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Revelation 10:9
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9 And [kai] I went [aperchomai] unto [pros] the angel, [aggelos] and said [lego] unto him, [autos] Give [didomi] me [moi] the little book. [bibliaridion] And [kai] he said [lego] unto me, [moi] Take [lambano] it, and [kai] eat [katesthio] it [autos] up; [katesthio] and it [kai] shall make [pikraino] thy [sou] belly [koilia] bitter, [pikraino] but [alla] it shall be [esomai] in [en] thy [sou] mouth [stoma] sweet [glukus] as [hos] honey. [meli] KJV-Interlinear
9 And I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, "Take it, and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." NASB
John went as instructed, took the book and ate it.
In his mouth, the taste was sweet and good, but in his stomach, it soured and became bitter.
When one eats good tasting foods, they always taste good while in the mouth where the taste buds are.
But often times after we have eaten, the foods, though they tasted good, will not agree with us and they upset our entire intestinal tract. We end up in the toilet or worse, and often times it takes a while for the bad to clear itself through our system.
And here we have a picture of Gods instruction to learn and acquire doctrine (eat),
of Johns obedience to following that instruction to inculcate the doctrine (eating),
the digestion or metabolization of the doctrine (learning and understanding),
and finally the realization of the consequences of the thoughts and actions of humanity as revealed by truth.
There are two view points from this reaction. As for John, who probably knows more doctrine than you and me put together, the realization is of the realities of judgment as a result of mans rejection of truth.
For most folks, the bitterness of discovering the truth will come after they realize that they have rejected it, rejected Gods mandates, refused to study and learn and grow up as mandated, and therefore the consequences of their refusals will result in the bitterness of lost blessings.
Not bitterness like bad feelings, or an upset stomach, or angry because of being left out, but bitterness being used as a description of losing something, as opposed to happiness in receiving something. Both are emotional terms, but they describe either the victory or the loss, whichever applies.
God has left us with doctrine for a very long time. Truth and His wishes for us, doctrine and His mandates for us have been known to everyone who has ever lived. You know them. No one has any excuse for not knowing Gods will. No one has any excuse for not knowing the repercussions of ignoring Gods mandates.
Unfortunately far too many folks do exactly what was described in Psalm 2, which we just finished studying, pursuing their own version of truth, designed and defined by their own imagination, wishes, convenience, and will. In an attempt to escape from and release themselves from truth (Gods truth).
This principle applies not only to unbelievers, but especially to believers who reject Gods call to study and learn and understand and obey doctrine. Far too many folks just do not want to do that. Too, inconvenient to their life. Too, inconvenient to how they want to approach life. Too, inconvenient as to how folks want to live their life.’
In other words, people want to do things their way, and not Gods way. Therefore, when truth finally hits them square in the face, then their own plans turn to bitterness, soured and diarrhea. They lose in other words, with great embarrassment.
Sometimes folks realize the error of their ways while they are still alive in this world. Perhaps some accident or disaster, or loss brings them to this realization.
But too, there are a lot of folks who never learn, refuse to learn, reject with great stubbornness, and what is worse, they become obsessed with being set in their ways and that leads to their refusal to being taught.
They do not see their ways as being wrong, but only that life has not yet discovered how to treat them right. And so their life becomes a roller-coaster ride until the end of their life. Then and only then do they discover the error of their stubbornness. And again, unfortunately, that error lasts for them, forever in lost blessings, or worse in the case of unbelievers.
John knows his eschatology. John knows what to expect in the last days. He did not know the extent of the destruction and terror prior to these visions, but he is realizing it very fast.
Bible doctrine is not all rose petals and aroma, but is filled with the results of judgment for rejection of truth.
On the one hand, we can learn the details of the judgments, and be in awe or just curious about them as we would be in a story book, wanting to read it in order to know it. But on the other hand, there is the realization that the world is heading for a very traumatic future. And because we are the links in the chain of history, we are a part of that future.
And again unfortunately, too many folks around the world are pursuing invented rules for society, invented rules for government, rules that embrace lies (such as in socialism) which will lead to disaster, rather than truth (such as authority such as in wives toward husbands or children toward adults, or free enterprise, or legitimate marriage, or privacy, and so forth).
And this rejection of truth becomes an embrace of apostasy, which will inevitably lead to the Tribulation.
All roads in mans future lead to the ultimate judgment, and that is the bitterness or disappointment of knowing what lies ahead. Because with doctrine, everyone's life could so easily be far better off, but stubbornness prevents people from having a happy life now, and a phenomenal life in eternity.
And so we have the upcoming blast of the seventh trumpet, the seven thunders, not revealed, and the bowl judgments that will literally turn the entire world upside down. Ninety-nine percent plus, of the entire population of the world, will be dead when it is all over.
That is what the world has to look forward to, not environmental protection, not social reform, not social justice, not redistribution of wealth, not guarantees for life.
God will end all sin and evil and atrocities in order to bring in a better future (sweet), but it will cost a huge price (bitterness) for people who resent and reject God and His truth.
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