One of the great gifts that we should never lose our joy over is the gift of God's holy Scriptures, searching for it more than for hidden treasure, Scripture says. I think a lot of us don't really spend much time in the Word of God. We spend far more time searching for literal silver and gold. But one of the things I appreciate about this church is you guys are Bereans, and you treat the word as the ultimate authority, not Phil Kaiser. If the scripture disagrees with Phil Kaiser, you go with the scripture, and that's the way it should be. And so we're going to be looking at the scriptures and their role in our lives over the next weeks. Revelation 10, one through 11, reading from the majority text. I saw a mighty angel descending out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow on his head. His face was like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire, and he had a little book open in his hand. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land, and he cried out with a loud voice, just like a lion roars. And when he cried out, the seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice out of heaven saying, seal up the things that the seven thunders said, and you write after these things. And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to the heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there would be no further delay. But in the days of the blast of the seventh angel, when he is about to trumpet, the mystery of God that he declared to his slaves the prophets would be finished. Now the voice that I heard out of heaven was speaking to me again and saying, go, take the little book that is open in the hand of the angel who was standing on the sea and on the land. So I went to the angel and said to him, give me the little book. And he says to me, take and eat it up. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey. So I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up. And it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And he said to me, you must prophesy again over many peoples, even over ethnic nations and languages and kings. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word. It is an incredibly precious gift. We want to study it. We want to understand it. We want to be Bereans. And I pray that you would open up the eyes of our understanding to see the depths of the riches that you have hidden in it. We love you. We bless you. We are dependent upon your spirit as we seek to understand your word. We pray that you would anoint me in the preaching of your word, anoint each one here in the hearing of it. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, we've come to two chapters that are very, very critical to understand, and I don't want to breeze over them too quickly. One of the central themes of these two chapters is the cessation of all prophecy and all prophets. Chapter 10 promises that all scriptural prophecy would soon be ended. Chapter 11 deals with the death of the world's last two inspired prophets. And so these two chapters, they really do hang together. And verse seven covers both of them. Take a look at verse seven. But in the days of the blast of the seventh angel, when he is about to trumpet, the mystery of God that he declared to his slaves the prophets would be finished. Now the word finished is the same word that Jesus used on the cross when he said, it is finished. When Jesus said that with regard to his redemption, his redemption was 100% completed, nothing more could be added to it. And the same meaning can be seen in the word finished here. The mystery revealed to all God's prophets would come to an end and be 100% finished in 8070 with nothing more to be added. And certainly the canon of scripture would be completed. Moses Stewart says on that verse, immediately on the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of the seven-sealed book is brought to a close. Well, what was the seven-sealed book? We saw that it was the growing canon, and the canon was clearly closed in AD 70, and I've got a book on the canon of Scripture that goes into that in much more detail. Now some futurists who believe in ongoing prophecy, they don't have any problem with what I'm saying here with the idea that prophetic revelation would cease at the seventh trumpet because they believe that the seventh trumpet occurs at the end of history. Their interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13 verse 8 is that prophecy will finish, it will be terminated on the last day of history. So their conclusion is that prophecy must continue until the end of history. And it's really a logical deduction from, if you take a futurist view on the trumpets. After all, they say, there's gonna be two more prophets witnessing in chapter 11 before the seventh trumpet sounds. And even Gordon Fee, who agrees that the little book is John's prophetic revelation, says this. The mystery of God is to be accomplished before that final moment happens, but in the meantime, there must be further prophetic activity. So his interpretation of verse 7 is that prophecy continues until the seventh trumpet sounds. So my interpretation of the seventh trumpet signaling the end of prophetic revelation, that's not an odd viewpoint at all. Even many charismatics hold to that viewpoint like Gordon Fee. The main question is the timing. And I believe I've already demonstrated quite clearly that these seven trumpets occur in the first century with the seventh one being sounded in AD 70. And that the term mystery includes both scripture and oral prophecies can be seen in many passages. Ephesians 3 applies the word mystery to New Testament prophets. Let me read that for you. It speaks of, quote, the revelation of the mystery which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets. So the mystery is now revealed to the apostles and prophets. 