What Is This "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 I went unto the angel, 

and said unto him, Give me the little book. 

And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; 

and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall

 be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took 

the little book out of the angle'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. And he said unto me,

 Thou must prophesy again before many 

peoples, and nations, and tongues and kings.

Revelation 10:8-11

     This little book has caused great controversy and there is much lack of consensus.Those who hold to history say that this refers to the Reformation. Those who hold to the Preterist theolgy speak of this book, the eating of this book, to refer to Ezekiel's prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. Those who hold to a Futurist theology say that the eating of the "little book," was necessary for John before he brought the word of God to minister to others, and others of this view simply say that it is the word of God. Those holding to Spiritual theology say that this book is to be found throughout the entire Church age, messages of grace and judgment that give this "little book" its bittersweet taste. What we learn from all these various views is that there is not consensus as to the meaning of the "little book." So, not to be caught up in all this confusion and speculation I will try to only look simply at how this was to be understood by me, and you. 

     When John put this little book into his mouth it tasted sweet. I can see how this might apply to those things taken in from others who are proclaiming their form of Christianity. At first the words sound sweet to the taste. I think of the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses who go about attempting to feed the seekers, the unknowable sweet tasting and sounding words. I see this sweet tasting words misinforming those who are attending the School of the Supernatural by Bethel Church here in Redding. People love that which give to them pleasure, they like looking into future events (Star wars, ET, and in my time Buck Rodgers shows) and those speculations that sound to be true and possible and especially if those things are said to have warrant in Scripture. Oh! It is so sweet, so good, until....When a person begins to look critically into what they are being fed and find that those sweet things in their mouths are making them sick, their belly is sour and bitter. Some leave the Church altogether disillusioned, upset, mad, never to return or to attempt to find the truth. Some just go off to other Churches and many of them bring to that Church their bitterness. 

     Why did this "little book" cause bitterness? I suggest two reasons: 1. In the mouth, before digestion the words in this book, albeit they were about judgment and things to come, they were accepted as sweet. 2. John was told to take those words to the world and those words contain what God was going to do to the world when He comes to judge the world. An Authentic Christian must see that the words of God are sweet, sweet words of God for the faithful and as servants of God we are to take that sweetness to the world, first, before bringing to them the judgments of God. Ezekiel was told to eat the roll, a roll that contained lamentations, and mourning, and woe (Ezekiel 2:10) and when Ezekiel ate this roll it was sweet and he was told to speak those words to the house of Israel, John is telling us that this "little book" was also full of judgments, but also the mercy of God for He was forewarning all who will eat of this "little book" and be saved. The house of Israel would not listen to Ezekiel, will you listen to John? (Ezekiel 3). 

     It is good that people hear about what God is going to do to this evil world, but it is better for them to hear of the mercy of God through His Son Jesus Christ. No one will come to be saved by hearing that the world will be destroyed, if that is the only reason to would come to be saved is not to have accepted Jesus Christ, but just because they did not want to die. God warns, protects, and when a person comes to understand that there is a God, a just God who will bring judgment upon this world, it leaves a hole: that hole must not be left empty. We must fill that hole with the words of Jesus Christ, teach them Scripture, the words of Jesus Christ, and they must put their faith in Him, not judgments. Authentic Christians are those who build upon their relationship with Jesus Christ and this building of this relationship will not just happen, it must be a work in progress, not regress, but progress. Our faith is in Jesus Christ and what He has done, what He has fulfilled and that due to this, we, those who believe on Jesus Christ, they are the ones that no matter what this "little book" states, they are not moved into lamentation or mourning, but allow the sweetness to be sweet not only in their mouths, but in their belly's. To the shallow those sweet words in their mouths will become bitter, making anything that is told to them to be hard to swallow. We, those who are of the bride of Christ must bring to our world those sweet and truthful and non-bitter words that Jesus, Him alone, can save. We know about the judgments of God, but we know more: we know the One who saves: Jesus Christ. Bring to your world the Gospel, it is the Gospel that leads a person to put their faith in Jesus, then teach about the judgments of God so that they too will be of those that bring to their world the Gospel knowing that before the end they have the opportunity to aid others to believe in Jesus Christ.

     Will you do your part?

Son of man, I have made thee 

    a watchman unto the house

of Israel: therefore hear the word

    at my mouth, and give them 

warning from me.

                   Ezekiel 3:17

It is a privilege to speak for God

Richard L. Crumb