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.”The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.”And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.And the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard it again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel that standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
3 sermons cite this verse
… been an observer of the revelation. He becomes a participant in it. Now stay with me on this, beginning with verse eight. Then the voice which I heard from heaven, that is God. Then the voice I heard from heaven. I heard again speaking with me and saying, go take the book, the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land. Now underline that word take. God tells John to go take the book out of the angel's hand. John's a little reluctant to do that. If you saw a gargantuan angel, you might be a little hesitant to take something from him. And so John says, I went to the angel telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, no, you take it and then eat it. And it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth, that will be sweet as honey. And so I took, underline that, I took the little book out of the angel's hand and I ate it. And in my mouth was sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And then they said to me, you must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. John had to take the book. The angel didn't give it to him. God doesn't cram his message to us down our throats. We have to willingly take it, but it's not just enough to take it. We have to eat it. Now don't get hung up on whether …
Emblematic of John in the New Testament in Revelation 10. Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, go take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. John gets a little scroll. And he said to me, take and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter. But in your mouth, it will be sweet as honey. for Ezekiel for Jeremiah for John this word is to be ingested by the mouth before it is to be spoken from the mouth Ezekiel 3, 4. and he said to me son of man go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them for you are not sent to a people of foreign speech into a hard language no translation is needed there's no foreign language translation but to the house of Israel you're sent not to many peoples of a foreign speech and hard language whose words you cannot understand surely if I sent you to such they would listen to you but not the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you for they are not willing to listen to me. That's what's going on here. That's what's going on. People reject the God of the word. People don't just reject God's word, they reject the God of the word. And that's what's happening here. Because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. …
… Look at verse 8. Then the voice which I heard from heaven may well be the same voice that said, don't write, which was the same voice that said in chapter 1, write, the voice of God Himself. Let's go. Then the voice I heard from heaven speaking to me, saying, Go take the book which is open in the hand of the angel. Just stop there for a moment. This is very unusual. John is having a vision, a supernatural insight in a mental image that he is describing to us. And now he is asked to enter it, to become a part of it, to step into it, and take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land. John sees himself in the vision, and he is told to go to the angel and tell him to give you the little book. And that's exactly what he does in verse 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. …