Revelation 10 - 1-7 - The Little Book of Gods End-time Judgment Plan

Revelation 10:1-7
The Little Book of God's End-time Judgment Plan
By Brother Mike (8-7-20; 45 minutes)

1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face [was] as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire :
2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and [his] left [foot] on the earth ,
3 And cried with a loud voice, as [when] a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices .
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not .
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven ,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer :
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets .

INTRODUCTION

In Revelation 10:1-7, we see a picture of Christ come down from heaven to pronounce God's judgment plan for the End-time, which was written in a little book, or little part of the Bible, in His hand. But, upon the perfect voice of God having pronounced it, the apostle John was about to write it down when he was told to seal up what was pronounced and to not write it down. And, as we shall discover, this was done to conceal or hide from us God's judgment plan for the end until the time of the end. No one would be able to understand what God's judgment plan for the end was until the time of the end. Yet, once the time of the end came, God's people would be able to understand what was written in the little book, or little part of the Bible. And, to encourage us that the end would come, Christ swore by God eternal, the Creator who is Christ (see God is a Trinity ), that time would come to an end. In fact, we are told that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Revelation 10:1:

1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face [was] as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire :

In this verse, we first read, And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven. And, since the word angel in this sentence can just as well be translated as messenger, our sentence can read, And I saw another mighty messenger come down from heaven, and, right away, we get a sense of who this mighty angel or messenger is: why He is the Lord, Jesus Christ Himself, of course. How do we know this? Well, only Christ could be described as being clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. Remember in Revelation 1:7 that He comes with clouds, and in Revelation 4:3, there was a rainbow round about [His] throne, and in Revelation 1:16, His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, and in Revelation 1:15, His feet [were] like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. All these descriptions of Christ are very similar to the description of our mighty angel or messenger in our verse of Revelation 10:1: who is there said to be clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and, therefore, we must conclude that this mighty angel or messenger is the Lord, Jesus Christs Himself.

Now, moving on, we are told that this mighty angel comes down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. In the Bible, it is common knowledge that a cloud is symbolic of judgment. Thus, when we are told that Christ comes down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, it means that He comes down from heaven in judgment, and, so, what we have here is a picture of the mighty angel, Jesus Christ, coming down to earth to bring judgment. And, since according to the Biblical Timeline of History , which was constructed directly from God's Word, being supported by a multitude of evidence and proofs , judgment began with the house of God on May 21, 1988 and then came upon the entire world on May 21, 2011, we know that Revelation Chapter 10 must be focused on this time period of judgment ever since judgment began on May 21, 1988, namely the Great Tribulation upon all the churches from May 21, 1988 to Judgment Day on May 21, 2011, and beyond. So, as we continue further into Revelation 10, we must keep all this in mind so that we do not stray from the context of these verses.

Well, we are next told that on this mighty angel's (Christ's) head was a rainbow. Besides a rainbow appearing most magnificent and glorious in brilliance on Christ's head, what does the rainbow represent? We find the answer to this question in Genesis 9 in what Yahweh said to Noah after the flood. We read,

12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations :
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth .
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud :
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh .
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth .
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth .

Thus, in these verses, we see that the rainbow is a symbol of the covenant or promise that Yahweh made with Noah and every living creature, that when Yahweh sees the rainbow in the clouds, it will be a reminder to Him to never again cover the entire earth by flood waters to kill all living things due to their sinfulness. This doesn't mean that He would never bring local floods to the earth, as He obviously has throughout history, but it does mean that Yahweh would never again cover the whole earth all at once with a flood because of the sinfulness of human beings, and the rainbow is a symbol or sign of this covenant or promise made by Yahweh with every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

