Revelation 9:1-10:11
Yeah, I’m a numbers person – and Revelation is full of numbers. Initially we see seven seals, then seven trumpets and three woes within those seven trumpets, then later we’ll get seven bowls. But there are other unnamed numbers, four sets of which we find in today’s reading: three plagues on mankind – fire, smoke, and sulfur; five kinds of materials for making idols – gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood; four unrepentant activities – murders, sorceries, sexual immorality, and thefts; and three creations – heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it.
And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. (v. 10:10) This sounds so much like sin. The temptation is so attractive, so sweet, but the regret, the hurt is bitterness to the soul. Too true.