The Mighty Angel; The Little Book; Reve. 10:1-14

At the end of the book of Revelation Jesus said: “Behold, I quickly come.” One of the purposes for the book of Revelation is not just to satisfy human curiosity about the future but to make believers aware of the fact that there is a future accountability, a future judgment, a future destiny. And as we come to understand that future destiny and to focus on where God is taking history and where God is taking us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and the imminency of accountability and judgment, it is to stimulate us to spiritual growth. It is to challenge us with the fact that we cannot become complaisant in our day-to-day lives with all of the day-to-day distractions and somehow become distracted from our ultimate purpose which is to learn and study the Word of God so that our thinking might be transformed so that we think about life, about history, and respond to the details of life and circumstances in such a way as God would have us respond. It is so that our lives reflect His grace, His love, and that it is through our lives of spiritual growth that God’s character becomes manifested as we become conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we go through our study in the book of Revelation and we look at all of these details related to those future judgments and we ask ourselves why it is important that we understand these things that will have no direct impact on our lives, because we won’t be here. It is to impress us with the majesty of God, with His sovereignty and with His rule over the affairs of man, and that eventually He will bring His plan to completion, and that with that completion comes judgment and accountability. To the believer in the church age that accountability takes the form of the judgment seat of Christ when we are evaluated right after the Rapture. For unbelievers it is a challenge to the fact that they, too, will face accountability and that it will come at the great white throne judgment and that the decisions they make during this life with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ will have eternal consequences. So there is an urgency that runs through the prophecies of Revelation that are summarized in that statement by the Lord when he said, “Behold, I quickly come.”

What we see here in chapter ten is that with the arrival of this angel and the revelation that goes with this angel, and the fact that he holds this little book in his hands, the focal point is that final culminative judgment that will bring history to its closure and seal an end to human rebellion against God and result in the establishment of God’s kingdom upon the earth with Jesus Christ as the King. That is now going to come to pass. This is presented as an answer to the prayer of the martyrs in the fifth seal judgment, as described in 6:10, 11. There was still at that time a delay in judgement but what we see with the arrival of this vision of John’s in chapter 10, the announcement of this mighty angel is that there will no longer be a delay. With the seventh trumpet judgment the mystery of God will be completed. The core focus of chapter ten is really the announcement about the completion of this plan, and it is announced in a way that makes the certainty of these events is so definite that it is stated as though it had already transpired.

Revelation 10:1 ^NASB “I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; [2] and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land.” What we are going to see here in this chapter is that basically two things come out of this vision of the mighty angel. The first seven verses describe the announcement. The angel announces the completion of God’s plan to establish His kingdom upon the earth. This is the focus of the little book that is mentioned, the seven peels of thunder, that are mentioned in verse four that John is prohibited from writing about, and the oath that is sworn by the angel to no longer delay God’s judgment. Then the second part of the chapter, verses eight through eleven, describe a second writing commission given to the apostle John to prophecy the judgments of the little book concerning all the peoples, nations, languages and rulers. Though the result, which is the coming of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom, is sweet the realisation of the severe judgments which must precede that are viewed as being bitter.

The verse begins with the phrase, “I saw,” indicating ongoing action following the vision that concluded at verse 21 relating to the trumpet judgments. So he moves to the next vision. This is like scene shifting in a film or a television show and now the scene shifts to action that takes place in the spiritual realm in the heavenlies with this particular angel. The word “another” and the phrase “another strong angel” is the Greek word allos [a)lloj] which indicates another of the same kind. In this chapter we have the emphasis on this angel and he is not unique, there are other mighty angels in the Scripture. The adjective “strong” is ischuros [i)sxuroj] which means strong or powerful or mighty. There are three strong or mighty angels mentioned in Revelation: 5:2; 10:1; 18:21. This helps us to understand something about what the Bible teaches about angels. Not only is there one archangel, Michael; and not only is there an angel Gabriel who has a specific role to play in Revelation concerning the nation Israel; not only are there seraphs and cherubs and living being surrounding the throne (chapter four), but there seems to be a class of angels called “mighty” or “strong.” There are some who have tried to identify this particular angel as the Lord Jesus Christ and that is because of the way he is described in this passage. But it is clear that this is just another angel, another of the same kind as the other mighty angels. He is surrounded by a rainbow, which is specifically associated with the throne of God. He comes clothed with a cloud, and clouds are often associated with the presence of God in Scripture. His face shone like the sun. In the same way the Lord Jesus Christ’s face shone like the sun in chapter 1:16 when He appeared to the apostle John on the island of Patmos. The angel here has legs like pillars of fire and that is reminiscent of the presence of God at the time of the exodus as His Shekinah glory was manifested during the night by a pillar of fire and during the day by a cloud, leading the Israelites through the wilderness. His voice like a lion roaring also reminds us of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is described as the lion of the tribe of Judah. So for those similarities people have thought this was the Lord Jesus Christ but similarity does not mean identity. Nowhere in Revelation is the Lord Jesus Christ referred to as an angel. In all of the New Testament angels are always angels and the role of this particular angel fits within the role of angels in the prophecy of Revelation. One of the roles of angels is to carry out the decrees and the various mandates of God in relation to mankind. In many of these roles they function in a way that is related to His judicial role as the supreme Judge of the universe, and this is particularly true in the book of Revelation.

