Catholic Commentary on Revelation 10

"Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." (Revelation 10:9)

The Angel and the Little Scroll

Between the sixth and seventh trumpets, as between the sixth and seventh seals, Revelation pauses for an interlude. A mighty angel comes down from heaven, robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head, his face like the sun, his legs like fiery pillars. He holds a little scroll, open. He plants his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and gives a shout like the roar of a lion. Seven thunders speak, but John is told to seal up what they said and not to write it down. There are dimensions of God's purposes that are not given to the Church to know or to communicate. The Catechism identifies this as an important theological principle: not all of divine revelation has been given to human understanding; there are mysteries held in reserve (CCC 65).

The angel raises his right hand to heaven and swears that there will be no more delay. When the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. John is told to go and take the scroll from the angel's hand. He takes it and the angel says: Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey. John eats it. It is sweet as honey in his mouth but sour in his stomach. He is told he must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings. The sweet and bitter scroll is the word of God: sweet to receive, difficult to digest and proclaim, because the truth of God's judgment and mercy is both comfort and challenge.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the word of God is sweet as honey in the mouth and sour in the stomach. Every serious reader of Scripture knows this: the promises are sweet, the demands are hard. The comfort is real, and the challenge is real. Do not eat only the sweet parts. Take the whole scroll, as John took it. Let it be sweet in the receiving and hard in the digesting. That is the full meal the prophet is given.

Prayer

Lord God, give us your word to eat: sweet as honey in our mouths. And give us the courage to digest what is sour, to receive the hard truth as well as the sweet comfort, and to prophesy faithfully to every people, nation, language, and king. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

10
The Angel and the Small Scroll
(Ezekiel 3:1–15)
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire. 2 He held in his hand a small scroll, which lay open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3 Then he cried out in a loud voice like the roar of a lion. And when he cried out, the seven thunders sounded their voices.
 
4 When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to put it in writing. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”
 
5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants the prophets.”
 
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the small scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.”
 
9 And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.”
 
“Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”* 10:9 See Numbers 5:24 and Ezekiel 3:3.
 
10 So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter.
 
11 And they told me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

*10:9 10:9 See Numbers 5:24 and Ezekiel 3:3.

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