Revelation Chapter 10 is actually an exposition of the seventh seal in Revelation 8:1. Whilst the planet and its inhabitants are being smitten under the sounding of the trumpets in Revelation 9, we see Christ descend from Heaven as a Mighty Angel with an open Book in His right hand. The open book in Christ’s hand is the title deed returning to the earth again after Adam forfeited it in the beginning when he fell.
It is a beautiful picture that we see in the first two verses of Revelation 10, for it so perfectly makes sense of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. Here we see a Mighty Angel with a Book in His hand, and John being instructed to eat the Book. The Mighty Angel is the Tree of Life, the Book in His hand is the fruit of the Tree, and John’s eating of the Book is the same as when Adam ate of the Tree of Life in the beginning. This imagery should clear up all confusion about the Tree of Life supposedly being some mysterious botanic entity in the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Life was and has always been Jesus Christ!
The Book is not just the title deed, but it is also the Lamb’s Book of Life that contains the names of the elected ones, therefore whoever has their name written in it, has a rightful claim to the earth and to dominion over it. So when the heavenly Angel descends to the earth, He is calling out the names in the Book, and the names were called under the message of the earthly angel (the prophet William Branham) in Revelation 10: 7. The names in the book are not written in literal print form, but are identified as being in the Book by the manifested life of Christ in the believer (to understand more about this, please read The Book of Life).
Jesus descends from Heaven as the supreme Judge because He is going to enforce His claim over the earth that Satan squatted upon when Adam fell. Jesus is wigged as the Judge of Heaven and Earth by His being clothed with a Cloud. Such a Cloud that revealed Jesus’ face was photographed in the skies above Arizona on February 28, 1963, whilst the rainbow upon His head shows that He is the Angel of the Covenant (Genesis 9:12-17). The descent of Jesus to the earth is not a visible one, for He shall not be visibly seen on the earth till Revelation 19, when He returns in His corporal body with His Bride to set up His Kingdom. It is Christ’s Word coming that we are reading of here; King Theophany Jesus revealed to us by the open Word of the seventh angel’s message.
Upon descending to the earth, Christ places his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth. His feet are described as being pillars of fire, and are the part of His body that contacts the earth. The last days Bride is that part of Christ’s body which is on the earth when He descends. She is where the Pillar of Fire is at, veiled behind Her skin. Footsteps represent possession in the Bible (Joshua 1:3), so all things are under Christ’s feet, and furthermore, all things are under the Bride’s feet.
But what does the sea and land represent upon which Christ’s feet stand? The sea represents the Beast (Rome) and the land represents the image to the Beast (America). This is proven true by scripture, for the Roman Beast came out of the sea in Daniel 7:3 and Revelation 13:1, whereas the American beast came out of the earth in Revelation 13:11. As long as the Bride is on the earth, there is only so much that the Beast and its image can do. But when the Bride leaves the earth at the translation of the saints, then that is when Christ’s feet are no longer present to constrain the works of Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:7), after which the Devil will go forth and unleash his full fury upon the world by using the Beast and its image. We will learn more about the Beast and its image in Chapter 13 of our series.
After setting His feet upon the sea and land, the Mighty Angel then cries with a loud voice. It is the Voice of the Resurrection that John hears, for It will call up seven ages of sleeping saints, in order that they might be glorified and translated. But the ministry of the Bride is also part of the Voice of the Resurrection, for She is living out Her portion of the Word which will bring on the resurrection of the sleeping saints, fulfilling Hebrews 11:40, which says that they without us should not be made perfect! Christ’s Voice is also as a roaring lion because He is King and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5), but also because the time of His wrath has come upon those that rejected His Word, as it is written in Proverbs 19:12: The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion…
The Voice of the Resurrection not only sounded like a roaring lion, but was followed by seven claps of thunder. A thunder represents the Voice of God (Psalm 18:3; John 12:28-29). Whereas the seven seals were the covering of the Book, the seven thunders are the contents of the Book; in other words, they are the Voice of God declaring to the Bride the mysteries of the Bible. Seven thunders sounded because the seven seals have all been torn off the Book, and the Bible has become a new book to the Bride because Christ has revealed His love secrets to Her.
