“And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.”
So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, 'Take it, and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey' — the angel grants the scroll with a paradoxical promise: sweet in the mouth (glukus, delightful taste) but bitter in the belly (pikros, causing nausea). This mirrors Ezekiel 2:10, 3:3, where the prophet eats the scroll; the sweetness-and-bitterness reflects the dual nature of God's word: comfort to the faithful, judgment to the wicked.
Church Fathers on Revelation 10:9
“Seven thunders uttered their voices.” The seven thunders uttering their voices signify the Holy Spirit of sevenfold power, who through the prophets announced all things to come, and by His voice John gave his testimony in the world; but because he says that he was about to write the things which the thunders had uttered, that is, whatever things had been obscure in the announcements of the Old Testament; he is forbidden to write them, but he was charged to leave them sealed,…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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