Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 143

May 23;    Revelation 10:9;   143/260(II);    ‘The Little Book’

Revelation 10:9 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 will be as sweet as honey in your mouth."

The second half of the tribulation is about to start.  It is called the great tribulation.  It will be a time of great testing for those who have accepted Jesus during the tribulation.  John sees a mighty angel come down from heaven.  He puts one foot on the land and one foot on the sea.  This indicates the tremendous power that he has.  There is a little book, that is open in the hand of the angel.  A voice from heaven tells John to go and take the little book from the mighty angel.  John does so and the angel tells him to eat the book.  I believe the ‘little book’ is the Word of God.  It is seemingly little because at this point all that matters is that the little book tells you that Jesus is Lord and to accept Him into your spirit.  The angel tells John the little book when he eats it will be sweet as honey.  God’s Word must get into you.  Nothing could be ‘sweeter’ than to know Jesus and be saved.  Nothing could be more bitter than to hear the Word of God and reject it, opening those who reject it to judgment.  A commentary on this chapter interprets the sweet and biter as John, the natural man, thinking it sweet when those who hate Jesus will get what they deserve.  But then John the Christian will be bitter in his spirit since like our Lord Jesus, he too is not willing that any perish. God’s Word is amazing.  Once you become a Christian, the Word is so wonderfully sweet.  It is sweet in your mouth as you share it with others. To the unsaved the Word is bitter because their spirit is not yet alive.  The bitterness of the Word will be removed when their heart, by faith, accepts the truths the Word teaches.