Revelation 10:1-11 Part 5

1) Then I saw going down from the heaven another mighty Messenger having been cloud clothed, the bow above His head, His appearance as the sun, His feet as fiery pillars,

2) and having the little scroll that had been opened in His hand. Then He placed His right foot on the sea, but the left on the land,

3) and uttered a great sound as a roaring lion. And when He cried out, the seven thunders uttered their own voices.

4) And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from the heaven saying “withhold the things that the seven thunders uttered. You may not write them”.

5) Then the Messenger that I saw having stood upon the sea and upon the land raised His right hand into the heaven

6) and promised in the One living into the ages of the ages, Who created the heaven and all that’s in it, and the earth and all that’s in it, and the sea and all that’s in it, that there would be no more delay,

7) but that in the days when the sound of the seventh messenger is to be trumpeted, the mystery of God would be fully accomplished as announced to His Own servants the prophets.

8) Then the voice that I had heard from the heaven speaks with me again saying, “go take the scroll opened in the hand of the Messenger Who is standing upon the sea and upon the land”.

9) And I did approach the Messenger, telling Him to give the scroll to me. Then He says to me, “take and eat it all; it will embitter your belly, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.

10) So I took the scroll from the Messenger’s hand and ate it all; and it was as honey, sweet in my mouth. But when I ate, it made my belly bitter.

11) Then they tell me “it is again necessary for you to prophesy about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.

As you can hear, John isn’t yet given permission to write the utterances of the perfect-seven thunders (verse four), for the seventh trumpeter has not yet sounded; and therefore John has not yet seen the two “woes” to come; nor has he seen the seven messengers with the seven bowls filled with the wrath of God (among other things). That’s all to come after the seventh messenger sounds.

So the letter to the Churches is not yet ready to contain that which the perfect-seven thunders uttered. As we were made aware of last Lord’s Day, the thundering voice of Yahveh of Hosts from the heaven is connected to the roar of the Lion of Judah (as it was in the prophetic Word). That’s why His thunderous utterances appear here rather than later. So John is instructed not to write them. But John will hear it all; and he will see it all – and he will write it all.

As John looks on here in Revelation ten, the One Who is cloud-clothed, and Whose face shines as the sun in all its power, and Who has the bow above His head, places His right pillar on the sea of nations, and His left on the land of Israel; and the Lion of Judah – the Great Shepherd of the Sheep – roars as He exits His lair, intent on His prey, His eyes red as blood and His teeth white as milk.

The Mediator/Executor of the covenant prepares to bring the covenantal sanctions against the great harlot; and from above the throne of the Lord of Hosts comes the perfect seven thunders of approval of the Mediator’s work.

The seven thunders are the perfect storm coming out from the raging sea of the nations; for Yahveh Lord of Hosts thunders at the roar of the Lion of Judah; and He gathers His armies.

The Father’s elect have been persecuted; their blood has been shed. And their prayers for Yahveh’s vengeance have been offered from the hand of the only One Who is allowed to mediate between Yahveh and man, and between Yahveh and His creation.

Peace! Peace!... the shepherds of Israel have exclaimed! But there will be no peace. The four colored horses resting under the tree in the prophecy of Zechariah have reported that there is “peace” in the land; but we’ve already seen them called out by the thundering voices of the cherubim to bring plagues and pestilence and misery and death in Israel. And now the Lion has come out of His den.

And He has roared with a great sound that shakes the cosmos, for His eyes are red as blood, and He has spotted His prey. And we hear the thundering voice of Yahveh of Hosts, for He is wroth. And He calls up His armies from the turbulent sea of humanity. The nations will be gathered against the harlot; and there will be a perfect-seven decreation of God’s heaven and earth Israel.

The totality of it is described in several different ways in the prophetic Word: the “shaking” of heaven and earth so that the very mountain of God is thrown into the sea; heaven and earth snapping shut like a scroll; the nation of milk and honey being made as a wilderness filled with carrion for vultures and jackals. And one which we’ll see again later, the entire “field” of God reaped and bundled and thrown into the furnace. And there are others such as the vine, the vineyard, and trees of various kinds.

These are all descriptive allusions to the complete, perfect-seven execution and consummation of Israel… a decreation never before seen and never again to be seen in God’s history, for the new temple and the new Jerusalem and the new Israel is inhabited by our Lord’s brothers. They are all the elect of God – known from eternity; they are the ones for whom the Christ shed His blood; they are HIS body now, and no longer the body of Adam; and therefore there is a newer and better covenant (the same one, but now it’s newer and better).