1 Corinthians 13, several other passages do the same thing with that word mystery. But Romans 16, 25 through 26 says it's not just oral prophecy that contains this mystery. Romans 16 says that the New Testament scriptures are God's, quote, revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations. So the word mystery is dealing with the revealed message given to prophets, whether written or oral. Kendall easily points out that it includes the prophetic contents of the book of Revelation, what the Apostle John eats. George Eldon Ladd points out that there is more than one revealed mystery and that the term mystery encompasses all prophetic revelation, whether he points to Daniel's dream and Daniel 2 or the contents of the Bible. And I think the second clause of verse 7 makes that clear. John says that the mystery was what was proclaimed to God's prophets. Now, all of that was about to end. So that's kind of an overview of where we're going to be heading in these two chapters. And I'll be digging into the text in much more detail later. But today, all I want to deal with is the identity of the angel, the identity of the little book, and the relationship these two chapters have to the sixth trumpet. Now, actually, there's not a lot of controversy. I can dismiss that in less than a minute. Very little controversy on where this fits in. These chapters fit in during the time of the sixth trumpet. Most commentators believe that everything in chapter 10 and all of the first 14 verses of chapter 11 form an interpretive parenthesis that helps explain the significance of the 6th and the 7th trumpets. So in other words, they're not coming sequentially after chapter 9, Instead, chapter nine, verses 13 through 21, gives us an overview of the entire sixth trumpet, and then these two chapters occur during that time period. Okay, does that make sense? So this is an interpretive parenthesis that says what's going on in that last section of chapter nine. Once the seventh trumpet has finished, and chapter 11 is finished, the old covenant will be finished, and chapter 12 will then go way back in time to the birth of Christ, then it's gonna move forward to the time of AD 70, which is chapter 19, then chapter 20 is gonna go back again to the birth of Christ, and it's going to look at all covenant history, new covenant history from another perspective. So that's a bird's eye view of how all of these chapters fit together. But if this chapter anticipates the imminent ending of prophecy and scriptural revelation, we need to look first of all at who gives the revelation. Verses 1 through 3 talks about this incredibly huge and mighty angel who gives a little book to John and tells him to write, at least in the majority text. He is commanded to write down what he sees the seven thunders have said, but he's to write it down after these things. He's got to seal it up for a portion of time, but later on in the second part of this book, he's going to be writing down what they said. Now there's debate on who this angel is. Some people see it as Jesus. Some people see it as the angel Gabriel. And it may seem like it's really not that important of a debate, but it's kind of like falling dominoes. If you misinterpret, misidentify this as being Jesus in this passage, It'll mess up some other very important passages. And it's my view that Jesus is never once in the book of Revelation called an angel or described as an angel. Now, there are others who disagree. They'll say, no, in chapter 12, Jesus is Michael the archangel. But again, the same interpreters will say that Jesus is Gabriel. And which is it? Is it Michael? Is it Gabriel? It's very confusing when you look at their exegesis. I can't get into all the reasons why I believe that this is a dangerous viewpoint and why several cults have identified Jesus here. But because there are also good men, including Chilton, there's good men who identify this angel as Jesus, I do want to take their argument seriously. And they do have some good arguments, actually, especially here. First argument is that the Son of God was called the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, and I'll admit that that does indeed seem to be the case. Now, we've already seen before that the word angel means messenger, right? So if God the Son is the Word of God, He is The Father's revelation to us, there is a sense in which he is messaging what the Father says to us, so it would not at all seem strange to call Jesus the messenger of the Lord or the angel of the Lord. But here's the question. Does the Apostle John ever call Jesus an angel? And I am absolutely dogmatic that he does not. He does not. We're going to go through this exercise anyway, because the arguments they raise actually help us to make an application in a different way. So it won't be wasted time. In fact, I think it's imperative