Audio Download

Rev 10:1-4, Part 2 – Seven Thunders Utter Their Voices

[Study Aired Sept 8, 2024]

 

We were in the process of seeking the scriptural meaning of the seven symbols of these four verses:

Rev 10:1  And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
Rev 10:2  And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
Rev 10:3  And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
Rev 10:4  And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

By way of reminder and review, those seven symbols were:

1)  Who is this “mighty angel” described in verse one?

2)  What is this “little book” mentioned in verse two?

3)  Why does He “set His right foot on the sea, and His left foot on the earth”?

4)  What is “the sea and the earth”?

5)  Why does this mighty angel “cry with a loud voice, as when a lion roars”?

6)  What is the connection between this “little book” and the seven thunders which are sealed up and not written? What is this all about?

7)  Then we will also need to ask ourselves, What is it that has been “sealed up and are not written”?

We had gotten down to:

4) What is “the sea and the earth”?

The dry land is pushed up out of the sea.

Gen 1:9  And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.
Gen 1:10  And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.

The gathering together of “the waters” is revealed as that which covers the earth and out of which the beast and the dry land appear:

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

The sea, “the waters under the heavens”, is revealed to be the masses of mankind upon whom the great harlot of Babylon sits as the mother of all religions which have rejected their Creator. Those nations are all dominated by false harlot religions know as “Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots and abominations of the earth”.

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Revelation 17:15 reaffirms the meaning of the waters of ‘the sea’:

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

“The  dry land” which is pushed up out of the sea when “the waters under the heavens are gathered together” is called earth and is revealed to signify the people of God who have turned their backs on their own Creator, and who refuse to hear the word of their Creator.

Gen 1:9  And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.
Gen 1:10  And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.

Jeremiah uses that very moniker to address the Lord’s rebellious, carnal minded people:

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

5) Why does this mighty angel “cry with a loud voice, as when a lion roars”?

Rev 10:3  And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

God’s dominion over the sea and the earth is revealed to us only through His wrath upon all unrighteousness. His feet being upon the sea and the earth is in accord with His “crying with a loud voice, as when a lion roars”. It is because the great day of His wrath has arrived that we are told:

Pro 19:12  The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour [is] as dew upon the grass.

A lion roars when he has taken his prey:

Amo 3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
Amo 3:5  Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [is] for him? shall [one] take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?
Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid; shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

The Lord has both the sea and the earth “under His feet”, and He wants the world to know it.

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

The sea and the earth both are the enemies of God, and are both “the body of this death”. We are by nature that world of “the sea and the earth”, and if He is in us, He will rejoice and “roar” because of His dominion over the sea and the earth, which is “the body of this death” which we call our flesh and which flesh, by nature, “serves the law of sin”.

Psa 107:2  Let the redeemed of the LORD say [so], whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Christ, as “the lion of the tribe of Judah…, devours his enemy”, our ‘old man’, even as “He redeems us from the hand of [that] enemy… the body of this death.”

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Hos 13:4  Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for [there is] no saviour beside me.

Hos 13:7  Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe [them]:
Hos 13:8  I will meet them as a bear [that is] bereaved [of her whelps], and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them [our old man] like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.

Amo 3:8  The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

Isa 31:4  For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, [he] will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.

6) What is the connection between this “little book” and the seven thunders which are sealed up and not written?

What is this all about? Why are the seven thunders “sealed up and not written”? God has taken His “very elect” into His confidence to a very great extent and has seen fit to reveal to them all “the mysteries of the kingdom of God”. Yet he plainly tells us that there are some things which He has not taken us into His confidence to reveal to us.

Deu 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

God shows us what He is doing in us only after He has prepared us to receive it (Psa 10:17). It is a process which involves every word that proceeds out of His mouth, and preparing our hearts to endure our trials is a process which is common to all men.

Psa 10:17  LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

Deu 29:2  And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;
Deu 29:3  The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:
Deu 29:4  Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

Witnessing great miracles obviously is not what is required to change one’s heart and turn it toward God. Those things which do change our hearts are His thunders and His wrath upon our sins, and they are revealed only as we can receive them. “Seal them up and write them not” does not mean they will never be revealed, for those are the same words the Lord told Daniel:

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

So, Moses concludes this prophecy in Deu 29 with the words we quoted earlier:

Deu 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

The connection between John hearing seven thunders just before being told not to write what he heard is the same as why Daniel was told to “shut up the words and seal the book, even unto the time of the end” In other words, ‘even unto the appointed time’, when we will then be prepared in our hearts to accept what we cannot at this time accept, just as Christ told His disciples:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, [‘seven thunders’] but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

 7) What then are the seven thunders which John is told to seal up and write them not?

