Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Revelation. Chapter 10, beginning in verse 1. Revelation chapter 10 verse one. And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with the 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 set 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 swear by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are 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. Tonight, I have only about half of a sermon. Not because I have only half health, although that's true, and maybe half wit, which is about as much as I can muster, but it's because the subject matter is so very large and so very difficult. The book of Revelation is full of difficulties and full of mysteries, as you well know. But tonight we bump up against one of the deepest, one of the darkest, one of the most difficult. What is the significance of the seven thunders, which sound and yet John is prohibited to write them? What is all of that about anyway? This has exercised interpreters for millennia. And I do think that the very diversity of opinions tells you something of the difficulty of the question. But when we come to such things, we are reminded that we stand, even as we peer into the scriptures, face to face with the mystery that is God himself. He is ineffable. He is beyond human expression. We are reminded that this is the God with whom we have to do when we come to these texts of Scripture that seem so very dark. In your outline, you see Confession of Faith 1-7. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all. Yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them. The divines express here the doctrine that is known as the perspicuity of the scriptures. The scriptures are clear. And that's their principal point here is over against the Roman Catholic Church. It's actually quite germane for the very images that are in front of us. The Romanists closed the book upon pretense that no one can understand it, except maybe the Pope and some theologians and so on, but the people of God must not meddle with it because they will distort it and become confused. And, um, Sectarianism, division, dissension will simply multiply in the ranks of the godly. As over against this, the divine say those things that are necessary to be believed, known and observed for salvation are clearly opened in the scripture, not just to the learned, but to the unlearned as well, as they apply themselves in a due use of the ordinary means. However, having said all of that, they want to qualify it by making clear as well, that we don't mean by that, that all of the places of scripture are equally clear, nor that those places are equally clear to everyone. So basically, layman's term, some passages are harder than others in and of themselves. And some people understand those passages better than other people. So, Yes, the scriptures are clear, but at the same time, the scriptures have their difficulties. From ancient times, the fathers of the church have told us that this is a manifestation of the divine wisdom in the method of revelation. They said that it is important that those things that are necessary for salvation and Christian living, those things need to be clearly opened. so that even God's simplest children might understand them. But at the same time, they've said that it's important that scripture have its mysteries and its difficulties. The ancient testimony and saying was that the scriptures have their shallows in which lambs may wade and their depths in which elephants swim. which is, I think, a beautiful illustration. The reason for this, the reason for the depths is so that no man would despise the scriptures. And I don't mean that, we use that today in terms of hate. I don't mean that exactly. I mean, hold in contempt, think little of the scriptures as if it were all just child's play. And we are reminded that we do bump into a God here that we can never fully understand. The finite mind cannot comprehend or get its arms fully around the infinite. You could tie all of our brains together and throw in angelic intelligence as well, and we will still have only scratched the surface of the most high. We will still understand precious little, As I was recommencing my work on the seven thunders, I had this sense, have you ever been to a beach or a lake where you're waiting, your feet are on the ground, and suddenly you step off and there is no bottom, nothing that your feet can reach, and it seems that it comes suddenly. The seven thunders are very much like this. We have stepped off the edge. If we are to come to any sort of just understanding of the seven thunders, context is so very important. One of the reasons interpreters vary so much is because they differ so much as to where they are in history at this point. So of course, they're going to understand the thunders differently. Literarily, we know exactly where we are. It's not debatable. The seventh seal has been broken. The sixth trumpet has sounded, but the seventh has not yet. Historically, I hope that at least for us, we are beyond any sort of reasonable doubt that we are in the aftermath of the fall of Constantinople. There has been another half century of demonstrated impenitence on the part of Christendom. I do believe at the end of chapter nine, the West is specified again as being impenitent, the church has shown itself resistant to all reformation efforts. There's a great darkness that has descended upon the land and it is into the midst of this darkness that the covenant angel descends and he opens the book. In opening the book, he reveals himself He reveals himself to be divine and almighty. He reveals himself to be the ruler of all that is, a foot on the land and a foot on the sea, a demonstration of possession. But he also reminds us tenderly that he is ever mindful of his covenant mercies. And so the rainbow is around his face and ever before his eyes. And he cries or roars against the usurper, the pretender, the Pope in Rome who makes pretense to have all of his prerogatives and exercise all of Christ's prerogatives upon the earth as his vicar. So it's into this context that we take up the end of verse three and verse four as well. