We'll let us turn to the book
of the Revelation, chapter 10, and we'll just read the first
three verses. I will preach this morning, the
Lord helping me, from the whole of this chapter, the book of
the Revelation, chapter 10, but for a text, I suggest the first
three verses of the chapter. 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 written
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. things I've said before you this
morning I trust with the Lord's help and blessing but I should
say that at the outset that I have preached from this part of the
revelation before but it was over seven years ago and it was
on a Thursday evening and I only preached the one sermon on these
words on that occasion so I thought it would be good to look again
at this portion of Holy Scripture and go a little deeper into it
um and consider this these verses with you both this morning and
this evening so we'll you're only getting half a sermon this
morning i'm afraid we shall continue uh god willing uh this evening
you see there is so much in these verses um and it's a part of
the revelation along with chapter 10, which is pivotal. It's central
to our understanding of the book of the Revelation. An understanding
of these pivotal chapters will give us an understanding of much
of this book, I believe. Now, what is the book of the
Revelation all about? How can we summarize it? Well, it's really an exposition,
in greater detail and in prophetic language, of what Paul speaks
of in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul speaks there of the Roman
Empire as the power that then hindered the full manifestation
of Antichrist. and he speaks of the removal
of that power and the revealing of the man of sin, that wicked,
and he speaks of He's being consumed, and he speaks of his ultimate
destruction with the brightness of the Lord's coming. Well, these
things John speaks of here, in the Revelation, only in much
greater detail and using prophetical language. He speaks of the fall
of the Roman Empire. He speaks of the rise of Antichrist
and his false church. the Babylonian whore, 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, political and spiritual, pagan and papal. This is essentially what the
book of the Revelation is all about. If we bear this in mind,
we shall find the book of the apocalypse a little easier, I
believe, to understand. Well, in order to help us this
morning in our consideration of this 10th chapter generally
and of our text in particular, I would suggest three headings.
Firstly, the mighty angel. Secondly, the little book. Thirdly,
the angel's voice, which we'll consider the first of these headings
this morning, the mighty angel. But let us just first notice
the position of these things which are written in this 10th
chapter. John's vision of the mighty angel
and his little book is not randomly placed. in the prophetic writings
of the book of the Apocalypse. It's perfectly situated between the vision of the 5th
and 6th trumpets of chapter 9 and the vision of the two witnesses
in chapter 11. There is a connection with what
goes before and there is a connection with what comes after this vision
of the mighty angel. In chapter 9, at the sounding
of the 5th trumpet, there is the angel of the bottomless pit. We read in verse 11 of chapter
9, and they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless
pit. And again in that 9th chapter,
at the sounding of the 6th trumpet, we read of the four angels which
are bound in the great river Euphrates being loosed and then
as I say we come to this 10th chapter and we see here the vision
of another mighty angel and I saw another mighty angel come down
from heaven there is a contrast you see concerning the angel
of the bottomless pit At the beginning of chapter 9 we read,
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. 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. Now concerning the
angel of chapter 10, we read 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 now we shall see I trust that
this angel, this mighty angel, is none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. But what then is the angel of
the bottomless pit? Well, this is none other than
Antichrist. You see, this angel was a star. He was a star. In chapter 1 we
read of the seven stars in Christ's right hand. The seven stars are
the angels of the churches. And so this angel, this star,
was a bishop or pastor of a church. But he fell. And we know from
history that the Bishop of Rome when he assumed more and more
power and influence and wealth and riches he fell he fell into
error and Christ and his doctrine were obscured by the Roman apostasy
and the revelation of the man of sin and the sun and the air
were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit now what of the four angels loosed
from the river Euphrates? Shortly after the rise of the
ecclesiastical power of Rome, there arose another power, that
of Islam. I don't want to go into too much
detail here, we may consider more of these things this evening,
but suffice to say at the moment that here in chapter 9 we see
the false Christ and the false prophet, and then we come to
chapter 10 and we see the true Christ and the true prophet of
the Lord, which is Christ himself. In the next chapter, in chapter
11, we see the extirpation and the extermination of all gospel
preaching and gospel churches by the papal antichrist. Chapter 11, verse 7, And when
they shall have finished their testimony, these are the two
witnesses, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall
make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. But then what do we read? In
chapter 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. Surely this is the Reformation,
which was primarily a revival of gospel preaching, and was
undoubtedly the greatest work of the Spirit of God since the
day of Pentecost, the effects of which are still being felt
in the world today. And it was all due to the little
book in the angel's hand, in this mighty angel's hand and
his loud voice. You see then I trust how this
10th chapter and John's vision of the mighty angel in his little
book is related to the 9th and to the 11th chapters. So let
us go on then to consider the mighty angel. 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. Here is a spiritual description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know there are no descriptions
in the Word of God of the physical appearance of our Lord Jesus
other than that which is written in Isaiah concerning Him. He
has no form nor comeliness and when we shall see Him there is
no beauty that we should desire Him. That is, there was nothing in
His outward appearance to attract. He did not come as a blonde-haired,
blue-eyed Caucasian with a halo round about his head, as he is
sometimes idolatrously portrayed. We cannot tell from the Scriptures
what he actually looked like, but we do have various spiritual
descriptions of his glorious person throughout the Word of
God. And there's a reason for that.
