{"id":814,"date":"2018-01-25T07:50:14","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T15:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=814"},"modified":"2018-01-25T07:50:14","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T15:50:14","slug":"devotion-revelation-108-11-sweet-and-sour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=814","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Revelation 10:8-11 Sweet And Sour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 10:8-11<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Then the voice that I had heard from heaven\u00a0spoke to me once more: \u201cGo, take the scroll\u00a0that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.\u201d\u00a0 9\u00a0So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, \u201cTake it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but \u2018in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.\u201d\u00a010\u00a0I took the little scroll from the angel\u2019s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth,\u00a0but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.\u00a011\u00a0Then I was told, \u201cYou must prophesy\u00a0again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen the voice that I had heard from heaven\u00a0spoke to me once more: \u201cGo, take the scroll\u00a0that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 9\u00a0So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll.\u201d\u00a0 Again the unidentified, but likely divine voice, speaks to him.\u00a0 He is told to \u201ctake\u201d the scroll from the mighty angel that is straddling the sea and land.\u00a0 John immediately goes to the angel to do as he was commanded to do.\u00a0 He was told to do so, not asked.\u00a0 John has learned to be instantly obedient to God.\u00a0 However, when John approaches the angel, who surely was very imposing, he did not impudently snatch the scroll from the angel, but he asked for it.\u00a0 Good move John!\u00a0 I think I would also have went the \u201cpolite\u201d route and asked this huge angel rather than just \u201ctake\u201d the scroll from this angel. We are also ordained to carry on the work of Christ in leading sinners to God.\u00a0 If we, being ordained, are brash, loud, offensive and no love seems to be in our message, then we can too often chase people further away rather than draw them to the God who loves them.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said to me, \u201cTake it<\/span>\u2026\u201d\u201d\u00a0 The angel told John to take it.\u00a0 Family, when God tells us to do something, we must do what God has said.\u00a0 God said for John to take it.\u00a0 God sent John on a mission to do what God has already prepared to happen.\u00a0 John was polite.\u00a0 He is a good example to us.\u00a0 God has given us a message for the world.\u00a0 We are to give the full and complete message to the world.\u00a0 The world would like us to just share about God\u2019s love and to leave God\u2019s righteousness out of it.\u00a0 Every preacher knows that he is likely to get more pats on the back from sharing God\u2019s love and mercy than for sharing a tough message from the Word about discipline and responsibility.\u00a0 All disciples of Christ must share the complete Word of God, the sweet and the comforting, and the warnings.\u00a0 A problem arises when a preacher only preaches one side or another.\u00a0 When a preacher becomes sycophant to men rather than a loyal servant to God, he errs.\u00a0 But also the preacher who only preaches fire and brimstone errs when the hope and love God offered to us is not preached with equal vigor.\u00a0 Family, we are to share the full word of God.\u00a0 Ezekiel was instructed by God \u201clisten carefully and take to heart\u00a0all the words I speak to you<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 Ezekiel was to consume the full message and then he would be ready to take God\u2019s message to His people.\u00a0 Ezekiel was told to take \u201call\u201d of the message, or the full and complete message, to God\u2019s people (Ezekiel 3:10-11<\/b>).\u00a0 So we must also take the full message of God, the full Gospel of God, to the world.\u00a0 Like John was told to \u201ctake\u201d the scroll, we are to take in God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not expect that we can doze on our couches and that God will just pour His Word and wisdom into us.\u00a0 No, we must be proactive in studying the scriptures.\u00a0 As we pray for insight and wisdom when reading the Word of God, God is faithful and will answer that prayer (James 1:5<\/b>).\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026and eat it<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 Devour it.\u00a0 Ravenously consume it.\u00a0 Ingest it.\u00a0 Like birds fly down and quickly consume bread crumbs thrown to them, or a worm on the ground.\u00a0 Pounce upon it as something that must be consumed to sustain life.\u00a0 Interestingly, this same word is used of the dragon who wants to consume the child born of the woman described in\u00a0Revelation 12<\/b>. John is told to ravenously consume it.\u00a0 The Word of God is compared to bread (Matthew 4:4<\/b>), to milk (1 Peter 2:2<\/b>), to meat (1 Corinthians 3:1-2<\/b>) and to honey (Psalm 119:103<\/b>).\u00a0 Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel were likewise told to eat the Word of God (Jeremiah 15:16, Ezekiel 2:3-3:4<\/b>).\u00a0 We must understand that they are life to us and we do better to feed much on the Word of God and less on physical food.\u00a0 Only after we consume the Word of God are we prepared to share it with the world.\u00a0 We cannot give to the world what we don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will turn your stomach sour, but \u2018in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.\u201d\u00a010\u00a0I took the little scroll from the angel\u2019s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth,\u00a0but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 When we consume the Word of God it is sweet to us.\u00a0 It inspires, it fulfills, it encourages and it, by the power of the Holy Spirit, remakes us to becoming increasingly like the Lord.\u00a0 So sweet.\u00a0 But there is always the other side of the coin.\u00a0 We who know Jesus as Lord and Savior love the promises of our salvation and eternal life with Christ.\u00a0 That is so sweet to us.\u00a0 However, there is a bitter truth that is the other side of the coin.\u00a0 Those who refuse Christ will not know the beauty and wonder of God\u2019s salvation and they will not know eternal life with Christ.\u00a0 Their future turns our stomachs bitter.\u00a0 John is delivering to all the world a message of hope and salvation and the glorious wonder of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 To followers of Christ we sing out to the Lord praises hoping for His soon return. For those who reject Jesus as the only way to heaven and peace with God (John 14:6<\/b>) this message from God is a very bitter pill to swallow.\u00a0 To the believer, the message is sweet for us, but then we consider what it means to the unbeliever, and the message has a very bitter side.\u00a0 We lament for the souls of all who will end up in the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 It need not be so.\u00a0 God does not want it to be so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I was told, \u201cYou must prophesy\u00a0again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings<\/span>.\u201d\u201d\u00a0 John was told to bring the message, as instructed by the Lord, to all nations and all people.\u00a0 Likewise the Lord Jesus told us bring the Gospel to all in the world (Matthew 28:18-20<\/b>).\u00a0 Israel was told that were called to be witnessed to the world of Almighty God (Isaiah 43:10<\/b>).\u00a0 All who belong to the Lord have the responsibility of sharing His Word and His love with the world.\u00a0 Our motivation is love for God and love for each other.\u00a0 The Word of God should always be shared with this in mind.<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 10:8-11\u00a0–\u00a0Then the voice that I had heard from heaven\u00a0spoke to me once more: \u201cGo, take the scroll\u00a0that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.\u201d\u00a0 9\u00a0So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[129,705,103,1700,99,101,94,90,17,711],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-corinthians","tag-ezekiel","tag-isaiah","tag-james","tag-jeremiah","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-peter","tag-psalm","tag-revelation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions\/815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}