Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #7 of Revelation, chapter 10, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 10:5-7:

And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, 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, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

The “angel” or the “messenger” in view is Christ.  He is the one that is swearing.  You know, when we read in the Bible of “swearing,” we read that God swears: God has sworn with an oath.  Actually, that word “swear,” especially in the Old Testament, is used many, many times.  Overwhelmingly, it is used with God swearing to Abraham, Isaac or Jacob concerning the land and we are going to look at some verses where we see that word.

God’s swearing is found, for the most part, in relationship to the promises to Abraham and the patriarchs.  Occasionally, God will swear to Christ having an eternal priesthood after the order of Melchisedec or He will swear to David concerning the seed that will come forth of David to sit upon the throne forever more.  We read of God swearing in connection with that.  But, again, when you look up the word “swear,” you are going to find that as the Lord swore to our fathers it was regarding the land, again, and again, and again.  

We read of men that swear by God.  God gets into a discussion of what men swear by in Matthew 23.  Some swear by the altar, some swear by the temple, some swear by the gold on the altar, and so forth.  So, we read of men, here and there, throughout the Bible, that swear.  King David swore.  King Saul swore and other men swore, but I am not aware of anywhere that an angel swore.  But does it not say here that the “angel” that was standing upon the sea and the earth sware by Him?  Yes, but this would break precedent – this would be the first time, if it were an angel, but when we go back to Revelation 10:1, we see that it says “another mighty angel came down from heaven,” and we went over the description of this mighty angel: “a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.”

Each one of those descriptions can only fit Christ.  There is no question.  This actually adds further evidence, since the “angelos,” or “messenger,” is swearing “by him that liveth for ever and ever…that there should be time no longer.”  Now what kind of “angel” can swear and take an oath that there will be time no longer?  Can any angelic being swear that way?  The answer is: obviously not.  This chapter, in Revelation 10, is actually an excellent place to go to prove that this word “angel” has been mistranslated at times in the King James Bible; and, here, it would definitely be better translated as “messenger.” 

Christ is the messenger that is swearing by Him that liveth for ever and ever – and that is swearing by Eternal God, the infinite God of the Bible, the God who is from everlasting to everlasting and the God, as the Bible declares, who has always been and always will be.  This is the incredible being that God is; He inhabits eternity.  Christ, who is God and one with the Father, and who liveth Himself for ever and ever, is swearing by the Father.  Of course, this concept is beyond us and above us and we cannot comprehend how Christ can swear by Him that liveth for ever and ever and, yet, be Him that liveth for ever and ever.  Yet, that is the wonderful mystery the Bible teaches concerning the Trinity.  God is three Persons and, therefore, we can see this messenger swearing and, yet, He is swearing to the One that liveth for ever and ever.

We also find a strong emphasis placed upon God as the Creator, as it says in our verses in Revelation 10:6:

… who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

When we think about why the Lord Jesus is swearing by the Father who created these things that there should be time no longer, we can understand that the end of time would mean the end of this creation.  The One who spoke and brought the heavens and the earth and the sea and all the creatures that God created at the very beginning will simply “speak” again…and that is all that God is going to do.  It is really something how people doubt that the world will end.  They doubt that this vast world and this vast creation can be destroyed as though this were something difficult, and as if that would be something hard for the Lord.  But the truth is that it is no harder than God uttering a simple sentence and stating a simple fact – that time shall be no longer; the world will be destroyed; the world will melt with a fervent heat, as we read in 2 Peter, chapter 3.  When the heavens are destroyed by fire (the sun, the moon and the stars), the timekeepers that God has established to keep track from the beginning are destroyed, and the end of the world is the “end of time.” 

Then God’s people will enter into eternity.  The Bible does not speak of “time” when discussing eternity future.  We just read that there is eternal life; the people of God will live for evermore.  We do not read of “thousands of years,” and we do not read of any time limitation on the eternal future that God has planned for His people, because there is none.  We cannot imagine how that will be.  What will it be like to live in a new creation where there is no “time” and no “shortness of time” for those that are blessed and graced to be able to enter into that place?  Remember how God describes it further on in the Book of Revelation.  He says in Revelation 21:22-23:

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

It goes on to say in Revelation 21:24-25:

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

That is about as close as we get to a “time reference” for that glorious eternal future that the Bible speaks of.  If we look carefully at this language, we see that it is really speaking of an “eternal day,” a day without a sun; there is no timekeeper.  There is no need for the sun to shine in it, or the moon, and those are the important celestial bodies that God made in order to keep track of time in this world.  God says they have no importance in eternity future, but He does, condescendingly, use the word “day” in speaking of that wonderful, beautiful place.  However, He also reminds us there is “no night there.”  So it will be like one long, eternal day and, of course, it is the most wonderful thing anybody could hope for – to enter into the kingdom of heaven for evermore. 

