Bird's-eye view
Revelation chapter 10 is a dramatic pause, an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets. Just before the final judgment on old covenant Jerusalem is announced, the stage is dominated by the appearance of a colossal angel, whose description leaves no doubt as to His identity. This is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Angel of the Covenant, coming down from heaven to take formal possession of His inheritance. He stands astride the world, holding a little scroll that contains the specific orders for the final act of the covenant lawsuit. With a roar like a lion, He swears a solemn oath before heaven that the time for delay is over. The long-awaited "mystery of God," the full establishment of the New Covenant age, is about to be accomplished through the destruction of the old. This chapter is the divine announcement that God's patience has run its course and the final sentence is about to be executed.
This is not just apocalyptic scenery; it is legal and covenantal drama. Christ is presented as the great landlord of the earth, arriving to evict the wicked tenants who have murdered His servants and His Son. The open scroll is His eviction notice. The oath is His sworn testimony that the eviction will be carried out immediately. The entire scene is designed to communicate the absolute authority of Christ and the finality and imminence of the judgment that is about to fall upon the generation that rejected Him.
Outline
- 1. The Divine Eviction Notice (Rev 10:1-7)
- a. The Descent of the Covenant Angel (Rev 10:1)
- b. The Claim of Universal Lordship (Rev 10:2)
- c. The Roar of the Lion and the Voice of God (Rev 10:3-4)
- d. The Oath of No More Delay (Rev 10:5-7)
- i. The Solemn Posture (Rev 10:5)
- ii. The Divine Witness (Rev 10:6a)
- iii. The Decisive Proclamation (Rev 10:6b-7)
Context In Revelation
This chapter is strategically placed. The first six trumpets have sounded, bringing escalating covenantal judgments upon apostate Israel, depicted as the "land." The sixth trumpet unleashed a horrific demonic army, resulting in immense death and destruction, yet the survivors did not repent (Rev 9:20-21). Before the seventh and final trumpet sounds, which will announce that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Rev 11:15), John gives us this interlude. It serves to heighten the tension and explain the theological significance of what is about to happen. Chapter 10 answers the question, "By what authority is this final judgment coming?" The answer is that it comes by the direct authority of the glorified Christ, who personally descends to oversee the final verdict. This interlude, which continues into chapter 11 with the measuring of the temple and the ministry of the two witnesses, provides the final grounds for the judgment before it is executed.
Key Issues
- The Identity of the "Strong Angel"
- The Meaning of the Little Open Scroll
- The Significance of the Angel's Stance
- The Unwritten Words of the Seven Thunders
- The Meaning of "Delay No Longer"
- The Nature of the "Mystery of God"
No More Delay
One of the central questions asked by the saints throughout Scripture is "How long, O Lord?" The martyred saints under the altar asked this very question just a few chapters earlier (Rev 6:10). They were told to rest a little longer. But here, in this chapter, the definitive answer is given. The time for waiting is over. The period of longsuffering has reached its appointed end. The angel swears by God the Creator that there will be "delay no longer."
This is not a statement about the end of chronological time itself, as some have mistakenly thought. The Greek phrase chronos ouketi estai means that the allotted time of waiting is finished. The judgment that Jesus had prophesied against that generation, the judgment for which the prophets had warned and the apostles had pleaded, was now at the door. It was A.D. 70, and the legions of Rome were God's instrument of wrath. This chapter is the divine authorization, the final command given just before the trumpet sounds and the walls of the new Jericho, apostate Jerusalem, come crashing down for good.
Verse by Verse Commentary
1 Then I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire;
John sees "another" strong angel, but we must not be misled by the word "another." The description that follows is a collage of Old Testament descriptions of Yahweh and New Testament descriptions of the glorified Christ. He is clothed with a cloud, the sign of the divine presence (the Shekinah). A rainbow is on His head, a sign of covenant faithfulness, recalling the promise to Noah. His face is like the sun, just as it was at the Transfiguration (Matt 17:2) and in John's initial vision of Christ (Rev 1:16). His feet are like pillars of fire, indicating unshakable stability and burning judgment. This is no created being. This is a Christophany. This is the Angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ Himself, descending in power and glory to execute judgment.
