The same voice that forbade John to write what the seven
peals of thunder spoke, now commands him to take the open
book or scroll from the hand of the angel. John takes the
book, and then the angel commands him to eat the book that
will be bitter to his stomach, but sweet in his mouth. It
will give him heartburn, but it will be sweet to the taste.
What is the point of this? Eating is often a picture of
learning and assimilating the word of God (Ezekiel 2:9-10;
3:1-4, 14; Jeremiah 15:15-18). The opened book undoubtedly
contained prophetic truth and revelations from God. As a
book already opened it could have contained Old Testament
truth, but it also could well have contained new revelation
that John was about to write as contained in the rest of
Revelation regarding the subjects mentioned in verse 11.
In verse 10 John obeys the angel, and as the angel said, it
was sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach. However,
as he pondered and reflected on the nature of this
revelation the message of the book became bitter in his
stomach.
Likewise today, we are invited to come to the Word of God
and feed on its truth. As we study the Word of God and the
nature of our times we become more confident that the return
of the Lord draws ever nearer and in this we rejoice, but
these are days of increasing spiritual darkness, rebellion
and apostasy. This saddens the heart and greatly increases
the burdens and pressures of life. It causes bitterness of
soul.
