth the man-child, and the dragon who
tries to destroy the child but fails. He speaks of the beast which comes out of
the sea and the beast which comes out of the earth, and of the terrible things
they do on the earth. He speaks of the power of Antichrist and his war upon the
people of God, of tribulation and oppression for the sake of the cause of
Christ and His Kingdom. He speaks of the effect of the outpouring of the seven
vials of wrath and of the complete drying up of the great river
#2. John Must Eat the Little Book (Rev 10:8-9, Ezek 2:7-3:7,14, Jer 5:15)
Re 10:8 ¶ 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.
Re 10:9 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.
John tells us that he heard the same voice from heaven which he heard before. It is the voice which
spoke to him,
commanded him, not to write down when the seven thunders uttered their voices. These
seven thunders apparently spoke very plainly. But John must not just be
informed of the prophecy that the seven thunders uttered, but something
else must take place. John must approach the Angel who stands upon the sea and
upon the earth and who holds the Little Book in His hand, and John must ask for
the Little Book. John does so, and the Angel gives him the Little Book. The
Book is open, and it can simply be read. But John must not read it, he must
eat it, and swallow it, and thus make it part of himself. Here we have the
symbolic sign of the preparation of John as a prophet, as well as every other
true witness of Christ in the world. John must be a living witness of the truth
of God. And the message he must bring is not one that will be sweet
to the taste of the world, but one of woe and judgment. Therefore the
message he must deliver will meet with hatred and with opposition in the world.
It will be opposed by a wicked world that hates the truth and that persecute
the church. It is a world that speaks of “Peace, peace” when there is no
peace. But the message that John must bring will also be opposed by the church
as it exits now, in the present dispensation. For there are many in the church of
our days who do not truly belong to Christ and His Kingdom, and who will hate
this message of tribulation and judgment. They too will shout, “Peace, peace”,
when there is no inner peace for them. And thus the true
Put a sticker here in Rev 10 and please turn to the prophecy of Ezekiel, Ezek 2:7 (2X). You find the prophecy of Ezekiel in the middle of your Bible, right after Jeremiah and Lamentations of Jeremiah. We are drawn here to a scene that is similar to what we read in Rev 10. In Eze 1 the prophet Ezekiel receives a vision of God and in chapter 2 God speaks with him. Look how parallel God’s instructions to Ezekiel are to God’s instructions to John as we have read in Rev 10. We read in Eze 2:7,
Eze 2:7-8 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
Eze 2:9 And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
Remember the timing of this vision to Ezekiel. It was shortly before Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Babylonian armies, which was a picture of the church being overrun by “people whose language they do not understand” (Jer 5:15). Why is it that the church of today does not want to hear of God’s messages of lamentations, and mourning, and woe, even though that is in the Bible? It is because they are accustomed to hearing about “Peace, peace”, and hey do not want to hear any other message.
Eze 3:1-2 ¶
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this
roll, and go speak unto the house of
Eze 3:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
The truth must be thoroughly appropriated by Ezekiel. He must eat the scroll. He must take it into his very system. It must become part of his flesh and blood, and of his spirit. It must transform him, change him, make a different man of him, and so strengthen him to bear the testimony which he must give in the midst of a crooked world. More importantly, he must bring the message to his own church,
Eze 3:4-5
And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of
Eze 3:6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
Eze 3:7 But
the house of
Like John Ezekiel was sent to people who do not want to listen to him. Ezekiel was sent to his the people of his own church. Was there bitterness within him like in the case of John? Drop down to V.14,
Eze 3:14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
You see, the message is the same in the OT and in the NT. People are the same, in the OT time as well as in the NT time. Please turn again to the prophecy of Revelation 10:10 (2X).
Re 10:10 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.
John must assimilate the contents of this prophecy unto himself. He must understand it, labor with it, believe it, be convinced of its truth, and he must be absolutely convinced that this truth is from God. He must love it, and embrace it. But still stronger: the truth of this prophecy must take hold of him. He must first take it, and eat it and appropriate it by faith. And after he has thus assimilated the contents of this Little Book, he must come under its power and influence, so that the truth of this prophecy so impresses and dominates him that he can never be silenced, but boldly testifies of all that it reveals in opposition to the world of wickedness, and in spite of all that the world might do to him to silence the testimony of the prophet. This is the meaning of John eating the Little Book.
But this was not just revealed to John so that the passage would have no
significance to us at the present time. On the contrary! Today the
Jer 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts (2X).
