«　WEEK 42　DAY 4　»

　　Rev. 10:2-3 And He had in His hand a little opened scroll. And He placed His right foot on the sea and the left on the land; and He cried out with a loud voice just as a lion roars. And when He cried out, the seven thunders uttered their own voices.

　　Revelation 10:1 also says that “His face was like the sun.” Surely here, close to His coming to the earth openly, He will not be like the morning star, which appears before the darkest time, prior to dawn.

　　When Christ comes to take possession of the earth, His feet will be “like pillars of fire.” Here, pillars indicate steadfastness (Jer. 1:18; Gal. 2:9). Fire here signifies the holiness of God (Exo. 19:18; Heb. 12:29), according to which Christ will execute His judgment upon the earth. (Life-study of Revelation, p. 297)

　　This little opened scroll [in Revelation 10:2 and 8] is the scroll in 5:1, which only Christ is worthy to open and which He took out of the hand of God (vv. 5, 7). Now it is in His hand. In 5:1 it was sealed; in 10:2 and 8 it is opened. The scroll has been opened because all the seals have been loosed. Here, being only a part of the scroll, it is called “a little…scroll.” The main part of the scroll has already been revealed.

　　Christ’s placing His feet on the sea and on the land [in 10:2] is His treading on them, and to tread on them is to take possession of them (Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:3; Psa. 8:6-8). This indicates that Christ is coming down to take possession of the earth. Only He is worthy to open the scroll of God’s economy, and only He is qualified to possess the earth. In Joshua, God told the people that they would possess whatever part of the land the sole of their foot would tread upon. They were to walk through the good land, and wherever they set their feet, that would be their possession. Based upon the same principle, Christ, as another Angel sent by God, will come to tread upon the sea and the earth, for the earth and the sea have both been given to Him as His inheritance (Psa. 2:8). Although the earth and sea have been usurped by His enemy, and although He has been tolerating this for centuries, one day He will tolerate it no longer. He will come to claim His rightful inheritance.

　　Revelation 10:3 says that Christ “cried out with a loud voice just as a lion roars.” A lion’s roaring is likened to a king’s wrath (Prov. 19:12; 20:2). This indicates that Christ, as the King of the earth, is provoked to wrath. In the Gospels Christ spoke like a lamb, but in Revelation He roars like a lion. Chapter 3 mentions the word of the Lord’s endurance. Endurance means toleration. But by the time of chapter 10 the Lord no longer exercises endurance. Rather, in His coming to take possession of the earth, He roars like a lion.

　　When Christ cried out with a loud voice, “the seven thunders uttered their own voices.” The seven thunders must be the ultimate utterances of God’s full wrath. Verse 4 says, “And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, and I heard a voice out of heaven, saying, Seal the things which the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them.” Today we do not know what the seven thunders said, but one day we will know.

　　Verses 5 and 6 say, “And the Angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up His right hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there shall be delay no longer.” The main item of the things in heaven is the angels, the main item of the things in the earth is men, and the main item of the things in the sea is the demons. After the sixth trumpet, there will be no more time of toleration in God’s judgment upon the earth. Hence, the seventh trumpet is the most serious of God’s judgments. It is God’s answer in full to the martyred saints’ prayer in 6:10. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 297-299)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msg. 26