Rev 10:9, 11 | JFB | STEP | 9. I went — Greek, "I went away. " John here leaves heaven, his standing-point of observation heretofore, to be near the angel standing on the earth and sea. Give —A, B, C, and Vulgate read the infinitive, "Telling him to give. " eat it up —appropriate its contents so entirely as to be assimilated with (as food), and become part of thyself, so as to impart them the more vividly to others. His finding the roll sweet to the taste at first, is because it was the Lord's will he was doing, and because, divesting himself of carnal feeling, he regarded God's will as always agreeable, however bitter might be the message of judgment to be announced. Compare , Margin, as to Christ's inner complete appropriation of God's word. thy belly bitter —parallel to , "There was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe." as honey — ( ). Honey, sweet to the mouth, sometimes turns into bile in the stomach. The thought that God would be glorified ( ) gave him the sweetest pleasure. Yet, afterwards the belly, or carnal natural feeling, was embittered with grief at the prophecy of the coming bitter persecutions of the Church ( ); compare . The revelation of the secrets of futurity is sweet to one at first, but bitter and distasteful to our natural man, when we learn the cross which is to be borne before the crown shall be won. John was grieved at the coming apostasy and the sufferings of the Church at the hands of Antichrist.

Revelation of John 10:9

9. I went—Greek, "I went away." John here leaves heaven, his standing-point of observation heretofore, to be near the angel standing on the earth and sea.

Give—A, B, C, and Vulgate read the infinitive, "Telling him to give."

eat it up—appropriate its contents so entirely as to be assimilated with (as food), and become part of thyself, so as to impart them the more vividly to others. His finding the roll sweet to the taste at first, is because it was the Lord's will he was doing, and because, divesting himself of carnal feeling, he regarded God's will as always agreeable, however bitter might be the message of judgment to be announced. Compare Ps 40:8, Margin, as to Christ's inner complete appropriation of God's word.

thy belly bitter—parallel to Eze 2:10, "There was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe."

as honey— (Ps 19:10; 119:103). Honey, sweet to the mouth, sometimes turns into bile in the stomach. The thought that God would be glorified (Re 11:3-6, 11-18) gave him the sweetest pleasure. Yet, afterwards the belly, or carnal natural feeling, was embittered with grief at the prophecy of the coming bitter persecutions of the Church (Re 11:7-10); compare Joh 16:1, 2. The revelation of the secrets of futurity is sweet to one at first, but bitter and distasteful to our natural man, when we learn the cross which is to be borne before the crown shall be won. John was grieved at the coming apostasy and the sufferings of the Church at the hands of Antichrist.

Revelation of John 10:11

11. he said—A, B, and Vulgate read, "they say unto me"; an indefinite expression for "it was said unto me."

Thou must—The obligation lies upon thee, as the servant of God, to prophesy at His command.

again—as thou didst already in the previous part of this book of Revelation.

before, &c.—rather as Greek (epilaois), "concerning many peoples," &c., namely, in their relation to the Church. The eating of the book, as in Ezekiel's case, marks John's inauguration to his prophetical office—here to a fresh stage in it, namely, the revealing of the things which befall the holy city and the Church of God—the subject of the rest of the book.