that we see these symbols as divine symbols, so these interpreters have actually done us a great favor. In your outlines, I've introduced the best arguments for that position that people have been able to muster. Now I've already given the first argument. The pre-incarnate Son of God is called the Angel of the Lord. Let me give you two scriptures. In Genesis 31, the Angel of the Lord speaks to Jacob and says, I am the God of Bethel. So we've got an angel who says, I am the God of Bethel. Or at least he is speaking on behalf of God. There's debate on that. In Exodus 3, the angel of the Lord appears to Moses, calls himself Jehovah, and says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And the text goes on to say, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. So there is no question about the fact that the pre-incarnate Son of God is called the angel of the Lord, or at the very least, he was speaking in the presence of God. And there is some debate still on that. But most conservatives do agree the angel of the Lord is at least in some places in the Old Testament a divine being. Now the second argument is that both this angel and Jesus are described as being clothed with a cloud. And I've given you some scriptures in your outline that show Jesus coming with the clouds, in the clouds, on the clouds, sitting on a cloud. It's a symbol of his sovereignty over all of planet Earth. But before you jump to conclusions, I will also mention that there are passages that show angels associated with the clouds. In fact, Meredith Klein's book, Images of the Spirit, shows how the glory cloud in the Old Testament is over and over again identified with God's angels. So it's really not a definitive proof. It just shows that this angel is closely connected with God's presence and rule. And we've already seen in chapter four that this was the case. In fact, those were cherubim angels. The cherubim actually formed the basis of his throne, symbolizing the fact that they were helping to carry out God's providences. Well, here the symbolism shows that the seraphim, who are messenger angels, the seraphim, they carry forth God's word. They are communicators of God's very word. Now, the third argument they give is that the rainbow, and it's emphasized in the Greek, the rainbow, in other words, the rainbow that's already been talked about in chapter four and that surrounded God's throne is on this angel's head. Now, since a rainbow is associated with God's covenant and it's associated with God's throne in Ezekiel chapter one and in Revelation chapter four, they say this is a very appropriate image for a divine being. But I would argue that it could also fit the descriptions of the beings that represent the throne. They, too, are very close to that rainbow. But anyway, these are pretty good arguments that they're bringing up. The fourth argument, and next week we're going to be seeing why we do need to take these as divine symbols. It may be confusing here, but it's all going to come together. You'll see. The fourth argument is that this angel's face shines like the sun, something explicitly attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ elsewhere. For example, Revelation 1.16 says of Jesus, His countenance was like the sun, shining in its strength. That's a pretty close parallel. Likewise, Matthew 17 verse 2 says that on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was quote, transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light. They'll frequently cite Daniel 10 verse 6 as a proof text, but the interesting thing we'll see about that passage, that's actually Gabriel the angel. It's not a reference to Jesus, and his face shines like the sun as well, and I'll speak more about that when we look at that passage. So again, even though it may look like it's a reference to Jesus, it could also show an angel from God's presence. The fifth argument is that this angel's feet were like pillars of fire, and they use word association to point back to the fiery pillar of cloud in the Old Testament, which was God's Shekinah glory, right? It was a theophany of God. But of course, Meredith Klein and many other scholars have pointed out that there's millions of angels that are also identified with that cloud. Probably the closest scripture they can come up with is Revelation 1, 15 through 16, And Revelation 2 verse 18, which describes Christ's legs as being like fine brass, very brightly polished brass. It's not quite the same thing as being on fire, but it's pretty similar. But in any case, it's not a slam dunk argument because Daniel 10 verse 6 describes the angel Gabriel as having feet like burnished brass. So you can see why there could be potential confusion on these symbols here. Now, once I explain the reason for these divine symbols, I think you're going to say, ah, OK, I see. It's perfect. We need those symbols here. Perhaps the strongest argument is verse 3's reference to this angel roaring like a lion roars. And they will say, well, Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. Revelation 5 verse 5. Hosea 11 verse 10 says that Jehovah roars like a lion. Amos 3.8, Joel 3.16 are very similar. But does that mean that every being that roars like a lion is Jehovah? And the answer is clearly no. There are kings that are repeatedly said to roar like lions. Proverbs 19 verse 12, 20 verse 