Yet, besides the rainbow symbolizing the promise of Yahweh to Noah that He would never again destroy all living creatures by a flood of water, there is also a deeper spiritual meaning to the rainbow as well. You see, the flood of water in Noah's day typified the final spiritual flood of Judgment Day that began on May 21, 2011 by the removal of anymore possibility of eternal salvation, and that ends on the Last Day of Judgment Day when the Devil and all the billions of people who were not eternally saved by May 21, 2011, will be cast into the Lake of Fire to be destroyed forever. Furthermore, Noah and the seven others who were in the ark typified us, the elect, who will be saved from the flood of Judgment Day that began on May 21, 2011. So, the covenant or promise made with Noah typifies the covenant or promise that Yahweh makes with us, the elect, that, after he saves us from all of Judgment Day, He will never again destroy the people of the new earth in heaven by a flood of judgment. Indeed, in the new earth that will be created on the Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in, Yahweh will never again destroy all the people therein. And, we know why this is: it is because there will never again be a reason for God to destroy the people due to their sins because all of us in the new earth will be sinless as we will receive new incorruptible and sinless bodies on the Last Day of this world before we ever enter the new earth.

Thus, the rainbow on Christ's head not only symbolizes that Christ will never again destroy all the people on earth by flooding it with water, but it also symbolizes that Christ will never destroy all the elect in the new earth because of their sins, for they will have no sin, as the covenant or promise to them in Christ Jesus is that their sins are forgiven, and they will be made sinless on the Last Day to never again sin for all eternity in the new heaven and earth that will never ever be covered by a flood of God's judgment. What a wonderful sign or symbol that the rainbow really is!

But now, why is this symbol of the rainbow said to be on Christ's head? Since the head of a person is what controls or rules over that person as the brain is housed in the head, and it is the brain that controls or rules over what that person does, we can say that Christ's head represents that seat of rule which determines what Christ does. And, in that on this seat of rule is a rainbow means that the rainbow has control over what Christ does. And, furthermore, since the rainbow symbolizes the Covenant of Grace whereby Christ saved all His elect from judgment by His death on the cross in their behalf, it is this Covenant of Grace which controls the actions of Christ. Thus, it is the Covenant of Grace that brought Christ to earth to die for His elect, and it is this Covenant of Grace that will bring Christ to the earth once again to save his people from the destruction of this earth by giving them new sinless bodies fit to live in the new heaven and earth to then be created. So, the rainbow on Christ's head symbolizes that it has been the Covenant of Grace (symbolized by the rainbow) which has controlled Christ's head, which, in turn, has controlled Christ in His having come to earth to pay for His elects' sin, and which will also control Christ in His return to translate His elect into the new eternal heaven and earth where there can never be a flood of judgment ever again. Yes, it is the covenant or promise of grace (symbolized by the rainbow) that all the elect will be eternally saved through Jesus Christ to live forevermore in a new glorious heaven and earth where there is no longer sorrow and sadness, suffering and pain, nor death, but joy and righteousness forever, amen.

Now, our verse continues and says, and his face [was] as it were the sun. The face of a person is what fully identifies that person. So, what fully identifies Christ is that His face appears as the sun. In fact, if we were to look upon Christ in His full glory, we would surely die, for the brightness of His glory would consume us in an instant. Yet, the amazing thing is that once we have been translated into our new sinless and glorious bodies on the Last Day, we will be able to see Him in his glory, for we read in 1John 3,

1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is .

And notice how that when we see Him, we shall be like Him. That is, we will be gloriously bright as the sun, like Him. So, we get a real sense of how gloriously bright we will be in our new bodies to be able to so gaze upon Christ in all His glory. In fact, as we have already stated, we shall be like Him, the scripture says. This is incredible to ponder for all the elect! We may seem to be of little significance in this life, but in the next life, we will shine most bright and glorious before all, as will Christ.

