Let us turn again to Revelation
chapter 10 and verses 1 to 3. Revelation chapter 10 verses
1 to 3, And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face
was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and
he had in his hand a little book open, and he set his right foot
upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with
a loud voice as when a lion roareth, And when he had cried, seven
thunders uttered their voices. There is much that is hard to
be understood in the book of the Revelation, but I'll just
remind you of what we said this morning. What is the book of
the Revelation all about? Well, it's really an exposition
in greater detail in prophetic language of what Paul speaks
of in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. There in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2 Paul speaks of the Roman Empire as the power that then hindered
the full manifestation of Antichrist, the man of sin, that wicked. And Paul speaks of the removal
of that power that then hindered the Roman Empire And he speaks of that revealing
of the Antichrist. And he speaks of Antichrist being
consumed by Christ's breath. And he speaks of the ultimate
destruction of that Antichrist with the brightness of the Lord's
coming. Well, these things I'll suggest
John speaks of here in the book of the Revelation, only in much
more detail and using prophetical language. He speaks of the fall
of the Roman Empire in the earlier chapters, in the opening of the
seals, and the first trumpets, the first four trumpets, I think
it is. He speaks of the rise of Antichrist and his false church,
the Babylonian Whore, the Whore of Babylon there in Revelation
17, and he speaks of the persecutions of the Lord's people, and he
speaks of the ultimate victory of the Bride of Christ, the true
Church, over all her enemies, over all her political and spiritual
enemies, and over pagan and papal enemies. This is essentially
what the book of the Revelation is all about and if we bear these
things in mind I think we should find that the book of the Revelation
is a little easier for us to understand. Well, we began considering
this 10th chapter of the Revelation this morning they'll continue
now I trust with the Lord's help I did say this morning that although
we take as our text the first three verses here in chapter
10 we shall not confine ourselves to these three verses but we
shall look at the whole chapter and also we shall be looking
as it were sideways we shall take sideways glances at chapter
9 and chapter 11 and We also considered this morning
the place that this chapter, this vision, occupies in the
book of the Revelation. It's not randomly placed. In
chapter 9 we see the sun and the air darkened. Here in chapter
10 we see the sun shining with resplendent glory. In chapter
9 we read of the angel of the bottomless pit. Here in chapter
10 we read of another mighty angel. And we saw this morning
that this mighty angel is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And we considered the description
of this mighty angel. And we identified the angel of
the bottomless pit as that antichrist. As well as being described as
an angel, you see, is also described as being a
star in verse 1 of chapter 9 and the fifth angel sounded and I
saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth and to him was given
the key of the bottomless pit now we have angels portrayed
don't we in chapter 1 as stars stars in Christ's right hand. The seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches. Those angels, which are in Christ's
right hand, are bishops or pastors. They are the overseers of the
churches. Literally, the word angel is messenger. And so we
have no difficulty seeing hear that this angel, in chapter 9,
is an apostate bishop. He is fallen. By his false doctrine
and by his errors, he obscures Christ and his gospel. And he opened the bottomless
pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke
of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by
reason of the smoke of the pit. and we have no difficulty in
seeing that this is fulfilled in the papacy, the apostate bishop
of Rome. Paul also warned of the Roman
Catholic apostasy, not only in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, but
also in, for example, 1 Timothy chapter 4. Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with
a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from
meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth. It was by doctrines of devils,
promulgated by the man of sin, the son of perdition, that the
pure doctrine of the person and the work of Christ was obscured. And if any should object and
argue that this might be referring to Satan himself, he was an angel
that fell from heaven, well I would remind you that in Isaiah chapter
14, we read of the king of Babylon
and he is there compared to Lucifer. Isaiah 14 verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God, I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides
of the north. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt
be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. This is a prophecy concerning
the king of Babylon. Well, so it is here in the Revelation
in Revelation chapter 9. This is a prophecy concerning
the latter-day king of Babylon, the Pope of Rome. I'm often disappointed
to read in professedly Protestant books and magazines the opinion
expressed that the Pope is not the Antichrist, but an Antichrist. Now I wonder, are we now witnessing
declension from the Protestant faith of our forefathers? It's very solemn. In the opening of the 5th seal,
there in Revelation 9, we see a prophecy regarding the apostasy
of the Bishop of Rome, which has clearly been fulfilled in
history. And in the opening of the 6th
seal, we read of the rise and spread of Islam. Now, this is
portrayed in the loosing of the four angels. which are bound
in the great river Euphrates and with this interpretation
most sound commentators agree they say that this is Islam the river Euphrates was of course
the border of the Roman Empire which is why the four angels
are said to be bound in the great river Euphrates It was in the years of the A.D. 400s that the
Church of Rome really increased in power and riches following
the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the A.D. 300s. And then the Emperor Theodosius
made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire in A.D. 380.
