So we are in Revelation chapter 10, and we're at that interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet. And honestly and frankly, we're starting to get into sections of the book of Revelation that are very, very difficult. And you'll hear me come across, I hope, as not being super dogmatic about how to interpret this. I know the views. I've read so many books from the various views of the Book of Revelation, you know, Preterism and, you know, the various views of the Millennium and all that. So I'm going to lay out, I might give you a few, like, well, it could be this, could be that. So I'm not trying to spread confusion, but I will tell you that I've got 22 commentaries on the Book of Revelation. And it astounds me how many times I go to all 22, because I'm on a tough verse, and I get 22 different opinions of what exactly that verse is trying to convey. So it's not an easy, easy book. And we'll talk about that much as we move through, because some of what we're going to read actually touches on that a little bit. So let me pray. And then I'm going to read the whole chapter. It's just 11 verses. Our Father and our God, we pause before the reading of your word, and Lord, we confess before you that we're handling reverently the very word of God. And Lord, your word's powerful and mighty and strong, And Lord, we need your help. Lord, I'll confess in our humanness, we find this book to be very difficult to completely understand. And so Lord, we pray as much as humans are able to understand, that you'd enable us to understand. And Father, that we wouldn't stray into conjecture and speculation too much. But Lord, to stick to what is plainly written here. So Father, I ask your blessing. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. So this is chapter 10 of Revelation. I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered and do not write them. The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be no delay, there should be delay no longer. But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished as he declared to his servants, the prophets. Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth. So I went to the angel and said to him, give me the little book. And he said to me, take and eat it. And it will make your stomach bitter, but it'll be as sweet as honey in your mouth. Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it. And it was as sweet as honey in the mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings." So. Let's dissect that a little bit. Here we have the vision of an angel. And I saw another mighty angel. We've already come across a myriad of angels in the book of Revelation, but here's another angel. What is the identity of this angel? I'm not going to be dogmatic about it. I'll tell you, some speculate that this is actually the Lord Jesus Christ. You see Jesus referred to pre-incarnate Christ in the Old Testament once in a while as the angel of the Lord. You'll see that phrase. You don't see it in the book of Revelations. Some say, no, it can't be the Lord Jesus because he's really not spoken of with that kind of language in the book of Revelation. So others will speculate that maybe this is like an archangel. There's a hierarchy to the angels. We don't know a lot about the angels. But there are angels and there's archangels, the supreme overseer angels. Some speculate maybe this is Michael. Some speculate that maybe this is Gabriel. I'll be frank. I just don't think we know who exactly this angel is, but there are some ideas for you. I do want you to notice though that something is shifted in the book here because this angel has descended. It says, I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. So now John, who was called up to heaven, is now getting an earthly perspective. He sees the angel coming down out of heaven. So the perspective has changed a little bit. Holman commentary writes, John moves to earth and gets personally involved. At last, he's more than just an observer. And that's what John's been doing. He's been getting a vision. He's recording the vision. He's been hearing things. Some of it's audible. He says, I heard this, I heard that. Now John's actually getting involved in what's happening in the book of Revelation. And the angel himself, as he's described in a few ways, he's clothed with a cloud. Majestic clothing, right? Which might lead some, you can see why some would say, well, maybe this is the Lord Jesus. I mean, in Revelation 1-7 it says, Behold, he's coming with the clouds. He ascended in the clouds. And so often you see the reference of God and the visions of God as being in the clouds. Shekinah glory sort of a thing. So he's clothed in majesty. On his head is a rainbow. I think some of your translations might say above his head. Which is symbolism. The rainbow is a symbol of peace. The rainbow is a symbol of covenant. And probably over the head, it's probably a symbol of God remembers his covenant. His covenant of grace. You go back to the story of Noah. In Genesis 9, 14, it shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud. The Lord was never again going to destroy the earth with water. It was a symbol of peace. And I believe In the Old Testament story, it was so mankind wouldn't tremble every time it rained, thinking, here we go again. That God graciously was permitting a man to continue on Earth, according to his timetable. So his clothing is majestic. His head is either above his head or on his head is the rainbow. And it says that his face was like the sun. So we see that reference elsewhere in scripture. When Jesus went up to the Mount of Transfiguration and the three inner circle disciples got to witness that, it says that he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light. In Revelation 1.16 it says, "...he had in his right hand the seven stars, this is the Lord Jesus. