The hard road of being a prophet
Revelation 10:5-11
5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: ‘There will be no more delay, 7 but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.’
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, ‘Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.’ 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, ‘Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.’ 10 So 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.
11 Then they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.’
To be a prophet of God is a holy calling, but a difficult one. Three of the challenges are presented in this passage. Notice the angel says (vs. 6): “there will be no more delay.” A question every prophet faces is: “When will the words you have spoken come true?” Human timelines and God’s timelines are rarely the same. Prophets need to be patient, willing to be ridiculed that the words they have spoken have not yet been fulfilled. The prophet may even come to doubt they have heard correctly, even prophets can wonder if the words they were given to speak were true.
John is told to eat the scroll – I take the scroll to be a metaphor for God’s word, God’s message – which when John eats the scroll will be in him, will be part of him. The scroll was sweet in the mouth and sat heavy on the stomach. Speaking the word of God is a joy, the adrenaline flows, the excitement is high. But then the meaning of the words, the warning they sound, begins to weigh heavy on the prophet. Jeremiah wept over what the words he spoke would mean to the people of Israel as they came to pass. The prophet stands among those being prophesied to, and the prophet feels the pain of the words. The pain feels like a bitterness in the stomach.
Only God ends the calling of the prophet. John is told that he will prophesy more, his job is not done. Even when the prophet is laughed at and the burden becomes bitter, the call to be a prophet is not lifted. God’s call is to be lived out until the call is changed.
The church is called to discern the true prophets from the false prophets, and to pray that the true prophets remain faithful to their calling even in difficult circumstances.
PRAYER:
O Lord, give us discernment that we would recognize the true prophets you have placed among us. Give your prophets the courage to remain faithful to their calling even though the road of being a prophet is hard and the way is narrow. In Jesus’ name. Amen.