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And if I might say so, because this is really one sermon divided into two, you're gonna want to be very careful to gather up these observations and carry them away with you so that you can have them for when we meet again. It's very important for the interpretive work So notice first it says, and when he had cried. So the context of that next part of the verse is the crying or the roaring of the covenant angel against the usurper. So in that context, the seven thunders uttered their voices. This is obscured by our English translation. Look very carefully. In Greek, it is actually the seven thunders uttered their voices. The definite article is present even in verse three. This is odd. If you just read it in English with the definite article, you'll pick up on how odd it is. And when he had cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. When you use a definite article in that way, even in English, it seems to suggest that you already know what these thunders are. or that they've been introduced previously. But they haven't been. You can see this is one of the reasons why the English translators just decided to leave the article out, because it sounds strange for them to be introduced with the definite article when they've not been introduced previously. So just put that in your pocket. It does seem to introduce that this would be something that's either known to the reader or known to John who is watching and observing all of these things. So we put that to the side for the present. Also notice this comes through quite clearly in English. The language that's used is the language of articulate speech, seven thunders uttered. their voices, which does make it sound like words that are being thundered here. Verse four puts this beyond all doubt. It is true that both the verb uttered and voices can be used of thundering and other inanimate objects. That is true. But when it's something that John could write, it puts it beyond all doubt, that there was something articulate and meaningful about the thunders that could be captured. And then finally, in this verse, I want you to notice, and I think this to be very important, is that the cry of the covenant angel and the voice of the seven thunders are clearly distinguished as not being the same thing. If you look, it's even emphatic, the seven thunders uttered their voices. So the angel cries, and when he cries, the seven thunders utter their voices, which I do think presents some difficulty for the family of interpretations that have the idea that Christ roars and the proclamation of the gospel and say, the seven thunders are the echo of his voice in preaching. But then you might expect his voice, that they echoed back his voice, but that's not what you get. You get emphatically in the Greek that these seven thunders are uttering their voices. And verse four, 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. So now we're given a new context, when the seven thunders had uttered their voices. So the first context was when the angel cried, the thunders sounded and it said, and when the thunders sounded, John was about to write. Remember what we have observed about John is that he is not just a witness of the things revealed, but he is a participant. What John does and does not do has a symbolical significance in the drama. And you remember, we said from the very beginning that John stands in the place of the apostolical men in all of these ages. So the seven thunders have sounded and John was about to write, but then he heard a voice telling him not to write. what the seven thunders had uttered. So this voice is portrayed as coming from heaven. It is a command. He is commanded to seal up the seven thunders and write them not. Many interpreters, I think quite naturally have thought about Daniel and how Daniel was from time to time told to seal up his seal up his vision. And I, the illusion I do think is significant, but it is, uh, it is an illusion with significant contrast. It's not the same thing. Daniel wrote and then sealed it up because it was to be understood in a later age. But John in sealing this up is not writing and sealing it up to be understood later. He's commanded, this is being sealed up in the sense it's not going to be written. It's not going to be understood for a later time and so on. This is not going to be preserved. Very interesting, very significant difference. And it's at that point you can see why interpreters would be so perplexed. What does all of this mean? Now I want to take you and give you a sample of some of the principal attempts to make sense of what is happening here. I think that interpreters, for the most