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun, shining in its strength." So we get these references here to our Lord Jesus Christ in similar description. In Ezekiel 1.28, It says, like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So there's something all glorious about this angel. Keismaker writes this. The colorful rainbow results from the refraction of the brilliant beams radiating from the angel's face. As Jesus's face was like the sun shining in its full strength, so the reference to the angel's face beaming like the sun means that the angel came from the presence of Jesus. And that's probably a good picture, is that just as when Moses had his time with the Lord and returned to the camp and his face was shining to the point where it frightened the people, so this angel perhaps, if it's not the Lord Jesus, was in the presence of Jesus himself and so reflected the glory of the Lord that he's described in these ways. And the last description here is his feet. It says, his feet are like pillars of fire. which again reminds us of chapter one, the description of our Lord Jesus, where his feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, right? So we get these descriptions. Read you a couple of quotes. Matthew Henry says, his feet were as pillars of fire, all his ways, both of grace and providence are pure and steady. So Matthew Henry sees the symbolism as purity and stability, right? John MacArthur says, this angel's feet and legs indicate the firm resolve with which he will execute the day of the Lord. So he sees this as symbolic of the firm resolve of God and his purposes. And J. Vernon McGee, who I always enjoy reading, I chuckle because you had to read him. He's a card. He's a good Bible teacher, but he's with the Lord now. But he was a funny dude. But anyway, J. Vernon McGee writes, All of these features of identification are his credentials and connect him to the person of Christ as his special envoy. So he also sees this as not Christ, but Jesus sending as his envoy, this angel who's been in the presence of God and reflects the glory of God. It could be that very thing. So in verse two, I think we are. He had a little book in his hand. So there's this little book, some of your translations might say an open scroll, something along those lines. But he's got this book that's open. Some wonder, is this the same scroll that we find in chapter five with the seven seals? I don't believe that that's what it is. I think this is simply representing a message from God. God's very word. A message that's going to be given to John to share. And then it says, kind of strangely, that his right foot was planted on the sea, and his left foot was on the land. I don't know exactly what that's symbolizing. Some speculate that this is picturing not only the omnipotence of God Almighty, but his rule and reign over the entirety of the earth. of both land and sea. And we saw that in the language of when he cries out with an oath to God, he specifically is saying, the Creator God. And he mentions the sea and the land and all this. His voice, now this is the voice of the angel. And when the angel cries out, It sounds like a lion roaring. Remember, a lot of this book, John is trying to find language to explain the spectacular. And we struggle with that, even with our own experiences. You experience something tremendous, and you're trying to convey that to somebody, and maybe excitingly so. And you just know they're not quite understanding how wonderful or horrible this event was. And that's what John's struggling with through the whole book. Not that the Holy Spirit's not superintending everything he's writing, but you get that feel. So this voice, it's like a lion roaring, he says. Now this is a distinct separate voice, because it says when that happens, when this angel cries out with a loud voice like a lion, it says, when he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. And I'll start off by saying, I think this is the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ. that's thundering out. And to support that a little bit, that this is the voice of the Lord, if you want to read it with me, I'm going to read you a little bit of Psalm 29. And number seven is very symbolic, right? Seven thunders, the completeness of the message, the perfection of God Almighty. So seven thunders. Well, when you get to Psalm number 29, the voice of the Lord is recorded, that language, the voice of the Lord, seven times. So it's very much hand in hand with Revelation 10. So let me read it to you. This is Psalm 29. I'm going to begin in verse 3. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. Do you see that same language? The thundering voice? The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf. Lebanon and Syrian, like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare. And in his temple everyone says, glory, right? The sevenfold voice of the Lord, which is called also the God of glory who thunders, right? So when he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Interestingly enough, wouldn't we want to know what exactly the voice said? And John's told to seal it up. It says, and now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about the right. Wouldn't you? Let me take notes on this. That's what he was told to do to begin with. So I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven. I think it was the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ saying to me, seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered and do not write them. So he's not permitted to record what the voices said in Revelation 10. This really does harken back to the book of Daniel quite a bit. Aside from all these commentaries I have on Revelation, I have a really good book. It's more from a dispensational point of view, which I like to read that to. I think it's entitled something like, Daniel, the key to prophecy. Because there's so much in Daniel that's really a key to everything else, and especially a dispensational point of view would really lean on that. But anyway, let me read a little bit of Daniel. So Daniel 8, 26 says, And the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true. Therefore seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future. And then in Daniel 12.4, But you, Daniel, shut up the words, seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. And Daniel 12, 9, and he said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. And even our Lord Jesus spoke about things that we just are not knowing. It's just not been revealed to us. It's not that God doesn't know. It's just we haven't grasped it yet. It has been sealed, if you will, away from us in our understanding. And Jesus said in Mark 13, of the day of judgment, the day of his return, but of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed then and watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is. So some things have not been revealed. Interesting, when we get to chapter 22 in Revelation, verse 10 says, And he said to me, Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. So it's good to be satisfied in what we do clearly know. I think it's the Westminster Confession of Faith that talks about that some things are very obscure in scripture, and they are. Peter said of Paul's writings in the Bible, Peter said, some things are really hard to understand, and wicked men twist them, like they've always done to the scriptures. But even Peter said, yeah, I struggle when I read Paul's writings. Some things are hard to understand. Deuteronomy 29.29 is a good verse for us on this. It says, the secret things belong to the Lord, our God. They're secret things? Yes, they're secret things. And they belong to the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. We're supposed to pass down that knowledge to the next generation that we may do all the words of this law. And when, I think it's Westminster that talks about some passages are obscure, but what we need to know for this life and life eternal and salvation is so plainly put forth in scripture that even a child could understand it. Right? So some things are so plain. But here we're in a section where it's not super plain. So I would say that we should really pursue knowledge. We grow in our understanding of the things of the Lord, the things of the world, science, everything. And we should have, I mean, it's just built into us as human beings, a desire to know more, right? And we can know God correctly and accurately and purely. We cannot know God exhaustively, because he's God. And the ways of God are not the ways of man. And I think even when we get to glory, we'll spend the rest of eternity learning more and more about the glorious Lord that we love. And I think that's part of the excitement of the fact that we live for eternity with God. I think it's a beautiful thing. But we also have to accept that we have a limited knowledge. We don't know everything. And I think that applies strongly with some of the prophetic scriptures that we try to study, that we don't know things exhaustively. We can speculate and think, well, it could be this, it could be that. Some of the passages are like that. I can never understand why some people would get so dogmatic with some of these obscure passages, like there's no room for a different interpretation. They can only mean one thing, but it's difficult for us to know unless it's been plainly revealed to us. The Old Testament, and we're going to look at this in a second, but in the Old Testament there are things that were prophesied about that the church didn't really understand. When Jesus rose from the dead and he's with the two on the road to Emmaus, And he begins to explain to him, the Bible says that he went through the Old Testament, and explained that, hey, that whole book, the collection of books, it's about me. And he started to show them, and their eyes were open. Can you imagine? We didn't know that was... My goodness, this is matching up exactly what just happened at the cross. And they were shown things like Psalm 22, and shown that this is about Jesus. This is a book about Jesus. He's the primary lens by which we understand the whole book. So some things the church has unpacked for us. We read the epistles. And we go, oh, Paul is now explaining the Old Testament. Read the book of Hebrews. You want to get a lot of explanation about the Old Testament, read the book of Hebrews. It's explaining what the Old Testament worship was all about, and it was all pointing to Christ. So God's divine