The title of the lesson, the
message this morning, is A Little Book Opened. Look at verse 1
of chapter 10. Now, you know, everything that's
being revealed here, this is in the sixth trumpet judgment,
and we're having, it's kind of like an interlude that before
we get to the seventh one, which appears over in chapter 11, verse
15, But what's happening now, to keep it in perspective, is
as we see the state of this world in the last days, as we understand
the judgments of God upon this fallen, cursed, sin-cursed earth,
It's important that those who are resting in the Lord Jesus
Christ for all salvation, those who are sinners saved by grace,
it's important that we have the comfort and the assurances that
only God can give us throughout all these things so that we'll
know this, that no matter what state this world exists in, and
when we all agree, it's not getting better, and it's not gonna last
forever. whatever state we're in. And
I've often said this, I'm preaching on this in the book of Isaiah
last week and today. We're not optimistic at all about
the state of our nation. But we continue to pray that
God will enable us under the freedoms that we have to worship
him as we've been accustomed to, as he guides us and leads
us without hindrance from the government, without hindrance
from the opposition. And there will be opposition.
But as God is bringing this thing to its close, and we don't know,
you know, anybody who tries to date the second coming of Christ
is just spitting into the wind. Because it's not for us to know
that. All we know is that Christ is
coming again. It may be in our lifetime, it
may not be. But we know he's coming again.
But in between now and that time, It's important that we have the
assurances and comforts that only God can give as he continually
leads us to Christ for salvation, for relief, for comfort, for
forgiveness, for help, for encouragement, all of these things. So that's
what he's doing here. And in verse 1 of chapter 10,
John says, 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,
I believe that he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ himself
here. As you know, as I've said this throughout this study and
through other studies, the word angel literally means a messenger. And sometimes it can refer to
an angelic being, the angels of the Lord. There are angels. The scripture talks about the
angels that are guardian angels, not just one particular guardian
angel, you know. Not that silly stuff you see
on TV and in movies, you know. But God has attendants, messengers,
angels, and they worked in concordance with the Old Covenant, for example,
ministering angels in the Old Covenant. They're ministering
angels today. But sometimes the word angel
can refer to any messenger of God, for example, Christ himself. is called the angel of the covenant,
the messenger of the covenant. That's one of the prophecies
of him. And when you see the description of this angel, first
of all, he's clothed with a cloud. That cloud is indicative of his
majesty, his deity. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And you could say sort of clothed
with a cloud, for example, in his sinless humanity. Christ
is God in human flesh. And the cloud represents his
majesty. We remember back in the Old Testament,
in the book of Exodus, when God brought the Hebrew children out
of the bondage of Egypt, he protected them in a pillar of a cloud.
We read when the Shekinah went down on the tabernacle, there
was a cloud. You know, this is the presence
of God, in other words. And so Christ was made flesh
and tabernacled among us. And that proves that he's the
one and only Messiah, clothed with a cloud. And then it says
he has a rainbow upon his head. And you know what the rainbow
pictures, the rainbow after the flood, that's the mercy of God. The covenant of mercy, in other
words, where God made that covenant with Noah that he would never
again destroy the earth by a flood. And he put that rainbow in the
heavens as a sign of that covenant. And that's God's mercy. And of
course, Christ is the embodiment of the mercy of God. He's the
mercy seeker, for example. The rainbow shows the covenant. The fact that he wears this like
a crown. That's what he says, the rainbow
was upon his head like a crown. So the mercy of God resides in
Christ and him alone. And that's why we talk about
mercy and justice. It has to be the same, the majesty
of God. And well, look on, he says, his
face was as it were the sun. That's the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. His feet were pillars of fire.
That's the judgment of God upon this world. The pillar of fire
represents the fire of God's wrath upon all who are found
without Christ, who are not washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness. That pillar of fire is a comfort
and a light just like the sun. Christ is the son of righteousness.
So all these descriptions. You remember I mentioned the
pillar of cloud that God protected the Hebrew children when they
came out of Egypt. There's also a pillar of fire at night. So
it was the fire and that pillar of fire was to keep Pharaoh's
army away from them. In other words, it was a judgment
against the unbelievers, the opposition, the enemies of Christ,
but it was a comfort and a protection for the people of God. And of
course, any time I think about the fire of God's wrath, my mind
always goes to the cross. Because that's where the fire
of God's wrath was poured out upon Christ as our surety and
substitute so that we would not experience God's wrath. Christ having our sins charged
to him. settled the issue of judgment
for the people of God at the cross. He redeemed us from our
sins. Daniel 9, 24, he made an end
of sin. He finished the transgression.
