Revelation 10: Suffering Before Victory

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.
 
Meditation
The gospel has a “V” shape: suffering before glory, the cross before resurrection, death before life. Christians should not be surprised when our lives take the same shape. Suffering draws us into deeper identification with Jesus, trusting that the Father who transformed His suffering into glory will ultimately redeem ours, too.
 
Today’s reading advances this gospel pattern as God’s purposes move toward consummation. A mighty angel descends with an open scroll (vv. 1-2), seven thunders sound (vv. 3-4), and the angel declares that “the mystery of God would be fulfilled” (vv. 6-7). John then receives the scroll and renews his prophetic calling (vv. 8-11). The scroll is sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach, recalling Ezekiel’s prophetic call (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3).
 
The “mystery of God” is His redemptive purpose, once hidden but now revealed in Jesus Christ (Romans 16:24-26). Revelation 6:11 established that the suffering of the saints will continue for an appointed time; Revelation 10 assures us that this time will end. God has neither lost control of history nor forgotten His suffering people. “There would be no more delay” (v. 6). His mysterious purposes are moving toward their appointed conclusion.
 
The cross is our greatest assurance. What appeared to be Jesus’s defeat was actually God’s means of victory. The darkest moment in history became the doorway to resurrection glory. Our suffering, therefore, is never random, never purposeless, and certainly never permanent. Jesus has risen, Jesus reigns, and Jesus will return. When He does, the mystery will give way to glory, suffering to victory, and the kingdoms of this world to the everlasting kingdom of our God.
 
Today’s Reading

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.”
 
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from today’s reading? Why?
 
-Why is the shape of gospel suffering both daunting and encouraging? When you are at the bottom of the “V,” is it difficult for you to see Jesus’s redeeming ability?
 
-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 that 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.