delay here. 2 Peter, in chapter 3, In verse nine and following, Peter writes, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness. He's talking about the return of the Lord. But he is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come. as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." And he goes on to say, if this is how things are heading to in eschatology, how should we then live our lives? That's kind of the point that Peter's making. The point I want to make there is that we're living in a divine pause. Peter says, well don't call that divine pause God's slacking. He's not being diligent in coming. It's God's grace as he's giving us time to witness to one more relative. As he's giving us time to stop at a street corner and talk to one more person about the Lord. That one more will quote-unquote, you know, get in the ark. come to Christ savingly, right? We'll get saved. And so it's God's grace that Jesus hasn't returned. Although the church is trying to speed along His return, and rightfully so, because we long to be with our Lord. We long for Him to make everything right that's all crooked now. But there's this divine delay. And I labor that a little bit, because when you get to verse 5 and following, it says, "...the angel whom I saw standing on the sea, on the land, he raised up his hand to heaven, and he swore..." So he's making an oath, right? In Revelation, this oath is being made. And he's swearing by God Almighty, by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it. of the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, the creator of all, God almighty, who lives forever and ever, the eternal one, right? And he gives an oath, and he's praying and crying out that there should be delay no longer. And beloved, this is the message of warning to the world that things are ticking along as they've always ticked along. Jesus taught that about his return, that people would be given a marriage and things would be going on, life's normal, the normal routines of life, when suddenly it's over. The delay's done. When God finally says, that's it. We're done with all of this and the end is here. And that's what the angel is talking about. There should be delay no longer. It says, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, chapter 11, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished. And as he declared to his servants, the prophets. And these things are tucked away in a lot of prophetic writings. And I truly believe that some of those prophecies we clearly understand. Especially if the New Testament explains them, it's like, oh, there it is. Now we understand what that prophecy was. I believe, and you don't have to believe this, but I believe some of these things we're going to understand as they unfold. I think we're going to see something, we're going to be in a study one day, read the Bible and go, I think that's what this is talking about, right here. I mean, maybe nobody understood exactly what... I think this is what it is. We're going to see signs of the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So it's important that we know the Scriptures, right? Adam Clark, in his commentary, writes, the mystery of God should be finished. What this mystery refers to, who knows? Nor have we more knowledge concerning the sounding of the seventh angel. On these points, there is little agreement among learned men. Whether it mean the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of papal power, something else, we know not. And yet, with what confidence do men speak of the meaning of these hidden things? I love that quote, because I was like, amen there, brother. Because I think the same thing. It's like some people are so dogmatic about a particular view in these blurry passages. I think I said this many times as we've been going through the book, but you don't want to get down to the nitty-gritty of Revelation, so much so that you miss the overarching picture. And the overarching picture in the book of Revelation is the victory of Jesus Christ, the victory of His Bride, the Church, that will be opposed by the world system, The world in itself will hate the church, but the church will be triumphant, because God will make it triumphant. And so we get to view into the future, to see that beautiful picture that we looked at of the marriage supper of the Lamb. So now John's participation, chapter 10, verse 8, it says, Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again, and said, Go take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth." So he went to the angel and said to him, give me the little book. And he said to me, take and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but it'll be as sweet as honey. in your mouth. