So I went to the angel and told him to give me the 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.” And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” Revelation 10:9-11 (ESV)
Consider the Word of the Living God: It is glorious. It is wonderful. It is really HIS WORD. Because the Lord of Heaven is speaking to us in every word, we rejoice in it. We delight in it. It is our daily bread.
But it is also bitter. How is this possible?
Well…take an example. Consider this particular word from Revelation 22: “Behold, I am coming soon!” Oh, how sweet that day will be! On that great day, He will wipe away all tears.
Doubt? Gone!……Fear? Gone!…..Sadness? Gone!…..Pain? Gone! It will surely be the sweetest day we have ever known.
But it will be such a bitter day as well. The Day of the Lord will also be the day that men and women call out for the mountains to fall on them; it will be the day that they long for death but death will not come. So the sweetest Day will be the bitterest also.
John MacArthur speaks of this in his message on Revelation 10: “What does that mean? Warn men, tell them of the bitter, tell them of the sweet. Tell them what’s in the seventh trumpet. Tell them what’s in the seventh bowl and all the ones preceding it. Tell them to taste the honey and avoid the bitter. He’s saying to him … repeat what you’ve heard to peoples and nations in all languages. That’s the call, that’s the commission, that’s the assignment.”
Indeed, that is what we do with this sweet…and yet bitter word: proclaim it to all who will hear, so that on the Day that is surely coming, they will taste the honey of redemption.
Entrusted with the Gospel 