while the power and the influence of the Church of Rome and her
Bishop increased. It was the capital of the Roman
Empire. And so the Bishop of Rome became very prominent. And
his power and his influence increased, as I say, in the AD 400s. And then, in the early 600s,
Muhammad appears on the scene. It's interesting to note that
it was following the death of Muhammad in 632 that Islam really
began to spread by conquest and by sword under what the Sunni
Muslims call the rightly guided caliphs. Who were the rightly
guided caliphs? Well, they were the first four
caliphs who ruled after the death of Muhammad. These four caliphs
established a vast Islamic empire within a very short period of
time. Within 10 years, in fact, of the death of Muhammad. And
so we read here, in Revelation, chapter 9, at the opening of
the 7th seal, the loosing of the four angels. These are the
rightly guided caliphs, so called. They established a vast Islamic
empire, crossing even the river Euphrates into the Roman Empire. In the first part of the chapter
then, we have the false Christ, Antichrist. In the second part
of the chapter, we have the false prophet, Islam. And then as we
come to chapter 10, we see the true Christ, and the true prophet
of the Lord, which is Christ himself. Now, on the other side
of chapter 10, in chapter 11, we see the Reformation. In verse
7 of that chapter, you see the slaughter of the saints by the
papal antichrist. Revelation 11 verse 7, and when
they shall have finished their testimony, that's the two witnesses,
the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make
war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. Then three and a half days later,
we see the resurrection of those two witnesses in verse 11 of
that chapter. And after three days and a half,
the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon
their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them. Now it's interesting to note,
and I want you to mark the dates. It's interesting to note that
at the fifth letter in Council, on the 5th of May 1514, Antonio Pucci gave a speech before
Pope Leo X, in which he proudly declared, there is an end of
the resistance to the papal rule, and religious opposers exist
no more. While the witnesses had been
slain, the Pope reigned supreme, and the Pope commanded a jubilee.
Medals were struck and given as gifts. Ah, but then, exactly
three and a half years later, on the 31st of October 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses
to the church door in Wittenberg. And that was the spark which
set Europe ablaze with the Reformation. And the Reformation was really,
as we said this morning, a revival. of gospel preaching, and it was
undoubtedly the greatest work of the Spirit of God since the
day of Pentecost, the effects of which are still being felt
to this very day. And it was all due to the little
book in the mighty angel's hand and to the voice of that mighty
angel. Now we considered this morning
the mighty angel. This was the first of our headings
and I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed
with a cloud and a rainbow was upon his head and his face was
as it were the sun and his feet as pillars of fire. And we saw
that this mighty angel is none other than Christ. Here is a
spiritual description of the Lord Jesus Christ, the angel
or the messenger of the covenant, as Malachi calls him. Oh, this
is a mighty angel. He giveth strength and power
unto his people. And so we read in Revelation
11, the words of the angel, and I will give power unto my two
witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore
years clothed in sackcloth. None but the Lord God is able
to give strength to his witnesses. This angel is the Lord God himself,
Christ to be more specific. He is able, this mighty angel
is able to bring time to an end. And the angel which I saw stand
upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven
and swear by him that liveth forever and ever who created
heaven and the things that therein are and the earth and the things
that therein are and the sea and the things that are which
are therein that there should be time no longer. He is able
to bring time itself to an end. And we considered the description
of this mighty angel. He is clothed with a cloud, which
speaks of the presence of God. Remember how God would meet with
his people in the cloud of incense on the mercy seat. And a rainbow
was upon his head, the sign of the covenant. We considered his
countenance and his face was as it were the sun. After the
long night of papal darkness, the sun once again appeared. And so it happens in our own
experience too. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. we consider the description of
his feet and his feet as pillars of fire there's a clear reference
here to the children of israel journeying through the wilderness and the lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night
in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night
He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar
of fire by night from before the people. Christ's feet being described
as pillars of fire speaks of protection and presence. The Lord is with his people even
as they travel by night. He is their sovereign protector.