And what was the result from partaking of this spiritual food? God
said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of
#3. Thou Must Prophesy Again (Rev 10:11, John 8:34, 6:65-66, 17:9, 10:27-30)
Re 10:11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel according to John, John 8:34 (2X). What does it mean that God commanded the Apostle John, “Thou must prophesy again”? It means that he must convey the message of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the churches. But he must bring that message to those who have already been saved, or else they will not understand. It means that with the message of the new revelation John must also preach the Gospel, so that those who have not been saved may become saved, if God wills. For “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God”, from Rom 10:17. And is that not what every pastor must do when he preaches? And so, what texts would John have used to preach the Gospel of salvation? He would probably begin with John 8:34, where Jesus corrected the Jews in their view of themselves as children of Abraham. “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin”, and the word “servant” in this verse is actually the word “slave”. Only one sin makes you a slave of sin and Satan. Without question, the entire human race falls in this category. Even unborn babies fall in this category through Adam’s sin. And thus there is not one human being who does not need salvation, because all are sinners and thus all are condemned and are on the way to Hell. But is Christ saving every human being? Not at all! Please turn to John 6:65 (2X). In this chapter alone the Lord Jesus stated four times that there is a select group of people whom the Father draws to Jesus. No one else will of his own accord come to Jesus. John 6:65, “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man CAN come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father”. Is this a popular doctrine? O No! we read in the next verse, John 6:66, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him”. Today we have the same reaction from most people in churches that say that they are Bible believing churches. But they do not believe hundreds of verses that speak of the doctrine of election. Please turn to John 17:9 (2X). The sins of all those elect were on the mind of Christ when He atoned for their sins on the cross. No, He did not suffer and die for every human being in the world. The Bible does not teach that. We read in John 17:9, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine”. The Lord Jesus did not pray for the world, for most of the world would remain in the darkness of sin, even unto his day. Please turn to John 10:27 (2X). But those for whom the Lord Jesus paid their sins on the cross, He called “My sheep”. And the Father will make sure that His sheep will be drawn to Jesus. We read in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. No ifs and buts, they shall follow Me. God will make sure that His irresistible grace will reach everyone for whom Christ suffered and died. And God’s irresistible grace will also ensure that His sheep will never wander off into someone else’s sheepfold. The Lord Jesus assured us of this in the following verses, John 10:28-30, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one”. This is what John must prophesy again, in addition to the messages of lamentation, and mourning and woe that ooze out of the Little Book that John had to eat and swallow. And why was this Little Book so sweet in John’s mouth? Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 19:10 (2X). And there we read that the Word of God is:
When God extols the beauty of His Word, the Bible, He uses various
synonyms such as the Law, the Testimony, the Statutes, the Commandment, the
Fear of the Lord, and the Judgments of the Lord. The Ordinances of Jehovah are
spoken of in Psalm 19:10 as, “More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb”.
Also in Psalm 119:103 we read, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!” And thus it is no surprise that when
John eats the Little Book, or when Ezekiel eats the scroll he is given to eat,
that the Word of God is sweet to their mouth. To the mouth of every child of
God the Word is sweet, but never to the unbeliever. In fact, this is one of
the signs that accompany salvation. Do we have an ongoing desire to do
those things that are pleasing in the sight of God? And where do we find those
things that are pleasing to God? In the Word of God! And thus we develop an
ongoing desire to read and meditate on the Word of God. But this never
occurs with an unbeliever. To him the Bible is nauseating from the
beginning. But that is because his taste is corrupted. The Word does not even
appeal to him, and therefore he does not swallow the Book, but spews it out.
But in the case of the child of God it is quite different. He has been
changed by the grace of God. He has been “Born Again”. He has received a
new taste, the taste of faith. And to that taste of faith the Word of God
always appeals, so that he takes it and eats it whenever that Word is given
him. But then follow two types of battles, and that causes bitterness. The
first is that the lust of sin still dwells in our hearts and minds. Then
the Word of God has a battle against the influence of the flesh and the lusts
thereof. And this battle of the Word, even though it was sweet when it was
taken and swallowed by faith, causes bitterness and struggle until the medicine
of the Word of God has done its work and has transformed us. The second
battle is especially with the Prophecy of Revelation. This prophecy speaks of
redemption, and of salvation, and of heavenly glory, and of a new creation, and
of highest joy and eternal life. But the prophecy speaks of this only after it
has pictured the battle of faithful witnessing, of self denial, and of
suffering. The glory of the future comes only after a dark and terrible road to
travel. It is the road of battle for the
AMEN. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.