Apocalipse 10

BLIVRE · Chapter 10/22

1E eu vi outro forte anjo descendo do céu, vestido com uma nuvem; e por cima de [sua] cabeça [estava] o arco colorido celeste; e o rosto dele [era] como o sol, e os pés dele como coluna de fogo.

2E na mão dele tinha um livrinho aberto; e pôs seu pé direito sobre o mar, e o esquerdo sobre a terra.

3E clamou em alta voz, como quando o leão ruge; e quando ele clamou, os sete trovões falaram suas vozes.

4E quando os sete trovões falaram suas vozes, eu estava a pondo de escrevê [-las] ; mas eu ouvi uma voz do céu me dizer: “Sela as coisas que os sete trovões falaram, e não as escrevas.”

5E o anjo que eu vi estar sobre o mar e sobre a terra levantou sua mão ao céu,

6E jurou por aquele que vive para todo o sempre, o qual criou o céu e as coisas que nele há, e a terra e as coisas que nela há, e o mar e as coisas que nele há, que não haverá mais tempo;

7Mas [que] nos dias da voz do sétimo anjo, quando sua trombeta estiver a ponto de tocar, o mistério de Deus se cumprirá, assim como ele bem anunciou aos seus servos e profetas.

8E a voz que eu tinha ouvido do céu voltou a falar comigo, e disse: “Vai, [e] toma o livrinho aberto da mão do anjo que está sobre o mar e sobre a terra.”

9E eu fui até o anjo, dizendo-lhe: “Dá-me o livrinho.” E ele me disse: “Toma-o, e come-o; e fará amargo o teu ventre, mas em tua boca será doce como mel.”

10E eu tomei o livrinho da mão do anjo, e comi; e ele era em minha boca doce como o mel; mas quando eu o comi, meu ventre ficou amargo.

11E ele me disse: “É necessário que profetizes outra vez a muitos povos, nações, línguas e reis.”

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A mighty angel comes down from heaven with a little scroll open in his hand, and John is instructed to eat it, tasting sweetness in his mouth but bitterness in his stomach. The angel declares that there will be no more delay, and that the mystery of God will be fulfilled when the seventh trumpet sounds.

Explanation

The scene of John eating the little scroll directly echoes a similar experience of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3), symbolizing the complete internalization of the prophetic message before proclaiming it to others. The double taste — sweet in the mouth, bitter in the stomach — suggests that God's word can be both sweet as promise and bitter as judgment, depending on how it is received or on the content it announces about coming suffering. The mention of the 'seven thunders,' whose content John is instructed not to write down, is one of the rare biblical examples of a partial revelation deliberately withheld, reminding us that not every mystery of God is meant to be fully understood or revealed. Today's application is that proclaiming God's truth first requires deeply absorbing it, even when it involves difficult and bittersweet realities.

Fun facts

  • The instruction to 'seal up,' that is, not write down what the seven thunders said (10:4), is one of the only cases in the Bible where a prophet receives a revelation and is explicitly told to keep it secret, contrary to the usual pattern of proclaiming everything that is revealed.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Apocalipse 10:1A new, mighty angel appears, described with elements that recall both Christ's own appearance in chapter 1 and Old Testament theophany images, such as the rainbow and a face shining like the sun.
  2. Apocalipse 10:2Unlike the sealed scroll in chapter 5, this one is small and already open, suggesting a new revelation, given directly and without secrecy to John.
  3. Apocalipse 10:3The roar compared to a lion and the seven thunders that answer introduce a revelation that, as the text itself explains in the next verse, never actually gets shared with the readers.
  4. Apocalipse 10:4Here the text itself tells John not to write down what the thunders said. It is a rare moment where the book admits that not everything shown was meant to be revealed or interpreted by readers.
  5. Apocalipse 10:5Raising a hand toward heaven was a traditional gesture of solemn oath-taking, also used by the angel in the book of Daniel, chapter 12, in a similar scene.
  6. Apocalipse 10:6In the original language, this expression is better understood as ‘no more delay’ than as the end of time itself - meaning that the period of waiting for what comes next is over.
  7. Apocalipse 10:7The “mystery of God” that is fulfilled with the seventh trumpet contrasts with the sealed thunders of verse 4: not everything is revealed, but the text assures that God's final plan, already announced by the prophets of old, will be fulfilled.
  8. Apocalipse 10:8The same voice from heaven that ordered the thunders to be sealed now gives John a new instruction: to go and take the little open scroll from the angel's hand.
  9. Apocalipse 10:9This scene echoes almost word for word a passage from the prophet Ezekiel, who also eats a scroll containing God's message. Sweet in the mouth represents the honor of carrying God's word; bitter in the stomach represents the difficult weight of what must be announced.
  10. Apocalipse 10:10John literally follows the instruction from the previous verse: the taste changes from sweet to bitter as soon as the food is digested, a scene nearly identical to an episode of the prophet Ezekiel eating a scroll.
  11. Apocalipse 10:11John's mission does not end with this vision: he receives the command to keep prophesying to many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings, a task that extends through the rest of the book.

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