The Angel with His face towards Jerusalem and Israel and the little scroll open in His hand is standing with “His legs like fiery pillars” (Rev. 10:1), upon the sea and upon the earth – symbol of impending judgment? – and His voice sounds like thunder.
His is a last message, a final warning—like a lion roaring, with the voice of the Lion of Judah,1 the roaring Lion! Apparently the aspect of Jesus as the Lion of Judah comes to the forefront and the aspect of Jesus as the Lamb of God disappears in the background. He now is the coming Judge, the King for whom the measure of evil is full and He is now going to act. The Lion has roared—who will not fear? The return of the Jewish people back to the Promised Land of Israel – that we all are witnessing with our very own eyes today – is the result of the roaring of the Lion: the Lord.
Hosea 11:10-11 “They will follow the Lord; He will roar like a lion. When He roars, His children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord.”
“Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken— who can but prophesy?”2 This is what John will shortly do: prophecy! “And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”3 The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, so that the earth and the Heavens tremble,4 so that the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.5 Before this, in Joel’s prophecy, it is said: “For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine.”6 We already saw this happen under the sixth seal and the fourth trumpet. We are now approaching the glorious revelation of Christ from Heaven.
His voice rings out by the seven peals of thunder. The little word ‘the’ presupposes that John apparently believes his readers, lectors and hearers know who or what these, ‘the’, ‘seven peals of thunder’ are or contain. There are seven of them, the number of completeness. Remember: Seven spirits, seven golden lampstands, seven stars, seven torches, seven horns, seven eyes… Etcetera.
The peals of thunder are mentioned seven times in the Book of Revelation:
At this moment it is the Lion of Judah who is roaring, and the seven peals of thunder speak. What will their message be? Israel is increasingly taking centre stage as far as the earthly scenes of the final judgment are concerned. The message of each of the peals of thunder involves wrath and judgment. With their eyes upon Jerusalem and Israel. Or even because of Jerusalem and Israel. Or because of what the nations have done to Jerusalem and Israel? Indeed, the passages from Zechariah, which also speak about measuring Jerusalem,14 talk about the Lord’s anger and wrath with the nations that have oppressed Israel. “Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.’ “Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My House will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the Lord Almighty. “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”15 “I shall judge those nations!” Do we realise that whoever turns against Israel touches the apple of God’s eye? “For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you [Israel and the Jewish people]—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—I will surely raise My hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me.”16 The eye is perhaps the most sensitive part of the body. You draw back if you are hit in the eye. The worst thing the makers of horror films can think of is doing cruel things to the eyes. It is gruesome. This is how we ‘hit’ the Lord if we violate His people, Israel, the apple of His eye, and He will take vengeance on His enemies.17 We are poking Him with a knife in His eye when we are attacking verbally or physically Israel and/or the Jewish people. And He will take revenge.
• The God of Glory thundereth, says Psalm 29:3 (AV), a Psalm that is almost completely devoted to what the Word of the Lord brings about on the earth.
• What will it be? Is this about the scroll a such, Revelation 5:1, that has been completely rolled out? Is this about the Book of Revelation in general? Or is this about the little booklet that John had to devour?
• Could it be a last warning, a separate message, a last call to repentance and pleading to turn to faith and grace for planet earth? Let us hope so!
Bible References:
1.Revelation 5:5 2.Amos 3:7-8 3.Revelation 10:11 4.Joel 3:16 5.Amos 1:2 6.Joel 3:14–15 NIV 7.Revelation 4:5 8.Revelation 6:1 9.Revelation 8:5 10.Revelation 11:19 11.Revelation 14:2 12.Revelation 16:18 13.Revelation 19:6 14.Revelation 11:1–2 15.Zechariah 1:14–17 NIV 1984 16.Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalm 17:8; Zechariah 2:8-9 17.Deuteronomy 32:43
