Scroll eating. Sweet. Then bitter. The book called Revelation is full of symbols and metaphors. But I love symbols and metaphors. John records what he sees and what he hears in the day of the Lord. (I think it’s more in the day of the Lord – when Christ returns – rather than on a Sunday — the Greek word en means either in or on. But it could mean both.) The book is a type of literature called apocalypse — a Greek word which means revealing divine mysteries.
In chapter 10, an angel is standing with his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the land, holding in his hand a little scroll that is open (unrolled). The voice from heaven tells John to take the little scroll. So John goes up to the angel and says, “give me the little scroll.”
and he [the angel] said to me, ‘Take it, and eat it.’ It will be bitter to your stomach, but it will be sweet like honey in your mouth.’
And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it, and it was sweet like honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, it was bitter in my stomach. (Rev 10, Thomas Wayment translation)
This applied to John’s calling as a prophet — that it was sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his belly.
Q. What are we to understand by the little book which was eaten by John, as mentioned in the 10th chapter of Revelation?
A. We are to understand that it was a mission, and an ordinance, for him to gather the tribes of Israel; behold, this is Elias, who, as it is written, must come and restore all things. (D&C 77:14)
The act of taking the scroll and eating it was symbolic of John’s mission and an ordinance. Kind of interesting.
So many things in life carry this idea of accepting a sweet mission which is difficult. I can think of a number of sweet/bitter experiences — the anticipation of having a child was very sweet, but pregnancy was a very bitter pill for me. In fact the Greek word for bitter can also be poisonous. Yea, I barfed like I had been poisoned. My mom barfed, my sisters barfed, my daughter barfed.
For John, eating the scroll was symbolic of accepting a prophetic call. Ezekiel records a similar experience:
Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. (Ezekiel 3:3)
