Chapter 10

From this point of interpretation, I differ greatly from the old scholars, and pretty much everyone I’ve researched.  I really wanted to understand and prayed and asked God for wisdom in hopes of Him revealing the mysteries of these next chapters.  The interpretations here do fit, the timelines do match, and it glorifies God.  When I first started my study, I began with chapter 13 and the European beast and since it closely resembled the one in Daniel, I used it as a benchmark.  After that I tackled the second beast in chapter 13, then the women in chapter 17, and the timeline of the fall of Babylon in chapters 16 and 18.  The rest of the later chapters came together, then I worked on Chapter 12, then 11, and finally chapter 10.  At the time of this writing, chapter 10 needs a lot of work.  The analogies of the angel and the images of heaven are significant.  It will just take time to look into those details that I haven’t had time to do yet.  Do your own study to fill in the missing verses, I’m sure you will be blessed!

Here I’ll also touch on the use of time in prophecy.  In chapter 8 there was a half an hour of silence.  According to the historical interpretation, that was 24 years, so an hour could mean 40-ish years.  We haven’t looked at the church ages, but according to Historicist Scholars, there were 10 days of suffering of the Smyrna church, which has been interpreted as the 10 years of intense persecution under Diocletian.  Ezekiel laid on his side for 40 days to show the 40 years of judgment coming on Judah.  Jesus used a woman in labor (40 weeks in John 16:21) to describe the time between his ascension and the siege of Jerusalem.  Scholars have shown that the 1260 days in Daniel was the reign of  1260 years of the Catholic Church.  It’s not that God is inconsistent in his timing, but it is a mystery until it’s fulfilled.  Then when the prophecy is fulfilled, it’s shown as a solid anchor in the process of interpreting the chapter.  

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.  2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land,

The word for “little scroll” is the Greek word “biblaridion “ which is only used in that chapter, and not really used in other writings, so it’s hard to find the correct meaning.  Strongs interprets it as a small book or scroll.  This is interesting to me, that we have a book, vs. a scroll, considering the timing of where we are at with the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 1400s.  Revelation 17 interprets “sea” as multitudes of peoples, languages and tongues.  At this point in time we have the Holy Roman Empire established in eastern Europe, and they have been attacked and intermixed with the Germans, Barbarians, Gauls, Turks, Mongols and also have a core group of Jews around the Black Sea.  If the right foot is on that area, the left foot is on the land.  The area of France/western Europe fits well with the following prophecies.  The angel “wrapped in a cloud” is significant, the rainbow, the face like the sun, the legs like pillars of fire are all important to find out the meaning but I haven’t looked into those yet.  

3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.  4 When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to put it in writing. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him 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, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. 

The thunders would be fulfilled in the seventh trumpet.  Again I do not have that meaning figured out.  

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”