There's a reason for this. The elect of God are taught by
this to look to Jesus spiritually and by the eye of faith. Well,
let us consider then this spiritual description of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which we have here in Revelation chapter 10. He is
here described as a mighty angel, and I saw another mighty angel
come down from heaven. Now, an angel is a messenger. That is the literal meaning of
the word. Angelos, it means messenger.
And in this sense, is Christ a messenger? The Son was sent
by the Father, and he was sent to preach as well as to redeem
and to reign. He is prophet, priest, and king. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. John the Baptist testified of
Christ, for he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God,
for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. It was for
this purpose that he was anointed as he himself declared in the
synagogue at Nazareth. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. In this sense, is Christ an angel?
He comes as the messenger of God, the true prophet of the
Lord. And many times in the Old Testament,
Christ is described as an angel. Let me just give you three examples. Firstly, in Daniel chapter 3,
we read of how Nebuchadnezzar had thrown Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego into the burning fiery furnace. And then he says,
in verse 25 of that chapter, Lo, I see four men loose, walking
in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form
of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then in verse 28 of that
chapter, then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the
God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel,
and hath delivered his servants that trusted in him, that angel
was none other than the Son of God. Secondly, in Isaiah 63 verse
9, The Lord Jesus is described there
as the angel of his presence. In all their affliction he was
afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love
and in his pity he redeemed them and bared them and carried them
all the days of old. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Saviour and the Redeemer of his people. The angel of his presence
saved them. And in his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them. Thirdly, in Malachi chapter 3,
in verse 1, Christ is called the messenger of the covenant.
And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple,
even the messenger, of the covenant whom he delighting behold he
shall come saith the lord of hosts how perfectly is that scripture
fulfilled in our lord jesus christ who did suddenly come to his
temple at jerusalem christ is that messenger or angel of the
covenant we see then that this is no ordinary angel he is described
as a mighty angel This one who speaks in righteousness is also
mighty to save. Who is this that cometh from
Eden with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious
in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength,
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. We see the power of this mighty
angel, the Son of God, in this chapter. For he is able to bring
time itself to an end. Verse 5, 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 for ever 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 which are therein, that there should be time no
longer. And in the days of the voice
of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery
of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants,
the prophets. Oh, he declared that there should
be time no longer. This angel is able to bring time
itself to an end. He lifted up his hand to heaven
and swear that there should be time no longer. Do we not see here the deity
of this angel, that he is God? In the Psalms it is written,
the Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord, the I Am,
the Covenant God, Jehovah, will give strength unto his people.