We noticed where this mighty angel placed his feet and he
set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth.
This speaks of the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ over
all creation. For thou has made him a little
lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands.
Thou has put all things under his feet. He is sovereign over
all the enemies of his people. In Revelation 13 we read of the
two beasts which arise. The first beast rises up out
of the sea. The second beast rises up out
of the earth. Yet though they be so very great
enemies to the Lord's people, they are nevertheless subject
to Christ. and he set his right foot upon
the sea and his left foot on the earth. Well, these are some
of the things we were considering this morning under the heading
of the Mighty Angel. I'll continue now, I trust with
the Lord's help and with his blessing, to consider with you
our last two headings, the Little Book and the Mighty Angel's Voice. And as I said, there is a connection
between the two. First of all, the Little Book. and he had in his hand a little
book open. The words little book are in
the Greek one word, Biblioridion. Biblioridion. The only places
that this word is used in the New Testament is in this chapter. Here in verse 2 and in verses
8 and 9 and 10. The usual word for book is Biblion.
So this chapter is the only time this word Bibliridion is used,
which immediately distinguishes this book from every other book
referred to in the New Testament, and from every other book referred
to in the book of the Revelation. This is not the same book that
we have in chapter 5 with the seven seals. So what is this book? Well, I
believe it to be the Bible. It is the written word of God. Three times we have these words
of the Lord Jesus Christ recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And that is what is being shown
us here. Christ declares, indeed he swears,
that there should be time no longer. In other words, heaven
and earth shall pass away, But the little book open in the
hand of the mighty angel signifies that the words of our Lord Jesus
Christ shall not pass away. It's called a little book. Why
is that? Well, it's a little book, comparatively speaking,
compared with the volumes that had been written by philosophers
and by the medieval schoolmen and theologians, here is a little
volume. It was little in the eyes of
the world, overlooked by the scholasticism of the Dark Ages,
despised by the wise and prudent of this world in the dark days
of potpourri before the Reformation, and it's still despised by the
world, the atheists and the Islamists. Even to the present day, Ah,
but what an effect this little book was to have in the world!
