November 6: THE JOY AND REJOICING OF MY HEART (part 1)

…but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” Revelation 10:7-8 NKJV

It seems peculiar that the book which was sealed, and then opened to John – which prompted him to write – was accompanied by the command: “do not write” (v.4). What? The book is opened up for a little bit only to be sealed again? What’s going on here? John heard the same voice that told him not to write, speaking again. The instruction was: take the little book which is open…  So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” (v.9) Now we know that the reason John was told not to write was because the message was already written: it was the book of Daniel. What does it mean to eat it? Jeremiah tells us: Your words were found and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts (Jeremiah 15:16). God’s people are called to eat – consume – His word; to know it. Not just to store in the brain, but to assimilate it within the heart: to actually live it! To make it part of who you are! This is what God is calling us to do. His people are to live this message all the way up to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

John continues: Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter (Revelation 10:10). This describes the experience of the Millerite movement in the early 1800s. They ate the book of Daniel, studying every detail of it, including – especially – all of the prophecies. They understood the history, amazed at the accuracies in every detail regarding the rise and fall of the successive kingdoms under the omnipotent, omniscient providence of God. They spent a lot of time examining the longest time prophecy, the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8:14. It specified the cleansing of the sanctuary at a certain time (1844), which was in the very near future at the time! But they had mistakenly latched on to the common belief that the sanctuary symbolized the earth.

The model sanctuary built by Moses included an outer court. The truth is, only the outer court represented the earth. It contained the altar of sacrifice symbolizing the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And it contained the laver of washing which symbolizes believer’s baptism. These two aspects of salvation are indeed earthly occurrences. Then the Lord ascended into heaven to continue His ministry on our behalf as our High Priest. After the Great Disappointment of 1844, many fell away. But others continued the study of God’s word, which revealed that there is a real sanctuary in heaven! And Jesus ministers there for His people!

So, what happened in 1844?

Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. Hebrews 8:1-2