part, are lost and befuddled. And in saying that, I don't intend any sort of severe reflection upon them. Apart from really significant help, I wouldn't have any idea either what to do with this. I become the beneficiary of 2000 years worth of reflection upon these things. But here are some positions that I don't think work. Some, and this is a very strong channel of interpretive tradition. Some think that it is, that the thunders are anticipatory of the sounding of the trumpet and the pouring out of the bowl. So when the seventh trumpet sounds, the seven bowls or vials are poured out. So the seventh trumpet is, as it were, unfolded in the bowls. And they think that these thunders are anticipating, prefiguring the bowl judgments. Um, I thought about it and I thought about it and I thought about it and I thought, in spite of the names that surround this, Dr. Collings and some others, it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense because John is commanded not to write it. So that you've got an anticipation that's not allowed to be an anticipation, right? And then he writes it when the bowls become poured out. So you've got an anticipation that's not allowed to be anticipatory because he's not allowed to write it beforehand. He simply writes it as the vision unfolds later. I just thought this, this seems like grasping after straws. This doesn't seem to work very well. Some others, and this is another dominant strand of interpretive tradition, think that it is the powerful preaching of the gospel answering to the angel's cry, so Christ cries out and his preachers, as it were, echo his voice. I've already pointed out one of the great problems, which is that the thunders emphatically have their own voices, and it's in contrast with his. rather than complimenting his. And then also you're left with what seems to be an insuperable problem. Why prohibit John from writing the preaching of the gospel? This is very strange. And in saying these, interpreters have tried to handle these things. It's just so unconvincing. It's really not worth delving into it. It just doesn't, it doesn't work. Some others, this is one of my favorites because I think it shows the perplexity of the interpreters. They say it's sealed and not written so it's not to be meddled with, you know, just a mystery. And we're reminded that there are many mysteries and so on. But still I'm not satisfied with that. Why say all of this about their sounding, about John's hearing, about his moving to write in the command from heaven if it doesn't mean anything? Or we're just being told we don't understand things. You're probably in Revelation already well convinced of that by this point. So why say all of this and why give all of these details that seem to be suggestive of significance if the significance is always to be lost to us? It seems to me that this must mean something. All scripture is given for instruction and is profitable to the church. And interestingly enough, this is part of John's apocalypse, which is characterized as not being sealed, but unsealed, opened, revelation at the very end. John is commanded, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. So Daniel sealed up because his wouldn't be understood for many generations, but John's is open and the events that are prefigured are getting ready to start. There's not going to be any time-lapse. It is not to be sealed. So you would think that whatever it is that is commanded to be sealed here, is not the book or any proper content of it, but rather something is being opened to us here. We're being taught something. I do think after much consideration that E.B. Eliot's thesis and position is right. The thing that makes it scary is I don't know if anybody had this position before him, and I don't know how many followed him afterwards, but I do think that he is right. And tonight I'm only going to give you his basic thesis and we'll consider it next week, its argument and its justification, and then take some doctrine away from it. But Eliot's thesis is that the seven thunders were Rome's disciplinary pronouncements. sounding from the seven hills of Rome in condemnation of the Reformers and the Reformation. So Christ calls against the usurper, and then the seven thunders answer back. But in other words, here the Reformation goes out, the Reformers again are asserting Christ's prerogative over all things. And yet Rome is not silent, and they're not done. but rather they answer back and they sound back. And interestingly enough, when you look at the history, as those condemnatory pronouncements began to come, the first reaction of these men, who for the most part thought of themselves as being good Roman Catholics, was to write or inscribe, to bear, as it were, as if it were legitimate or from heaven, the condemnatory sentence. Luther was like this, almost up to the very, very declaration. He had been warned. He had said, but I'm a good son of the church. The Pope will never condemn me. But as if hearing a voice from heaven, once the condemnation was passed, he wrote it not. And he cast it into the fire as something that was not to be regarded. So I think Eliot has reason to leave the main body of interpreters. And if you think about where we are in the history and how perfect and suitable this is, along with the, you might not see the connections between the exegetical observations and what I've just said, but I'll try to make that as plain as possible next