2, 28 verse 15, Zephaniah 3 verse 3. Interestingly, prophets are said to roar like lions, Ezekiel 22 verse 25. Satan is said to go around like a roaring lion. In fact, one of their proof texts, Amos 3 verse 8, connects the lion's roar to prophecy because prophecy is the very voice of God speaking and God's voice is like a lion, right? So their proof texts are not as definitive as they make them out to be. But as we'll see next week, they're important in showing how angels actually represent God. Each of those symbols is incredibly encouraging. I love the applications and I wish we could have gotten to the applications today, but there is no way, there's no way we'll be able to do that. So the first argument they give is the angel has similar features to Jesus. Their second main argument to prove that this angel is Jesus is that in chapter 5, God gives the Old Testament canon and holds it in his open hand. So we should assume that this little book is also held in the hand of God, and Jesus is God. But wait a minute, in chapter five, God holds the book in his hand and then gives it to Jesus. That's different than here. And this is a different book, and we'll get into that in a little bit. As we'll see when we identify this book, this is actually much more parallel to Ezekiel 2 through 3, where a creaturely angel gives a little book to Ezekiel to eat. It tastes sweet in his mouth, and that little book is just a growing part of the canon of the Old Testament. Well, let's take a look at the correct identification, that this is the angel Gabriel, the same angel who gave revelation to Daniel and to Ezekiel. I've already mentioned some scriptures that show angels giving revelation in the Old Testament, but there's many, many like that. Acts 7 verse 53 says that Israel received the Old Testament law by the direction of angels. Galatians 3.19 says the law was, quote, appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. So let me give you some of the arguments and commentaries as to why this must be a literal angel, not Jesus. The most common argument is actually not legitimate. I debated whether to even put it on there. They lean on the word another in the New King James, which says, I saw another mighty angel. And the point that they make is that the Greek word for another there is a cool Greek word that's not another of a different kind. It's another of exactly the same kind, which would rule out Jesus. But I can't use that because it's not part of the majority text. It's not in the majority of the Greek manuscripts that are out there, but I put it into your outlines because you're going to read about it if you're digging into this, if you're skeptical and want to be Bereans. You're going to read commentators mentioning that. But secondly, because it does at least show what some scribe, a careless scribe, mind you, but it does show at least what some scribe thought that this angel was, that he was merely a creature. So it shows his interpretation. But that's the most that the argument shows. Now, the rest of the arguments, I think, are fairly strong. The term mighty angel is used everywhere else in this book to refer to a creaturely angel. Revelation 5 verse 2 has a mighty angel saying with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to lose its steels and no one could be found until they finally find Jesus, the God-man. Well, that's obvious that that mighty angel is not Jesus. He is a quite different being from Jesus. Now, I'll have a lot more to say about the mighty angel in a moment from chapter 18, because that's very, very parallel to this chapter here. And when John tries to worship him, that angel rebukes him. He says, no, I'm a fellow servant. I'm just a creature like you are. You can only worship God. So that mighty angel is clearly not Jesus. And he appears in this book four times. Second, we find creaturely angels are elsewhere in this book connected with the giving of revelation to the Apostle John. We spent a great deal of time on that when we looked at Revelation 1 verse 1, where Christ sent his angel to reveal things to John. Again, I'll look at two of the scriptures in your outline in a couple of minutes, but it's clear that angels give revelation just as an angel gave the little book to Ezekiel, and in the Old Testament, this angel gives a book to John. Next, I want you to look at verses five through six. I want you to notice who this angel swears by. Before I read it, let me read from Hebrews 6, verse 13, which shows how God swears. This is how God swears. Luke says, for when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself. Now, interpreters will say, that's God the Son speaking to Abraham, but because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself. Notice that this angel does something quite different. Verse 5, and the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to the heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there would be no further delay. So if he's swearing by God that what he is saying is true, it implies he is not God. Now, if you turn with me to Revelation chapter 18, I wanna show how it introduces a very parallel situation to what's happening in this chapter, and yet that angel is clearly not Jesus. And I know this is a little heavier material today, but we absolutely have to deal with these two controversies before we