ANGELS- CLOTHED IN A CLOUD

An angel clothed in a cloud appears to St. John the Divine in his
vision of the end of the world as reported in Rev. 10:1–10:
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven.
He was wrapped in a cloud, with the rainbow round his head;
his face shone like the sun and his legs were like pillars of fire.
In his hand he held a little scroll unrolled. His right foot he
planted on the sea, and his left on the land. Then he gave a
great shout, like the roar of a lion; and when he shouted, the
seven thunders spoke. I was about to write down what the
seven thunders had said; but I heard a voice from heaven saying,
“Seal up what the seven thunders have said; do not write
it down.” Then the angel that I saw standing on the sea and
the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him
who lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and earth
and the sea and everything in them: “There shall be no more
delay; but when the time comes for the seventh angel to
sound his trumpet, the hidden purpose of God will have been
fulfilled, as he promised to his servants the prophets.”
Then the voice which I heard from heaven was speaking to
me again, and it said, “Go and take the open scroll in the
hand of the angel that stands on the sea and the land.” 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, although in your mouth it will taste sweet as honey.” So,
I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and in
my mouth it did taste sweet as honey; but when I swallowed it
my stomach turned sour.
Chapter 10 of Revelation is part of a longer interruption in the
discussion of the seven trumpets signaling the end time. The sixth
trumpet has already been sounded, but the seventh angel with the seventh
trumpet, signaling the advent of the anti-Christ, has yet to
appear. There was also a delay before the opening of the seventh seal
in chapter 5. Some commentators have suggested this signifies that
God is for some reason delaying final judgment.
This interlude begins with a description of “another mighty
angel” coming down from heaven. The purpose of the angel seems to
be to announce the “seven thunders” (the number seven probably
derived its sacred character from the seven visible planets). After the
seven thunders utter their prophecies, John is about to record their
message when he is commanded by a loud voice from heaven to “seal
up what the seven thunders have said; do not write it down.”
The specific identification of the seven thunders and why John
was directed not to record their message are highly debated. According
to James M. Efird, the best conjecture seems to be that the thunders
represent another cycle of judgment. He states that all numbers
in Revelation are cycles of judgment and that had these thunders been
enumerated they would have been essentially the same as the seven
seals and the seven trumpets. Efird believes they are not recorded
because “in apocalyptic literature there is almost always found the
teaching that God shortens the time of suffering for the sake of the
elect” (See Mark 13:20). Describing yet another cycle of judgment
would thus have indicated a longer period before the end of Christian
persecution. If the thunders were not recorded, they would not come
to pass and the day would draw nearer when the seventh angel blows
his trumpet and God’s hidden purpose is fulfilled.
John is next told to take the scroll from the angel arrayed with a
cloud and eat it in a scene reminiscent of one in the book of Ezekiel
(2:3–8). This passage perhaps symbolizes the need for John to thoroughly
digest the scroll’s contents before revealing the predictions.
God’s message is sweet in his mouth as one of the elect, but the message
he must deliver to those who refuse God is bitter.