Prophecy & Bitterness

Psalm 19 compares God’s Word to honey, saying that the Scriptures are “sweeter … than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” Sweetness adds pleasure to our eating, so to say that the Scriptures are sweet is at least to say that they provide pleasure to God’s people. In what way does the Scripture delight? We take pleasure in the Scriptures as God’s self-revelation. What should bring more delight to God’s people than their Lord revealing Himself? Still, despite the pleasure God’s Word brings, not all of Scripture is as clearly delightful. All Scripture reveals God in some way, but some passages make us uncomfortable, confront our sin, or emphasize countercultural ideas. Do these passages still delight? They certainly do when we revel in God’s revelation of Himself and His plan, but they can also provide some bitterness as we digest the realities that they expose. John experienced this juxtaposition in Revelation 10. As a mighty angel handed him a scroll, John ate it. The taste of the scroll was sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach. This emphasizes that what is to come in the rest of Revelation provides a measure of pleasure: Namely that God is revealing Himself; He is bringing justice to the martyrs; and He is revealing the future. However, the reality of the amount of death that would come, the refusal of the world to repent, and the harshness of God’s wrath against sin are not quite as pleasant as we might like. It is in moments like this that we must remind ourselves that even the most bitter aspects of God’s Word are still God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. So let’s take the sweet and the bitter together and rejoice that the one true God has revealed Himself to us in His Word. –Pastor Rory

Sunday at Liberty

9AM: How to Study the Bible–Interpreting Poetry

10AM: Pastor Nate Wagner–Prophecy & Bitterness–Revelation 10:1-11 (sermon notes)

6:00PM: End of the Age–Daniel 12

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