6 He swore an oath by the One who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: “There will no longer be an interval of time,
Here the mighty angel swore an oath by the Eternal God that the statement he was about to proclaim was true and it was going to come to pass.
7 but in the days of the sound of the seventh angel, when he will blow his trumpet, then God’s hidden plan will be completed, as He announced to His servants the prophets.”
The mighty angel was proclaiming that the hidden plan of God was going to be revealed at the sound of the seventh trumpet which is found in Revelation 11:15 which says, 15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever!
8 Now the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
John was commanded to go up to the mighty angel and take from his hand God’s Word which pronounces the judgments that will take place at the end times or the great tribulation.
9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
It’s interesting to note that reading Scripture is a picture of eating. The reason is that when we eat a meal it goes inside of our body so that it can extract nutrients from what we ate to give us the strength to live. In the same way, when we read the Holy Scripture it goes to our inner man, giving us the spiritual nutrients that we need to build up our faith in Christ. Without having a meal of Scripture every day we are starving and weakening our faith in the Lord.
Examples of Scripture being like food. See below
Matthew 4:4
But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Ezekiel 3:1-4
He said to me: “Son of man, eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and He fed me the scroll. 3 “Son of man,” He said to me, “eat and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. 4 Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak My words to them.
Jeremiah 15:16
Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I am called by Your name, Yahweh God of Hosts.
The phrase “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” means that the bitterness refers to God’s judgment that’s coming on humanity because of their unrepentant heart. The taste of sweetness refers to God’s salvation and the future reign of Jesus Christ on earth.
10 Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter.
See the comment on the verse above, referring to sweet and bitter.
11 And I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”
This verse parallels with Ezekiel 3:1-4 where after the prophet ate the Word of God then he was ready to go and tell the people what God said.
After John ate the scroll he was ready to proclaim God’s Word about judgment so that through the Book of Revelation people may know the plans of God and repent before it’s too late.
As believers, the only way we can tell people about Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection is by reading His Word daily. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the more we know the more equipped we will be to answer people’s questions and defend God’s Word.
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