John knew what the mysteries of the seven thunders were, and would have written them down if God had not stopped him. Instead, John was told to keep quiet about what was contained in the thunders, because the mysteries of the Bible (which are the mystery of God) were not to be made known until the message of the seventh angel had come (Revelation 10: 7). It is why the Mighty Angel raised up His hand and swore by Himself (Hebrews 6:13) that there should be time (or delay) no longer, because everything that God was dealing with in Time comes to an end under the seventh seal, in Christ’s coming into plain view by His stepping out from the types and shadows of the Bible.
It is no coincidence that Jesus Christ was revealed to us in more than eleven hundred audio messages of the prophet, for it would be in the days of the VOICE, when “the” Son of Man (Christ) could be heard speaking through “a” son of man (the prophet). Jesus was veiled in the prophet, declaring the mystery of Himself by the revelation of the Word. The prophet’s message is summed up in the opening words of the last New Testament Book… “The revelation of Jesus Christ!” As long as God was a mystery, then the Book was still sealed, but because the mystery of God is finished under the seventh angel’s message, then the Book must be unsealed, for Christ is the mystery of God revealed!
John then had to go to the Mighty Angel and take the Book from His hand and eat it up. The Book had the sweetest taste, but it caused John’s belly to feel sick. Why is this? Because the Book is the Word, and the Spoken Word is the original seed. John’s eating of the Book is a euphemism of a woman’s union with her husband, whereby She receives his seed and becomes pregnant. The union is a sweet experience, but the morning sickness of pregnancy is a bitter experience as new life is being formed inside her. John is a type of the Bride. It is the Bride who receives the seed of God’s Word in the womb of Her soul, the revelation of which is wonderful, but after receiving it, testing and trials soon follow as the life of Christ is formed inside Her.
John’s taking the Book from the Mighty Angel and holding it in his own hand is the first time since Adam that the title deed had been back in the hand of a man again. The Book is eternal, so when John as a mortal man ate it, the more he ate of it is the more eternal that he became, for by our becoming one with the Word, this mortal body shall one day put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53). Furthermore, because the Book is the Lamb’s Book of Life, then by the Bride’s eating of it, She receives the very same life that the Lamb has!
Let us look at the movement of the Book for a moment. Adam had the Book in the beginning which gave him the authority to rule over the whole earth. But when Adam fell, then the Book went back to God who is the original owner of it. After this, the Lamb came and took the Book out of the hand of God (Revelation 5:7). Now the Lamb which is Christ (the Mighty Angel) has the Book. But then the Book was given to the seventh angel in whom Christ declared its contents, and after this, the Book was given to John. The Book does not move anywhere else after John had received it.
The paradox and truth of the matter is this… the Book is not actually changing hands at all, but rather, it is the original owner (God Himself) changing form over and over again. God was in Adam. God became the Lamb. God was in the prophet. God is in His Bride. When John went to the Mighty Angel to receive the Book, the Mighty Angel was really God Himself in the form of Christ the Word. And when John received the Book, it was he becoming one with Christ by an invisible union. The Book is in the Bride (of whom John represents) by virtue of Her and Christ having united in marriage. We are seeing a replay of what existed in the beginning. Revelation 10:1 is Adam (Christ) being revealed, Revelation 10:8-11 is Adam’s wife (the Bride) being revealed, and Revelation 11:15-19 is Eden being restored.
Having become one with Christ, the Bride has been instructed to prophesy again before all peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. This is the Bride’s commission, to be the final voice to the final age under Her messenger. For by receiving the Word in our souls, we are receiving the Spirit of the Word, and by receiving the Spirit of the Word, we will fulfill the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.