week. But we'll leave this for the time being. But you might want to think about it in the meantime, just how appropriate an image this is for the period of time and what is happening. But before we go a use or two, let us be humbled before the word of God. We can give thanks that so much in the scripture is open, plain and easy. things that even our little children can understand. There's a particular interest whenever this comes up, a particular interesting scripture that always comes to mind. The Lord's command to Habakkuk, write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it. So in other words, the images of a scribe who's writing with such a large, distinct and clear hand that even a man who is very busy and hastening through his day can read it and understand it. And so there's this great clarity in what Habakkuk has to say and what's revealed through him there. We're reminded that God is a very effective pedagogue, a very effective teacher of his children. Calvin says he lisps to us in baby talk. And he does know how to reach us and to teach us, for he made us. And when we're dull in our studies, he also knows how to illuminate the mind and soften the heart so that we might understand and receive. So he's a very effective teacher and he does speak to us in a manner that is suitable for us. And he has lessons even for his babes in the scriptures. And we can be very happy for those. I was reminded just this week that some things are so abundantly plain that we are really left without excuse if we don't get the lesson. I remember reading not too long ago, it seems like a long time ago, when we were in our sermons on marriage and homosexuality came up again. And you do know that there are those who call themselves evangelical Christians who have spent a lot of midnight oil trying to justify the proposition that the Bible never really does speak against homosexuality. And so they go text by text and they try to explain these things away. And of course, some have undertaken a refutation. And I don't speak by way of criticism to those that undertake the refutation, but I am reminded of the saying of the ancients that some men ought to be punished rather than argued with. That some of these things are just so open, so plain, so clear that to dignify any of this with any sort of a response seems somewhat beneath us. I was reading Dr. Young's anthology of essays just this week, and he does that on several occasions when he'll mention, say, a contemporary fellow who spoke against the doctrine, and he will simply say, his ravings are not worthy of consideration, and he just dismisses it altogether, and I do think that there is a time for that. I don't think anybody can read the scriptures seriously, soberly, and honestly, and not see a plain condemnation of this perversion written upon the face of the scriptures. Indeed, written upon the face of nature itself. Romans chapter one, we have no excuse for getting these things wrong. We can be very thankful for the plain passages of scripture and their plain direction. I do hope that when we come to those plain and central saving truths, that we do not despise them for their simplicity, but that we love them and love them all over again every time that we hear them. I hope that when we hear these simple things, it moves us to adore God. If you want to make progress toward the more difficult things, you need to treasure up all of these lessons. Remember the difficult places of scripture are interpreted by those places that are plainer and that speak with greater clarity. So you treasure those things up and they will help you with the dark passages. So even while we're giving thanks for the simple things in the scripture, we are humbled when we come into contact with the dark passages. We are reminded that the most high is infinite and that he infinitely transcends our understanding. The scriptures say as much in words that are not hard to understand. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Children, how high is the heaven above the earth? What is that distance anyway? How do you calculate it? You really can't, can you? And God says, yeah, my thoughts are just that much higher than your thoughts. Or in straight didactic teaching, Paul says, for now we see through a glass darkly. But then face to face, now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. Paul begins there in 1 Corinthians 13 by saying, that we see through a glass darkly when we consider divine things. It's like, it's like looking at some, have you ever tried to look at something through a stained glass window, something that's outside and how difficult it is to see exactly what it is? That's very much what the apostle is saying. We can see something, we can, tell something, we might be able to see some shape, maybe see some color and so on, but it's not as distinct, it's not as clear as if we were looking through a clear glass. But he looks forward to a day when we will see face to face. We know in part now, but then we shall know even as we are known. This does not mean that we will ever understand God completely. A little bit of what the theologians have said, I find this very helpful. They say that God alone has archetypal theology. And by that, he has perfect, complete, exhaustive theology. He knows himself and he knows his will perfectly. And that's the sum total of all things that can be known, right? I guess he also knows the potential extent of his