Well, finally, not only was this mighty angel (Christ) who John saw come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud : and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face [was] as it were the sun, but, we read, his feet [were] as pillars of fire. The feet in the Bible represent the whole person, which is why when Jesus went to wash Simon Peter's feet, for instance, He could say to him that one only needs to wash his feet to be fully clean; he does not need to wash his whole body (John 13:6-10). So, in that Christ's feet were as pillars of fire means that His whole person was as pillars of fire, and fire has to do with judgment. Thus, in that Christ's feet were as pillars of fire means that His whole person was as judgment. And pillars have to do with strength so that Christ's whole person was as pillars of fire means that He came in the strength of judgment. What we have, then, in our verse, is a picture of Christ coming in strength to bring judgment as He is clothed with a cloud [judgment]: and a rainbow [was] upon His head [that is, the Covenant of Grace which saves all His elect from that judgment], and His face [was] as it were the sun [He comes in all His glory to burn up the sinners], and His feet [were] as pillars of fire [that is, His whole person comes in strength to bring judgment].

Revelation 10:2:

2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth . . .

Here, we are told that this mighty angel, which we previously learned is Christ coming down from heaven to bring judgment, had in His hand a little book open. Remaining true to the context of judgment, this little book, or little Bible, must be that smaller part of the Bible which reveals God's judgment plan near the end of the world. It would include everything that we have learned about God's judgment in these latter days: when it would first begin at the house of God on May 21, 1988, and when it would begin upon the entire world on May 21, 2011. It would also includes the spiritual nature of judgment, namely that it is not an outward and physical judgment with earthquakes and all, but a spiritual judgment wherein eternal salvation is no longer possible either in the Church or in the world. In fact, God's judgment would include all of which we already learned in Revelation Chapters 8 and 9, and what we will learn about judgment in the rest of the book of Revelation and many other scriptures which have to do with the time of the end ever since the Church Age ended on May 21, 1988. This little book of God's judgment plan would also have to do with the Great Tribulation, which we now know was God's judgment on the Christian Corporate Church as He gave all the churches over to the counterfeit Christ or Antichrist, the Man of Sin, to lead them all astray into false gospels and teachings while the elect were commanded to depart out from all the churches to obey their Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. This little book of God's salvation plan would also include what the Bible calls the Latter Rain when God would save a Great Multitude of people apart from all the churches from September 7, 1994 up to judgment upon the entire world on May 21, 2011. Indeed, all these things and more are what was written in this little book of God's judgment plan, which Christ held in His hand to signify that God's judgment plan was all according to His will, for the hand is commonly known in the bible to symbolize the will.

Now, we are told that this mighty angel (Christ) set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth. The sea in the Bible symbolizes the unsaved peoples of the world as we learned back in Revelation 7:1 where we learned of Psalm 98:7, which reads,

Ps 98:7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein .

And we learned of Isaiah 57:20, which reads,

Isa 57:20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt .

Thus, by combining both verses, we find that the sea symbolizes the world of the wicked, which is the world of the unsaved. And, so, when our verse states that this mighty angel (Christ) set his right foot upon the sea, it means that He set His right foot upon the peoples of the world.

But now, what does it mean that He set His left foot upon the earth? The earth can be shown to basically represent the same thing as the sea, namely the peoples of the earth or world. So, when our verse states that this mighty angel (Christ) set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, we are being told that Christ set His feet upon the peoples of the earth and world. And, since to stand on something in the Bible means that one has conquered what he has stood upon (like standing on the neck of your enemy), that this mighty angel (Christ) set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, means that Christ has conquered the peoples of the earth and world. Of course, we know when Christ actually conquered the world: it was at the cross of calvary where He not only conquered the world, but He conquered the Devil as well.

So, what we see in the first couple verses of Revelation 10 where we read, And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face [was] as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth is a picture of Christ who has conquered the world at the cross coming to judge the world according to God's judgment plan for the end as written in the little book, which is the smaller part of the Bible that has to do with these things.

Revelation 10:3:

3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices .

In this verse, we are first told that this mighty angel (Christ) who had conquered the world at the cross, and who is now coming to judge according to God's judgment plan written in the little book, cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth. The idea is that of a lion roaring just before it captures its prey: now that Christ has conquered the world at the cross, He is coming to bring judgment against the world, crying in a loud voice even as a lion roars just before the capture of its prey. So, when we are told that Christ, who we learned back in Revelation 5:5 is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, cried with a loud voice, we know that this represents Him about to bring judgment upon the world.