The Executor and Mediator of the covenant is the One Who has completed His perfect sacrificial work, having faithfully paid the price for His brothers’ sin and their sins and their iniquity; Holy Spirit baptized the whole body of Christ and inhabits the body, leading and directing the entire body of the elect to the Christ of God and all His virtues; and the bodily risen Jesus Christ mediates for them at the mercy seat before the throne.

And because of these things there will never again be a decreation of God’s “heaven and earth” Israel. It’s already happened, so it can’t happen again.

And it certainly won’t happen to the new heaven and the new earth, for the God-man, Son of God, God the Son continues as Executor and Mediator of the covenant until such time as He completes His triumphant reign over all things, and presents it all to the Father in its cleansed, pristine edenic condition – all to the glory of Yahveh of Hosts.

So you see, never before has what-is-about-to-happen happened. And never again will it happen. The earth and the heavens are firmly attached to the Rock Who is the Christ. So it’s all here to stay. His are the great pillars of the creation; and the adamic enemies of His Lordship (all clearly under His authority) will be made the footstool of The Mediator until there be complete, plenary acknowledgment of His authority.

And as John looks on, this is the One Who now raises His right hand into the heaven and promises (swears) IN the One living into the ages that there would be no more delay (verses five and six).

The “delay”, as it’s translated here, is not to be understood as putting off God’s eternal decree. And it’s certainly not to be interpreted as a “postponement” of God’s plan to some time in the future.

When the One Who is cloud-clothed raises His hand and promises no more “delay”, He means it from the standpoint of the hundred and forty four thousand marked and sealed and rescued elect from the house of Jacob. And those among them who have shed their blood for the Name of Jesus Christ have importuned Almighty God for His revenge.

And as you will recall, there are several historical realities regarding the period of time between the ascension of Jesus Christ and His Parousia that I’ll bring back to your attention. And these are what the Lion of Judah refers to as He attests to no more “delay”.

First, as you will remember, Jesus told His disciples that He had come to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And He and His disciples located many, as was evidenced by the large crowd following Him into Jerusalem at Passover 30AD. And His disciples were instructed to continue the hunt for the rest of them after His crucifixion. This they did.

Second, the huge task of finding and identifying them, one by one, in all the towns and cities and villages of Israel was greatly complicated by the facts of their suffering. Many of the sheep were in very poor condition due to the ravening wolves who had preyed upon them.

And then thirdly, the time-consuming (and very expensive) process of getting them out of Israel and relocated in the nations where there were Churches and tribal connections that could help them get re-settled.

Lastly, with the understanding that all of this was no “walk in the park”, the thing that added such misery to the process was the pursuit and persecution and bloodshed exacted upon them by the goats who were being “left behind”! And I use that term “left behind” on purpose (since dispensationalists have wielded it like a sword against the text of Scripture)!

Because of the “gnashing of the teeth” by those being left behind, they became predators of even a more ferocious kind. And the ones for whom our Lord was sacrificed were stalked; and they were attacked physically; and they were persecuted through the legal system of Roman magistrates; and the Churches themselves were undermined by false prophets and teachers.

And as our Lord promised, these were the “evils” that culminated in the roar of the Lion of the Judah tribe and the thundering voice of Yahveh of Hosts in His great wrath.

But His elect sheep were many; and the process was lengthy and difficult. But the wrath of Father, Son and Spirit was not to be poured out on even one of them. They suffered… for the Christ, in the Christ, and with the Christ. But they did not suffer the wrath of God. There were some of His marked and sealed elect who were saved – up until the last days. It took forty years to secure them – to the last one. And that’s the “delay” to which our Lord refers in verse six of our text. At the point of the sounding of the seventh trumpeter, there is no more time.

Now. Verse five says that He raised His “right hand” into the heaven. And as we’ve seen so far in this text, there are several prophetic images converging here; so we have to think with the mind of God as we see by His perception. Otherwise we would have to make stuff up as others do.

But God has spoken previously; and we can acquire the knowledge of His previously spoken Word. And by the communion of Holy Spirit we can absorb and apprehend His brilliance and percipience, and therefore make the connections. Sometimes that’s difficult; but that’s no reason to put the attempt aside.

