ACC ~ Revelation 10 v8 - 11 v10

OVERVIEW:

In the open book the church receives the truth of the law and the prophets that has been made manifest in Christ. For Christ is the truth and the end of the law (PRIMASIUS). This truth is sweet to the mouth, for it concerns the highest precepts, the promised salvation, divine justice and the knowledge of future things (PRIMASIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). However, those who preach this truth will find that through suffering the gospel is necessarily bitter even to themselves and to their hearers who persevere in the commandments (VICTORINUS, BEDE). Moreover, the precepts of Christ are sweet to pious and spiritual persons who delight in the divine law, but they are bitter and harsh to the impious and carnal minded whose god is the belly and who bear a bitter hatred toward the preachers of Christ (AUGUSTINE, PRIMASIUS, CAESARIUS OF ARLES).

In a way the preaching of divine judgment is bitter also to the pious, for they are turned to a better life by the bitterness of penance (PRIMASIUS). John, however, was a holy and chaste man and did not know how bitter are the sins of people. By eating the book that recorded the names and sins of serious sinners, John gained a sort of spiritual experience of the bitterness of sin and its consequences (OECUMENIUS). Compassion on those who receive the punishment of divine judgment will also be bitter to those who are of Christ (ANDREW OF CAESAREA). The church has never ceased to preach the truth among the tribes, tongues and nations, and it will do so again and again so that the whole world will be filled with its preaching (TYCONIUS). John especially was called to preach to the end of time through his Gospel, his catholic letters and this Revelation (VICTORINUS, OECUMENIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA).

Indeed, it may be that John will appear again at the end of time to preach against the antichrist (ANDREW OF CAESAREA). Through his writings John gave to the church a “measure” or yardstick of the faith by which the various heretical sects of Satan were excluded from the worship of the Father and the Son (VICTORINUS). However, outside the church and her faith are also the Jews and unbelieving Gentiles (PRIMASIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA) and those who appear to be in the church but who are in reality outside (TYCONIUS). Yet, the church of the New Testament will be immeasurably greater than the Israel of the Old Testament, for the church is out of the nations and is the fulfilling reality of the shadow of the old covenant. Although there is but little time for citizenship in the city of the church (OECUMENIUS), this time will be replete with attacks and persecutions by hypocrites, heretics, Jews and the antichrist (TYCONIUS, PRIMASIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA).

10:8 | “Take the Scroll”

THE CHURCH RECEIVES THE TRUTH OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS. PRIMASIUS: The voice from heaven is the command of God, who breathes into the heart of the church and orders her to receive from the open book that which the church is to preach before the future peace. For it seems to us that to accept the open book from the hand of the angel is to understand the truth of the law and the prophets, which has been made manifest in Christ. And for that reason it says that [the church] should take the open book, which is no longer, as above, the sealed [book]. “For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness for everyone who believes.” Christ, who is the truth, wished then to be born from the earth, that is, from Mary, when “Righteousness looked down from heaven.” That is why I think that it is said, “I heard a voice from heaven speaking with me,” just as [Christ] himself said, “I am the Beginning who is also speaking to you.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.8.

10:9-10 | Sweet in the Mouth but Bitter in the Stomach

SUFFERING MAKES BITTER THE FRUIT OF PREACHING. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: That he “received the little scroll and ate it” indicates that he committed to memory what had been shown [to him]. “And it was sweet in the mouth.” The fruit of preaching is very sweet to the speaker and to those who hear, but through suffering it becomes very bitter to the preacher and to those who persevere in the commandments. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.3.

THE COMMANDS OF CHRIST GIVE INDIGESTION TO THE CARNAL. AUGUSTINE: “Our belly stuck to the ground.” They mean that “our belly” consented to the impious persuasion of that dust [i.e., godless persecutors]; for that is what the expression “stuck to” implies. … To cling to God is to do his will. It makes sense, then, to say of the belly that it clung to the earth, when we mean those people who could not hold out under persecution but yielded to the will of the wicked; for this is how they “stuck to the earth.” But why are they called “the belly”? Because they are carnal. It suggests that the church’s mouth is to be found in the saints, in spiritual people, and the church’s belly in the carnal. This is why the church’s mouth is plainly visible, but its belly is covered up, as befits something weaker and more vulnerable. Scripture supports this interpretation in the passage where someone says he was given a book to eat, “and the book was sweet in my mouth but bitter in my stomach.” What can that mean? Surely that the highest precepts, which spiritual persons accept, are unacceptable to the carnal, and that commands that delight the spiritual only give the carnal indigestion. What is in that book, brothers and sisters? “Go and sell all you possess, and give the money to the poor.” How sweet is that command in the church’s mouth! All the spiritual have obeyed it. But if you tell any sensual person to do that, he or she is more likely to walk sadly away, as the rich man in the Gospel walked away from the Lord, than to fulfill the injunction. Why does a carnal person walk away? Because that book, so sweet to the mouth, is bitter in the belly. EXPLANATION OF PSALM 43.25.

