Revelation Lecture 13 November 8, 2026

TAKE THE SCROLL AND EAT IT

Revelation 10:1-11

Key Verse 10:9

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’”

Some of us attended Mother Barry’s Homecoming Ceremony in Chicago yesterday. The service lasted about two hours. It was so meaningful and beautiful, just like her life. If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to watch the recording. Her life key verse was John 12:24: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” She lived by these words. She was like a kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies. And God kept his promise. God made her life bear abundant fruit.

Shall we read today’s message title together? “Take the Scroll and eat it!” Today’s passage shows us a mighty angel holding a little scroll. The Greek word for “scroll” is biblion. Our English word “Bible” comes from this. We can understand the little scroll as a symbol of God’s word. The mighty angel who was holding God’s word planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. It means that God’s word has authority over all creation, both on land and in the sea. Later, a voice from heaven told him, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” God wanted John to take the scroll. And John obeyed. He went to the angel and asked him to give him the little scroll. What did the angel say? “Take it and eat it.” The angel told John to take the scroll—and then eat it! What does it mean to eat a scroll?

When I was in high school in Korea, I heard that some people actually ate pages from an English dictionary! Have you heard that story? Those of you who went to school here in America may be thinking, “What? Why would anyone eat a dictionary?” Well, they would memorize all the English words on one page. Then they would tear out that page and eat it. It was their way of saying, “I’ve learned these words, and I’m never going to forget them!” Now, I never saw anyone do this. So I don’t know if it really happened. But those of you around my age or older who studied in Korea have probably heard the same story. Whether it happened or not, the point is that they worked very hard to learn English. So, what does it mean to “eat the scroll”? It’s a figure of speech. Just as we chew our food and digest it, we need to take in God’s word. We think deeply about it. We receive it into our hearts. And we put it into practice until it becomes part of our lives.

We all enjoy good food, don’t we? What’s your favorite food? Some of you love a good steak. Others prefer lobster, Spanish paella, or Italian pasta. Maybe you enjoy Japanese food, Thai food, Chinese food, or Korean barbecue. But taste isn’t everything. We need food that nourishes our bodies. Junk food may taste great, but we can’t live on it. And how we eat matters too. We need to slow down and chew our food well. Think about an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurant with a ninety-minute time limit. How do we eat there? We keep an eye on the clock and eat as much as we can, as fast as we can. But what about a fine restaurant that serves a really good steak? You want to take your time, don’t you? You take small bites, chew slowly, and enjoy the flavor. Even the finest steak needs to be chewed. If we rush and swallow big pieces, we may end up with an upset stomach. What happens after we chew our food and swallow it? It goes into our stomach. There, the stomach mixes the food with digestive juices to help break it down, especially the proteins. Then the food moves into the small intestine, where digestion continues. Most of the nutrients are absorbed there and carried to different parts of our body. Our body uses those nutrients to make blood cells, strengthen our bones, repair tissues, and give us energy. The food we eat becomes part of us. It nourishes us and helps keep us healthy.

The Bible sometimes compares God’s word to food. When the Israelites were in the wilderness, God provided manna for them to eat. Every morning, they gathered what they needed. On the sixth day, they gathered enough for two days so they could rest on the Sabbath. For forty years, God used this daily bread to teach them to trust him and obey his word. Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Just as food nourishes our bodies, God’s word nourishes our souls. Through his word, God teaches us, trains us, and helps us grow spiritually. So, how do we actually eat God’s word in our daily lives?

There is a way of reading and meditating on God’s word called Lectio Divina, which means “divine reading.” It grew out of the early church’s love for God’s word and developed further in medieval monasteries. Eugene Peterson, an American Presbyterian pastor and writer on Christian spirituality, introduces this practice in his book Eat This Book. His concern is simple: We read the Bible, but how do we read it? How do we take it into our hearts and let it shape our lives? Lectio Divina has four parts. The Latin names may sound unfamiliar, but the ideas are simple. First, Lectio (Reading): We read the text. Second, Meditatio (Meditation): We meditate on the text. Third, Oratio (Prayer): We pray the text. Fourth, Contemplatio (Contemplation): We live the text. Now, let me explain these four parts of Lectio Divina.

First, Lectio—reading. When we open the Bible, we need to remember what we are reading. This is God’s word. Through his word, God reveals himself. He creates, saves, and blesses. So we need to approach his words with reverence and care. Today, getting a Bible is easy. We can buy one in a bookstore or download a free Bible app on our phone. What a blessing! But because the Bible is so easy to get, we can forget how precious it is. It wasn’t always this way. Before the printing press, Bibles had to be copied by hand. They were expensive, and few people owned one. In medieval Western Europe, the Bible was mainly available in Latin, which most ordinary people could not read.

