And the voice which I heard out of the heaven [was] again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the little book which is opened in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth.
The seven thunders have been sealed, and the strong angel has sworn that God's long delay is nearly over. Now the same voice from heaven sends John down to the angel on sea and land, to take the open book from his hand.
The voice comes from heaven to a prisoner on a rocky island.
The prisoner of Patmos again hears the voice from "the Heaven," the dwelling of God. John's limbs may have been chained, and the waves may have dashed against his rocky prison. But the island was no lonely place for a man whose soul was taken up with the visions of God... He is commanded to go to the angel and take the little opened book out of his hand. He obeyed at once. The Speaker was none other than God Himself, and so his obedience was prompt and unquestioning. The majesty of the angel held no terrors for John.
Older translations call this scroll a little book. Both words, little and open, are set against something seen earlier: a great book sealed with seven seals.
Notice the clear contrast. The prophet here takes and eats a little book. We have already seen a great book sealed with seven seals... Why a little book? And why open? It is little, because it deals with a narrower sphere, one already familiar in the prophets. It is open, because things are no longer described in the mysterious dress that the Seals, and even more the Trumpets, put on them. Everything is going to be plain in what comes out here.
The angel stands on the sea and on the land, and the book's contents match that ground.
The book has been shut up until now, but it is shut up no longer. Its contents are clearly connected with what the angel does here. They have to do with the earth alone, not with heaven as well, as the seven-sealed book does. This should lead us to see what the book is. Old Testament prophecy has just this character: it opens up earthly things to us, not heavenly ones. Its promises belong to Israel, the earthly people (Rom. 9:4), and it deals fully with the millennial kingdom and the upheavals that are its birth-pains.
John is told to eat the book, not just to carry it.
What is in the opened book will become the subject of John's testimony to peoples, nations, tongues and kings. But if God sends His servant to prophesy, He will first make him fit for the service. So John must first eat the book (compare Ezekiel 3:1-3). He must take in and digest these divine communications before he can rightly pass them on to others. Surely a lesson for God's servants in every age.
Another writer warns what happens when that order is broken.
Note the thought underneath it all. What the servant of God gives out, as prophecy or as teaching, he must first eat, digest and absorb himself. Nothing is more spiritually ruinous than to announce and show off knowledge of truth we have not yet made our own in meditation, in prayer, in experience.
Prophecy tastes sweet at first. Living by it costs something.
There is no sweeter passage in all Scripture than what God has revealed about the showing forth of His blessed Son. Prophetic truth is usually sweet and attractive to those whose interest in it is just waking up. But if it is followed through, if the book is really eaten, it leads to self-judgment and to separation from evil. That will always be bitter. There is not one of us who readily takes the place God's Word would put him in during this time of Christ's rejection. So the point here is that God's truth makes demands.
The book leads on to a fresh stretch of prophecy.
The meaning of this soon becomes clearer. There is something like an appendix of prophecy, where he takes up his course again for special reasons. We may call it the second volume of "the things which are about to be after these," and it starts at Revelation 12.
- Voice — God Himself speaks from heaven, and John obeys at once. The angel's majesty holds no terror for him.
- Open — the book is small and unsealed. Its sphere is narrower and its language plainer than the seven-sealed book. What follows is meant to be understood.
- Earth — its contents concern the earth, not heaven. That is the ground the angel stands on, and the ground Old Testament prophecy covers.
- Eaten — God fits the messenger before He sends him. Truth must be taken in and digested before it is passed on. Showing off truth we have not digested ruins us.
- Bitter — sweet in the mouth, bitter inside. Truth taken honestly leads to self-judgment and separation from evil. Only then is John ready to prophesy again.
And I went to the angel, saying to him to give me the little book. And he says to me, Take and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.
John goes to the mighty angel and asks for the small scroll. The angel tells him to eat it, and warns him what it will do inside him. That raises two questions. What does eating a book mean? And why does one message taste sweet, then turn bitter?
Prophecy speaks in symbols. One writer compares John's act with earlier prophets and explains what eating stands for.
We are dealing with symbols here. The prophet eating the book is no harder to understand than Jeremiah eating the words of the LORD (Jer. 15:16). To eat is to make the thing one's own, to take it into one's being (John 6:49-58). The Christian prophet eats the scroll and finds it both sweet and bitter. This reminds us of a similar symbolic act by the Jewish prophet (Ezek. 2:8; Ezek. 3:1-3). The first effect of the prophetic message, the scroll in the mouth, was sweetness — the sweetness of honey. But then you weigh the revelations and think over the judgments they announce, and the next effect is bitterness and sorrow. Prophecy both gladdens and saddens. It announces both joy and grief.
Two details stand out: the book is little, and it lies open. One commentator ties the taste to its contents, then explains both.
Notice the clear contrast between two books. Here the prophet takes and eats a little book. Earlier we saw a great book sealed with seven seals. It was sweet as honey to the taste that the true and all-worthy King should reign. But how bitter to the feelings that unsparing judgment should fall on most of the Jews, and still more on proud Christendom, both apostate and worse. Why a little book? And why open? It is a little book, because it deals with a fairly narrow field, already familiar from the prophets. It is open, because things are no longer described in the mysterious disguise that the Seals, and still more the Trumpets, put on them.
The order matters. Sweetness comes first. The pain comes when the truth goes deeper than the mouth.
How sweet it is to our taste when God communicates some new truth to us! We rejoice in it like people who have found hidden treasure. But all truth is death to the natural man. So when the Holy Spirit applies it inside us, we find it bitter in its working and effects.
