Revelation, chapter ten, verse eight; “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.” In this verse of scripture we are seeing two things that are happening at the same instant even though they are thousands of years apart. John is taking the little open book from the angels hand which actually happened at the dispensation of grace, or the birth of the Christian church. However, the angel which is a vision of Jesus when he steps his feet upon land and sea is yet to come. Don’t allow this to confuse you; embrace it and love it, allow it to comfort you for this is one of the most beautiful pictures of the Omnipresent nature of Christ in all Scripture.
In the eighth chapter of Saint John, we see Jesus in a spirited debate with the Jewish Elders concerning Abraham. In verse fifty six, Jesus said; “YOUR FATHER ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE MY DAY: AND HE SAW IT, AND WAS GLAD.” Here we see Jesus referring to Abraham and that which Abraham “saw” is placed in past tense. It is so easy to be just as confused as those Jewish Elders when we don’t know the Omnipresent nature of Jesus, however, we are now looking backward into our hindsight which is always 20/20. Actually, when this is put into context, the balance is almost the same for that day as the seventh angel is for this day….you’ll understand it!
Verse fifty seven; “THEN SAID THE JEWS UNTO HIM, THOU ART NOT YET FIFTY YEARS OLD, AND HAST THOU SEEN ABRAHAM?” Here we are seeing the response of people that are constrained by that element known as time. Time puts limitations upon us, crushing our abilities and halting our dreams. Jesus on the other hand is timeless.
Look at his reply in verse fifty eight as Jesus responds to their charge. “JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM.” Notice that Jesus puts Abraham in the past tense but he places himself in the present tense. He did not say, “I was,” he said, “I am.” Jesus fills all time and all places; he is everywhere, and there can be no place in all of eternity that does not have a time connected to it….but Jesus is timeless. Jesus is still there with Abraham; he is still there with you at the altar where he saved your soul. You have moved on but Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. You are the reason that he died; that he may redeem your lost soul. That is how a baby born in 1995 A.D. can ask forgiveness for sin committed in 2008, and that sin will be “nailed to the cross of Christ” over two thousand years ago. There sin is blotted out forever and the handwriting that was against us is nailed to his cross where he who is sinless died for our sins. Praise his Holy Name, I love him so!
Revelation, chapter ten, verse number nine; “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.” Did you ever notice that it is so much easier to talk the talk than it is to walk the walk. I do believe that if a pastor preaches a sermon to a congregation of two thousand, that same sermon is preached two thousand times moreover, making us all preachers. We dissect the sermon and pick it apart, put it in our little bag of skin and shake it up until all the pieces fit our sinful nature. Our churches are filled with passengers whom have gone on a cruise while true preachers of the gospel are laboring at building an ark.
Verse number ten; “AND I TOOK THE LITTLE BOOK OUT OF THE ANGELS 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.” I am reminded of a certain preacher that pastors a very large church and reaches millions more over the airways. The fellow looks as though the smile has been glued onto his face..which in my estimation is just a little weird. On a personal note, I have preached sermons and afterward went home and gone to bed only to see the day break without ever sleeping a wink; I know the bitterness of presenting the Holy Word of God to a sinful people. I know what it’s like to have a congregation turn on the preacher for taking a stand for Jesus; I have been there! I believe it would thrill my heart to see a preacher carry a bottle of the pink stuff into the pulpit along with his bible and just leave his notes at home.
As we look at this tenth chapter of the book of Revelation, I urge you to allow the train of thought held in this tenth chapter to thread its way into the eleventh chapter. This thought has everything to do with Jesus and his church. Jesus is not, I said he is not, is not going to share his throne with another Deity. The church of Jesus has been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God which is Jesus. The Apostles of Christ, through the Word of God, which is Christ, established the Church, which is the Bride of Christ,and the head of the church, which is Christ, has absolutely forbidden the church from straying from that origional foundation and doctrine of Christ. It is not the condition of the world that dictates the return of Jesus; it is the condition of his church that shall quicken his coming. Because of this fact, we the Church are under constant attack from within and without. My preceding posts have been overshadowed by past Muslim hostility from history. At this very moment while I write this sentence, the television set behind me is broadcasting tragedy from Fort Hood Texas where a Muslim by the name of Malik Nidal Hasan has killed twelve people and wounded thirty one more in a shooting spree. The facts are the facts and nothing changes the facts.
As we read this next verse we are going to see John being spoken to in the present tense for John at that time. Revelation, chapter ten, verse number eleven; “AND HE SAID UNTO ME, THOU MUST PROPHESY AGAIN BEFORE MANY PEOPLES, AND NATIONS, AND TONGUES, AND KINGS.” Okay now, let’s deal with facts and not interpretations; look at what the word is saying here. John is not being given a new word of truth nor a new doctrine. John was told to take the ”little open book” and to eat up that book; not something new. This takes us back to the words spoken by the prophets of old.
As we go to the book of Second Peter, chapter one, we are going to see that God the Father passes all authority to Jesus. We shall see also that we have a sure word of prophesy and we shall see that it is to that prophesy that we are to pay heed. We will see that we are to take heed to that prophesy until “the day dawn, and the day star, Jesus, arise in our hearts. We shall see that the prophesy came in old time and it came as Holy men of God were moved on by the Holy Ghost. We shall also see that there is no private interpretation to the word of God but a singular meaning for all Christians.
Second Peter, chapter one, verses seventeen through twenty one. “FOR HE RECEIVED FROM GOD THE FATHER HONOUR AND GLORY, WHEN THERE CAME SUCH A VOICE TO HIM FROM THE EXCELLENT GLORY, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED. AND THIS VOICE WHICH CAME FROM HEAVEN WE HEARD, WHEN WE WERE WITH HIM IN THE HOLY MOUNT. WE HAVE ALSO A MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHESY; WHEREUNTO YE DO WELL THAT YE TAKE HEED, AS UNTO A LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWN, AND THE DAY STAR ARISE IN YOUR HEARTS: KNOWING THIS FIRST, THAT NO PROPHESY OF THE SCRIPTURE IS OF ANY PRIVATE INTERPRETATION. FOR THE PROPHESY CAME NOT IN OLD TIME BY THE WILL OF MAN; BUT HOLY MEN OF GOD SPAKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY GHOST.”