He brought in everlasting righteousness. So all of this comes together
to show us that this angelic messenger is none other, I believe,
than the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think verse two proves
it also. Look at verse two. He says, 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. Now before we get to the little
book, what is it talking about? His right foot's upon the sea,
his left foot is upon the earth. This is one, the earth is like
his footstool. This is the one who has sovereign
power and control over this world. And it covers the whole earth,
the land and the sea, that's what that represents. This world,
you know, we sing that song, he's got the whole world in his
hands. We could sing it this way, he's got the whole world
under his feet. Now you know in the end, all his enemies will
be made his footstool. That's indicative of the forced
submission of those who are under the judgment of God's wrath,
who refuse to submit to God's will and God's way, his revealed
will and his way on this earth. Thank God that we who know him
by his sovereign power have already been made to submit to him under
the preaching of the gospel. Submitting to Christ, submitting
to him as the Lord our righteousness. Remember in Romans 10, he said
that Israel, They have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. That's man by nature. The righteousness
of God, meaning Christ and his accomplished work on the cross
to put away our sins. It's his righteousness imputed.
But when the gospel comes in the power of the Holy Spirit,
in the revelation of the righteousness of God, what do God's people
do under his sovereign power in his hand? We submit to him. That's meekness. We're brought
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation,
and we're brought to reject everything else as forming any part of the
ground or cause of our salvation. So here he is. He's got his feet
upon the earth. He's in control. God working
all things after the counsel of his own will. As old Nebuchadnezzar
said back in Daniel chapter 4, who can say unto him, what doest
thou? You know, this is something that natural man hates. The fact that God is absolutely
sovereign and he doesn't answer to us. It's an amazing thing
in the scripture when you think about it. That God has revealed
anything of himself to us. That's a work of God's grace
to his people. He doesn't answer to us, we answer
to him. And he's in control. So here
he is. Well, go back to this little
book. He had in his hand a little book open. Now there's the book.
You know, we've talked about books in this Revelation. Back
over in Revelation 5, we talked about the book with the seven
seals. And that's what's being opened
here. That was a big book. And the
word for book there in the original is a big book. The word for book
here is literally a little book. There's two different words.
It's not the same word. But this means a little book.
Now, remember that the big book, the seven seal book, that's the
book of God's purpose. and providence, everything that
God's going to accomplish and he wants us to know as revealed
in the last days between the first coming of Christ and the
second coming of Christ. Even his judgments upon this
world in all of the different scenes that we're seeing here
in Revelation. We're seeing the same thing from
different points of view, you see. What God's gonna do, how
he's gonna accomplish it, But now this little book is special. This is the book open. That means
it's revealed. And as I said, this book is a
little book. And what he's talking about,
I'll just tell you, he's talking about the gospel. That's what
this little book is. And the way we know that is because
of what follows, which I'm gonna get more into next week. But
he talks about the bittersweet gospel. That's what we're gonna
talk about next week. It's bitter in the sense that
God uses it to bring sinners to repentance and to realize
that all that we trusted in before God showed us our sinfulness
and the glory of Christ, that it was nothing, the Apostle Paul
called it dung, that I may win Christ. It's bitter because it
shows the state of our world. Not just the world as a whole,
but individuals. When we come to see the gospel
of Christ, it's a bitter thing to see that so many people are
in darkness and in deception, especially our loved ones who
are in the darkness of deception and religion. We're going to
see that in the book of Isaiah later on. You know, when Isaiah
saw the Lord high and lifted up, and he said, holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty, the first thing he said after that
is, what, I'm undone. I'm cut off. That's a bitter
thing, isn't it? It's something we need to see.
I always liken it to going to the doctor, and you're not feeling
well. And what's the worst thing you
could hear? Well, you've got some dreaded disease, and you've
only got so many months to live. All right? That's a bitter thing
to hear. But there's a cure. And here comes the sweetness
of it. I know I'm getting off on this, I'm going to get next
week, but I want you to understand what this little book is. There's
the sweet, there is a cure. Now, that would be the sweet
words that the doctor would say. He'd say, you've got a dreaded
disease, you've got six months to live, But there's a cure,
so there's the bittersweet. And that's what this little book
represents. But listen to this. All your family, all your friends,
all your, I don't say all, but I'm just using this as an example.
They've got the same disease you've got. See Isaiah, he said,
I'm undone, I'm cut off. And I dwell amidst a people of
unclean, I've got unclean lips. I dwell amidst a people of unclean
lips. I'm not the only one who's got this problem. You see, we've
all got a problem, and it's sin, S-I-N. And it's not just an outward
problem. It's an inward problem. But there's
a cure. And that cure is the blood of
Jesus Christ, which cleanses from all sin. We have no righteousness. We're totally void of a righteousness.
And we can work hard, we can get religious, we can try to
be as moral as we can, but it still will not make us righteous.
