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 and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And 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 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
The eating of the little book borrows its symbolism from Jeremiah 15:16 and Ezekiel 3:1- 3. The significance of this is that the gospel is glorious and sweet in itself, as it is received, but when it is proclaimed it is bitter for both the believer and for the world, and is ever followed by bitter persecution. This pattern is surely borne out in the Acts of the Apostles, where resurrection joy and power were ever accompanied by bitter persecution and tribulation. The Word is quick and powerful, and wherever it is proclaimed there will inevitably be reactions both of acceptance and rejection, concurrence and antagonism. This then is some indication of what our experience will be, and must be, in the witness we bear to Christ and His gospel. Jesus said, 'Woe unto you when all men speak well of you', and this is where the temptation lies, for pulpit and pew alike. The danger of compromise for the sake of peace and for the avoidance of unpleasantness is a very real one in the Christian life, but the Christian is committed to faithfulness, whatever the cost in terms either of embarrassment or the risk of social ostracism, or of active and bitter antagonism and persecution at home, at work or among one's friends. Nothing is surer, according to this word, than that if we bear true testimony and, as we must (11) prophesy faithfully, we shall encounter this kind of bitterness. Just how deep and radical and extreme it can be, and will yet be for God's people on earth, will, be seen in the next chapter, to which we turn tomorrow.