Bitter-Sweet Experience (Rev. 10:8-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 07/18/2005

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Bitter-Sweet Experience

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Revelations 10: 8-11

 

Message of the verse:  “8 Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, ‘Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.’  9  So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, ‘Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.’  10 I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.  11  And they said to me, You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.’”

John again hears the voice for heaven and this time the voice tells him to go and get to book from the angel, and then the angel tells him to eat the little book which will be bitter in his stomach, but sweet in his mouth, and then he is to prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.  What does all of this symbolism mean?  Well this is not the first time that a prophet of God has been told to eat the Word of God, for Ezekiel was also told to do this.  I believe that Jeremiah was also told to do this when he wrote Jer. 15:16  “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.”  From this passage the idea can be seen that this picture of eating the Word of God is reading it and making it a part of a believers life and this is done by spiritually digesting it and assimilating it into your life in the same way that when a person eats food it is first chewed and then digested and then it is assimilated into their body to actually becoming a part of their body.

The question as to why it would be sweet in John’s mouth and bitter in his stomach seems to mean that a person can get very excited about reading and understanding the prophetic Word of God, but after thinking about how wonderful this will be for all of the believers in Christ they also think about how awful it will be for those who have never accepted this grace that God has offered to all and will end up in the Christ-less eternity of hell.  This was the message that John was to pass on and it was very hard for him to do so because of his understanding of its outcome.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that I have done a fairly good job in reading and studying the Word of God since I have become a believer, but not so good a job in assimilating it into my life especially when it comes to the problem areas of my life where I believe that God’s Word teaches me to memorize these verses that pertain to the problem areas and then meditate on them and have them become a part of my spiritual life.

 

The Word of God has been very, very challenging to my heart as I read it, and it was also very convicting to me too.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I want to begin to memorize the passage in 1 Thes. that I have tried to memorize and meditate on before, and by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit I will do a better job at it this time.