Revelation 10

Chapter ten starts the second major parenthesis in the Revelation timeline that ends in Revelation 11:14. Rather than being in Heaven, it seems as if John is back on Earth during this vision (Revelation 10:2). A powerful angel was holding a scroll that had already been opened, and he stood on the land and sea, probably signifying that the prophecy in the scroll would have a global effect.

Based on the fact that John was prohibited to write down what the seven thunders roared, it seems that there may be judgments and events during the Tribulation that God chose to not reveal (Revelation 10:4). However, the seventh trumpet is clearly connected to the end of the Tribulation (Revelation 10:7), so that does help fill in the timeline a little bit. It seems that, although the seals and trumpets will take some time, the coming bowl judgments will happen very quickly and in rapid succession. The phrase “his servants the prophets” is used six times in the Old Testament to refer to the Hebrew prophets, so “the mystery of God” must refer to things the prophets spoke but were not yet fully revealed until John’s vision.

John was commanded to “take the little scroll and eat it” (Revelation 10:9). After eating it, John was told that he would have to prophesy again. It seems that the little scroll contained the prophecy that John was about to reveal. Since the next prophetic section deals with the rise of the Beast, some have linked this little scroll to what Daniel was commanded to “seal…until the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4), after his prophecy of the coming Antichrist.