Key Verse: Revelation 10:6b, 7 “‘There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as He announced to His servants the prophets.'”
The key verse is a quote from a “mighty angel” who comes “down from heaven” (v.1). He is of immense size, his body “robed in a cloud”, with a “rainbow above this head”, his face shining “like the sun”, and his legs “like fiery pillars”. He places one foot on the sea and the other on the land, raises his hands to heaven, and shouts with a lion’s roar (vv.2,3).
To this point in Revelation, John has written as thought he were in heaven. Now, however, he is on earth (visions have a way of changing from one scene to another), and he is able to converse with this remarkable angel. Another aspect of the scene, which in the natural world would be incongruous, is perfectly in order in an apocalyptic vision — John, the human being (with human physical dimensions) not only converses with this immense angel, but is also able to take a scroll from the angel’s hand and “eat” it.
The scroll tastes “sweet” but turns John’s stomach “sour” (v.10). Its content has something to do with prophecy — for John is told, after eating it, that he “”must prophesy again about many peoples, nation, languages and kings” (v.11).
Perhaps the key ingredient in the scroll has to do with “the mystery of God [being] accomplished” after the seventh trumpet is blown (v.7). That mystery is very much related to “our Lord and…His Christ” who “will reign for ever and ever” (11.15).