Do you know how the English Bible we read today came to us? William Tyndale, a sixteenth-century English scholar and Bible translator, wanted English-speaking people to read God’s word in their own language. He translated the New Testament directly from Greek into English. It was published in 1526. But he faced fierce opposition. He was eventually tried for heresy and executed in 1536. He was strangled, and then his body was burned. His translation later shaped much of the King James Bible. The English Bible we read today came to us through the costly sacrifices of people like Tyndale. Even in modern times, people have risked their lives to own and read a Bible. The U.S. State Department’s 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom recounts a reported case in North Korea. A member of the ruling Workers’ Party was arrested for possessing a Bible and executed in front of about three thousand residents.

Why would anyone risk their life to read the Bible? What makes this book so precious? It is God’s word. Through it, we meet Jesus and learn how to be saved. It teaches us what is true and shows us how to live. When our hearts are broken, God’s word comforts us. When we are afraid, it gives us courage. When we are grieving, it gives us hope and joy. So when we open the Bible, we are opening a treasure more precious than anything this world can offer. Let’s remember that as we read. Before we begin, let’s pause and prepare our hearts. We can pray, “Lord, help me hear your voice.” Then let’s read slowly and carefully, ready to listen to what God is saying to us.

Second, Meditatio—meditation. We slow down and think deeply about what God is speaking to us. Meditation helps us engage with Scripture personally. We enter into the passage and consider how it speaks to our lives. We return to it again and again. Think about a cow chewing its cud. It brings its food back up and chews it again. This may sound unpleasant, but it gives us an important lesson. We keep returning to God’s word. We think about it, turn it over in our minds, and let it sink deeply into our hearts. Psalm 1 describes a person who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. For this person, God’s word is a source of joy.

But let’s be honest. Meditation isn’t easy, is it? Actually, we have no trouble thinking about the things we love. When someone falls in love, they think about their boyfriend or girlfriend day and night. When someone wants to make money, they think about how to make more money day and night. But when we open the Bible, sometimes we don’t understand what we’re reading. We try to meditate, but we get distracted. We think about everything else. Some people even read the bible to help them fall asleep! They lie in bed, tossing and turning. But the moment they open their Bible, they fall asleep! We struggle to go deeper into God’s word. I experienced this myself. Soon after I met Jesus, I tried to meditate on God’s word. I would read the Daily Bread passage, close my eyes, and think about what I had read. But almost immediately, other thoughts would come into my mind. I couldn’t even stay focused for five minutes! This bothered me. I wanted to know God’s word more deeply. So I kept practicing. Little by little, five minutes became ten minutes. Then I could spend thirty minutes, and even an hour, meditating on God’s word.

Meditation takes practice. We need to learn how to slow down and focus on God’s word. So, where do we begin? Read the passage several times. Don’t rush. Think about the people in the passage. What are they going through? What does God say to them? Look for commands to obey and promises to trust. Read what comes before and after the passage to understand the context. Pay attention to repeated words and important ideas. As you do this, give yourself time to think about what God is saying.

One method that helps me is inductive Bible study. It has three parts: observation, interpretation, and application. “What does this passage say?” “What does it mean?” And “how can I put it into practice?” We are studying Revelation these days. I know many of you find it challenging. Sometimes you may wonder, “What does all this mean?” I have questions too. But each week, as I study and meditate on the passage, I discover something new. The more I understand God’s word, the more joy I find in it.

One day, I asked a high school student, “Do you understand the Sunday messages on Revelation?” He said, “They’re challenging. But I take notes while I listen, and that helps me understand better.” I was surprised and so happy to hear that. Taking notes is a simple way to stay focused and think more carefully about God’s word. You can try this when you read the Bible. If a passage is hard to understand, read it again and again, and write down your thoughts. You may notice something you missed before. You may listen to God’s voice through meditation.

