What is the little book that John eats (Revelation 10:9)?

But what is the little book which the angel holds in His right hand? It is not a sealed book, but open. It stands for the prophecies in the Old Testament relating especially to Israel during the time of the great tribulation, which is yet to come upon the earth, culminating in the personal and glorious appearing of the Lord to begin His millennial reign.

"And the voice which I heard out of the heaven [was] again speaking with me and saying, Go, take the little book that is open in the hand of the angel that standeth on the sea and on the earth. And I went off unto the angel, saying to him to give me the little book. And he saith to me, Take and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the hand of the angel, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter. And they say [or, he saith] to me, Thou must prophesy again as to peoples and nations and tongues and kings many." The meaning of this soon appears more clearly. There is a kind of appendix of prophecy where he renews his course for especial reasons. It is what may be called the second volume of "the things which are about to be after these," and begins with Rev. 12 and onward.

Meanwhile notice the evident contrast between the little book which the prophet here takes and eats, and the great book we have seen already sealed up 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 judgment unsparing should fall on the mass of the Jews, and yet more on proud Christendom, both apostate and worse. Why a little book? and why open? A little book, because it treats of a comparatively contracted sphere, already familiar in the prophets; and open, because things are no longer described in the mysterious guise in which the Seals and yet more the Trumpets arrayed them. All is going to be plain for what comes out here. Is it not the case accordingly in Rev. 11? The language is ordinary, with figures rather than symbols.

There can be little doubt, then, that the angel here seen is Christ Himself. He has "in His hand a little book," not sealed, like the former, but open. A sealed book is a book whose contents are not yet revealed; an open book is a book whose contents are revealed, if not understood. The sealed book must be opened; the open book must be eaten and digested; for though revealed by God, it needs to be learnt by man. We have already beheld the opening of the sealed book, and shall presently behold the eating of the open book. The first book was sealed because it was new; for though shadows of the coming sorrow appear in the prophets and in our Lord's own words, the orderly marshalling of the judgments under the seals and trumpets was an entirely fresh revelation. This other book, however, would appear to be the open book of prophecy, which the writer of the Revelation was now to ponder and understand.

In this way the little open book is very simple. It is not the mystery of iniquity, brought all out in its character, but it is the historic course of events - a picture of that scene, by itself, in which the mystery of iniquity, and all its important principles, and God's acting on them, are developed, in order to the filling up of that which is finished at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. It is thus a step lower in its nature than the great sealed book. That was held by Him that sat on the throne; and it was given to the Lamb, who alone could open it. It belonged to Him by a title none else at all had: but this is in the hand of the angel, and it is given to the prophet. It was part of the course of progressive historic events. Its allusions, however, identify it with what comes after, as the beast out of the bottomless pit, etc.

(V. 2) In His hand He held "a little book open." From the verses that follow we may infer that the open book refers to the prophecies of the Old Testament, which have been plainly revealed, in contrast to the book with the seven seals that foretells things not disclosed in Old Testament days.

Then we have the interval in the tenth and eleventh chapters. It is another beautiful glimpse into God's thoughts. Here you see One who comes down with a little book in His hand, which seems to be in contrast with the large book, the roll that was in God's hand. John has to take and eat it. That little book seems to speak of the definite earthly judgments which have been prophesied largely in the Old Testament itself. In connection with that little book you have the testimony of the two witnesses.

Rev. 10:2. — “Having in his hand a little opened book.” In Revelation 5 Jehovah holds in His right hand a closed seven-sealed book or roll; here the angel holds in his hand an open book. Why closed in the one and open in the other? In the former hitherto unrevealed counsels of God are successively disclosed by the Lamb, whereas in the latter “the book is open as part of well-known prophecy, and now brought to a direct issue on known ground.” Further, this is a “little” book, diminutive in contrast to the larger book of chapter 5, which was so full that it was written without and within. A book both in size and contents larger and fuller than the one in the hand of the angel.

In His hand there was a little book open. It is not a sealed book as in Rev. 5, the contents of which could not be known until the seals were broken, but an open book, the contents of which were already known, referring, doubtless, to the fact that the action of Christ in taking possession of the earth and the sea (and all represented by the earth and the sea), as symbolized by His right foot on the sea, and His left foot on the earth, had already been made known through prophetic writings. (See, for example, Psalm 72; Isaiah 11: 25:60; Zechariah 14, and numberless scriptures.)

Rev. 10:8-11. — “And the voice which I heard from 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. 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. 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. And (he) says to me, Thou must prophesy again as to peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings.” The prisoner of Patmos again hears the voice from “the Heaven,” the dwelling of God. The limbs of John may have been fettered, and the wild waves of the sea dash against his rocky prison, but the island was no lonely place for the man whose soul was wrapped up in the visions of God, whose ears heard the songs of the redeemed, and the spoken worship of angels, and who was personally addressed out of Heaven again and again. He is commanded to go to the angel and take out of his hand the little opened book. Instantly he complied. The Speaker was none other than God Himself, and hence obedience was prompt and unqualified. The majesty of the angel had no terrors for John. Undismayed by the divine dignity and grandeur of the all-glorious One Who held the book in His hand the Seer goes in the authority of the Creator and asks for the book. The soul who is obedient, who yields unquestioning submission to the expressed will of God, is for the time omnipotent. He walks and acts in the strength of the Creator, the Maker of Heaven and earth. Fear! He knows it not. The invisible God, seen by faith, makes him invincible in the path of obedience, “immortal till his work is done.”

A further command is given by the angel. The first command was from Heaven to take the book, the second was from earth to eat it. Why bitter in the belly, and sweet in the mouth? Prophecy is both bitter and sweet. We are here dealing with symbols. There should be no more difficulty in understanding the prophet eating the book than in Jeremiah eating the words of Jehovah (Jer. 15:16). To eat is to make the thing one’s own, to incorporate it into one’s being (John 6:49-58). The Christian prophet eating the roll, and finding it both sweet and bitter, reminds us of a similar symbolic action by the Jewish prophet (Ezek. 2:8; Ezek. 3:1-3). The first effect of prophetic communication, the roll in the mouth, was sweetness, the sweetness of honey; but as the revelations are weighed, the judgments they announce considered, the next effect is to cause bitterness and sorrow. Prophecy both gladdens and saddens, as it contains announcements both of joy and grief.

Finally, the Seer was to recommence his prophetic ministry, not to “peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings,” but concerning them. He was to prophesy of them. This we find him doing in the following chapter; hence the last verse of chapter 10 naturally leads us into new scenes and circumstances, of which this later prophetic ministry treats. Its character we shall now, through grace, examine.

The prophet is bidden to eat the little open book. In his mouth it is sweet; in his belly it is bitter. It is the book of prophecy, open because it is about to come to pass. To the spiritual mind all God's ways are sweet; but the prophesying of God's ways before kings, rulers, and people, whilst affording sweetness as God's service, in its actual carrying out is bitter.