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand. I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings." So a couple points before we get into any of the nitty gritty here is this, and don't miss this. John is commanded to go to the angel who has the book. So what's happening here, at least we can say, John's obedience. John is obedient to that voice. Remember Paul said that about his conversion? He got converted and he was told to go to the Gentiles, and he's given his testimony in the book of Acts, and he says, and I was obedient to that voice. We want to be obedient to the voice of God. And don't miss that as we get into the nitty-gritty here, that John willingly devours God's message. Sweet as honey. And you'll see that language in the Old Testament. David wrote that the Word of God is as sweet as the honeycomb. Sweet as can be. When I was a kid, my dad was a honey lover. My wife can attest to this. He always put honey in his coffee. After dinner, if we had biscuits, he'd always put honey all over his biscuits. He used to buy honey jars, I guess they still sell them, with the honeycomb in it. And I'd always want to dabble in there. He made me a honey lover too. And it's the beautiful sweetness. It's not like a sickeningly sweet, like the fake sugars and stuff that people use now. It's not debilitating sugar, like cane sugar can really be bad for you. All things in moderation, right? But honey has this unique beautiful, wonderful flavor to it. And I think it's beautiful that the Bible describes devouring the Word of God as, on my taste buds, it's like honey, it's wonderful. Even the difficult passages, they're like honey, they're wonderful. But it's bitter when it hits my stomach. Ezekiel 33.11, "'Say to them, as I live,' says the Lord God, "'that I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, "'but that the wicked turn from his way and live.'" And you get this, "'Turn, turn from your evil ways, "'for why should you die, O house of Israel?' God says that he gets no pleasure in the death of the wicked. And when we read passages that are speaking of God pouring out His wrath on unregenerate mankind on the world, as sweet as it is because it's God's word, it should really kind of turn sour in our stomach a little bit and probably bring us to tears. and drive us to evangelism, right? Because we know that the Bible's true and Jesus is returning. And when we get to the later chapters and we see a picture of Jesus coming and the bottom of his robe is completely red with blood, it's a picture of judgment, right? So it should be something that we just don't delight in. J. Vernon McGee wrote about this and it's pretty good. There might be a little something I would have said different, but I just want to read his quote directly. So J. Vernon McGee writes, When he saw that more judgment was to follow, it brought travail of soul and sorrow of heart. It was sweet in his mouth and then bitter in his digestive system." If you and I can take delight in reading this section of the Word of God and the judgments that are going to fall on the earth, then we need to do a great deal of praying to get the mind of God. And I think that's true. And maybe I've even been guilty before, because you're so excited about the Word of God, or maybe you've unlocked something that's tucked away in prophecy, but it's a prophecy about the destruction of unregenerate man. That should turn our stomach a little sour. We should be weeping over the lost. There's also a lesson here, not only John's obedience, not only the sweet of honey, but it's a bitter word. But also, there's a word here for pastors, absolutely. And I'll read Warren Wearsby, and I like Warren Wearsby a lot. But he gives a warning, or a word at least, to pastors, or anybody that handles the word. If you're teachers, we have a ladies Bible study, if you're handling the Word of God and delivering it to people, then this is the Word for you. So Morton Rearsby writes, God's Word is compared to food. Bread, Matthew 4.4. Milk, 1 Peter 2.2. Meat, 1 Corinthians 3, 1 and 2. Honey, Psalm 119, 103. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel knew what it was to eat the Word before they could share it with others. The Word must always become flesh before it can be given to those who need it. Woe unto that preacher or teacher who merely echoes God's word and does not incarnate it, making it a living part of his very being." And I'd say, or her very being. I remember a long time ago I heard a preacher, and he was talking to a group of young men, And he talked about what preaching was. And he was telling these young men, you've sat probably for many sermons, but what you need to realize is somebody spent the better part of a day studying God's Word to make it part of who they are, that they could deliver the Word of God appropriately and powerfully. And I love that the illustration, the imagery, is of John devouring the Word before he's ever told to go and prophesy. Right? He obeys, he receives, he devours, and then he's commanded to go and to prophesy. Keismaker says, he tasted sweetness in his mouth when he proclaimed the message, but noticing the opposition this word created among the people, he had to endure bitterness in his inward being. So Keismaker sees this as the opposition against the word, when you're really declaring it to people that don't know the Lord and love His word. He goes on and writes, witnessing for the Lord calls for unflinching courage and gracious tact. I think that's great advice. I want to read more of this. But to think that when you're sharing the good news with anybody, and I've come across a lot of street preachers, that it's unflinching courage. Because it's a scary thing to share the gospel with the heathen, with the unbeliever. It's this frightening thing. And you have to have courage. You have to let the power be the word, not the preacher. And you have to deliver it with gracious tact. Right? Somebody that's really gracious in the way they're delivering God's powerful word. He goes on and says, anyone who speaks the word of God in a hostile world will be opposed, scorned, and ridiculed. But that person ought to have fully absorbed