In this sense is it called a little book in comparison with the great
purposes which were to be accomplished by the instrumentality of this
little book, the Bible. You notice that it is a book
open and he had in his hand a little
book open, which seems to intimate that before it was closed. The
book had been closed, you see, by Antichrist. We've seen before
that He, that is the man of sin, the angel of the bottomless pit,
we see that he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out
of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air
were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. The sweet incense
of the pure doctrine of Christ was gone. The little book was
closed when the bottomless pit was opened. And we know that
the laity in the Church of Rome were forbidden to read the Bible
and even the clergy were, for the most part, completely ignorant
of the Bible and its contents. And if any did try to open the
book and preach the gospel, they were persecuted to death. Just
read the history of the Waldensians and how they were massacred. Read of William Tyndale, who
translated the Bible into English. What he suffered, he was strangled
and burnt at the stake for translating the Bible into English. It was when the two witnesses
of Revelation were slain that the little book was completely
closed. And it was when the two witnesses were raised again that
the little book was manifestly opened again. That is, at the
Reformation. Now, we must be careful here,
because it was not the Reformation that caused the little book to
be opened again, no. It was the little book open that
caused the Reformation. This really is the message of
the 10th chapter of the Revelation. The cause of the Reformation
was the open Bible, the little book open. You see, The little book is open in the
hand of the mighty angel, that is, in the hand of Christ. And
he had in his hand a little book open. In verse 8, John is commanded
to go and take the little book. And the voice which I heard from
heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little
book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon
the sea and upon the earth. and this he does in verse 9 and
I went unto the angel and said unto him give me the little book
give me the little book now surely these words of the apostle give
me the little book is expressive of the earnest desire of the
Lord's people for the book of God for the word of God is expressed
in the Psalms in Psalm 119 for example Verse 29, remove from me the
way of lying and grant me thy law graciously. And again in verse 82 of that
psalm, mine eyes fail for thy word,
saying when wilt thou comfort me? In Psalm 28, unto thee will I
cry, O Lord my rock, be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent
to me I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the
voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee, when I lift
up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Here in Revelation 10 we see
the Apostle John as it were supplicating the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf
of the people of God as he lifts up his hands to receive the holy
oracle. the little book and see the willingness
of Christ to give the sacred volume and he said unto me take
it and he said unto me take it it's said in another place in
another psalm the Lord gave the word great was the company of
those that published it John is given further instruction
regarding the little book and he said unto me take it and eat
it up It shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy
mouth sweet as honey. This, of course, is symbolic
or metaphorical language. We often speak, don't we, of
devouring a book. Well, the Apostle is commanded
here to take it and eat it up. And so every faithful minister
of the Gospel is to take the Word of God and read it and meditate
in it. And not ministers only. But every
faithful Christian, it is a mark of the blessed man, is it not? But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night, day
and night. But ministers especially are
to take the word opened up to them from Christ's hand and declare
it to the people. The apostle John is told of the
effect that the eating of this little book would have upon him.
And it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth
sweet as honey. And that's exactly what John
found as we read in the next verse. In verse 10, And I took
the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up. And it was
in my mouth, sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter. Oh, there is a sweetness and
there is a bitterness in the word of God. Jeremiah found a
sweetness in the word of God when he ate the words. Jeremiah
15, verse 16. Thy words were found and I did
eat them. And thy word was unto me the
joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by thy name,
O Lord God of hosts. Here is her mark, isn't it, how
we may know whether we are called or not. Are we really effectually
called by grace? Well, how do you find the word
of God? Is it the joy and rejoicing of your heart? Thy word was unto
me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by thy
name, O Lord God of hosts. But you know, Jeremiah found
a business too in the words that he ate. As we read in the verses
before and after that 16th verse, O Lord thou knowest. Remember
me and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy long-suffering,
know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Thy words were
founded, I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy
and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord
God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of
the mockers, nor rejoiced, I sat alone because of thy hand. for thou hast filled me with
indignation. Ezekiel likewise found it to
be so. Ezekiel 2 verse 8 But thou, son
of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious
like that rebellious house. Open thy mouth, and eat that
I give thee. And when I looked, behold, a
hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was therein. And he spread it before me, and
it was written within and without, and there was written therein
lamentations and mourning and woe. Moreover, he said unto me,
Son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll, and go speak unto
the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he
caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man,
cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that
I give thee. Then I did eat it, and it was
in my mouth as honey for sweetness. What is the sweetness of this
little book? Well, surely the sweetness of
the word of God lies in the precious promises of the gospel. It is
here in the word of God that we taste and see that the Lord
is good. And so we are brought to trust
in him. We are brought to say with the Psalms, in Psalm 119,
how sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey
to my mouth. Here we read of salvation for
sinners. Here we read of sins forgiven
through the Redeemer's rich, sinatoning blood. Here we read of an imputed righteousness,
that righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ put upon all those
who are brought to believe on Him. Here we read of the promise of
heaven and of eternal life. Yes, eternal life. What sweeter
promise can there be? Oh, there is a sweetness, such
a sweetness in the Word of God. We read of gracious invitations
to poor and needy sinners and him that hath no helper. and
we see in this book every encouragement for sinners to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ that they might have life oh there is a sweetness in this
little book for the whosoever or rather for certain whosoevers
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely. And again to him, that is to
the Lord Jesus Christ, give all the prophets witness that through
his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sins. Oh, there is such a sweetness
in the word of God. But what of its bitterness? and
it shall make thy belly bitter. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter." What is this bitterness? Well, there
are not only promises in the Word of God, there are warnings
also. Again, remember Ezekiel's role of a book that we mentioned
earlier. and he spread it before me. It
was written within and without and there was written therein
lamentations and mourning and woe. There are warnings to the wicked
and to the impenitent that if they continue in the hardness
of their hearts they shall find hell at the end of their walk.