Again, in the Psalms, the God of Israel is he that giveth strength
and power unto his people. And so in chapter 11 of the Revelation, at verse 13 we read the words
of this mighty angel and the same hour was there a great earthquake
sorry it's not it's not verse 13 it's verse 3 verse 3, these
are the words of the angel and I will give power unto my two
witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore
days clothed in sackcloth this mighty angel is none other than
the Lord the God of Israel the eternal son of the eternal father
with the Holy Spirit anointed and this is confirmed by the
description that we have here of the mighty angel and I saw
another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud
now we see here that he came down from heaven unlike the false
Christ, Antichrist who fell from heaven that star that we read of in
the opening of the fifth trumpet No, this angel came down from
heaven. He could say, I am from above. And he could say, for I came
down from heaven. He says it himself in John chapter
six. He is clothed with a cloud. I'm
reminded of the Mount of Transfiguration. there in in Matthew's gospel
verse 17 chapter 17 verse 5 we read while he yet spake it is Peter
while Peter yet spake Behold a bright cloud overshadowed them,
and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. The cloud speaks of the special
presence of God. Remember in the Old Testament
there was the cloud upon the mercy seat. There in Leviticus
16 verse 2 and the Lord said unto Moses
speak unto Aaron thy brother that he come not at all times
into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat which
is upon the ark that he die not for I will appear in the cloud
upon the mercy seat. This is the key to understanding
the words of our text. This mighty angel clothed with
the clouds as he speaks of the mercy seat for I will appear
in the cloud upon the mercy seat once a year in the day of atonement
Aaron the high priest was to enter into the holy place and
offer blood and burn incense the blood was typical of the
precious blood of Christ which was offered to make atonement
for the sins of his people And the incense, being a pleasing
smell, a pleasant smell, signified the acceptableness of the sacrifice. That incense was the cloud that
covered the mercy seat, as you see from verse 13 of Leviticus
16. And he shall put the incense
upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense
may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he
die not. And note the words, that he die
not, that he die not, because the cloud covered the mercy seat. Aaron died not. It was Aaron's
encouragement to approach the mercy seat. He had seen his two
sons, Nadab and Abihu, destroyed, because they came before the
Lord in a way that was not appointed. He offered strange fire, or they
offered strange fire before the Lord, we read. But Aaron is told
that he shall live, that he die not, for I will appear in the
cloud upon the mercy seat. And here is our encouragement
to approach God in the way that he has appointed, that is by
Jesus Christ alone. He is the Great High Priest and
He is the Sacrifice too, and He is the Mercy Saint, the Mighty
Angel clothed with a cloud. Christ's sacrifice on behalf
of sinners has been accepted. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. we refuse the Pope's way which
is by masses and penance and priests and works all of which
is but the smoke of the bottomless pit we come by the way of the
sweet incense of Christ's sacrifice and I saw another mighty angel
come down from heaven clothed with a cloud and then notice
this and a rainbow was upon his head Now the rainbow, of course,
was a token of the covenant that God made with Noah and all his
posterity after the worldwide flood. We read a bit there in
Genesis chapter 9, verse 13, I do set my bow in
the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between
me and the earth. and it shall come to pass, when
I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in
the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between
me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters
shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh, and the
bow shall be in the cloud. and I will look upon it that
I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
living thing and every living creature of all flesh that is
upon the earth. The rainbow then was a sign of
covenant mercy. Covenant mercy. We are again
reminded that this angel is no created angel. He is the angel
of the covenant, the messenger of the covenant. By faith, we
lift our eyes above the covenant made with Noah to the eternal
covenant, to the covenant made between the three persons of
the eternal Godhead, the covenant made before the foundation of
the world. In that eternal covenant, the
Father chose a certain number of Adam's fallen race. He bypassed
angels who had fallen. He bypassed many men and women
who had fallen. But he set his love, his eternal
love, on certain of Adam's fallen race, and he appointed them to
salvation. And he gave them to his son in that eternal covenant. And in that same covenant, the
son stood as a surety for all those who were given to Him by
the Father He would be their righteousness and He would be
the propitiation for their sins in that eternal covenant it was
the work of the Holy Spirit to regenerate and to quicken all
those whom the Father had chosen and all those for whom the Son
died the covenant of grace is the
source of all the blessings which the elect of God enjoy in time
and for eternity. This covenant is immutable, unchangeable
and sure. This covenant we read of in Isaiah,
for the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but
my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy
on thee. Because of the stability of the
covenant, all the elect of God shall finally persevere to the
end and be saved. Though the world may be against
them, Though there is that remaining
corruption within them, and fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
though the devil may tempt and harass and accuse, yet the dear
elect, the purchase of Christ's blood, those who are sovereignly
ruled upon by the Spirit of God and given true faith and a real
repentance, shall all of them be brought to heaven at last. their salvation is sure because
the covenant is sure here is an encouragement then for all
the people of God in all ages in all places in all their trials
and afflictions and perplexities and I saw another mighty angel
come down from heaven clothed with a cloud and a rainbow was
upon his head and then we read and his face
was as it were the sun It's a description that we see earlier in the Revelation. And his countenance was as the
sun shineth in his strength. Here again is encouragement to
the poor, despised, mocked, and persecuted Church of God. We
know that when the sun shines, the darkness is dispelled. Well, the sun did shine again
after the long night of papal darkness. the dark ages in our own heart's experience.
