1) Consider the final moments before a major event (surgery, distant travel, marriage). What would you want to see to give you peace and the assurance that everything will be okay?
2) Where are we on the end of the world timeline? At what point will the end be here? How does your answer impact how you will live today?
3) How do you respond to what we’re reading in the Book of the Revelation? What emotions are you experiencing when you read about what is to come?
A picture of strength and control is found at the beginning of Chapter 10. After the sixth trumpet and before the seventh trumpet, John sees a mighty angel with a little scroll (10:2). The position this angel takes up is one that shows total dominion. With one foot on the sea and the other on the land, his stance reminds us of the total sovereignty of God even in the midst of destruction and the end of the world.
The angel with the little scroll makes a bold declaration in verse 6: “There will be no more delay!” The question is when will this declaration be made? The New Testament is filled with this answer: no one knows (see Matthew 24:36, 50; Matthew 25:13; Mark 13:32; and Luke 12:46). And since this is the case, we must truly live today as if it could be the last.
In verses 9-10 we are about the sweetness and bitterness of the scroll. As we read about the end times, about God’s ultimate victory and the ultimate demise of the earth, we deal with both positive and negative emotions. How awesome to consider all that God will do as He finalizes all of eternity. This will be a time of sweet joy for those who have chosen to follow Him and a time of deep bitterness for those who have not. It is sweet to know of God’s redemptive plan; bitter to know of His judgment.
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