Rev.10:8, – Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” And I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little scroll. And he *said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”

These visions of things to come had to be quite disturbing to the Apostle John who is often called the Apostle of love. John had learned well from his mentor, Jesus of Nazareth. He remembered the sermon in Nazareth where Jesus proclaimed the good news of the gospel and the acceptable year of the Lord. That described the message of Jesus and also the message of the other apostles that followed in His steps. Like Jesus, they preached the gospel and brought healing to the sick. John’s ministry had been characterized by love, love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. Now this shocking angel, who had a rainbow on his head, a face like the sun, his feet like pillars of fire with one foot on the ocean and one foot on the land tells John to eat this scroll. He then tells John he is to prophesy again to many people, languages and nations. John was told to eat the scroll, it would be sweet in his mouth and bitter in his stomach. This message John was to preach is apparently the book of Revelation. John is in new territory now going beyond the message of the acceptable year of the Lord to the day of vengeance of the Lord. Here is how the Fire Bible describes this.

“The Bible does not explain the meaning of eating the “little scroll,” but it almost certainly relates to a similar action by the prophet Ezekiel, whose calling to speak God’s message also included a command to eat the book first. This pictured the fact that he had to spiritually digest God’s message and make it part of him before he could effectively proclaim it to the people. Jeremiah describes his experience with God’s message in a similar fashion. The “little scroll,” tasting as sweet as honey but turning sour in John’s stomach, refers to the scroll’s mixture of blessing and curse. God’s prophets, including John, all understood that God’s Word is not all sweetness; much of it is hard to take. While it speaks of mercy, it also reveals judgment.”

This is why the book of Revelation is so shocking when we first begin to read it. It takes us past the church age into the time of Jacob’s Trouble, the Great Tribulation. Of course there is always the message of mercy to all that call upon the Lord but the justice and vengeance of God has come, the end of all things is at hand. It’s time to make peace with God.