Another Mighty Angel

"I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little book which was open He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land; and he cried out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars; and when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.' " (Revelation 10:1-4 - New American Standard)

Several times in the book of Revelation, there is a pause in activity. In these passages, John focuses upon a particular item that has caught his attention. Chapter ten is one of these passages. John's attention is caught by a powerful angel holding a small scroll.

Revelation is filled with the appearance and activity of angels. They are mentioned more than 60 times in this book. In our lives, we are mostly unaware of angelic activity, but this book reveals how important these spiritual beings are in God's plan.

John begins this chapter by describing another strong or mighty angel. The other strong angel is mentioned in chapter five verse two. He is the angel that asked, “Who has the right to break the seals on the scroll?”

John describes the appearance of the angel in detail. He is clothed with a cloud. Clouds in the Bible are often symbolic of majesty and glory. When God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, the mountain was covered by a cloud. Several passages speak of God's voice coming from a cloud. Jesus ascended into the clouds and will return in the same way.

There is a rainbow upon the head of this angel. The rainbow was given by God as a reminder of his promise not to utterly destroy the earth as he did with the flood in Noah's day. The events of the Tribulation will be tragic, but they will not be as universally destructive as the flood. Only eight people survived it.

The angel's face shines like the sun. His feet are the color of fire.

Some commentators suggest that this angel is actually Jesus, but there are two strong arguments against this. Although in the Old Testament, there are cases where the Lord appeared as an angel, there are no examples of this in the New Testament. I know of no where in the New Testament where the word angel is used in reference to any member of the Trinity. Also John specifically says that this is “another” angel.

This angel holds in his hand a small scroll that is open. Unlike the scroll that John saw early, this one is not sealed. It is open for all to read.

The angel places one foot on the sea and the other on land. This indicates that his message relates to all the earth. It is a message of universal importance and application.

The angel cries out with a loud voice. A voice that reminds John of a roaring lion.

Now a strange thing occurs. The seven thunders speak. John starts to write down what they said, and a voice from heaven forbids it. This raises more questions than it answers.

Who are the seven thunders? What did they say? Why was John forbidden to write it down? No one knows the answers to these questions.

Whatever the thunders said, this message was for the ears of John alone. There is no use speculating about it. Not everything that God has revealed to individuals through the ages is recorded in Scripture. The Bible contains all that we need in our spiritual journey. Many things that we might want to know are not in the Bible, because these are things that we do not need to know.