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 st 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. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard
a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up
those things which the seven thunders uttered,
and write them not. And the angel which I saw
stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted
up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him who
liveth forever and ever, who created heaven,
and the things that there in and the sea,
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; but
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.
Revelation 10:1-7
John now sees another angel and this angel was a strong angel (there is another word for mighty but here the Greek word means strong), a small point not to be dwelt on, but this strong angel, or messenger, as this is the meaning of the Greek word translated "angel," and while it can often just mean a being in this case this strong angel has a message. There are differences of opinion as to who this angel is: is it a mighty angel, or is it Jesus Christ? It seems that this angel is a special envoy for God and we might just look at the Greek word that means another, that is this angel was another angel seen by John. The Greek word allon means "another of the same kind, as this refers back to the previous angels mentioned so it seem hardly to refer to Jesus Christ. We must remember that John did not worship angels as he did to Jesus Christ. We must also remember that throughout the Old Testament there are references to the "Angel of the Lord," and this angel was a reference to the Second Person of the Trinity who came when necessary to bring a message to man. So this angel could be Jesus Christ as another messenger. This angel was seen to be clothed in a cloud. Also this messenger, or angel was seen to have his feet both on the earth and on the sea which must refer to all of creation. The cloud that this angel is clothed with reminds of the cloud that hid the Israelites when they left Egypt, and the cloud that was seen when Moses went up to the mount to receive the ten commandments, and Jesus was received into heaven in a cloud. Therefore we must admit that this cloud represents something hidden. What was hidden was not now able to be shown until all things were finished. The angel had an rainbow upon his head. We again are reminded that the first rainbow that man could see was when Noah left the ark and by this rainbow God promised a promise. Therefore this rainbow must represent that this angel had a promise for man, for the Church. The angel's face shown like the sun, bright and the sun hides nothing as it shines and chases away darkeness, therefore this angel brings light and hides darkness that now engulfs man. The feet of this angle was like a pillar of fire, and again we are reminded how the Israelites were led by a pillar of fire when escaping Egypt. The Church of God will and it is now, led by Jesus Christ and so much more in eternity. This angel had with him a little book that was open and in this book were the names if I look at chapter 20 where the names of the faithful were recorded to either have those names, or some record of judgment(s). John heard thunder and we once again are reminded that when God speaks it is like the sound of thunder, the sound of a lion who when roars roars with his mouth towards the earth making his sound travel far and wide. Seven thunders, a complete number, there are to nothing added to the words of God that come to us as in a thunder.
John was about to write when told not to write. In fact John was told to seal up what the seven thunders thundered. Now this angel looked toward heaven swore to Him who sits on the throne, the One that created all things, and again we are reminded what John wrote: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness ; and the darkness comprehended it not" (John 1:1-5).
How can we understand eternity? We cannot fully understand that which never ends for in our life, our world all things have a beginning and an end. Eternity simply put is time without time. Confusing? Eternity cannot be eternity that is a period of time: it cannot and be eternity. Man though can live in this eternity even while living in sequential time. This sequential time has no end. What a promise of God, what a merciful loving God who will give to faithful believers in His Son, Jesus Christ, eternity, time without time.
The mystery of God will become no mystery as this mystery is unfolded when the seventh angel sounds, and all the promises of God for the faithful will be declared: It is finished!
I am keeping away from speculation and attempting to just relay to you the simple truth: God will bring judgment to this earth. God hates sin! God will only do something about sin by means of the death, and resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. You cannot do anything worthwhile to cause God to love you: who do you think you are? So important, so faithful that God can do nothing else but save you? This is making you greater than God! God saves because of Jesus Christ and saves you through Him so if Jesus is not your Savior, not the One that you have put all your faith in, then you are not saved. You can, now, put all your faith in Him, by repentance, not because you are sorry for your sins, but because you know that you are so sinful and you cannot save yourself and are in need of One who can save you and that One is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to earth to die and pay this debt owed by man to God: God paid His own debt owed to Him. As Thanksgiving approaches we must see that we have all the reason to be thankful. By the way: if you have not repented of your sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior: DO IT NOW!
Ye have compassed this mountain
long enough: turn you northward.
Deuteronomy 2:3
Time is of the essence: Do not wait!
Richard L. Crumb
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