Revelation 10:1-3
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring.
I often talk about the first question I got wrong on a college test while training for ministry almost 15 years ago. Who is the central character in the Old Testament? I think I absentmindedly said Moses but it is Jesus. I immediately knew why that was true but time and again since, I have seen how the Bible is one story about Jesus. Lately, while studying Revelation, I have been learning how often the last book in the Bible takes us back to the first books.
Come to Cape Community Church tomorrow and see how John’s vision here is filled with Old Testament imagery. The pillar of fire and of cloud from Exodus 14 come to mind from the description of the mighty angel. The rainbow over his head takes us back to the Genesis 9 as the sign of the covenant with Noah. The seal on the forehead of the saved in chapter 9 is there only because of the sign of the New Covenant, the blood of the Lamb that was slain, Jesus Christ. Come and see that these visions of mighty angels are scary only for those who are not sealed by the sign.
O Heavenly Father, we bow to your great and mighty wonders and signs. We worship the Lamb who was slain, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.