Apocalypse Unsealed: chapter 10
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Chapter Ten
INTERLUDE
1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from the
heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was
upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun,
and his feet as pillars of fire:
2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he
set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot
on the earth,
3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion
roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders
uttered their voices.
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their
voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice
from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things
which the seven thunders uttered, and write them
not.
The mighty angel is the spirit of Baha'u'llah, clothed with a
cloud of glory,_/1 the rainbow of the Convenant upon His head,_/2
His countenance shining as the sun in its median splendor,_/3 and
His feet of brass as if they were pillars of fire._/4 The little
book is the Word of God. His right foot is upon the sea of the
spirit, and His left foot is upon the world of matter. His voice
is as the Lion of Judah._/5 The seven thunders are the voices of
the seven Revelators of the seven Faiths.
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and
upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever,
who created heaven, and the things that therein are,
and the earth, and the things that therein are, and
the sea,
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and the things which are therein, that there should
be time no longer:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,
when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God
shall be finished, as he hath declared to his
servants the prophets.
The mighty angel reveals that the hidden mysteries of God; that
is, His precepts and commands, will be revealed at the end of the
Age of Prophecy when the Age of Fulfillment will begin. The End
of the Age will coincide with the blast of the seventh angel.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto
me again, and said, Go and take the little book
which is open in the hand of the angel which
standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give
me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it,
and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter,
but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey: and as
soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again
before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and
kings.
John is commanded to accept (eat) the Word of God. He discovers
that the words are easy (sweet) when they are merely spoken (in
the mouth) but are difficult (bitter) when they are actually
lived.
The prophecies of the first six angels beginning with Chapter 8
verse 7 were directed primarily to the Christians. John is now
commanded to prophesy again, this time to many peoples and
nations: Islam._/6
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Notes to Chapter Ten
1. See Revelations 1:7.
2. Ibid., 4:3.
3. Ibid., 1:16.
4. Ibid, 1:15. Compare with the pillars of fire and cloud in
Exodus 13:21-22. In an Epistle addressed to the Czar of Russia
(_Baha'i World Faith_, p. 51) Baha'u'llah explains that His Voice
spoke from the burning bush. See also _Gleanings from the
Writings of Baha'u'llah_, pp. 16, 24, 96, 199, 269, 271.
5. See Revelations 5:5.
6. See Part One, _The Time and Space of the Apocalypse_.