Day 1,092: Revelation 10- Suffering Before Victory

​Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
 
Meditation
The shape of gospel suffering is like a “V”: death before life, valleys before mountains,  the cross before resurrection, suffering before victory, and despair before worship (Psalm 22).  The suffering of the saints invites believers into deeper identification and participation with the suffering and victory of Jesus, trusting gospel power to be displayed in God’s transformation of suffering to glory.
 
Four simple sections center on one specific truth: the mystery of God will soon be fulfilled when the suffering of the saints is complete (7). Suffering precedes victory. Commencing what has been promised by the Lord, an angel opens a scroll (1-2), cries out with seven thunders (3-4), a trumpet sounds to signal the consummation of God’s plan for history (6-7), with a renewal of John’s prophetic call (8-11). The parallelism of 10:7 with 6:11 makes the mystery clear, it is God’s will for the persecution of Christians to precede ultimate victory.
 
The mystery of Christ extends from His ascension and exaltation until consummation, emphasized by Paul in Romans 16:24-25. What was hidden will be fulfilled, the suffering of the saints will be complete before the consummation of Christ’s kingdom.
 
The seeming defeat of the suffering saints is a part of God’s plan, a mystery until Christ comes again. And when Jesus returns (and He will!) the mystery will be fully revealed, Christ’s kingdom come in the New Heavens and New Earth being consummated as one.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from today’s reading? Why?
 
-Why is the shape of gospel suffering both daunting and encouraging?
 
-How does the finished work of Christ, His suffering to death before resurrecting from the grave, shape your hope in hard times by reminding you the suffering of the saints is not the end of the story?
 
Key Verse
7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.