Have we not sometimes known the smoke of the bottomless pit of
our own corruption to darken the sun and the air? I know I
have. We fall by our iniquity. The man of sin within, Pope self,
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,
all that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple
of God. And we cannot see Jesus and our
interest in his blood and righteousness. And we feel that we can hardly
pray. Ah, but then he condescends to come
down to and to manifest himself to us. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Ah, then we can say with the
psalmist, he restoreth my soul. The sun of righteousness arises
with healing in his wings. And he says, I will heal their
backsliding. I will love them freely. And furthermore, though the wicked
seem to triumph now and though evil doers seem to prosper, yet
they shall soon be destroyed at the second appearing of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 37, I have to say it's
a favourite psalm of mine. A great encouragement to me when
I felt the world was against me. Fret not thyself because
of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of
iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and
wither as the green herb. And wither as the green herb. When does the green herb wither?
When the sun shines in its strength. Remember the prophecy of Malachi. For behold, the day cometh that
shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that
do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall
burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave
them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name
shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings,
and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. and
ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under
the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith
the Lord of hosts. Here is an encouragement for
all the church militant. And his face was as it were the
sun. and there is more encouragement
here for the people of God and his feet as pillars of fire the
feet of this mighty angel which is Christ are described as pillars
of fire now before we consider the significance of the pillars
of fire let us just see where the feet of the angel are placed
in verse 2 we read and he set his right foot upon the sea and
his left foot upon the earth now this speaks of Christ's dominion
over all creation as is written in Yates' psalm, for thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet. Thou hast put all things under
his feet. The Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign over the sea, the
raging and unstable nations, and the Lord Jesus Christ is
sovereign over the earth, the more solid and stable nations. The Apostle Paul says that the
Father has put all things under his feet and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church. He rules the nations with a rod
of iron for the good and for the benefit of his people. Later
in the Revelation in chapter 13 we read of two beasts which
arise. The first beast rises up out of the sea. The second
beast rises up out of the earth. So what the Holy Spirit surely
is showing us here in Revelation 10 is that although enemies to
Christ and his kingdom should arise, yet Christ is still sovereign. he is still sovereign, he still
reigns and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot
on the earth though Antichrist should set up his throne in that
great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth which
is Rome if we read in the Psalms the
Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom
ruleth over all Psalm 2 we read the kings of
the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed then in verse 6
of that psalm we read yet have I set my king upon my holy hill
of Zion But why are the feet of the angel
described as pillars of fire? Well surely there is a reference
here to the children of Israel journeying through the wilderness. Exodus 13 verse 21. And the Lord went before them
by the day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them in 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." Spiritually speaking, it is nighttime.
The church is, as it were, journeying through the wilderness of this
world, and it is a time of great darkness. and the whole world
lieth in wickedness, John says. Paul says in Romans, the night
is far spent, the day is at hand. Referring of course to the glorious
second appearing of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In
the meantime, until the day comes and Christ appears, we have the
promise of the Lord's presence with us. And this is what is
signified by the Pillars of Fire. He was with his people in all
their sufferings under pagan Rome. And he was with his people
in all their sufferings under papal Rome. And he will ever
be with his people, even until the end of time. Even until that
time when he declares that there should be time no longer. The
Lord Jesus Christ has told his people, and lo,
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Now note the purpose of the pillar
of cloud and of fire. There in Exodus 13. Exodus 13, 21. 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 and to go by day and night. It was to lead them and it was
to give them light. The Lord Jesus Christ is with
his people at all times to go by day and night. He is with
them in every state and every condition. Then spake Jesus again
unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And that is what is signified
to us here in these words in Revelation 10, and his feet as
pillars of fire. May the Lord grant to us his
grace to continually look to this mighty angel, the messenger
of the covenant, and to call upon him, Lord, lift thou up
the light of thy countenance upon us. Well, we have but considered
the first of our three headings this morning, The Mighty Angel.
If the Lord will, I hope to continue this evening and consider with
you the second and third points, the little book and the angel's
voice. Blessed is that is the people
that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. May the Lord be pleased then
to bless his word to us and the preaching of it according to
his infinite mercy for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 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.