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 forever 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.
A second interpretation of the phrase, 'time no longer' is that it refers to the fact that there will be 'no longer delay'. This is in answer to the cry from beneath the altar of God (6:9) when the saints were crying, 'How long, O Lord...'. They were told to bide their time 'for a little season', but now, the angel of God comes and says, 'There will be no longer any delay. Finally, God's word will come. The last trumpet shall be blown, and the judgment ushered in'. Now, in relation to the general purport of the vision, and its meaning as referring to the work and witness of the Church, this is of decisive importance. For it tells us that our work is to be done in the solemn light of eternity, and against the background of a great urgency. It stands written in the Word of God that a day will come, we know not how soon - this is probably the meaning of the thunders in 4 which John was forbidden to disclose in his book - when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, and since this is so, all our gospel work and all our Christian testimony are done in a race against time. The time is short. There is no time for procrastination or delay in the things of the gospel. 'Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.' The full force of this urgency is seen in the next chapter, which speaks of a time when organised religion as such will no longer be possible. In a very particular and special sense therefore the time may be short for us who live in the latter days, and already the ominous signs are abroad in the world, of conditions in some lands which no longer permit the open confession of Christ or the gathering together for worship. Of this there will be more to be said in subsequent Notes.