So we’re going to look at the way Yahveh- God “perceives” His Right Hand and His Strong Right Arm. Last Lord’s Day we took note of the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to the “Right” after His resurrection. The text does not say that He ascended to God’s right “hand”. And the reason for that is, that He IS the Right Hand and the Strong Right Arm. That’s the way God’s Word proclaims Him!

So let’s look at some of the previously spoken instances in the prophetic Word.

The first clear indication is right after the crossing of the Red Sea, at which time the armies of Egypt are inundated. And this incredible event is sung by Moses in a Holy Spirit inspired song. Here is a brief section of the song that is written for us:

1) "I will sing to Yahveh, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.

2) Yahveh is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

3) Yahveh is a man of war; Yahveh is his name.

4) "Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

5) The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.

6) Your right hand, O Yahveh, glorious in power, your right hand, O Yahveh, shatters the enemy.

At the point at which Moses receives the Word of God regarding the ceremonial system of the tabernacle, there are some allusions to the One at the “Right”; but I’m going to pass those for now and go once again to the end of Deuteronomy (where we’ve spent so much time); this is the beginning of Moses’ blessing upon the people just before his death:

2) And he said, “Yahveh came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shone forth from mount Paran, And he came out of the myriads of the sanctuary; From his right hand [went forth] a fiery law for them.

3) Yea, he loves the peoples. All the holy ones are in thy hand….”

There are quite a number of these in the Psalms, so I’ll just read a few of the more explicit ones for you:

This first one is at the beginning of Psalm forty-four:

1) God, we have heard with our ears – our forefathers have told us the work You accomplished in their days, in days long ago.

2) To plant them You drove out the nations with Your hand; to settle them You crushed the nations.

3) For they did not take the land by their sword. Their arm did not bring them victory – but by Your right hand – Your right arm, and the light of Your face, for You were pleased with them.

And in a time of great difficulty, the Psalmist cries out to Yahveh in Psalm seventy-four:

9) We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet; neither is there among us any that knows how long!

10) How long, O God, shall the enemy scoff? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

11) Why do you draw back your hand, your right hand? Remove it from your bosom and consume them.

Psalm eighty is another in which the psalmist passionately petitions with imprecatory prayers:

14) Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,

15) the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son who you made strong for yourself.

16) They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face!

17) But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man who you have made strong for yourself!

18) Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!

And from Psalm eighty-nine:

8) O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, OYahveh, and your faithfulness all around you?

9) You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.

10) You crushed Rahab into one like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

11) The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

12) The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

13) You have a mighty right arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.

14) Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

And lastly from Psalm ninety-eight:

1) Oh sing to Yahveh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

2) Yahveh has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

3) He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

And so that we don’t use all of our time on this, I’ll just give you two from the major prophets. The first is from Isaiah chapter forty-eight:

9) "For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.

10) Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

11) For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

12) "Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called one! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.

13) My hand laid the foundation of the earth, my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together.

And the last of course has be the familiar Daniel passage from chapter twelve as Daniel is in Babylonian captivity with all the rest of Israel. And as he stood by the Euphrates he is caused to see great wonders having to do with the end of the age. Here it is:

5) Then I, Daniel, looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on the bank of the river on this side, and the other on the bank of the river on that side.

6) And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?

7) And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was over the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that lives into the age that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

8) And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my lord, what shall be the end of these things?

9) And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.

“In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God. Without Him nothing was made that was made.”

By His strong Right Arm and His Right Hand, God made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and all that was in them. And His Right Hand has gotten Him the salvation.

By His Right Hand He rules the raging of the seas and scatters His enemies; and with His strong Right Arm he founded the world and the sea. And all His victories are won by Him. This is the One Who raised His hands into the heaven and declared the end of the wonders of His salvation.

And now, in our text, He raises His right hand into the heaven and swares that there is no more delay… no more time. The time, times and a half (announced to the prophet Daniel) are complete. The seals of the scroll have been loosed, and the seventh trumpeter is about to sound. It is the time of the “end”. It’s not the end of time; it’s the time of the end – the “goal” – the “purpose” of the wonders of His salvation.

The strong Right Arm of His victory reaches His hand “into” the heaven and promises (swares) “in” the One living into the ages, it is the time of the end… no more delay.

The prepositions that are used by the apostle are very important here; but we’re not going to accuse any of our forefathers-in-the-faith of deliberately diminishing God’s Revelation of Himself. He is ONE Triune God – One and Many.

