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On Sea and On Land
Revelation 10:1-11
July 12, 2020
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
The sermon starts around 17:15 in the audio file.
Or, The Bittersweet Little Scroll
God created us with a built-in mechanism that turns off our pain sensors at a certain point. It is, most of the time, a mercy. Shock is a medical condition where the body shuts down certain processes because it’s just too much to handle. We go numb, physically and mentally. We’re only fit for so much negative feedback.
This is also true when it comes to the problems around us in our environment. We can only take so much bad news before we cover our eyes, close the tab, or keep scrolling for a new cat video. We don’t want to see it; it’s too sickening. This ability to turn off attention is part of the discussion about how effective it is to show pictures of aborted babies; the sight may be so gruesome that it loses effect. Instead of horror and disgust, we go into denial overload.
As Solomon said, in much wisdom and knowledge there is much vexation and sorrow (Ecclesiastes 1:18), so it is better to be oblivious. Dumb, fat, and happy depends a lot on the dumb. We are in a crisis season, not just because 2020 has more waves of crises than an alphabet of hurricanes, but because evil will continue to do evil, especially if we don’t want to deal with it anymore. There is a godly impulse to desire a quiet and peaceable life, and also, burying our talent because we don’t want to deal with the cheating banker won’t win approval from the Master when he returns.
We’re in a trying time, and we just don’t want to believe certain things because then we can’t justify complacency. What’s more, who wants to be “that” guy? “Here comes Noah again, saying that it’s going to rain. What is that even?” Who wants to be seen as a hater? It takes real maturity to be intense while being at peace, to hate evil while rejoicing always, to have eyes wide open without a calloused heart, to speak humbly and honestly and hopefully.
With a similar view to increasing difficulty, a mighty angel comes to recommission John for his prophetic task in Revelation 10. The visions he’s seen up to this point have been glorious, and ghastly. He’s seen angels around heaven’s throne and demons rise from the pit of hell. All the seals on the scroll have been opened, six of the seven trumpets sounded, widespread torment and destruction and death but without repentance (9:20-21). The intensity of the seventh trumpet is like a full crescendo in a quarter note. We’ve not hit the peak of wickedness or of God’s wrath. Before that comes, an angel visits John and gives him a taste from a bittersweet little scroll. John needs not to quit now.
Though the ESV has two paragraphs, there is a description of the angel’s stance found three times in chapter 10: on sea and on land. The mighty angel has his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, an image of God’s sovereignty over all the earth.
The Angel Brings a Little Scroll (verses 1-4)
Just as there were two visions between seals six and seven, so now there are two visions after the sixth trumpet: a vision of a little scroll Revelation 10:1-11 and a vision of two witnesses Revelation 11:1-13; the first introduces the second.
1 Then 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.
John sees a mighty angel, though John doesn’t give us more detail about the angel’s identity. He heard a “mighty angel” in Revelation 5:2 asking who was worthy to take the scroll held by one sitting on the throne.
The attributes of this angel are attributes of God in other places, leading some to identify this angel as Christ. For example, God is “clothed” or wrapped with a cloud, like a full-body mask. In Psalm 104:3 clouds are a chariot for the Lord, and in Revelation 1:7 Christ is “coming in the clouds.”
And even a [...]
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By Trinity Evangel ChurchRevelation 10:1-11
July 12, 2020
Lord’s Day Worship
Sean Higgins
The sermon starts around 17:15 in the audio file.
Or, The Bittersweet Little Scroll
God created us with a built-in mechanism that turns off our pain sensors at a certain point. It is, most of the time, a mercy. Shock is a medical condition where the body shuts down certain processes because it’s just too much to handle. We go numb, physically and mentally. We’re only fit for so much negative feedback.
This is also true when it comes to the problems around us in our environment. We can only take so much bad news before we cover our eyes, close the tab, or keep scrolling for a new cat video. We don’t want to see it; it’s too sickening. This ability to turn off attention is part of the discussion about how effective it is to show pictures of aborted babies; the sight may be so gruesome that it loses effect. Instead of horror and disgust, we go into denial overload.
As Solomon said, in much wisdom and knowledge there is much vexation and sorrow (Ecclesiastes 1:18), so it is better to be oblivious. Dumb, fat, and happy depends a lot on the dumb. We are in a crisis season, not just because 2020 has more waves of crises than an alphabet of hurricanes, but because evil will continue to do evil, especially if we don’t want to deal with it anymore. There is a godly impulse to desire a quiet and peaceable life, and also, burying our talent because we don’t want to deal with the cheating banker won’t win approval from the Master when he returns.
We’re in a trying time, and we just don’t want to believe certain things because then we can’t justify complacency. What’s more, who wants to be “that” guy? “Here comes Noah again, saying that it’s going to rain. What is that even?” Who wants to be seen as a hater? It takes real maturity to be intense while being at peace, to hate evil while rejoicing always, to have eyes wide open without a calloused heart, to speak humbly and honestly and hopefully.
With a similar view to increasing difficulty, a mighty angel comes to recommission John for his prophetic task in Revelation 10. The visions he’s seen up to this point have been glorious, and ghastly. He’s seen angels around heaven’s throne and demons rise from the pit of hell. All the seals on the scroll have been opened, six of the seven trumpets sounded, widespread torment and destruction and death but without repentance (9:20-21). The intensity of the seventh trumpet is like a full crescendo in a quarter note. We’ve not hit the peak of wickedness or of God’s wrath. Before that comes, an angel visits John and gives him a taste from a bittersweet little scroll. John needs not to quit now.
Though the ESV has two paragraphs, there is a description of the angel’s stance found three times in chapter 10: on sea and on land. The mighty angel has his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, an image of God’s sovereignty over all the earth.
The Angel Brings a Little Scroll (verses 1-4)
Just as there were two visions between seals six and seven, so now there are two visions after the sixth trumpet: a vision of a little scroll Revelation 10:1-11 and a vision of two witnesses Revelation 11:1-13; the first introduces the second.
1 Then 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.
John sees a mighty angel, though John doesn’t give us more detail about the angel’s identity. He heard a “mighty angel” in Revelation 5:2 asking who was worthy to take the scroll held by one sitting on the throne.
The attributes of this angel are attributes of God in other places, leading some to identify this angel as Christ. For example, God is “clothed” or wrapped with a cloud, like a full-body mask. In Psalm 104:3 clouds are a chariot for the Lord, and in Revelation 1:7 Christ is “coming in the clouds.”
And even a [...]