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treacherous up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God who will render to every man according to his
deeds. There are warnings to the righteous
also, to the Lord's people. Jesus said, in the world he shall
have tribulation. In the book of Acts we read of
Paul and Barnabas confirming the souls of the disciples and
exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must through
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And often that
tribulation arises because of the word. And so the Lord speaks in the
parable of the summer of those who are offended and who fall
away. He says, for when tribulation or persecution arises because
of the word, By and by he is offended. There is a bitterness in the
belly when the word is truly received, when it's received
in true faith. There are things contained in
the little book that are obnoxious to the flesh. and they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. And there is a cross appointed
to every believer and whosoever does not bear his cross and come
after me cannot be my disciple. There is such a thing as counting
the cost And which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not
down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient
to finish it? I once came across an excellent
sermon by J. C. Ryle on that text, Luke 14,
28, and one of the things he says in that sermon is that,
and I quote, a religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. A cheap Christianity without
a cross will prove a useless Christianity without a crown. There will always be some bitter
thing in real religion. The Passover lamb was to be eaten
with bitter herbs. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter. Then, In the last verse of the
chapter we read, And he said unto me, Thou hast prophesied
again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
Ezekiel was told, Son of man, go get thee unto the house of
Israel, and speak my words unto them. For thou art not sent to
a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but
to the house of Israel. It was not so with John. Thou must prophesy again before
many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Does this
not speak to us of the superiority of the gospel dispensation over
the legal dispensation? And you notice that he is told
that he must prophesy again. Thou must prophesy again. Now
remember we are dealing with symbol and metaphor here. The
word had been preached before the dark days of Popery, before
Antichrist opened the bottomless pit, before the two witnesses
clothed in sackcloth were slain. But the Gospel was to be preached
again. That is the thrust of the meaning
of these words. Thou must prophesy again before
many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. It was fulfilled
at the Reformation. And the cause of the Reformation,
as I say, was that little book, open in the hand of Christ and
given to his church. And so we come to consider then
our last heading, the mighty angel's voice. We should consider
it very briefly, verse three. and cried, the mighty angel cried
with a loud voice as when a lion roars and when he had cried seven
thunders uttered their voices there is a connection between
the little book and the angel's loud voice and the seven thunders
now John is told not to write down those things which the seven
thunders uttered Of course this has given rise to much speculation
and there are various commentaries saying various things as to why
John was not to write these things and also speculation as to the
meaning of the seven thunders. Now we must say here that there
is not one vain or superfluous word written in the book of God
and there is a purpose then here in John's recording the fact
that the seven thunders uttered their voices even though he is
not to record those things which were uttered. He is to record the fact that
the seven thunders uttered their voices. What we can safely say
is that the mighty angel who cried with a loud voice as when
a lion roareth it is that angel which cried
with that loud voice it's Christ it's the voice of Christ and
there is a connection between his voice that loud voice and
the seven thunders for we read that it was when he had cried
seven thunders uttered their voices now we know that the number
seven is the number of perfection And we know that God's voice
is often compared to thunder in the scripture of truth. We
read it there in Job 37. Job 37 verse 2, hear attentively
the noise of his voice and the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He directeth it unto the whole
heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth, after
it a voice roareth. He thundereth with the voice
of his excellency, and he will not stay there when his voice
is heard. God thundereth marvellously with his voice. Great things
doeth he which we cannot comprehend. We read also in Psalm 29 again,
we read that Psalm didn't we? Psalm 29 verse 3 the voice of
the Lord is upon the waters the God of glory thundering in that Psalm you will see that
phrase the voice of the Lord precisely seven times that is
not without significance it's also interesting to note
in Mark 3 verse 17 We read in the list of the twelve apostles,
and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James,
and he surnames them Boanerges, which is the sons of thunder.