THE HOLY APOSTLE LEARNS OF THE BITTERNESS OF SIN. OECUMENIUS: When I took it, it says, I ate it and “it was sweet in my mouth,” but after the eating, it was bitter to my stomach. Then the blessed Evangelist saw and heard the torments against the wicked that he might learn by experience, and not only by report, how bitter and abominable are the transgressions of people that are brought to God. He was taught this through this vision—for as a holy and chaste man himself, he did not know this from [his own] experience—and through the vision he came to know that the wrath of God against the wicked is just. For the book contained the names and the sins of those who were especially serious transgressors, as we noted above. He is therefore commanded to eat it, and as though by taste and a sort of spiritual experience of the bitterness of sin that comes through his vision, he found that what had been sweet to the mouth was, when eaten, bitter to the stomach afterward. For such it is with every sin. It is sweet in the doing but bitter in its consequences. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.8-11.

DIVINE REPROOF. PRIMASIUS: [I told the angel to give me the book.] The church is moved by divine inspiration to be thoroughly instructed about this mystery. “And he said, ‘Take and eat it.’” This means that he was to store [the book] in his secret inward parts. “And it will be bitter to your stomach but sweet as honey in your mouth.” This means that when you receive it, you will be delighted by the sweetness of the divine speech and by the hope of the promised salvation and by the sweetness of the divine justice; however, you will then sense bitterness when you begin to preach this to the pious and to the impious. For when the preaching of the divine judgment is heard, some are turned by the bitterness of penance and are changed for the better, while others are offended and become yet more hardened and bear a bitter hatred toward the preachers. “Reprove a wise man, and he will love you; refute a foolish man, and he will hate you.” But the preacher takes in bitterness from either of these two persons. For he either sheds tears with the penitents out of a feeling of compassion, or he is tormented by the bitterness that comes from their failure. For this reason the apostle said, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart; for I wished that I myself were accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers.” But I think it more apt that the bitterness mentioned here be attributed to the impious alone and the sweetness to the pious. For the spiritual person can say, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth!” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.9.

SWEET TO THE SPIRITUAL BUT BITTER TO THE CARNAL. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: “It will be sweet in your mouth but bitter in your stomach.” By the mouth we are to understand the good and spiritual Christians, while by the stomach we understand the carnal and dissolute. And so it is that when the word of God is preached, it is sweet to the spiritual, but to the carnal, whose “god is the belly” as the apostle says, it seems bitter and harsh. EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.10, HOMILY 8.

OUT OF COMPASSION FOR THE WICKED. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: He says that although the knowledge of future things will be sweet to you, at the same time it will be bitter to your stomach, that is, to your heart, which is the dwelling place of spiritual foods. For you will have compassion on those who receive punishments given according to God’s judgment. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.9.

10:11 | Prophesy Again

JOHN PROPHESIES AGAIN. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: “It is necessary that you again preach,” that is, to prophesy, “among peoples and tongues and nations.” When John saw this revelation, he was on the island of Patmos, having been condemned to the mines by Caesar Domitian. There, it seems, John wrote the Revelation, and when he had already become aged, he thought that he would be received [into bliss] after his suffering. However, when Domitian was killed, all of his decrees were made null and void. John was, therefore, released from the mines, and afterward he disseminated the revelation that he had received from the Lord. That is what it means when it says, “You must prophesy again.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.3.

THE CHURCH FILLS THE WORLD WITH PREACHING. TYCONIUS: In the one angel he clearly shows the body of the church. Although he speaks of one, he shows many. “He says to me, ‘You must preach again.’” When did the church ever cease from its preaching, so that she should preach again what she had preached before? However, in the whole world [the church] is commanded to preach again among the peoples, tribes, tongues and in many regions what she had preached before. For there is one church diffused throughout the whole world, which she has filled with its preaching. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.11.

JOHN PROPHESIES TO THE END. OECUMENIUS: “It is necessary that you prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.” This is as though he had said, “Although you have seen the consummation of the age and the wrath against the wicked in this vision, do not think that the day of fulfillment has in fact come. There remains much time yet for you to prophesy to many nations and to kings.” And so it is that up to the present time the blessed Evangelist prophesies through his Gospel and his catholic epistles and this Revelation. For all things have been spoken and prophesied to him by the Spirit. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.8-11.

JOHN WILL PROPHESY AGAINST THE ANTICHRIST. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: This passage indicates either that after the vision of the divine Revelation, that which was seen will not immediately receive its fulfillment, but that the saint must prophesy to those who read his Gospel and his Revelation until the consummation. Or the passage indicates that [John] would not yet taste death, but that at the end he would come to hinder the acceptance of the deceit of the antichrist. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10.11.

PREACHING THE GOSPEL IS BITTER WORK. BEDE: He indicates that when he ate the book sweetness would be mixed with bitterness. That is to say, that when he is released from exile, he was to preach the gospel to the nations. This would be a sweet task as regards love, but it would be a bitter work on account of the persecutions that he would endure. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 10.11.