Revelation 10:1-4

We ended chapter 9 reading about how the people do not repent and continue to worship demons and idols. They do not repent of their murders, drugs, sexual immorality, or stealing.

Here in chapter 10 and part of chapter 11, we are in what many scholars refer to as an interlude. There are three interludes in Revelation. The first was in chapter 7. These are descriptions of other things he is allowed to see that are going on as he writes describing what he sees regarding the seals and the trumpets.

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

There is disagreement among the Bible scholars as to who is this strong and powerful angel. Many believe it is Jesus and many believe it is “another mighty angel”. I lean to the literal meaning here, but either view can be defended.

This mighty angel is unlike any of the other angels that have been described. He bears the promise of God above his head to not destroy the earth by flood. He is huge in shear size. While it says specifically that it was a little scroll laying open in his hand, anything would have been little by comparison.

When he shouted a different voice sounded. A perfect voice of power. John has been told to write what he sees many times, but here is the only time he is told not to write. The voices of the seven thunders is interpreted as the voice of God. In Psalm 29, there are seven references to the voice of the Lord:

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.

God deliberately tells John when to write and when not to write.