We should look at these three characteristics of the angel in a way that unifies them. His face shines like the sun, he is clothed with a cloud, and he has a rainbow around his head. When the sun is shining through the clouds we see a rainbow. The brilliance of his features are such that as they shine forth through the cloud that surrounds him it also produces a manifestation of a rainbow. Each of these attributes—the cloud, the rainbow and his face shining—are described of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ in various passages of Scripture. Clouds are frequently associated with visions of God which are called theophanies and they are frequently associated with the activities of angels. Clouds are sometimes used in Scripture to depict the mechanism on which either the Lord Jesus Christ or angels ascend or descend, and often these are in prophetic contexts. So this cloud imagery doesn’t mean he is divine but it is reinforcing the fact that he represents God, he is coming from the Supreme Court of heaven. Of the 29 uses of the Greek word for cloud in the New Testament 9 of them are associated with scenes of judgment, e.g. Revelation 1:7, referring to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; 11:12; 14:14-16. The second description of this angel is that he has a rainbow around his head. It is interesting that rainbow is only used two times in the New Testament, both which are in Revelation. One has to do with the description of the emerald rainbow around the throne of God in Revelation chapter four and the second is in this verse. The first time we see rainbow in Scripture is in relation to the covenant God made with Noah after the flood, and it is there that God says He sets His bow. It is interesting that the rainbow is identified as His rainbow. It is a reminder that God will be merciful and not judge the earth by destroying it with water again. So when we read of the rainbow it is a reminder of His mercy. Genesis 9:13-16. This angel has a face like the sun. This is also a characteristic of the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory, Matthew 17:2. In the Old Testament when Moses came out of holy place his face still reflected the glory of God and that is what is happening in this passage. This angel is coming from the presence of God and just as Moses’ face reflected the glory of God when he came out from God’s presence so, too, this angel’s face shines like the sun because he is reflecting the glory of God from whose presence he had come. Then last we see that his legs are stated to be like pillars of fire. This reminds us somewhat of the pillars of fire that led the Israelites through the wilderness. It was a sign of the presence of God. It is also a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 1:15—brilliant and shining, indicating purification. So again we have this symbolism that speaks of what is taking place in these judgments, a purification of the earth from evil and sin from within history for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the establishment of His kingdom. So the conclusion is that this is not the Lord Jesus Christ but is an angel who has been sent from the throne room of God in order to announce another aspect of God’s judgment upon the earth, and these judgment are contained in what is referred to in the next verse as a “little book.”

Revelation 10:2 ^NASB “and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land.” We know that he is holding this little book in his left hand and not his right hand because when he will sware his oath in verse 5 he will raise his right hand to heaven. The fact that this little book is open also tells us something. It contains that which is to be revealed. It is not like the scroll that was closed until the Lord began to open the seals but is already open indicating that that which it contains is to be revealed. It is believed that its content what is contained in the next few chapters, 11-14. Some commentators have said that this is a sort of backbone, as it were, a sub-set of what is in the large scroll that the Lord Jesus Christ opens. The angel’s posture is emphasized ands we ask what this signifies. It signifies that the judgment that he is announcing is related to God’s taking possession of the earth in order to establish His kingdom. The same kind of imagery is indicated in Deuteronomy chapter eleven. Deuteronomy contained Moses’ final words to the Israelites just prior to his death and their entry into the land that God had promised them. So it contained a warning and challenges to Israel related to their being in the land and in chapter 11 Moses is talking about their conquest of the land, and he says in verse 24, “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, {and} from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.” All of that land was originally promised by God to the descendants of Abraham but they will not enjoy that land until they are living in the land in obedience to God. The angels posture here is the fact that he has one foot upon the sea and one upon the land. It is a posture of reclaiming the earth for God and a posture of taking possession of the whole earth in view of establishing God’s kingdom upon the earth.

Revelation 10:3 ^NASB “and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices.” Where this is heading is explained in 11:15 ^NASB “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’.” The mystery of God is the previously unrevealed details about how God is going to purify the earth and establish His kingdom upon it. The term in verse three is not the normal term for a lion’s roar, it is the Greek word mukaomai [mukaomai], an onomatopoeic word (a word that sound like what it is talking about) which comes from a Latin word which sound very much like the English word “moo” to express the sound a cow or an ox makes. It indicates the depth of volume and intensity of the sound. It is not just a sound; there is an articulated content which the apostle is prohibited from writing down. It sound like thunder to others but John hears the content. It reminds us of John 12:29 ^NASB “So the crowd {of people} who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, ‘An angel has spoken to Him’.” They didn’t hear the content of the thunder, the specific words, but those words were there and they are recorded in John 12:28.

Then we come to the point of the oath. Revelation 10:5 ^NASB “Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, [6] and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer.” Someone has said that this shows clearly that this isn’t the Lord Jesus Christ because he swears “by Him who lives forever and ever,” but God sore by Himself to Abraham in Genesis 15 because there is no one higher by whom He can sware. So this is not an argument to show it is not Jesus Christ, nevertheless it is still an angel. Notice the content of the oath: “by Him who lives forever.” By emphasising the eternity of God and the emphasis on creation, coming out of Exodus 20:11 ^NASB “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them…” This emphasises that God is the creator and because He is the creator of everything He has the right to do with everything whatever He wishes to do. The focus here is that there will be delay no longer, that it is finally time to be payday.

Revelation 10:7 ^NASB “but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.” That term “mystery of God” is used to refer to God’s plan of redemption, to the church in the church age, to several different things contained within Scripture, but here the context indicates that this mystery (previously unrevealed information) focuses on the details of how God is going to bring about the establishment of His kingdom upon the earth. This is the focus of the last half of the Tribulation as God’s wrath is poured out on the earth in order to prepare for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the establishment of His kingdom. This is in fulfilment of that which was revealed to the prophets in the Old Testament.

Illustrations