Do you think the "mighty angel" in Revelation 10 is Jesus, and could this take place when the Sixth Seal is opened?


Email Received:

While reading Revelation Chapter 10, I really focused in on the "mighty angel" holding the little scroll and talking to John. I am convinced that this "Angel" is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. For one, God will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8), and we see this "Angel"--i.e., the Angel of the Lord, clothed with the glory of God in multiple ways. He has the rainbow around his head, which is the radiance of the divine glory in Ezekiel 1:28. He gives a great shout (as in 1 Thessalonians 4:16) like the roar of a Lion--i.e., the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

These things may be the source of the great earthquake that shakes the whole Earth after the Sixth Seal is opened (Revelation 6:12). So it seems to me that Revelation Chapter 10 is part of the whole event of the Sixth Seal, including the appearance of Jesus and the Rapture, and is what we will see when he comes for us.

Also, I remembered that when Christ was dying on the cross, he gave a great shout just before dying, then there was an earthquake--rocks were split and saints were resurrected (Matthew 27:51-53). This could be a foreshadowing pattern for how the rapture/resurrection will happen as well: Christ shouts, earthquake, resurrection. Please let me know your thoughts on this.


Ted's Response:

I agree that the "mighty angel" in Revelation 10 is Jesus, the Angel of the Lord. I talk about this in a mighty angel section in Part 2 of my Chronology of Revelation commentary. I also talk more about it, and include some of the things you mentioned, in a mighty angel section of Chapter 8 in an online book that I wrote in the 1990s.

However, I do not see the vision of Jesus in Revelation 10 as being the same as His appearance in the sky when the Sixth Seal is opened. Revelation 10:7 says that this appearance is just before the seventh angel sounds his trumpet. At the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet is when Jesus will return to earth, His Kingdom will come to the world, and He will begin to reign (Revelation 11:15,17).

Indeed, just before the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet, there will be a severe earthquake (Revelation 11:13). This time, Jesus' demeanor certainly will be more like a lion than a lamb (10:3), as He will be about to go into battle (19:15). Perhaps His shout like the roar of a lion (10:3) will be His command to the two witnesses to "come up here" after they have been resurrected (11:12), resulting in the severe earthquake.

Following the Seventh Trumpet judgment, a voice warns of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the final three angels. These are the trumpet blasts of the fifth angel (Revelation 9:1), the sixth angel (9:13), and the seventh angel (10:7, 11:15).

Incidentally, the Seventh Trumpet of Revelation 11:15 is not the same as the "last trumpet" of 1 Corinthians 15:52, nor the "trumpet call" or "loud shout" of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, all of which are associated with the Pre-wrath Rapture event that will take place on the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh haShanah). The latter event will happen soon after the great earthquake and cosmic disturbances that occur in conjunction with the opening of the Sixth Seal (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24,25; Revelation 6:12,13).

Rather than being the "last trumpet," the Seventh Trumpet will be the great trumpet (Isaiah 27:13), which will be blown at the return of Jesus back to earth. It will be on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) that this trumpet is sounded (Leviticus 25:9). More details about this can be found in two other email responses I have written:

According to Revelation 10:7, the “mystery of God” will be accomplished when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet. More about this can be found in this email response:

As noted in my Brief Chronology of Revelation, I believe that there is a continuous chronological sequence from Revelation 6:1 through 10:7. Then John is told that he is to prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings (10:11). After this, John returns to the beginning of the final 42 months or 1,263½ days (11:2,3,11), which ends with the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet and the return of Jesus to earth to rule and reign (11:15,17).


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