So we have six seals and then before the end comes with the seventh seal we have an interlude. I argued that it’s really both God’s people from two different angles, the totality of God’s redeemed people first as 144,000, a holy army of Israel, and then a great multitude from every nation. If you turn back to chapter 7 you can just see the heading in your Bible and recall the interlude consisted of two pictures of God’s people. If you recall, what did we find in chapter 7? In between the sixth seal and the seventh seal, we had an interlude. We have had seven seals and now we are on the third, or the second of these sets of three’s with the seven trumpets. So we have very deliberately, and if you haven’t noticed it before, you’ll see it and hopefully won’t forget it, a very deliberate echo of what we saw before. Or a piece of music that replays the same theme. It should come as no surprise to you if you’ve been here for part of this series that there are several repeating cycles, recapitulation, like a picture in an art gallery and then another one, the same thing from a different angle. And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”” It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 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. “Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as He announced to His servants the prophets.” When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. This morning, as we continue through Revelation, almost to the halfway point, Revelation chapter 10. We refer many times to this passage and to other places in Revelation, that’s our habit here at Christ Covenant, normally to move verse by verse, section by section, chapter by chapter, through the Bible so that God’s Word sets the agenda for us. If you’re not in the habit of turning in your Bible, I’d encourage you to do so so you can follow along. I’ll hope you’ll turn there in your Bibles. We come this morning to Revelation chapter 10. We pray now that You would give us ears that we might hear this Word, that You would keep distractions to a minimum, that You would keep our stomachs from growling, our eyelids from growing sleepy, our minds from wandering, and help us with good hearts to think and to receive Your Word. You have established the earth and it stands fast. Forever, O Lord, Your Word is firmly fixed in the heavens, Your faithfulness endures to all generations.
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