These “secrets things” are not revealed and are “sealed up and not uttered”, until the Lord prepares our hearts to receive them. The Lord has given us to know the outcome of His plan and of His purpose in all things. He has given us the overview of all He is doing. So, what are “the secret things [which] belong to God”? Here is what the scriptures reveal that we do not know:

Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

The Lord has taken us into His confidence and has revealed exactly what He is in the process of accomplishing, but it is in His great mercy that He has not revealed to us the details of our daily judgment. It is our complete detailed daily judgment which is signified by “seven trumpets”, and it is in the Lord’s mercy that He does not let us know what tomorrow holds for us.

Mat 24:42  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Mar 13:32  But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Mar 13:33  Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
Mar 13:34  For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
Mar 13:35  Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:

But “the things which are revealed” are written and uttered to only very few.

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

So, the multitudes who come to Christ to hear his parables still, to this very day, think they have eyes that see when in reality “they see not”. They think they have ears that hear, and they believe they can read, but the Truth remains “neither do they understand”. But to His elect He says, “It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to them it is not given.” Yet we are told that John himself was to “seal up what the seven thunders had uttered and write them not” because the Lord knows our frame and He knows that ‘He has many things to tell us which we cannot receive’ until after He has prepared out hearts to do so. He know that it is much better that He uses each daily trial to prepare our heart to endure the next trial.

What is the significance of telling us that there is something that is not revealed? Was not John told to write down all he had seen?

Rev 1:19  Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter;

It was in obedience to this commandment that John begins to write what the seven thunders had uttered. John no doubt thought that this too, would edify and exhort and comfort those who were given to “read, hear and keep the things written therein” (Rev 1:3). After all, we have already been told “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the three trumpets which are yet to sound.”

Our next trumpet is the seventh trumpet, and the seventh trumpet is “the seven last plagues of God’s wrath” which are poured out upon the inhabiters of the earth. What could be in these seven thunders, which is not to be revealed nor written down? The answer to this question can be understood only when we know what is meant by “thunders” and when we notice that John himself heard the voices of the seven thunders, and was about to write them down when he was told not to do so. If we are given to understand who John typifies, and if we know what the number 7 typifies, and if we know what thunder signifies, then we will understand why John was told to “seal up what the seven thunders had uttered and write it not.”

The number 7 signifies completion of whatever is under discussion. Here is an in depth study on the Spiritual Significance of the Number Seven

We must also understand the spiritual significance of the word ‘thunder’, and we must understand the spiritual significance and symbolism of John himself, and we must know what is not revealed, before we can understand why John himself could hear these seven thunders but was not permitted to write down what he had heard.

What is the spiritual significance of the word ‘thunder’?

The first time this word appears in scripture tells us of its spiritual significance.

Exo 9:23  And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

Exo 9:27  And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD [is] righteous, and I and my people [are] wicked.
Exo 9:28  Intreat the LORD (for [it is] enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.
Exo 9:29  And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’S.

That is the fruit of God’s thunder in our lives. That is the fruit of God’s wrath upon our sins:

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Vengeance belongs only to the Lord, and His vengeance and His wrath produce righteousness, while our wrath, “the wrath of man”, fails in that regard:

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Jas 1:20  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

This very apostle, John, and his brother, James, were called “sons of thunder” by our Lord.

Mar 3:17  And James the [son] of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:

The reason for this name is revealed in this incident, which is recorded for our edification:

Luk 9:53  And they [the Samaritans] did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
Luk 9:54  And when his disciples James and John saw [this], they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
Luk 9:55  But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
Luk 9:56  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

So, thunder signifies God’s wrath, and these seven thunders signify the complete wrath of God, and John was given to hear what those seven thunders uttered, but he was told to seal it up and write it not. So now we need to remember who John signifies and symbolizes.

Who, spiritually, is John?

John makes clear who he is, and who he symbolizes in the first two verses of this book:

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

There it is. John is the symbol of all who “bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all thing that he saw.” Now let’s see who else has this testimony, and bares record of these words.

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him [The angel who is showing these things to John]. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

And this revelation that John himself is signified by the angel that shows him all these things is repeated in chapter 22:

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Who is it who shows us all these things?

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand).

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Reading and understanding is the same as reading and hearing. It is given to only a few to “read, hear, and keep the things which are written in the words of this prophecy.”

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

This book is a “two edged sword”, and if we “keep the things written therein,” then we must acknowledge that this means “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, the good with the evil.

Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Lam 3:38  Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
Lam 3:39  Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

How does the Lord humble us?

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

Job 2:10  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

“Job… did not… sin” in attributing “receiving evil… at the hand of God”. Yet the churches of Babylon are blinded to this simple Truth.

