10 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. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on 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, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
We should be careful to notice the descriptions given of the angel - the rainbow, the cloud, the pillars of fire (1). This imagery certainly owes a great deal to the Old Testament. It is impossible to think of the rainbow without remembering that in Genesis it is the sign of God's covenant, impossible to think of pillars of fire without the associations of the wilder- ness wanderings of God's ancient people. The significance is this: the dark storm clouds are over the world, the world has gone mad and is writhing in a hopeless frenzy, but there is a covenant God in control of history and He will guide His people through. That was God's message to John on the lonely Isle of Patmos. Above all the turmoil and strife, there is a mighty Word from the living God, a word from on high, a sure word that can resolve all the conflicts of time and lead men into peace. We sometimes sing
Thou Whose almighty Word
Chaos and darkness heard
And took their flight...
That is the word that controls the world.
It keeps in check the violence of evil men. There is a limit beyond which that violence may not pass. All the power that evil men exercise is power that is given to them. And in the end that word will speak again and usher in the new heavens and the new earth out of chaos and darkness of this sin-cursed existence of ours. How it must have gladdened John's heart to be reminded so beautifully and reassuringly of the covenant, and what trains of thought rich in hallowed association must have been started in his mind! And have we not also found that this is how He speaks to us - a momentary gleam of light, and a whole world of spiritual awareness opens up before us.