the word so that it has become an inseparable part of his or her being. He or she must appropriate God's message by faith, obey it fully, be totally controlled by it, always remain true to its message, speak judiciously, and not become silent. Right? That's the tendency, isn't it? One week we're out witnessing to everybody, handing out gospel tracts, the next week we're all timid and silent and holding it in and not speaking as we ought. That's a good word from Keistmaker. And it's true, and this is one passage that, going with what I'm talking about right now, that I love that the Lord put on the heart of Paul when he wrote to the Corinthian church. And this is 2 Corinthians 2, beginning in verse 15. And he writes, for we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Right? So we're preaching to everybody. To the one we are the aroma of death. I read another translation, more of a paraphrase, that phrases that, to the one, to those that are not coming to the Lord, that message we share is the aroma of a rotting carcass. That's what he's saying. To the one, we are the aroma of death leading to death. And to the other, the aroma of life leading to life. And I love that Paul writes this in the Spirit. And who is sufficient for these things? In other words, who's able in their own power to go and deliver the gospel to a hostile world? None of us are. And people that go in their own power and their own strength and their own message are going to fail utterly. It's those who go in humility and timidity a little bit, right? fueled by the Spirit of God that go forth in the power of God's Word in a tactful way that God accomplishes purposes through the message. So he says, for we are not, as so many, peddling the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. We go on the mission. The voice has told us to go. We go. And then John's assignment, after he's devoured the Word, it's become a part of him. I think it's symbolic of us just spending time in God's Word, really devouring it ourselves. In verse 11, the voice says to him, you must prophesy again. And now my New King James translates this, you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. And there's other translations that use that language. I think the NIV uses the word about. The problem is the original language, that word can be translated in a lot of different ways. And it changes a lot of what exactly is being conveyed here, depending on how you translate that word. So if John's being told to prophesy about many people, nations, tongues, and kings, it might be that he's going to complete the book of Revelation and deliver it to the church, but not that he's actually speaking this to the people, that he's actually putting together the rest of the prophecy. And some people hold that view. Some of the other translations speak more about John proclaiming this message to the world. And that would be like the American Standard Version says, prophesy again over many peoples. The Darby-Whitecliffe translates that to many people. So it's a message to the people. And Keismaker has his own translation. A lot of commentators do that. He translates this word to against. You must prophesy against many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. And he finds his support in Jeremiah 25.30. where it says, "...therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, The Lord will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation. He will roar mightily against his fold. He will give a shout as those who tread the grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth." It's a warning message. And Christmaker sees this as John giving a warning. Some, and I might even fall into this camp, See John here as representative of the church and the church age from the ascension of Christ to the return of Christ. And the mission of the church is to devour the Word of God and then go as God's prophetic voice, sharing the Word of God with the church and with the lost world. And that very well might be what's being conveyed here. If that's not the intent of the scripture, it certainly is the intent of God, because that's our mission, is to devour the Word, to know the Word, and then to deliver the Word. And God helped the church that got away from the Word. My son was looking around for church, and I'd come back and say, hey, nothing to do with the Word. I thought, there's churches that aren't preaching the Word of God? Yes, there is. And that's not the mission of the church. The mission of the church is to know the Word, to bring glory to God supremely, but to know the Word, to live in the Word, to live in the Word, to obey the Word. That's our mission as the church. And by doing so, we bring glory to God, who saved us by His grace. Well, I'm going to end there. And if you think that chapter was difficult, wait till we get to chapter 11, and I'll save that for next time. Our Father and our God, we end our time of preaching and sharing and listening and receiving. Lord, asking your blessing on our week, Father, that you would just allow us to meditate on this, to, Lord, have maybe further understanding about this chapter, Lord. And Lord, those things that are plainly taught in this chapter, Lord, let us obey those things and to be your people, Lord. And I thank you in Jesus' name, amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Go the peace of Christ Jesus to a world that desperately needs to hear the gospel. In Jesus name, amen.