We, though, are given eyes which see, and knowing all of this it becomes clear that John, the Lord’s servant who was used of God to convey the message of His judgments upon the kingdom of our old man, signifies, and is the symbol of those who know and understand and live the truth of this verse of scripture:

Ecc 9:2  All [things come] alike to all: [there is] one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as [is] the good, so [is] the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as [he] that feareth an oath.

John is the symbol of God’s elect, who know their experience is the same as all men, but in God’s grace, “according to His own will” (Eph 1:11) His elect have that experience first. Nevertheless, even His elect must wait until the Lord prepares their hearts to receive the revelation of the full extent of the work of His judgments within our lives:

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

There are a few scriptures which tell us that which God has not revealed. Here is the most explicit verse on that subject:

Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

It is in love and mercy, that we are not given to know the secrets that God knows concerning the details of our future struggles. God does not withhold from us anything that is for our good.

Psa 34:10  The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

But he does not take us into His confidence to the extent of revealing to us more of the details of our judgment then we are prepared to accept or receive.

Mat 19:12  For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from [their] mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

It is only given to a few to receive a gospel which, right up front, asks you to be willing to be “hated of all men… crucified with Christ… and [acknowledge that we are all] children of wrath.” But even those few to whom it is given to receive this calling must have their hearts prepared before they can receive and keep the things which are written in the book of this prophecy.

1Ch 29:18  O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:

Psa 10:17  LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

Jer 12:3  But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

Before our hearts are ‘tried toward God’, we are first prepared as sheep for the slaughter.

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

It is in God’s great mercy that the details of our suffering on “the morrow”, “the voices of the seven thunders”, are not made known in advance, and it is in His mercy that we are not told what the seven thunders of God’s wrath utter. John, as the symbol of our election, hears the thunders when his heart is prepared to receive their judgments.

Here are the words that immediately precede that verse in Deu 29, which informs us that the secret, “sealed up” things belong to God.

Deu 29:24  Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what [meaneth] the heat of this great anger?
Deu 29:25  Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:
Deu 29:26  For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and [whom] he had not given unto them:
Deu 29:27  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
Deu 29:28  And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as [it is] this day.
Deu 29:29  The secret things [the “seven thunders” of His judgments] belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Summary

Let’s review what we have seen in the scriptures telling us the spiritual significance of the symbols of these first four verses of Revelation 10:

1) Who is this “mighty angel” described in verse one?

We have seen that is angel with His feet on our sea and our earth, is Christ as the Lord of our lives, who has subdued our every thought to Himself.

2) What is this “little book” mentioned in verse two?

We have seen that this “little book” is the revelation of the judgment of Christ in His Christ. Christ is “the book of the life of the Lamb,” and our lives are the books out of which we are “judged according to our works.” (Rev 20:12)

3) Why does He “set His right foot on the sea, and His left foot on the earth”?

We saw that whatever is under one’s feet is subjected to that person. Christ has been given all power in heaven and in earth. As such He is our King over our lives and over all we do.

4) What is “the sea and the earth”?

We have seen that “the sea and the earth” are that realm which is below the heavens. As such they are the realm of the temporal, and the realm of death. Both are the enemies of Christ.

5) Why does this mighty angel “cry with a loud voice, as when a lion roars”?

A lion roars only when he has taken his prey. The “roar of the lion” and having “the sea and the earth under His feet” are both compatible with Christ’s destruction of His enemy “the body of this death”, the kingdom of our old man.

6) What is the connection between this “little book” and the seven thunders which are sealed up and not written? 

We have seen that this little book, which is “bitter in [our] belly” is introduced to us just before the seven thunders utter their voices, signifying the dregs of the Lord’s wrath. We also saw that John, the type and symbol of God’s elect, heard the voices of the seven thunders and “was about to write” what he had heard. If this little book is Christ and His Words in us, if John is the symbol of Christ in us, and if thunder typifies the wrath of God upon the unrighteousness of those who are to become His elect, then the connection between the revelation of this little book and the seven thunders, is the revelation of the judgment of Christ’s Words upon all that is within us which is contrary to those Words of Christ.

7) What is it that has been “sealed up and are not written”? Exactly what is it that we are not being allowed to know?

Since we are told that we will not be given more than we can bear, it is obvious that what the seven thunders utter is that which we “cannot bear now” (Joh 16:12), and  which we are not, at this moment, able to bear. We also saw the verses of God’s Word which promise to prepare our hearts before we are faced with any trial. It is only after we have been prepared, that  we are given to hear the voices of the seven thunders and we are prepared for what next lies before us.

In our next study, Lord willing, we will continue in chapter 10, which deals with “the days of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound… and the finishing of the mystery of God.”

Rev 10:5  And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
Rev 10:6  And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Rev 10:8  And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go [and] take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take [it], and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.