2 and he had in his hand a little scroll which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the earth,
In chapter 5, the scroll was sealed, representing the title deed to the world, which only the Lamb was worthy to open. Here, this "little scroll" is already open. This is not the full plan of redemption, but rather a specific subset of it: the written verdict and sentence against Jerusalem. It is open because the time for its contents to be hidden is over; it is about to be read and executed. The angel's stance is an act of sovereign claim. With one foot on the sea (representing the Gentile nations) and one on the land (representing Israel), He asserts His universal dominion. The whole earth is His, and He has come to take possession of it from the usurpers. This is the posture of a conqueror, a king planting his standard on newly-won territory.
3 and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. And when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices.
His voice is not timid; it is a lion's roar. This is the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5), roaring in judgment. The prophets frequently used this imagery for God's voice of judgment (Jer 25:30; Hos 11:10; Amos 3:8). In response to this royal roar, the "seven peals of thunder" speak. Thunder in Scripture is often the voice of God Himself (Ps 29:3). The number seven signifies fullness and perfection. This is the complete and perfect voice of God from the throne, affirming and echoing the decree of the Son. The judgment about to fall is not just Christ's will, but the unified will of the entire Godhead.
4 And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.”
John, the faithful scribe, prepares to record what he has heard, but he is explicitly forbidden. This is a crucial lesson in humility. Not all of God's counsel is for our public consumption. There are secret things that belong to the Lord (Deut 29:29). This prohibition serves to check our theological curiosity and our desire to have a complete, exhaustive system. God has told us all we need to know for our salvation and obedience, but He has not told us all there is to know. The contents of the thunders are sealed, a reminder that God's knowledge is infinitely greater than ours, and we must be content with what He has chosen to reveal.
5 Then the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the earth, lifted up his right hand to heaven,
This is the formal, legal posture for swearing a solemn oath. We see this in the Old Testament, for example, in Daniel 12:7. By raising his hand toward the throne of God in heaven, the angel is calling upon the highest possible authority to witness and guarantee his words. This action imbues the following declaration with the utmost gravity and absolute certainty.
6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer,
Because there is no one greater for Him to swear by, He swears by God the Father, identified here as the eternal Creator of all things. This grounds the oath in the absolute sovereignty of God. The God who created all things has the authority to judge all things. And the content of the oath is world-altering: "there will be delay no longer." The time of grace, the time of warning, the time of longsuffering for the Jewish nation that had rejected its Messiah, is now officially over. The clock has run out. The final judgment is not just coming soon; it is coming now.
7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He proclaimed good news to His slaves, the prophets.
This verse clarifies the timing and the result of the end of the delay. The final consummation of this particular judgment will occur when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet. At that moment, the "mystery of God" will be finished. What is this mystery? Paul tells us it is the inclusion of the Gentiles into one body with the Jews in Christ (Eph 3:4-6). As long as the temple in Jerusalem stood, there was a constant gravitational pull for the Church to be seen as a sect of Judaism. The destruction of the temple and the old covenant system was the event that "finished" this mystery, making it undeniably clear that the people of God were no longer defined by ethnic Israel and the Jerusalem temple, but by faith in Christ alone. This was the "good news" (euangelion) that God had announced beforehand to His prophets, who all looked forward to a day when God would do a new thing and establish a new and better covenant.
Application
First, this passage is a powerful declaration of the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ. His feet are planted on the sea and the land. There is not one square inch of this cosmos over which He does not say "Mine." This should give Christians immense confidence. Our Lord is not a celestial suggestion-maker; He is the King of all creation, and His authority is total. We should therefore live boldly, taking every thought captive to Him, and working to see His lordship acknowledged in every sphere of life.
Second, we learn that God's patience, while vast, is not infinite. There is a time when the warnings cease and the judgment falls. For first-century Jerusalem, that time was A.D. 70. This should serve as a sober warning to all nations and individuals. God is not to be trifled with. He calls all men everywhere to repent, and to ignore that call is to store up wrath for the day of wrath. We should be urgent in our proclamation of the gospel, knowing that the time is short.
Finally, we see that God's plan is always on schedule. The "mystery of God" was finished exactly when He had ordained it. The prophets spoke of it, and Christ brought it to pass. We can trust that all of God's remaining promises will likewise be fulfilled in their proper time. Our job is not to fret about the secret things of God, like the contents of the seven thunders, but to faithfully believe and obey the things He has revealed in His Word, trusting that the Lion of Judah has conquered and that His kingdom will have no end.