can start, verse by verse, making applications next week. Revelation 18, beginning at verse 21. And a mighty angel took up a stone, like a huge millstone, threw it into the ocean, saying, the great city Babylon will be thrown down violently, just like that, and will never be found again. And this angel continues to give prophetic revelation all the way through to the end of the chapter. Then a multitude responds to that angel, the beginning of chapter 19. Then the majority text of verse 3 says that a second angelic voice responds. Then the 24 elders. Then in chapter 19, verse five, the first angel continues to speak, and in verse nine he says, right, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding banquet of the Lamb. And he says to me, these are the true words of God. Now here's the point. This mighty angel is so awesome that like the commentators often do in chapter 10, John misidentifies him as being divine. There must have been some pointers to divinity for John to even do that. Perhaps like in chapter 10, this angel is accompanied with so many glorious characteristics of God's throne that John assumes that he is God himself. So look at verse 10. And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he says to me, don't. I am your fellow slave and among your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So once again, we've got a creaturely angel who has enough glory to be mistaken for a divine being. but who is not, and yet this angel carefully and faithfully represents Jesus by helping John to prophesy and point to Jesus because the spirit of a prophet always points to Jesus. So similar to chapter 10, we should allow it to interpret the kind of angel there. This is the third passage that references a mighty angel. Now take a look at chapter 22. And this is even clearer. The same mighty angel shows John the river of life in verses one through five, and then the angel speaks in verse six. Then he says to me, these words are faithful and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show to his slaves the things that must shortly take place. Take note, I'm coming swiftly. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Now I, John, who heard and saw these things, when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he says to me, don't. I am your fellow slave, and among your brother is the prophets, those who keep the words of this book. Worship God. Then he says to me, do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Now, by the way, just as a side note, the book of the prophets that he's referring to is not the little book of Revelation, but it's the big book, the growing canon that we started seeing in chapter five, the Biblion. Now again, the refusal of worship shows that the angel is not Jesus, yet he is so awesome that John is tempted to confuse him with God. So you can understand why commentators would be tempted to confuse the angel in chapter 10 with God, even John did. But when comparing Scripture with Scripture, you see it's a creaturely angel, not Jesus himself. And commentators point out that this is all very deliberate because John is intentionally drawing our attention to the mighty angel that communicates with Daniel in Daniel chapters 8 and helps Daniel prophesy not only the ending of the temple, Jerusalem, the old covenant, but also the ending of prophet and all prophecy. Exactly identical subject matter. Both angels swear by him who lives forever and ever. And the subject material that they swear about is identical. Both angels are so awesome that the prophet falls to the ground. Both angels force the prophet to get off the ground. You can't be falling in front of me. Yeah, even those commentary, oh yeah, and both prophets deal with the sealing up of prophecy. Even those commentaries that take this angel as Jesus admit that the parallels with the angel and Daniel are so strikingly similar that it gives a black eye to their interpretation. So the Jesus theory, for the most part, has fallen out of popularity. There aren't very many modern commentaries that hold to it. But there are some, who keep falling back on these divine symbols, so they do need to be explained. Why are these amazing symbols that point to the throne of God associated with a mere creaturely angel? And I believe the answer is rather simple. The angel is one of the angels associated with God's throne and goes forth as a messenger of that throne. Luke 119 says that Gabriel stands in the very presence of God. Let's just think about that for a sec. How can you stand in the very presence of God without having some of God's glory rubbing off on you? What happened to Moses when Moses was only 40 days and 40 nights in the presence of God and he didn't even see God's face? He saw God's backside, right? What happened to Moses? Well, Exodus 34 says, his face shone so brightly that the people could not look at his face. He had to cover it with a veil. So if even Moses' face is shining like the sun, you would expect that an angel's face would shine like the sun as well when he is in the very presence of God. It's no surprise at all. In any case, Gabriel speaks as the very mouthpiece of Jesus in Revelation chapters 18 through 19. It's very, very vivid language. And I'll just give you an example. In chapter 22 verse 16, Gabriel gives this message from Jesus. