Read or listen The Book of Revelation, chapter 4 online (ESV, YouVersion)

Secret Message 10:1-4

John sees a mighty angel. The angel is not Jesus, although he resembles what John has previously told about Jesus (Rev. 1:12-16). The servant is like his Lord.

John says that the angel had one foot on the sea and the other on the land. This hardly means that the angel was standing on the shore. The angel is so large that his left foot is on the land and his right foot is in the water. Perhaps there is also a deeper message in the vision. The sea may represent death in the Bible (cf. Rev. 21:1). Perhaps the earth represents all of creation that we see around us. The vision of the angel standing on the earth and the sea declares: God, whose servant the angel is, rules over creation, and even death is under his power.

Verses 3 and 4 speak of seven thunders. Perhaps John was thinking of Psalm 29, where the words "the voice of the Lord" appear seven times. The rumble of thunder is probably the voice of God that John hears.

John begins to write down what the Almighty says, but he is forbidden to do so. For some reason, God preferred that what John heard not be told to others. A similar incident is found in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Paul tells of being in paradise and hearing "things that cannot be told, which man may not utter." (2 Corinthians 12:4) So God has not revealed everything to us. That is why caution is needed, especially when talking about the end times and God's plans. Not everything has been told, and therefore many questions are best left unanswered.

John eats the scroll 10:5-11

The angel raises his hand and swears that time is at an end. This means that after the sixth trumpet sounds, God will no longer postpone the beginning of judgment. When the seventh trumpet sounds, Jesus arrives, the time of this world ends, and God executes his judgment. When that happens, everyone will see that the Bible spoke the truth after all. Those who now laugh at the Bible will stop laughing, and it will be clear to everyone that God's servants brought a message to people from the Lord of heaven and earth.

A voice is heard from heaven again and John receives a special command: he must eat the little book that is in the angel’s hand. There are two similar instances in the Old Testament. Jeremiah says that he ate God's word (Jer 15:16) and Ezekiel received the same command as John (Eze 2:8-9 and 3:1-3).

It is possible that John actually ate the scroll. Eating papyrus was not entirely unheard of. However, it certainly has a deeper message. When John eats the booklet containing the word of God, he shows that he has internalized God's word so that it becomes a part of himself. God's word is in him and therefore he cannot remain silent about it.

John says that the scroll tasted sweet at first but then became bitter in his stomach. This tells us what the word of God is like. The word of God is like honey—it tastes good and makes us enjoy reading it. But there is another side to the word of God. It tastes bad—it also speaks of things we would not want to hear about. And when we have to tell others what the word of God teaches, it is no longer a pleasure.

Especially talking about God's judgment is difficult and one would rather do almost anything else. Even John knew that people did not want to hear what he was saying. However, he proclaimed what he had seen and heard. The message had come from God and it had to be told, even if people did not like it.