A Sweet-and-Bitter Message -The Little Scroll Today

The Little Scroll Today

What John sees foreshadows remarkably the experience of the John class at the beginning of the Lord's day.  Their understanding of Jehovah's purposes, including the implication of the seven thunders, was then incomplete.  Nevertheless, they had a deep interest in Revelation, and Charles Taze Russell had commented on many parts of it during his lifetime. After his death in 1916, many of his writings were collected and published in a book entitled The Finished Mystery.  In time, though, this book proved to  be unsatisfactory as an explanation of Revelation.  The remnant of Christ's brothers had to wait a  while longer, until the visions started to be fulfilled, for an accurate understanding of that inspired record.

Like John, however, they were used by Jehovah even before the voices of the seven thunders were fully published.  They had preached diligently for 40 years before 1914,  and they had struggled to stay active during the first world war.  They had  proved to be the ones who, when the master arrived, were found to be giving the domestics food at the proper time.   (Matthew 24:45-47) Thus, in  1919 they were the ones who were given the opened scroll-that is, an open messaged to preach to mankind.  Like Ezekiel they had a  message for an unfaithful organization - Christendom - that claimed to be serving God but, in fact, was not.  Like John they had to preach some more regarding "peoples and nations and tongues and many kings."

John's eating up the scroll pictured that Jesus' brothers accepted this assignment.  It became a part of them to the extent that they were now identified with this portion of God's inspired Word, drawing nourishment from it.  But what they had to preach contained expressions of Jehovah's judgments that were unpalatable to many of mankind. Indeed, it included the plagues foretold in Revelation chapter 8.  It was sweet, however, to these sincere Christians to know those judgments and to realize that they were again being used by Jehovah in proclaiming them. -Psalm 19:9, 10.

In time, the message of this scroll also became sweet to the "great crowd . . .out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues" who were found to be sighing on account of the detestable things they saw being done in Christendom.  (Revelation 7:9;Ezekiel 9:4) These, too, vigorously proclaim the good news, using sweet, gracious words to describe Jehovah's marvelous provision for sheep like Christians.  (Psalm 37:11, 29; Colossians 4:6)  But to goat like people, this is bad news.  Why? It means that the system in which they trust-and which may even have brought them a transitory satisfaction-must go.  For them, the good news spells doom. -Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46; compare Deuteronomy 28:15; 2 Corinthians  2:15, 16.

Next time: Reviving the Two Witnesses

From the Book of Revelation