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you. The angel says, I, Jesus, yet everyone recognizes that angel is not Jesus. He's the messenger of Jesus. He represents Jesus, okay? He gives the very words of Jesus. Listening to this angel is indeed listening to Christ. He takes on kind of a prophetic function. Just as prophets use the first person, singular, speaking on behalf of God, and God is talking when they talk, That's what this angel does. In fact, the angel calls himself one of the fellow slaves, one of the fellow prophets. Revelation chapter 19 verse 10, he says, I'm just like one of you prophets. I'm giving testimony just like you prophets give testimony. Now, Ramsey Michaels summarizes the evidence that this mighty angel is the same mighty angel elsewhere in the book, and he explains the divine symbols this way. And I know I haven't been short, but he's going to be short. In short, this mighty angel has an aura of divinity about him that prompted some older commentators to see him as none other than Jesus Christ himself. This is highly unlikely, yet the angel does represent God or the power of God in a way that most other angelic figures do not. He stands astride land and sea as one who is sovereign over both. Although he is not Christ in person, He can be viewed as a divine agent acting on behalf of God and the land. And this is why Jesus calls him my angel in Revelation 22, verse 16. He represents Christ. He speaks for Christ. Roy Gingrich explains it this way. He, as Christ's representative, is clothed in Christ's official uniform, a cloud, a rainbow, a shining face, and shining feet. And I think he perfectly captures what is going on here. Let me quote him again. He, as Christ's representative, is clothed in Christ's official uniform, a cloud, a rainbow, a shining face and shining feet. Now, seeing that identification, I think next week you're going to see how powerful that makes the applications. It makes all the difference in the world. Now, we're going to move on to the identity of the little book, and then we're going to end with that. And people are all over the map on the identity of this little book. Some see it as the same book as the scroll in chapter five. And there's other commentators say, no way. Look at all of these exegetical differences. There is absolutely no way it could be the same book as chapter five. Classical Protestants, you know, the historicists, they see this as the time of the Reformation when books began to be printed. The only thing that theory has going for it is the word book, you know, and some word association in their minds. Mounce and Charles see it as the prophecy of chapter 11. Beal and two others see it as the prophecies of chapters 11 through 16. Morris sees it as the whole of God's word. Some see it as the New Testament. Bonson and Stewart see it as God's covenant lawsuit against Rome. You know, I fail to see how chapters 11 through 19 are smaller than chapters six through nine, or how God's judgment on Rome is much smaller than God's judgment on Israel. I don't think any of those are satisfactory explanations, and I'm not even gonna deal with all of the cult claims. You know, cults love to say that this little book is one of the books that they've written in their cult history. People like Apostle Gerald Flurry of the Philadelphia Church of God, My view, and it's shared by many commentators, is the traditional view that the little book is the book of Revelation. And this ties in beautifully with the theme of these two chapters, the cessation of all prophetic activity in A.D. 70. Now, I've preached on this when I was in Revelation chapter 5, so I'm not going to harp on it much today. But I will point out that the language used here would have instantly clued first century readers into exactly what John was talking about, and I hope to demonstrate that. First of all, the word for scroll or book in Revelation 5 is quite different from the word for scroll or book that is used in this chapter. You read the Greek, wow, it jumps out at you. In fact, a lot of interpreters who don't take my interpretation, they have no idea why. My interpretation is the only one that adequately accounts for these differences. So the word in Revelation 5 is biblion. It refers to a big book, whereas the word in chapter 10 is biblidareon, which is a very small volume in a group of volumes, a set of volumes. We already saw that the Big Book of chapter 5 was the Old Testament canon that was opened and began to be added to for the next 40 years, while the Seventh Trumpet is at the end of that 40-year period, and Revelation is the last book to be written and to be added to that Big Book. to the Bible, to the canon. So this contrast between big book, little book, very deliberate, and as I said, I have not seen any other theory that adequately explains these distinctions and terms. Secondly, that contrast parallels the little book in Ezekiel two through three, which everyone, I have not found any commentary that disagrees, that little book is referring to the little book that Ezekiel wrote. It's the book of Ezekiel. Now if that little book is one volume in a canon of volumes, this one should be seen in the same way. So let me list the parallels between both passages. Both of Ezekiel's little book and John's little book were delivered by an angel. Second, both prophets are commanded to