That's death, you see. before a holy God. But there's
a cure, and it's the righteousness of another, the Lord Jesus Christ,
freely imputed and received by faith. But what if you're talking
to, you know, what if the doctor says that to somebody and whoever
he says it to says, well, I just don't believe that. I'm just
gonna go on throughout my life and live like I'm okay. And that's
what religious people do by nature until God stops them. Well, this
little book is the gospel. It's the gospel message. wherein
Christ and His righteousness is revealed as the only way of
salvation, of justification, of holiness. It's the revelation
of God's righteousness. It's the revelation of Christ
and Him crucified. And again, it's called a little
book not because the message is small and insignificant. It's called a little book because
it is such a simple message. Now, compare it this way. This
big book, this seven seal book, there's a lot in that, isn't
there? And people get confused about
it. And even we, when we see from the Bible what it's talking
about as we study the scriptures and try to rightly divide the
word of truth. You know, I tell you all the
time that the symbolism in Revelation must be founded upon the symbolism
back in the Old Testament. We interpret scripture with scripture.
But I tell you, you know, a lot of these things, don't they still
baffle us? I mean, we just really can't figure it all out. Now
we know that God's in control. We know that we're safe in Christ
and we know that Christ will have the victory. And we know
that no matter how it all works out down here, whether I live,
whether I die tomorrow or live to be 150 years old, I know that
God's in control that, that, uh, that I'm safe in Christ,
that I'm safe and secure in Him, and that He's going to have the
victory. But when we look at all the language of Revelation
throughout the providence of God, the wisdom of God, the knowledge
of God, He's going to work here and work there, and we're going
to get into some things later on here in Revelation that people
will disagree on. I think there's some, and that's
okay. Now, there are some views of
this, I think, that deny the gospel. And I'll tell you about
them as we get there. But these things, you know, it's
kind of like you've heard the illustration of the tapestry. that somebody, some skilled sewer,
you know, is weaving a tapestry with a cloth, you know, with
a picture on it. And as it comes together, you
see the beauty of it and you see the distinction of colors,
you see the shape so that you can identify it. But if you turn
that tapestry over and look at it, it looks like a big jumbled,
confused mess, doesn't it? And that's what it is. Right
now, we're looking up at the bottom of the tapestry in a lot
of ways. But when this is all over, we'll
see that beautiful picture all coming together. Well, he's given
us a glimpse of that beautiful picture. And again, we're safe
and secure. But that's what this little book
is a simple message. But go on, he says that it's
a message that sinners will not receive apart from the power
of the Holy Spirit. And we'll talk about that in
just a minute. Look at verse three. He says, this angel, this is
Christ, has his feet on the earth now. He's in control. And incidentally,
that would also indicate that Christ has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation all over the earth. In verse
three, he says, he cried with a loud voice as when a lion roared. lead you to go back to Christ,
the lion of the tribe of Judah, the king of kings, the voice
of power, the voice of authority. Turn over to Matthew chapter
11. Look at Matthew chapter 11. And somehow, I did not put this
in your lesson, but I would probably add this scripture here that
I'm gonna read to you. in Matthew chapter 11 over in
these verses three and four of Revelation 10. Look at Matthew 11, look at verse
25. Listen to this. Now this is where
he upbraided the cities of Bethsaida, Tyre and Sidon, or Bethsaida
and Chorazin, Capernaum, all of those because of their rejection
of the general revelation of truth. There's a general revelation
and then there's a specific revelation. The preaching of the gospel to
every creature is the general revelation. But unless there's
a specific revelation like Paul described in Galatians 1, when
it pleased the Lord to reveal his son in me, there's not going
to be any salvation. So look at verse 25 of Matthew
11. He says, at that time Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast
revealed them unto babes. Now what does it mean to be wise
and prudent there? It's talking about the natural
man who is wise in his own eyes and prudent, that is, he thinks
he can figure it all out. That's what that means. He thinks
he knows the way. And that's all of us by nature
now. And He revealed them unto babes. Who are the babes here? That's the children of God. The
analogy of a babe is simply this, that those who are the true children
of God are totally dependent upon Him for all salvation. Just like a babe is totally dependent
upon their parents for all physical life. That's what it said. I've
heard people go and use the analogy of Bayes, well, babies are ignorant,
so we remain ignorant all right. No, don't take that too far.
You know, when God saves us, what does he do? He reveals himself
to us. He teaches us the scripture says.
We hear of Christ and we learn of the Father. We know some things.
That doesn't mean we're all intellectual giants or deep theologians or
anything like that, but it means we know. The Holy Spirit convinces
us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. We know something
about our sin. And we have no righteousness.
