Revelation 10:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have another vision granted to John, the apostle, between the sounding of the sixth trumpet and the seventh. We should notice the one who mainly brings this revelation to John, an angel from heaven, another mighty angel. He is described in a way that makes many think he can be no one other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He was clothed with a cloud. This shows that he covers his glory, because it is too great for mortal eyes to see, and he also covers the way he deals with us. Clouds and darkness are around him. A rainbow was on his head, showing that he always remembers his covenant, and that even when his actions are hard to understand, they are still perfectly just and faithful. His face was like the sun, bright and full of glory and majesty (Revelation 1:16). His feet were like pillars of fire, showing that all his ways, in grace and in providence, are pure and steady. Providence means God’s wise care and rule over events.

We should also notice his position and posture. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, showing that he has complete power and rule over the whole world. He held in his hand a little book that was open, probably the same book that had been sealed before, but was now opened and was being fulfilled step by step by him.

Then there is his fearful voice. He cried out loudly, like a lion roaring (Revelation 10:3), and his voice was answered by seven thunders, seven solemn and terrible ways of revealing the mind of God.

John was then forbidden to publish what he had heard from the seven thunders (Revelation 10:4). John was ready to record and make known everything he saw and heard in these visions, but the time for this particular message had not yet come.

Finally, we see the solemn oath taken by this mighty angel. He lifted his hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever, that is, by God himself, as God often has done, or by God as the Lord, Redeemer, and ruler of the world to whom he now appeals. The oath declared that there should be time no longer. This may mean one of two things. It may mean that there would be no more delay before the prophecies of this book were fulfilled, and that once the last angel sounded, everything would be carried out quickly, so that the mystery of God would be finished (Revelation 10:7). Or it may mean that when this mystery of God is finished, time itself will end, because time measures things that keep changing, but then all things will be fixed forever, and time itself will be swallowed up in eternity.