Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #11 of Revelation, chapter 10, and we are going to read Revelation 10:7:

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.

Now the first thing we want to take a look at is the first part of verse 7, where it says, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound.”  The important word for us to understand is the word translated as “begin.”  The Greek word translated here as “shall begin” is Strong’s #3195 and I would pronounce it as “mel-lo.”  It is also found a little earlier in this chapter, in Revelation 10:4:

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.

John had “pen to paper” and he heard the voice of God as the voice of seven thunders and when they had uttered their voice, he was “about to” write down what he heard and then God commanded that he “write them not.”  We have discussed that.  The words translated as “about to” in this verse is the same Greek word “mello.”  In Revelation 10:4 it is in the “imperfect tense,” and in Revelation 10:7, where it is translated as “shall begin,” the Greek tense is the “active subjunctive” tense.  We find this same word “mello” is translated in various ways in the Bible and we have to be careful with the “tense,” because in some instances when this word “mello” is used, according to the tense, it can be translated as “shall” or “will.”  For instance, it says in Luke 9:44:

Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.

The translation “shall be” is the Greek word “mello” that we see in verses 4 and 7 of Revelation 10.  “Shall be” and “about to” are similar, in a sense, because if you are about to do something, you shall (future) do it, so we can see the relationship. 

Let us also look at Luke 21:7:

And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?

Now, here, it is looking at the word in a different way.  They are not asking when shall these things “be about” to come to pass.  They are asking, “When will they happen?”  That word “shall” is a translation of the Greek word “mello,” again.

It is also found in Matthew 16:27:

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Where it says “the Son of man shall come,” that word “shall” is the Greek word “mello.” This is speaking of a future event that will take place.

So, as we are looking at Revelation 10:7, we would have to say that the King James translators translated this accurately when they said, “When he shall begin to sound.”  They did add the word “begin,” and it probably would be better translated, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall sound, the mystery of God should be finished.” In that statement where it says, “should be finished,” it would have been better translated “shall be finished,” as it is all “future tense.” 

We have to keep in mind that Revelation 10 is being given to us by God at the completion of the “first woe” and in the midst of the “second woe.”  The “third woe” will not come until we get to Revelation, chapter 11, in verses 14 and 15, when it says, “The second woe is past; and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded.”  The seventh angel relates to the “third woe,” and the sixth angel to the “second woe” and the fifth angel sounds at the “first woe.” 

So, it says in Revelation 10:7, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,” or, we could say, “in the days of the third woe.”  But as far as God’s writing of the Bible is concerned, God has not yet told us about the “third woe.”  The “third woe” is in the next chapter, in chapter 11.   We have understood, correctly, that all three woes as they are describing Judgment Day are occurring simultaneously; that is, the events they are speaking of are all Judgment Day.  But, as far as God giving us this information, the sounding of the seventh angel is still future.  This is within the sounding of the seventh angel and the seventh angel will not sound until Revelation 11:15, so that is why this verse is worded the way it is: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished.”

Now, let us think about this “mystery of God.”  What is this “mystery of God”?  Of course, to solve any of the Bible’s mysteries, we must find out how God uses this word in other places and allow God to define His own terms and allow the Bible to define what a “mystery” is.  God has directed us to compare spiritual with spiritual and then we come to understand doctrine.  That is a simple idea, but it seems to be impossible for some to perform; they do not follow God’s directions and they come up with their own ideas of what this “mystery of God” is.  They can come up with some elaborate scenarios.

But let us just look at what the Bible says about “mystery.”  In Matthew 13, we have the parable of sowing seed and it says in Matthew 13:10-11:

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

With this statement, Jesus is giving us huge insight into the nature of the Bible and into God’s program of sharing truth with His people and hiding truth from the rest.  Let us read that again.  The disciples asked Christ, “Why do you speak in parables?”  They asked Eternal God; they asked the Word made flesh.  Basically, Christ is speaking on behalf of the Bible, as the Bible is the Word of God and here is what God answers the disciples, as to why He speaks in parables.  He did not say, “I speak in parables to make it easier for people to understand.”  He did not say, “I will say a parable so that a complex idea can be imparted to the listener in a simple way.” 

You know, that is what theologians say.  They try to explain why Christ spoke in parables and they come up with ideas like that – it sounds good to them.  But, here, it is directly from the mouth of God as to why He speaks in parables.  Why is it that in the Book of Ezekiel it was said to Ezekiel that he spoke in parables?  Why does it say in the Book of Job, “Job continued his parable”?  Why is there a Book or Proverbs with thirty one chapters, when “proverbs” basically means “parables”?  Why do some of the Psalms speak of opening up a “dark saying,” and then God goes on to recount the history of Israel?  We could just go on and on.  Why is there a Book of Revelation that talks of beasts coming out of the sea and a dragon pursuing a woman into the wilderness, and so on?  There is so much language that cannot be literal – it must be parabolic.  Why in the four Gospel accounts, when Jesus was teaching the multitudes, did He speak in parables?  I am sure I am missing a great many things that could be added to this.