We know that Christ is the only way. We know who he is. He's
God in human flesh. God with us. We know the only
ground of salvation, his righteousness alone and not ours. We know that
because we're taught it's revealed. But a baby is totally dependent
upon someone else for its livelihood. Well, we're totally dependent
upon Christ for everything. And verse 26, even so father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Right there in that little
verse, you know, somebody says, well, why does God reveal it
to this one and not to that one? Why did God reveal it to me and
not to another? There's only one answer that
the Bible gives, and it's right here. Even so, Father, for so
it seemed good in thy sight. That's it. You can't go any further
with that in the scripture. And doesn't it amaze you that
God was pleased to reveal himself to you? You talk about amazing
grace. Why me? It wasn't because of
any goodness in us. Wasn't because we deserved it
or earned it. Somebody says, well, God looked down through
the telescope of time and he foresaw what you would do. Well,
that's the case. That's not the case. That's not
biblical. But if that were the case, salvation is not by grace
then. He saved you because you rose
above the slew of humanity. And you were less rebellious,
less stubborn, whatever. But look at verse 27. Now here's
the point about the little book. It's open, but Christ is in control. He says, all things are delivered
unto me of my father and no man knoweth the son but the father.
And what he's saying there is the son of God, the Messiah,
has to be revealed to us by the sovereign electing purpose of
God. And he says, and neither knoweth
any man the father save the son. You're not going to know God
as father until you see Christ in his glory. Because apart from
Christ, God is not a loving father. Apart from Christ, he's a righteous
judge who must punish sin. But look at the last line of
verse 26, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal. That's the
one standing on the earth here. He reveals it to his people.
Go back to Revelation 10 now. He cried with a loud voice like
a lion roaring. Verse 3, and when he had cried,
seven thunders uttered their voice. What's the number seven
represent in the scripture? Completeness. This may be a little
book, but it's a complete book. And it's so complete that it's
a travesty and an abomination when men and women try to add
to it or take away from it. The gospel is the preaching of
a perfect savior, God with us, Emmanuel, and a finished work. And that's the power of it. The
finished work of Christ. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation,
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and the Greek
also. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. That righteousness
of God is the perfect, completed, finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ on the cross for his people. And when sinners try to add to
that, add their works, add their feelings, add their experiences,
or even listen, add their faith. To make it complete, they're
denying it. This is the seven thunders uttered
their voices. Thunder meaning power, the power
of God, the power of Christ's finished work. Verse four, when
the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to
write. Now listen to this, he says, and I heard a voice from
heaven saying unto me, seal up those things which the seven
thunders utter and write them not. In other words, it's not
time yet. What is that teaching? Well,
later on, these things are revealed. They are written down. But what
he's teaching, I believe, is two things here. Number one,
as we said, God's in control. God directs the power, the seven
thunders. Do you know that There were places
in the book of Acts where Paul wanted to go and preach the gospel,
but God didn't let him. Was the gospel ever preached
there? We don't know. Now he does say in Matthew 24,
Christ said, the gospel must be preached throughout the world.
And then the end will come to all nations, but God's in control
of that. He has the power to let it loose
or keep it hidden. And then the second thing that
I believe he's talking about there is he's showing that before
John or any minister of God can release this message in preaching,
it has to become part of us. I'm preaching this to you because
I believe it. And the reason I believe it is
because God gave me faith to believe it. Now that's not to
say that a false preacher cannot say true things, he can or even
preach the gospel for a while, but he can't stay with it because
his heart's not there. That's the transformers of 2
Corinthians 11, the tense of the verb there is a temporary
change. But we believe what we preach. And that's why he's saying,
it's not time yet. And he says, look at verse six,
he says, or verse five, verse five, right? He said, 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
which are therein that there should be time no longer. Now
a lot of people use this verse to claim that this angel is not
Christ because of lifting up his hand and swearing to God.
But I've got listed in your lesson, you read this on your own, it's
Hebrews chapter six, where it's talking about God made a promise
to Abraham and God swore an oath. And he makes this point, he says,
now when human beings make a promise, make a covenant and swear an
oath, they always swear by something greater than themselves. That's
true. But when God swears an oath,
he cannot swear by anything greater than himself because there is
nothing greater than God. So what does God do? He swears
by himself. What does that mean? That means
God makes a promise and then he engages everything that he
is in his nature behind that promise. In other words, when
God promises to save a sinner, it's not a cooperative effort
between God and the sinner. It's a unilateral covenant promise. And everything that God is in
his character, in his nature, is engaged to fulfill that promise. His justice, his mercy, his holiness,
his grace, his love, his faithfulness, everything that God is, is engaged.
And that's what he's saying here. This right here, what's he swear
to here? That time's gonna end. This world
is going to end. It's all coming to its close.
He'll bring all things to its final end. And in that hour,
the mystery of God's decree with respect to the history of the
world will reach its culmination. This world is not our home. Thank God. And this world is
not going to last forever. God swears it. This is a truth
that we can bank on. All right.