This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Revelation chapter 10. This is day one of our look through this
chapter. Hi, this is Pastor Tom, and we're going to focus on verses 1 to 4 today
as we begin a look at what many people call an interlude chapter in the book of
Revelation.

You might remember that between the seals and the trumpets, there was an
interlude where we went back to heaven and got some perspective. Well, after
looking at Revelation chapter 9 this last week and the destruction that happened
on the earth in the trumpets, the judgments of God, we're ready for another
interlude. We're ready for some perspective, God's perspective on all of this.

And that is what happens in Revelation chapter 10 and in the beginning of
chapter 11. Let me begin by reading for you Revelation 10 verses 1 to 3. Then I
saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven.

He was robed in a cloud with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun
and his legs were like fiery pillars. 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, and he gave
a loud shout with the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the voices of the
seven thunders spoke. This chapter begins with this incredible, awesome picture
of a messenger from God, a strong angel, a mighty angel.

And as you begin to look at who this angel is, there is a division of opinion.
There are some people who believe this angel, the word angel, you know, also
means messenger. This messenger was not an angel at all, but was indeed Jesus
Christ.

It's easy to see how people would think that. It's the fiery face. The face is
like the sun.

It's the legs that have the pillars of strength in them that we saw in the first
chapter of the book of Revelation. The rainbow above his head. It all indicates
Jesus.

When we get later into this chapter, we're going to see that this angel takes an
oath to God. And because of that, some people think, well, no, it couldn't be
Jesus because angels wouldn't take an oath to God. Whatever side of this you
land on, the truth is this angel is a messenger of God.

And this angel has just been in the presence of God. So whether it's Jesus
reflecting the glory of God in that he is God, or an angel who's just come from
the presence of God and reflects what he has just seen, it's all about God and
who he is and not the angel and who the angel is. Angels are messengers.

They just bring the message. They just make the delivery. That's why we don't
glorify angels.

We glorify God. And everything about this angel glorifies God. A face like the
sun.

Look at the pictures here. A face like the sun. That's a picture of the holiness
of God.

You can't even look into the face of this angel. It is so bright. The holiness
of God is so bright.

It is so glorious that you and I, we can't even look totally into who he is, but
we can enjoy the light of who he is. Just like you can't look directly at the
sun without your eyes being harmed, you can enjoy the light of the sun every
moment of every day. The holiness of God is so great.

It reflects into our lives every moment of every day. If only we'll look for it.
If only we'll see it.

He is clothed in clouds at the representation of the presence of God. In the Old
Testament, God went before them like a cloud. He was seen in that sense of God's
presence.

But there's probably more to this than that. The cloud not only represents the
presence of God in the book of Revelation, but as we walk through the book,
there's also a sense of the judgment of God that's here. God is a judge.

He's a judge who is a righteous and just and loving judge, but he is also the
judge who is going to set all things right in the end. He's clothed in clouds.
He has a rainbow that's above his head.

We've come across this rainbow a couple of times already in the book of
Revelation. It reminds us again of Noah and the rainbow and God's promise. This
is a picture of the faithfulness of God, that God keeps his promises.

We can depend on God to keep his promises. And then he has these legs like fiery
pillars. They represent the power of God.

In fact, these legs, one foot is on land and the other foot is on the sea. That
shows the influence of God over the entire earth. And then there's the shout of
God, this voice of the seven thunders, the shout like the roar of a lion, the
power of God that you can hear in the word of God and the voice of God.

This is a representation of who God is. As we walk through the book of
Revelation and see these signs of what's going to happen to this earth as it
falls apart, I am so glad that we come back again and again and again to these
pictures of who God is, because God is never going to fail us. Who he is is
never going to fall apart.

This is what's going to last. This is what I hang on to in the midst of all
this. I don't want to hang on to that which has fallen apart.

I want to hang on to, I want to put my hope in that which is going to last
forever. That's the encouragement that's here. And then something happens in
verse four.

Let me read that verse for you. "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. '" Verse four is an interesting verse
because it reveals to us that John didn't reveal to us everything that he heard.

Specifically, he's told here, don't write this one down. We don't know what he
heard. Now Psalm 29 indicates that it might have to do with God's voice, but
we're not at all sure with what God's voice is saying here.

And because of that, as I've reminded you a few times in the book of Revelation,
this is a favorite spot for false teachers. They'll tell you they say what no
one else knows. They appeal to our sense of wanting to solve the mystery by
saying, "Well, we'll figure it out for you.

" They appeal to our sense of pride by saying, "We can look into the Bible and
somehow figure out what John wasn't supposed to tell us here. And because we
figure it out, then you can know something that nobody else knows. " John is
told you can't tell, but false teachers tell you, "Well, I can figure it out.

" Well, that's just their pride. Obviously, they can't figure out what John was
told not to tell. That's why he was told not to tell.

Over in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the apostle Paul tells us that he went to
heaven and he saw some glorious things, but he was not allowed to tell all of
them yet. Now, why is that? Why wouldn't God tell everything?

Well, I don't know all the reasons why, but I can guess one of them, and that is
we're not ready to understand it yet. There are some of the glories of heaven
that are so glorious that if God told me now, they'd just scare me. They'd just
confuse me.

They'd just bring doubt into my mind. I won't understand them until I can
actually be there and see them. The truth behind this to me when I hear what
happens in these verses is that sometimes God's answer is not yet.

Sometimes when I'm praying a prayer, God's answer is not yet. It's not yet time
for that prayer to be answered. Sometimes when I'm wanting something, some new
ministry to begin, some new action that's on my heart to begin to blossom in a
way that changes the world, sometimes God says, "Not yet.

It's not time for that yet. " There are times, as with these verses, when I have
questions and I wonder why God is doing it that way, or I wonder why he doesn't
do it that way. And I ask God the question, and the answer comes, "Not yet.

I'm not yet ready to understand that. Well, I love the Lord enough, and I trust
him enough to know that that not yet is not because he wants to confuse me or he
wants to hide something from me. The only reason he would say not yet is because
he loves me, just like a parent.

The only reason you would say not yet to your children is because you love them.
You know that they're not ready to handle that yet, something that they're
asking for. So you say, "Not yet.

" Maybe there's a place in your life right now, some circumstance, some
question, where God is saying, "Not yet. " Let's take an opportunity in these
last few moments just to talk to him and to tell him that we trust him. Our
Father, even when the answer is not yet, whether it's a prayer that we're
praying or a ministry that we want to begin or a question that we have, when the
answer is not yet, we want to tell you right now, we trust you.

We trust you because we know that you love us. And even though it may, at times,
make us feel a bit impatient, Lord, we know that in your love for us, you're
always going to do what is best for us. So in this moment, right now today, we
remind ourselves of that truth.

I remind myself of that truth, and I trust in you in a new and fresh way. In
Jesus' name, I put my trust in you. Amen.

Join us again tomorrow. We're going to take some time to put these events in the
Book of Revelation in perspective.