power, things he could do that he hasn't chosen to do and so on, but you get my meaning. God alone has perfect theology. And this becomes the archetype. All other theology that is done by creatures is ectypal or is an imperfect copy. Now the theologians will go on to say that scripture theology is ectypal theology, but perfect in its kind. In other words, it's exactly as much theology as God has been pleased to reveal. So it is perfect in its kind, even though it is not all that God himself is, nor does it declare all that God himself is. knows the theology of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ was perfect ectypal theology in his own mind. But for us in this life, our theology is always imperfect and fall short of the standard that we have in the scripture, fall short of appropriating all that has been revealed to us. but in heaven, it also will be perfect according to its kind. So it's not that we'll know everything about God, it's just that we will know everything about God that we should know and that he's been pleased to reveal to us. And so now we know in part, but then we shall know even as we have been known. I do hope that whenever you bump into one of these dark passages that you'll be reminded that we have to do with God in the scripture, a God who cannot be fully understood. And if you could understand everything in the Bible, you would suspect, wouldn't you, that just some man invented it and that it is indeed child's play. But when we bump into these things, we know that we have to do with a God. And then a second use, let us renew our commitment to the diligent study of God's word. After I had penned my first use, I was concerned that it might be discouraging in the study of scripture. to say that there are difficulties. Indeed, there are difficulties. I thought Matthew Poole said it so very well in his preface to the synopsis. He said, you will find many scripture difficulties resolved in these pages. He said, but I and all of the other interpreters must pass on difficulties that are yet unresolved to the next generation in the hope that they will be. Right, so it's like every age is passing on its difficulties. And some of those are getting sorted out in the next age, but some others aren't and they're getting passed on. We're handing down our troubles. Well, I was concerned that with this model, there might be some discouragement. Maybe we can't understand these things or something like that. Understand there is a wide chasm between difficult and impossible. Wide chasm between very, very, very difficult and impossible. Scripture is revelation. And it has been given, all scripture has been given by inspiration of God to instruct. And so we might wrestle with that. Indeed, many generations might wrestle with a particular passage and trying to understand it, but it is revelation and it has been given to be understood and we must pursue it. So when we come to those difficult parts, knowing that all scripture is profitable and all is given for instruction, if we can't do anything else with it, we can at least be humbled. that we don't understand. But then, understanding that there is instruction here, I hope that we will feel the duty to endeavor to understand, no matter what the difficulty. I remember reading Jonathan Edwards' resolutions years ago, and he said, resolved, never to leave a scripture difficulty, unresolved. to pursue a resolution until I find it or I die, but to continue on in the quest of understanding until I get my answer one way or another. And I do think that this is a good resolution. We don't want to pretend to understand when we really don't, but we don't want to give up and say that the quest is useless. And we should understand, every good teacher will be pleased from time to time to exercise his students with difficult lessons, the words of the wise and their dark sayings, as Solomon says. And when the most high God, our teacher, is pleased to exercise us with difficult lessons, it is nothing but our part to say amen, because it has seemed good in thy sight that it be so, and endeavor to master the lesson. We are disciples, we are learners, we're students in Christ's school, and if he gives a lesson, we are duty-bound to endeavor to master it. And this is all part of a fuller appropriation of our rich inheritance, an inheritance that belongs to us and to our children after us. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Your Bible is your inheritance. Children, In giving you a Bible, it's like the Lord has given you a treasure chest full of riches to support you all the way through this life and safely into the life to come. It's your inheritance. And just, you know how we can be sort of miserly with our money, right? Where we count our pennies and we want to make sure that we know where this money is going and so on. We ought to be. If you understand my meaning, miserly with the truths of scripture, we want to understand and appropriate all of our inheritance. We don't want to leave wealth in the bottom of the box or let it spill out onto the floor. We want it and we want all of it because our father has been pleased to give us these riches. And if you think of them in the right way, they are riches that are meant to support you. in this world and see you safely into your heavenly mansion, fully sufficient wealth to do so. So let us give ourselves again to discipleship and the diligent study of God's word. Let us pray together.