eat the book that is given to them. I mean, that is not by coincidence. He is deliberately pointing us to Ezekiel two through three so that we'll know what kind of book he's talking about. This book is similar to the book given to Ezekiel. Third, both books taste sweet and yet afterwards produce bitterness of judgments. Let me read Ezekiel three, one through four. Moreover, he said to me, son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll and go. Speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that scroll. And he said to me, son of man, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you. So I ate and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness. Then he said to me, son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. And the words that come out of his belly are judgments from God against the nations, God's enemies. And how so many commentaries can miss those allusions, I don't know. They're very striking. Both books are connected with a commission to prophesy judgments to many nations. Let me read you from Revelation 10 verse 11. You'll see John's commission. He said to me, after he'd eaten this book, he said to me, you must prophesy again over many peoples, even over ethnic nations and languages and kings. Well, John does continue to prophesy over those many nations in the rest of the book of Revelation. Point by point, John is hammering home the message. He wants us to see the little book as being the same kind of book as Ezekiel's little book. Even the size and the character of the two books is the same. In Ezekiel 2 verse 9, the prophet is given what is called the scroll of a book. In other words, the whole book is not handed to Ezekiel, but only one scroll of that book. And this is the way that the Jewish interpreters, hundreds of years before Christ, interpreted that phrase. When they translated the Septuagint, and they understood Hebrew, so they should know, They translated it as a volume of a book, Kephalus Bibliou. So Ezekiel's prophecies comprise one of the volumes of a much larger book, the canon. And all through the Old Testament, the growing canon is called the book of the law, or simply the book. And in my book on canon, I give numerous scriptures that show the gradual growth of that book of the canon. Each little book that was added to it was a volume scroll. And in Ezekiel 3, 1 through 3, Ezekiel is told to eat his smaller scroll. In other words, to eat his volume and then to prophesy its contents to the nations. So that's clearly talking about the book of Ezekiel. No controversy on that. It's got to get into Ezekiel and then it goes out. Well, the same is true of John. John's kind of prophecy is identical to Ezekiel's kind of prophecy, something that Grudem gets completely wrong. The prophetic content must go into John before it can get prophesied out. The very words that God writes in the book are taken by the angel, put into John, and word for word, they come out of John as he writes them on paper. That is prophecy. And this all supports the traditional view that John's little scroll, and that word in the majority text is mentioned in chapter 10, verses eight, nine, and 10, John's little scroll is the last volume being added to the canon of scripture. Once the little book is finished, the big book will be finished, and Revelation 22, 18 through 19 says, no one may add to the big book, to the biblion, to the canon of scripture. The command given at the end of chapter 22, some people dismiss that, they say, oh, you just can't add to the book of Revelation. No, no, no. It's a different word. If he had meant, don't add to the book of Revelation, he would have used the word, bibli-derion. That's what he has called the book of Revelation. But he says, don't add to the biblion. You cannot add to the canon. Once Revelation is finished, it is done. It is finished. It is complete. So that's the identity of the mighty angel and the identity of the little book. And next week, we're going to dig into the passage and see what else it teaches. But for today, I want to end with three applications just of what we have covered so far. First, it appears that God goes to great lengths to reveal the scriptures to man, and we should take those scriptures seriously. You know, to involve this huge angel whose legs are so massive that they straddle land and sea. And by the way, the picture I found this morning and put into that outline, it does not do justice at all to what the description is of this massive being. But it shows the importance of the revelation God is giving. And all of the other symbols of divinity show the divine character of revelation. It is God himself speaking through this angel and through his prophet John. When the angel speaks revelation, he roars like a lion. Why? Because he's representing God's very voice. When a prophet is said to roar like a lion, it's because his words are not man's words. They are God's words, which are powerful, which are mighty. All of the symbols connected with this angel show the divinity of the revelation he is communicating. We must value the prophetic word as being the word of God himself. The full sum of the prophetic mystery is contained in this book. Second, to say that prophecy has ceased is not in any way a disparagement of prophecy or a despising of prophecy. I cherish every word of prophecy that God has