Now, we read that when Christ had cried; that is, just before He began to bring judgment, seven thunders uttered their voices. Thunder in the Bible represents the voice of God. Remember what we learned back in Revelation 6:1, which reads,

Re 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see .

Here, when John in his vision saw Christ open the first seal, [he] heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. Since we've already learned that the four beasts (better translated as four living creatures) symbolize God Himself (see Revelation 4:6 ), when we are told that John heard one of the four beasts saying, Come and see, we know that it was God Himself who John heard. And, in that God's voice was as it were the noise of thunder, we are being taught that God's voice can be symbolized as thunder, which is taught elsewhere in scripture as well. For instance, in Job 40:9, we read,

Job 40:9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him ?

And, in Psalm 77:18, we read,

Ps 77:18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook .

And, again, we read,

Ps 81:7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I [God] answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah .

Thus, we see how that thunder can symbolize or represent the very voice of God.

But then, what do seven thunders symbolize? Since thunders represent the voice of God, and the number 7 in the Bible represents perfection (see Bible Number 7 ), the seven thunders symbolize the perfect voice of God, and when our verse says, and when he [Christ] had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices, it means that when Christ was about to bring judgment on the world, the perfect voice of God was uttered. This perfect voice of God can be none other than the Word of God that was written in the little book of God's judgment plan for the end of the world.

Revelation 10:4:

4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not .

Here, we first read, And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write. Since we already learned that the seven thunders represent the perfect voice of God, our verse is actually saying, And when the perfect voice of God uttered its sound, I was about to write. And what was the apostle John about to write? Well, he was about to write down what the perfect voice of God uttered, which was God's judgment plan for the latter days or end of the world. But, before the apostle John could write it down, he says, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. To seal something up and not write it down means to conceal it so that it cannot be seen or understood. Thus, in that the apostle John was told by a voice from heaven to seal up what the perfect voice of God had uttered about God's judgment plan for the end of the world means that God did not want people to be able to see or understand God's judgment plan for the end. We learn more information about this in the book of Daniel because much of this book is focused on God's judgment plan for the time of the end, but just as the apostle John was told to seal it up, so was Daniel. For instance, we read in Daniel 8,

26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days .
27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it .

Notice how Daniel was told to shut thou up the vision. To shut it up means to hide or conceal its meaning, so Daniel was basically told the same thing as the apostle John, namely, to hide or conceal what God was revealing. We see this again in Daniel 12 where we read,

4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased .

This time, notice that we are told for how long the book was to be sealed: even to the time of the end. And we find this stated again in Daniel 12:9 where we read,

9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end .

So, from these verses, we learn that God's judgment plan for the end was to be closed up and sealed to our understanding until the time of the end. This meant that no one would be able to understand all the events of God's judgment plan written in the Bible until the time of the end, for we read in Daniel 12:4, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Now, returning to our verse in Revelation 10, we can better understand why the apostle John was told to seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not: it was because the things which the perfect voice of God uttered, namely God's judgment plan for the end, were to be hidden or concealed to our understanding until the time of the end. O yes, these things were already written in the little book, which was that smaller portion of the Bible, but they would not be understood until the time of the end. And, we now know that the time of the end began with the Great Tribulation of judgment upon all the churches on May 21, 1988 according to the Biblical Timeline of History , so it has been ever since then that we have been learning a great deal about God's judgment plan of the end including such things as the end of the Church Age on May 21, 1988, the Great Tribulation of judgment upon the Church from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011, the Latter Rain from September 7, 1994 to May 21, 2011 when God saved a Great Multitude from outside the dead Church, the beginning of spiritual Judgment Day upon the whole world on May 21, 2011 with no more possibility of anyone becoming eternally saved, and much more. In fact, we have learned and are learning things in God's Word that have never been understood before until now. It is an awesome and exciting time not only because of all the new things being learned in the Word of God, but because we now know that we are likely that generation who will be living when the end of the world comes.

Revelation 10:5-6:

5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven ,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer . . .

In this verse, we see that the mighty angel (Christ) which the apostle John saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth as conqueror over the whole world lifted up His hand to heaven and swore an oath by the creator, who is Himself (Ephesians 3:9; Revelation 4:11), that time would come to an end. That is, Jesus Christ who is God, the creator, is making it certain by an oath that time will not just go on forever; it will come to an end! Not only do many other scriptures declare an end to all things, but in order to make it even more certain, God here declares by oath that time will come to an end. This is meant to give us even more assurance that the end will come. So, although it may seem to us now that the end will never come as we may be suffering in tribulation and hardship, sorrow and sadness, and pain, we should be greatly encouraged to know that these things will come to an end, for God Himself declares by an oath that they will. Indeed, time and all the troubles that have gone with it will come to an end, but it will come to an end according to God's judgment plan, which is written in the Little Book in His hand.

Revelation 10:7:

7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets .

Here, we are told that when the seventh angel shall begin to sound its trumpet, the mystery of God should be finished. Remember, the first four angels sounded their trumpets in Revelation 8 to bring judgment upon all the churches beginning on May 21, 1988 according to the Biblical Timeline of History . Then, both the 5th and 6th angels sounded their trumpets in Revelation 9 to bring judgment upon the entire world and upon all the churches once again, respectively, beginning on May 21, 2011 according to the Biblical Timeline of History. And now, we are being told that when the 7th angel sounds, which, by the way, does not take place until Revelation 11:15 so that what we are now covering in Revelation 10 is an interlude, the mystery of God's judgment plan will be finished. A mystery in the Bible is something that has not been understood in holy scripture, but which comes to be understood at a time when God wants it to be understood. For instance, until we were near the end of the Church Age on May 21, 1988, we did not understand that God's judgment plan would begin on this date against the corporate Church to bring the Great Tribulation of spiritual judgment against them by giving them over to the counterfeit Christ, the Antichrist, the Man of Sin, Satan, and removing all possibility of eternal salvation from them. We also didn't know that Judgment Day would begin on May 21, 2011 as a spiritual judgment wherein eternal salvation was no longer possible for anyone in the entire world until God made it known, for until then we thought that Judgment Day would include earthquakes, tsunamis and all the rest of the things which bring physical destruction to the earth. Indeed, God had a timetable for us to learn of these things even though those things have always been in the Bible. They have just been hidden in the Bible as a mystery that we did not begin to understand until we were near the time of the end, which began on May 21, 1988 with judgment upon the Church. Ever since then we have learned many things, but we won't know everything about God's judgment plan for the end of the world until, as we are told, the seventh angel sounds its trumpet, for at that time we are told, the mystery of God's judgment plan will be finished or completed. At that time alone, we will be able to see how everything fits together so wonderfully. And we are near that very time, so let everyone of us look unto God's Word for understanding. We are now in that time of history when God has been revealing those things written in the little book of His judgment plan for the End-time. These are things that the prophets of Old such as Daniel and others and the prophets of New such as the Apostles and all the elect up until around May 21, 1988 were not permitted to understand, but, now, God's elect of the latter days, which is us, have been blessed to understand these things. What an exciting time to be living in!

SUMMARY & CONCLUSION

In Revelation 10:1-7, we saw a picture of Christ come down from heaven to declare God's judgment plan against the world for the time of the end, which had been written in a little book, namely a little part of the Bible. But, then, having declared it, the apostle John was about to make it known when he was told by a voice from heaven to seal it up and not make it known, for, although already written in the Bible, it was to be concealed or hidden to our understanding until, what we learned in Daniel 12, the time of the end. This is why we could never understand God's judgment plan for the end until we were near the end when God began His judgment upon the Church on May 21, 1988. Ever since then, we have learned a great deal about God's judgment plan. Furthermore, God has greatly encouraged us by swearing by Himself that there should be time no longer. Time is not going to continue forever, but it will come to an end at which time the blood of God's people shall be avenged, and God's servants, the prophets, will receive their rewards. In fact, we are told that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Now may the LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.