Here is the reason why He spoke in parables, as it says, it Matthew 13:11:

Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

This tells us that God will reveal the understanding of the parable to His people, but He will hold back that understanding from those that are not His people.  That is exactly what happened in the history of the church age and the history of our own experience in these days.  We see that God opens up the spiritual eyes of His people and He does not open up the eyes of others.  It is why all the churches today are adamant that the Bible must be understood in a “plain, literal” way and if there is a meaning there, do not seek another meaning.  In other words, you do not dig into a verse.  And that goes contrary to what God tells us.  We are to approach the Bible as though we are digging for gold and silver and buried treasure.  But the churches say, “No, do not dig.  Do not try to search and go deeply into anything.”  How amazingly contradictory that is to the teaching of Christ and the teaching of the Word of God.  We must work and be diligent and “study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.”  Now how much work do you have to do to read a verse and then say, “This is what it says; I believe it.”? 

Where is the study?  Where is the effort?  Maybe you have to break down the grammar a little bit and that can cost you a little effort, but is that all God is concerned about is the grammatical aspects or that you know a moral teaching and the direct teaching of that verse?  Oh, how blind and how much in darkness these churches, theologians, pastors and teachers are!  How sorrowful for those that have been “fed” these things and taught these things from the seminary professors that instruct their ministers; and then the ministers instruct their congregations and it turns into a dead church.  Of course, all churches today are dead.  God has left them and abandoned them and they do not know.  They just do not understand the treasures, the riches, and the glory in searching the Scriptures.  Remember that verse we find in Proverbs 25:2:

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

Even in this verse, God is “concealing” and it is our honor to search and, when we do, we see that God identifies believers as prophets, priests and “kings.”  He is talking to us.  And, not only that, but when we look into the Hebrew (as we should, because God often conceals things in the original language), we find that the word “thing” is “dabar.”  It is Strong’s #1697, if I remember right, and it is the Hebrew word most often translated as “word.”  Not only that, but the other English word here, “matter,” is also “dabar” and should be translated as “word.”  Therefore, when we look at this verse it says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a word: but the honor of kings (the elect) to search out a word.” 

“Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” God will reveal truth to us.  How does He do that?  First, He teaches us the methodology and the Bible is what lays down this Biblical hermeneutic and principal: “comparing scripture with scripture,” here a little, there a little.  Let us read that in Isaiah 28:9:

Whom shall he teach knowledge?

Who is “he”?  He is God.  He is the Holy Spirit.

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?

Do you want to understand doctrine?  Of course, we all want to rightly divide the Word of God, to rightly understand doctrine.  How does that happen?  Here, God is going to tell us:

…them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

We begin as “babes” when we first become saved and first begin to listen to Bible instruction.  It is necessary to learn the basics and learn the beginning principals of the Word of God, as the Book of Hebrews speaks of them.  But then it is also necessary to “grow up” and “mature” and go on to “strong meat.”  It is a tragedy that in these days after that tribulation, in this time when God has opened the Scriptures and revealed so much truth and “meat of the word” that, somehow, many have gotten it into their minds that they do not want to proceed any further in the direction of progressive revelation.  They do not want to learn anything new.  They actually want to “unlearn” some of the new things which God had graciously opened up to their understanding, and they want to go back to the basic principals of the Bible: “Just Christ and Him crucified.  Let us just keep it on very simple ground.”  Is that good?  It means they want to go back to the “milk of the word,” and they want to be a “babe” again. 

You cannot do that.  You cannot do that spiritually, any more than you can do that physically.  You had progressed and moved on from that stage.  If a 50-year-old man just wants to drink baby’s milk all day, there is something wrong with him; he should have gotten over that when he matured.  Now it is necessary for him to eat “strong meat,” so God says, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.”  Here is how you move on.  Here is how you grow in the Scriptures and then God gives the methodology in Isaiah 28:10:

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

Read it and say it aloud.  Please do say it aloud to yourself: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”  Each step is repeated and doubled because it almost sounds “laborious” to read the verse and that is because to “move on” and to grow and to get to the “meat” of the Word of God will take effort and it will be a result of diligent study in the Word of God.  We have to read it.  We have to look up each word.  We have to follow where that word takes us in the Bible.  We have to pray for wisdom and pray for God’s blessing and ask for His help. 

For instance, if any one of us (and I have not done this) have said, “I always wondered what Isaiah, chapter 28, means, and there are twenty eight verses in that chapter.   I am going to dig into Isaiah 28.”  So you go to verse 1 and you look up the first word and maybe you spend a half hour on that.  You look up the second word and that is found more often in the Bible, and you have to spend an hour and a half on that, and so forth, through verse 1 (which has many words in it).  At the end of that verse, you may still be puzzled and confused and you really do not understand what it is saying.  So you just keep praying and maybe the next day you go back to it.  Normally, over the course of time, what happens is that when we follow God’s way of coming to truth, suddenly the light will dawn and we say, “Oh, this is what this verse is saying.”  It does not just happen because we read it in our English Bible and maybe we read it two, three or four times, but it happens when we dig into it and immerse ourselves in it, eventually (if it is God’s will), we come to a right understanding of it and one little “mystery” of one verse will have been revealed.  It has been given to us, because God is the one (even after all our efforts in putting in the work to come to that knowledge) that opens up our eyes to behold any truth that is hidden in His Word.  Therefore, it is always a gift.  It is always “given to you” and to me to know the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”