preserved for us in this book here. Let me use an analogy. Roman Catholics say that our interpretation of Christ's words on the cross, use exactly the same Greek words, It is finished. They say our interpretation disparages the work and the merits of Christians today. And we say, no, it does not. Indeed, it's only when we fully understand that Christ's finished work of redemption cannot be added to that we can have the faith to stand on that finished work of Christ with security. And once secure, it frees us up to live out the work of Christ boldly. Well, the same is true when John says that the mystery of God's prophetic revelation was finished in AD 70. There is no, I think so, about prophecy. Prophecy is the very voice of God speaking to his people. First Peter 121 says, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. This is why you don't see Agabus saying, you know, I think God was telling me to tell you such and such. No, that's the way Wayne Grudem wants us to speak and the way he thinks Agabus's prophecy didn't have authority. No, it had authority. Agabus says, thus says the Spirit, and then he dogmatically speaks for God. In 1 Thessalonians 2.13, Paul said, for this reason, we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, that's oral prophecy, which you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. He is saying that even his oral prophecies were the very word of God, which powerfully worked in the church the same way that his scriptures worked in the church. So, if prophecy has ceased, it means that by 8070, God had given everything that the church needs for life and godliness. We need nothing more. It means that the scriptures are sufficient to thoroughly equip us for every good work. Nothing more is needed. Now, can God guide us? Can he give us insight? Yes, of course he can. Can he illumine us? Yes, he can. That's the way I see what many charismatics experience is the guidance of the Lord. The Lord does continue to work through us, especially applying the scriptures to new situations that we've not anticipated before. Of course, he does all of those things, but there is no more prophecy. The scriptures provide a sure foundation for all of life. John's statement that the prophetic mystery is 100% finished at the seventh trumpet no more disparages the amazing sufficiency of the prophecies preserved for us than the Gospel of John 1930's statement, it is finished, disparages the work of Christ's atonement. Rather, both are a sure foundation that gives us confidence. The last application is that once you see the massive size of this mighty angel whose feet straddle land and sea, whose head is in the clouds, and who is two other times in this book mistaken for God because he is so glorious, it gives you a little bit of perspective of how awesome our God is. If this angel manifested himself to our American military, I doubt our military would shoot at him. I think they'd be terrified. That's the way you see anybody who came into contact with this angel in the Old Testament. They fell. They wilted to the ground, having no strength left in their bodies. And yet, you know what? The Bible says that angel's nothing compared to God. That angel, along with millions of other angels, was created in a moment of time on day one of creation. In fact, many scriptures say that the creator-creature distinction is so vast that God cannot even remotely be compared to the greatest things that he has created. And yet, just as the Grand Canyon makes me stand in awe of God, an angel like this makes me stand in awe of the God who was so much greater. How many times though, here's the problem, how many times do we doubt that God can handle the troubles in America. How many times do we doubt that his angels can handle the problems in America? It's really silly when you think about it. As Michael W. Smith says, our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love. Our God is an awesome God. Amen. Father God, we come before you astounded that you would even recognize us, acknowledge us, let alone save us, pick us up, dust us off, and begin to perfect the work of Christ in us. We are so thankful to be your sons and daughters. We are so thankful for the privilege that we have of serving you, and we want to be faithful servants, and I pray that you would enable us, as we value Your Word above every treasure upon earth, that we would become more and more expert in applying it to the issues of this day, and that we would have a total faith and confidence that Your Word is mighty. for tearing down strongholds and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of you. Your word is a mighty sword that can pierce through the toughest defenses into the hearts of people, and I pray that you would help Christians across this nation to quit using their own opinions in politics. their own opinions and business in the culture wars that we face and begin sharing the power of your word, which can break through in ways that our own opinions cannot. Father, we thank you for the sufficiency of that word. We're so grateful that you have given to us a word that gives to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, that it's sufficient to thoroughly equip the man of God for every good work. Help us, Father, to value it and to live it out. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.