Commentators differ on where the bitterness comes from. Scott traced it to sorrow over the judgments announced. Others place it closer to home, in what the truth does to the person who takes it in.
Notice the thought underneath. Whatever the servant of God gives out as prophecy or teaching, he must first eat, digest and absorb himself. Nothing does more spiritual damage than to announce and parade knowledge of truth we have not yet made our own in meditation, in prayer, in experience. Gaining fresh truth is sweet and exciting as honey. But once we digest and absorb it, it always displaces flesh and self and the world, and that is a bitter process. This is so even when, as here, the little book concerns judgment that is to fall on others and not on oneself.
Another writer names what the bitterness does, and what it costs in daily life.
If the book is really eaten, it leads to self-judgment and to separation from evil, and this will always be bitter. God's truth makes demands. If you set out in earnest to walk in the truth revealed, you too will know something of its bitterness. Receive the prophetic testimony, walk in the power of what is revealed there, and you can no longer enjoy the things you used to enjoy.
Eating comes before speaking. One writer turns that order into a rule for anyone who passes Scripture on to others.
The Bible — to widen the application — is not a book of information to gather and then repeat. It is the voice of God to the soul that reads it. So you must hear it for yourself before you can rightly pass on what you have heard... Take Ezekiel and John as examples: we are not qualified to be living channels of divine truth until we have made it our own.
- Take. The scroll is small and open. Its subject is limited and already familiar from the prophets, no longer hidden in the symbols of the seals and trumpets.
- Eat. To eat is to take a message in and make it your own — the same picture used of Ezekiel and Jeremiah.
- Sweet. New truth tastes like honey: the coming reign of the rightful King, and the joy of discovering treasure.
- Bitter. Digestion hurts. Some writers trace the bitterness to sorrow over the judgments. Others trace it to the cost in the one who swallows it: truth displaces flesh, self and the world, and leads to self-judgment.
- Then speak. Eating comes first. Truth repeated before you have absorbed it is not testimony. No one is a living channel of what he has not made his own.
And I took the little book out of the hand of the angel, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth as honey, sweet; and when I had eaten it my belly was made bitter.
John obeys, and the little scroll does two different things to him. Why should God's own word be honey on the tongue and bitterness inside?
The picture is symbolic, and prophets before John acted it out. One writer explains what eating stands for, and why the mouth tastes one thing and the inside another.
The prophet eating the book is no harder to understand than Jeremiah eating the words of the Lord. To eat is to make the thing one's own, to take it into one's own being. The Christian prophet eats the scroll and finds it both sweet and bitter. This reminds us of a similar symbolic action by the Jewish prophet Ezekiel. The first effect of prophetic communication — the scroll in the mouth — was sweetness, the sweetness of honey. But when you weigh the revelations and think about the judgments they announce, the next effect is bitterness and sorrow. Prophecy both gladdens and saddens, as it contains announcements both of joy and grief.
The two words attached to the scroll — which older translations call a little book — are deliberate. One writer explains what makes it little, what makes it open, and what makes it sweet and bitter.
Notice the clear contrast between the little book which the prophet here takes and eats, and the great book we have already seen sealed with seven seals. It was sweet as honey to the taste that the true and all-worthy King should reign. But how bitter to the feelings that unsparing judgment should fall on the mass of the Jews, and still more on the proud Christian world. Why a little book? and why open? It is little because it deals with a fairly narrow sphere, already familiar in the prophets. It is open because things are no longer described in the mysterious dress that the Seals, and still more the Trumpets, wrapped them in.
Commentators differ on where the bitterness lands. Some place it in the judgments announced. Others place it closer to home, in what the truth does to the person who swallows it.
Does this not show that the truth of all God is going to bring in — the unfolding of coming glories — is indeed sweet to our taste? And yet it involves the setting aside of the flesh, and the utter judgment of all that the flesh craves. We have to discover that as believers the flesh is still in us. So the truth, however sweet to the taste, brings bitter exercises as it uncovers the true character of our own hearts.
The bitterness is not just about the future. Follow the truth through, and it begins to ask something of you.
If followed up, if the book is really eaten, it leads to self-judgment and to separation from evil. This will always be bitter. Not one of us finds it easy to take the place that God's Word would put him in during this time of Christ's rejection. And so the point here is that God's truth makes demands.
The order matters: the book goes in first. One writer draws out the lesson for anyone who passes God's word on to others.
If God sends His servant to prophesy, He will first make him fit for his service; and so John must first "eat" the book. He must take in and digest these divine communications before he can pass them on to others in the right way… The truth must first become our own by inward application. Only then can we be taken up and used to testify of it to others. To try to "prophesy" before we have "eaten" and "digested" will only expose our nakedness in front of the enemy.
Both tastes stay with the believer who looks ahead. One writer shows where that mixture leads.
So the thought of the end of God's ways is sweet to the taste and glorious to think about. But men are wilful and blind, and Israel in particular. That is what makes judgment necessary before God can reach His end, and the thought of it gives sorrow to the heart. We look ahead, and it is "with joy and sorrow mingled," and so we enter to some degree into the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Eat — to eat the book is to make it your own, not just to read it; John does what Jeremiah and Ezekiel did before him.
- Sweet — the honey is the coming reign of the rightful King. The scroll is little and open because its sphere is narrow and its meaning now plain.
- Bitter — once swallowed, the truth sets the flesh aside and calls for self-judgment and separation. It makes demands.
- Then speak — speak only what you have eaten and digested; undigested truth exposes the servant before the enemy.
- Mingled — joy and sorrow travel together, and the servant who carries both enters something of Christ's own spirit.