When the inspired text says that He raises His right hand “into” the heaven and promises “in” in One living into the ages, those prepositions must not be changed to read something else! The One Who has gotten Him the victory is not said to promise “by” the One living into the ages; the One Who has gotten Him the victory is not said to promise “before” the One living into the ages; the One Who has gotten Him the victory is not said to “witness” to the One living into the ages….

But the One Who has gotten Him the victory is clearly said to promise “in” the One living into the ages! He is the strong Right Arm, and He is the Right Hand without Whom nothing was made that was made.

That’s why John brings the entire creation back into focus here as he writes: “the One Who created the heaven and all that’s in it, and the earth and all that’s in it, and the sea and all that’s in it”.

You see, the One Who raises His right hand into the heaven is the One by Whom all these things were made. He IS Right Hand and strong Right Arm (as we’ve read this morning all through the older Scripture). He doesn’t promise “by” the One living into the ages; He IS the Living One. He is Himself “life”. He is triune God – God the Son. And John writes “and promises in the One living into the ages”.

And the “promise” is in perfect accord with His eternal decree concerning the “time of the end” – no more delay…

“but that in the days when the sound of the seventh messenger is to be trumpeted, the mystery of God would be fully accomplished as announced to His Own servants the prophets” (verse seven).

So, what is the “mystery of God”? Where in all of the older Scripture is the “mystery of God” revealed? There’s only one. Listen to the words:

27) Daniel answered the king (chapter two): "No wise man, medium, diviner-priest, or astrologer is able to make known to the king the mystery he asked about.

28) But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has let King Nebuchadnezzar know what will happen in the last days. Your dream and the visions [that came into] your mind [as you lay] in bed were these:

29) Your Majesty, while you were in your bed, thoughts came [to your mind] about what will happen in the future. The Revealer of mysteries has let you know what will happen.

30) As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

And what was the mystery revealed to Daniel the prophet concerning the last days (and, as he later says, the “time of the end”?) King Nebuchadnezzar was the first of (what would be) four great civilization-changing, language-changing, culture changing world dominions called out of the raging sea of humanity.

But then there would be a fifth and eternal Kingdom – a Rock broken off the mountain without a hand touching it, which would crush all the others and be established over all the mountains of the earth forever.

That’s the mystery. The only one.

The apostle Paul is the one who puts “flesh” on the mystery as he writes to the Churches. I’ll give you just a few of the passages that he writes for the encouragement and admonition of our Lord’s people in the Churches of the nations – the Gentile nations.

Romans sixteen:

25) Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery having been kept secret for long ages

26) but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings made known to all the nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith –

27) to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Ephesians chapter three:

1) For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles –

2) assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

3) how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

4) When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5) which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

6) This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Colossians chapter one:

24) …the church

25) of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,

26) the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

27) To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

And once again, as John writes here in verse seven of our text, “…in the days when the sound of the seventh messenger is to be trumpeted, the mystery of God would be fully accomplished as announced to His Own servants the prophets.”

The “mystery” of God is to be fully accomplished in the days of the seventh trumpeter; and it is the “last days”; and it is concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Strong Arm and Right Hand of God.

As Executor and Mediator of the covenant, He separated out His sheep from the he-goats of Israel and sent them into the Gentile nations; and He decreated the old “heaven and earth” Israel.

And now Gentiles are included in the newly created Israel and the new Jerusalem and the new temple. As Abraham was told by Yahveh, all the nations of the earth will be blessed… by the victory of God’s strong Right Arm.

This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as Paul makes clear in the passages that we read. Any Gospel that doesn’t include this “fully revealed, fully accomplished mystery of God” is woefully short of the Gospel of God concerning His Son.

The “fifth” Kingdom revealed in Daniel chapter two is the mystery of God, for the kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever.

As the apostle states so clearly in the eleventh chapter of his letter to the Churches in Rome, the fall of the Jews and judaism was a great blessing to the rest of the world. He says it “enriched” the Gentiles; and he speaks of it as the “reconciling” of the world.

The catastrophe of Jerusalem and Israel signaled the beginning to a new, world-wide Kingdom of the Christ. And it is the Right Hand and strong Right Arm of God Who has gotten Him the victory. He did fully accomplish the mystery – both things… the decreation of Israel and the reconciling of the world.