Devotional 17 March 2025

Revelation 10:8-11 (ESV) “Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, ‘Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.’ 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.’”

The scroll that John receives is the very will of God — a message both joyful and sorrowful. It is sweet because it proclaims salvation — the Gospel that brings hope to all who believe. Yet it is bitter because it also announces judgment — specifically, the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Old Covenant system.

This mirrors Ezekiel’s experience when God commanded him to eat a scroll filled with words of lamentation and mourning (Ezekiel 2:8–3:3). The sweetness speaks of God’s mercy, but the bitterness reveals the painful reality of judgment against those who reject Him.

Jesus had warned Jerusalem of its coming destruction (Matthew 23:37-38). Despite His tender calls to repentance, they refused. The judgment that followed was devastating — the fall of the temple, the city reduced to ruins — yet through it, God’s purposes advanced. The Old Covenant system had to be removed to make way for the New Covenant, where Christ reigns as the true temple and His people become His dwelling place (John 2:19-21; Ephesians 2:19-22).

For us today, this passage is a reminder that God’s purposes are always unfolding — even when the path is bitter. The Gospel is sweet because it offers life, but its message also demands repentance. The destruction of Jerusalem was not just about judgment; it cleared the way for Christ’s Kingdom to expand to many peoples and nations and languages and kings (Revelation 10:11).

As we embrace the sweetness of salvation, may we also soberly recognize the bitterness of judgment — and let that drive us to proclaim Christ with urgency and compassion.