Now by the time John was given this revelation of Jesus Christ,
his brother James had been martyred. We read of his martyrdom in the
book of Acts. John was the sole remaining son of thunder. But John is shown here that when
Christ cries with a loud voice, seven thunders will utter their
voices. And so it seems to me that what the scripture is saying
is that when Christ cries with a loud voice, as when a lion
roareth, the voice of the Lord, the word of God, will be in the
mouths of his servants as thunder. There will be seven sounds of
thunder. And this, I say again, was accomplished
or fulfilled at the time of the Reformation. Think of how men
such as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox and many others shook the
world with their preaching. As we read in chapter 11 verse
13, and the same hour was there a great earthquake the tenth
part of the city fell and in the earthquake were slain of
men 7,000 and the remnants were affrighted and gave glory to
the God of heaven a direct result of the preaching
of the gospel at the time of the reformation it was fulfilled at the reformation
and it has been fulfilled ever since whenever and wherever the
gospel has been faithfully preached Now, let me just ask you how
you would feel if suddenly you heard a lion roar in this chapel
now. I think you'd be terrified. I
think I would. You'd tremble. Have you ever felt or heard thunder
breaking over your head? I remember once walking home
from the chapel in Orange Street in London. The rain was pouring,
there was lightning and thunder and then suddenly there was a
great peal of thunder right over my head and I thought it was
the Lord's return. I trembled. It was so loud it
shook me. Surely the roar of a lion, the
sound of thunder causes us to tremble. and some of us can testify
that under the sound of the preaching of the word of the living God
we have been made to tremble there have been times when I have sat under the ministry
of the word in this chapel and I've been made to tremble and
I had to go home and get on my knees before God and ask him
to have mercy on me. Such was the effect of the word
preached in this chapel under a faithful gospel ministry. But to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor and of a contrite heart, and trembleth
at my word. Psalm 29 speaks in spiritual
terms of the effects of the sevenfold voice of the Lord. Now the question
I would put to you this evening as we draw to a conclusion is
this. Has the word of God had an effect in your soul and in
your life? There were those in Thessalonica
who complained to the rulers of the city. These that have
turned the world upside down are come hither also. The preaching
of the apostles turned the world upside down. And again, there
are some of us here who can testify that the Gospel has turned our
world upside down. It has, it really has. Such is the effect that the Word
of God has had in our lives. Such has been the effect of the
voice of the mighty angel and the little book open in his hand. Oh, we thank God for our Bible.
Precious Bible, what a treasure! May the Lord bless His Word to
each of our souls. May we know and feel something
of the blessed effects of it in our hearts experience. May
the Lord work in us that true and living faith. As the hymn
writer says, vain is all our best devotion if on false foundations
built, true religions more than notion, something must be known
and felt. Well may the Lord bless his word
then to our very souls. And I saw another mighty angel
come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was
upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet
as pillars of fire, and he had in his hand a little book open. And he set his right foot upon
the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud
voice as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven
thunders uttered their voices. Amen.