A Sweet-and-Bitter Message

 Vision 6 - REVELATION 10:1-11:19

Subject: The vision of the little scroll; temple experiences; the blowing of the seventh trumpet

Time of fulfillment:  From the enthronement of Jesus in 1914 to the great tribulation

THE second woe has been devastating.  It has plagued Christendom and her leaders,  "a third of the men," who are thus exposed  as being spiritually dead.  (Revelation 9:15) John must have wondered after that what the third woe could possibly bring.  But wait! The second woe is not yet finished - Not until we reach the point recorded at  Revelation 11:14.  Before then, John is to witness a turn of events in which he himself take an active part.  It begins with an aweinspiring sight:

"And I saw  another strong angel descending from heaven, arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and is face was as the sun, and his feet were as fiery pillars." - REVELATION 10:1.

Who is this "strong angel"?  It is evidently the glorified Jesus Christ in another role.  He is arrayed with a cloud of invisibility, which reminds us of John's earlier  words about Jesus:  "Look!  He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those pierced him."  (Revelation 1:7; compare Matthew 17:2-5.)  The rainbow  upon his head reminds us of John's earlier vistion of Jehovah's throne, with  its "rainbow like an emerald in appearace."  (Revelation 4:3; compare  Ezekiel 1:28)  That rainbow suggested the serenity and peace surrounding God's throne.  In the same way, this rainbow  on the angel's head would identify him as a special peace messenger;  Jehovah's foretold  "Prince of Peace." - ISAIAH 9:6, 7.

Next time: A Sweet-and-Bitter Message 

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