Third, Oratio—prayer. The Bible is God’s revelation to us. Therefore, we need the Holy Spirit to help us understand it and take it to heart. That’s why we pray before we read, while we read, and after we read. We ask, “Holy Spirit, help me understand what you are saying. Open my heart to receive your word. And help me put it into practice.” Without prayer, it is impossible to receive God’s word into our hearts. I experience this as I prepare for Bible studies and Sunday messages each week. When I begin studying a new passage, it often doesn’t speak deeply to my heart right away. I read the words, but I’m still trying to understand them. But as I keep reading and praying, God speaks to me and helps me to understand his word. God often speaks to me through his word during early morning prayer. He gives me fresh insight and encouragement. One night last week, I took some cold medicine before going to bed. The next morning, I had a hard time getting up. I felt so tired that I wanted to skip early morning prayer. But I sensed God prompting me, “Get up, pray, and meditate on my word.” So I dragged myself out of bed and went to church to pray. And God met me there with such grace. As I read the passage, he spoke to me through his words and answered my prayers. My heart was filled with joy. That’s why prayer is an essential part of eating God’s word. As we read, meditate, and pray, the Holy Spirit helps us take his word deeply into our hearts. Through it, he helps us grow spiritually and bear fruit.

Fourth, Contemplatio—contemplation. In Lectio Divina, contemplation means living out God’s word. As we read, meditate, and pray, we carry God’s word into our everyday lives. We repent and obey what he says. Then God transforms our lives. God shapes our character, our thoughts, and our choices. Putting God’s word into practice is essential for our spiritual growth. Otherwise, we may know more and more about the Bible while growing weaker spiritually. Imagine your head getting bigger and bigger while the rest of your body never grows. Would you want to look like E.T.? He’s a friendly alien, and many people love him. But I don’t think any of us would want to look like him! That picture reminds us that our knowledge and our obedience need to grow together. Knowing more about the Bible doesn’t automatically make us spiritually mature. We need to put it into practice. So let’s use God’s word to examine every part of our lives. What attitudes need to change? What sins do we need to confess? What is God calling us to do? With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can repent, obey, and become more like Jesus.

Look at verse 10. “I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.” God’s word tasted as sweet as honey in John’s mouth. But why did it turn sour in his stomach? Here, “sour” means that his stomach became upset. The Greek word literally means “bitter.” God’s message brought John joy, but it also brought pain. It included the painful reality of judgment and the difficult task of proclaiming it. We find joy in God’s love and promises. But his word also exposes our sin. It calls us to repent and change the way we live. And change can be painful. We may struggle to let go of our pride, our habits, or our own way of doing things. We know what God is saying, but part of us wants to resist. That struggle is a normal part of spiritual growth. When it comes, we need to keep praying, trust God, and obey his word. As we do, God changes us and helps us become mature Christians.

Now God gives John his commission once again. Look at verse 11. “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” What does it mean to prophesy? It means to receive God’s message and faithfully share it with others. But why does God tell John to proclaim his message? Wouldn’t it be more effective if God spoke directly to everyone? God wants us to take part in his work of salvation. He chooses to work through ordinary people like us. Preaching may seem foolish to the world, but God uses it to bring people to faith in Jesus. What a privilege it is to be part of his work! Romans 10:14–15 says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

At Mother Barry’s Homecoming Ceremony yesterday, I reflected on three precious things she left us through her life.

First, her love for God’s word. Mother Barry never stopped studying and teaching the Bible. Through her Bible teaching, many people came to know Jesus, received his saving grace, and grew into men and women of God. I remember visiting her in Chicago. Whenever I visited, she would teach me the Bible. As she grew older, I sometimes had trouble understanding what she was saying. But even in her nineties, she continued to study and teach God’s word with such care and devotion.

Second, her life of prayer. Many people came to her with their problems and asked for help. Rather than immediately offering a solution, she would say, “Let’s pray about that.” Then she would pray with them. She would get up early in the morning, receive God’s word through Daily Bread, and pray. People often visited her without an appointment. But no one left without praying with her.

Third, her passion for mission. After meeting Jesus as her Savior, she went to Korea to share the gospel. She was only twenty-five years old, and Korea had been devastated by war. She lived in a room barely big enough to lie down in. She had no bed, so she slept on bedding spread out on the floor. She ate kimchi and lived alongside the Korean people, sharing their way of life. Many were moved by her simple and humble life and came to faith in Jesus. One student was excited when this American missionary invited him to a meal. He was expecting delicious American food! But what did Mother Barry serve him? Korean soybean paste soup! He was disappointed with the meal, but he was deeply moved by the way she lived. And he came to receive Jesus.

Mother Barry remained single throughout her life and devoted herself to mission. God blessed her life and made it bear abundant fruit. Yesterday, more than eight hundred people came from around the world to remember her life. Numerous people joined the service on YouTube. What a beautiful life she lived—a life of loving God’s word, praying faithfully, and sharing the gospel. What kind of life do you want to live? When your life on earth is over, how do you want people to remember you? I believe that as we receive God’s word, live by it, and share it with others, God will bless our lives and make them fruitful.