And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
– Revelation 10:10–11
What a powerful picture of God’s Word in John’s mouth. So he takes the scroll, a picture of God’s Word spoken to him, and he eats it and it’s sweet, sweet as honey in his mouth. It’s savory to him. At the same time, he says, “When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.” So it’s bitter-sweet. And why would it be both of these things?
Revelation 10:10–11 portrays God’s Word as bittersweet.
Well, think about it, for those who trust in God, for those who know God, who have received God’s love, his Word is sweet beyond words. It’s eternally, everlastingly sweet. It is sweet to the core of who we are, that God loves us and we’ve been saved from our sins and we have no fear of death or anything in this world.
Yes, God’s Word is sweet. At the same time, when we think about the ramifications of God’s Word for people who don’t believe it or who have never heard it, who have not trusted in God’s love for them, who don’t know the truth about Jesus, and have not turned, repented of their sin and trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord, God’s word talks about judgment, everlasting eternal judgment, condemnation due to sin.
When we think about the implications of God’s Word for people who don’t know or trust in God’s love for them, and yes, our stomachs are bitter or overwhelmed with what’s coming for those people. And in this way, for all of us as followers of Jesus, God’s Word is bitter-sweet and compels us in a way that verse 11 says here in Revelation 10, “to proclaim God’s Word so that people would hear it and believe it, and that which is bitter would become sweet, that which talks about judgment and condemnation would lead to salvation.”
Revelation 10:10–11 reminds us to savor the Word and to share the Word.
That only happens when those who have God’s Word share God’s Word. So God, we pray that you would help us to faithfully taste your Word in our own lives… To see and savor its sweetness, on a daily basis to soak in your Word… To be fed and nourished by its good news, and at the same time to feel the ramifications, the implications of your Word for people who don’t know you, to realize daily based on the gospel, the good news contained in your Word that’s available to all people.
If people don’t hear it, and if people don’t believe it, they will miss your love… Your grace, your mercy, your salvation. So God, we pray that you would give us compassion and boldness to proclaim your Word to many people around us, to individuals around us, and “to nations and languages and kings far from us,” to use the language from Revelation 10:11.
Prayer for the Qi Li People
We pray specifically today for the Qi Li people of China. Most of them in this group of hundreds of thousands of people have no knowledge of your Word. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel among the Qi Li people. People who right now are under your judgment and in need of your salvation and you love them. God, we pray for Christians with the gospel to spread the gospel to them. And we pray for the salvation of Qi Li people in China and in people’s lives right around us today. And oh God, help us to faithfully eat, feast on your Word and then proclaim it. Help us share it with others so that it’s bitter-sweetness might bear fruit for salvation. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