Let us take a look, again, at God swearing, as we found, in Revelation 10:6, that the Lord Jesus swore by Him that liveth for ever and ever.  Let us start with some verses in Hebrews, chapter 6, where we read of God swearing.  We read this last time, but it says in Hebrews 6:13-18:

For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

God made promise to Abraham and he could swear by none greater, so he swore by Himself.  Hebrew 6 is referring back to what took place in Genesis, chapter 22, and let us turn back there.  It says in Genesis 22:15-16:

And the angel of JEHOVAH called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn…

Remember what it said in Hebrews 6:13:

For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

In Genesis 22:15, we read it is the “angel of JEHOVAH,” and I mentioned earlier that we do not find an angel swearing and we are not finding it here either.  This is God because Hebrews 6 reveals who the “angel of JEHOVAH” is that is swearing by Himself to Abraham – it is God.  And it goes on to say in Genesis 22:15-18:

And the angel of JEHOVAH called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith JEHOVAH, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;  And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Here is the promise sworn to Abraham and, of course, historically, this involves Isaac and the descendents of Abraham and the promise of the land of Canaan.  All of these are just types and figures in order to teach the Gospel – that is the real promise God gave to Abraham of the seed.  Jesus Christ is the seed (singular) but all of those that are in Christ are counted for the “seed,” we read in Galatians.  It was also a promise of a land, but not that land over in the Middle East.  If the land of Canaan, the land of Judea, in the Middle East was the fulfillment of the promise, then the promise was a complete and utter failure because God promised to give it for an everlasting possession.  No land upon this earth can be given for an everlasting possession because this earth will not last for ever.  It will be destroyed as 2 Peter, chapter 3, describes in detail.  So the promise is really that of “eternal life” for the elect in the new heaven and new earth.  That is the promise that God has sworn by Himself “because he could swear by no greater.” 

Of course, as Hebrews, chapter 6, points out, God cannot lie; that is one of the two “immutable” or unchangeable things.  You may be wondering, by the way, what the second “immutable thing” is, because Hebrews 6 does not really state the second thing.  That is because the second “immutable thing” is the Person of God Himself – His every Being, His character, His attributes, His Person that cannot change; He is the same yesterday, today and for ever, and as He cannot change, His Word cannot change and He will not lie. 

God has promised and sworn with an oath.  You know, earlier I mentioned how many times God swears concerning this promise, because this is the heart of the Gospel; it is the promise of salvation, through the Lord Jesus Christ, of eternal life in the eternal new heaven and new earth.  God swears again, and again, and again, concerning the “land” and God swears again, and again, and again, concerning multiplying the “seed.”  He swears more about this than anything else in the Bible.  Yes, He swears concerning Christ’s eternal priesthood after the order of Melchisedec and He swears concerning the seed of David. 

By the way, the promise sworn to David is basically a reiteration of the promise sworn to Abraham, Isaac and David concerning the “seed.”  God swears more concerning this than anything else; there are only a handful of references where He swears concerning other things.  This is the overwhelming important thing that God wants to confirm with an oath, which He wants you and me and all of His people to hear:  that with His very Being, He is declaring that He is speaking the truth when He says in Genesis 22:16-17:

And said, By myself have I sworn, saith JEHOVAH, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

We read in Luke 1, where John the Baptist was being born (he was that forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ) and when Zacharias, the father of John, had his tongue loosed and could speak again, we read in Luke 1:70-74:

As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,

Remember the wonderful truths that the Lord hid in the names of Zacharias and Elisabeth, the parents of John the Baptist.  Elizabeth’s name means “God of an oath,” and Zacharias’ name means “Jah has remembered.”  He has remembered the oath and that is why when John was born it was evidence and confirmation that the Messiah would soon come.  That is why Zacharias was prophesying of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, who would soon be born to the virgin Mary.  These statements that the Lord had performed “the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,” were important because that oath to Abraham – that promise sworn by Himself – concerning the land of Canaan, concerning the everlasting possession and concerning the seed centers and revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ and what Christ has done for His people in performing the will of God in fulfilling God’s oath. 

So when we find that Christ is the one who is lifting up His hand to heaven, in Revelation 10, in the context of Judgment Day, and He is saying time will be no longer and this creation will be destroyed, it has everything to do with the promise sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the saints – all the seed.  In order for God to fulfill that promise, He must destroy this world.  That promise cannot be completed while this world exists.  As mentioned earlier, we cannot live for ever in this world; men do not live for ever in this world.  The world is temporal; men are finite and die and go into the ground and there is no fulfillment of promise in that.  The promise is fulfilled in the rapture, in the resurrection and in the new creation.

Let us look at a few more places in regard to God swearing.  I know you are getting the point and you are seeing how God is swearing in connection with His promise to Abraham.  It says in Genesis 26:2-4:

And JEHOVAH appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

It is stated again in Genesis 50, when Joseph was about to die and the promise came up again and it says in Genesis 50:24:

And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

So this promise was handed down through the fathers to Joseph and he handed it down to his descendents; and it was handed down, generation after generation, and it has been handed down through the Bible to us – it is God’s promise to us.

In Exodus 13 the promise comes up, once more, in Exodus 13:3-5:

And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand JEHOVAH brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in the month Abib. And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.

God is bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and the promise is, again, referred to, which was given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of the land of Canaan.  Then they go forth with that great deliverance in the time of the exodus from Egypt and they enter into the wilderness, where they wandered for forty years.

I just want to mention some similarities concerning the promise.  Again, just about everything in the Bible revolves around God’s promise – it is key to the Gospel message and it has everything to do with salvation and eternal life in the new heaven and new earth.  Much of that promise can be tied into the period of the exodus (the coming out of Egypt) and the period of wandering in the wilderness and then crossing over Jordan into the Promised Land.  That is only an historical type picturing the fulfillment of the promise, but it does relate in striking ways to what God did in the period of the Great Tribulation, which we just came through.