“Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. And in his hand was a small scroll that had been opened. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.” Revelation 10:1-2
This is another unique angel, a powerful warrior. He also comes with revelation – to give us insight, to help us to make wise decisions. The rainbow is a sign given to remember the covenant God made, to Noah and his sons, that He would never again destroy the world with water.
God is going to bring destruction with fire. “See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke. The Lord will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth, and many will be killed by him.” (Isaiah 66:15-16) Fire refines. God wants to bring refinement and purity into His creation. “Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
Prophetically, the sea is seen as turbulent, ever changing. The land is seen as that which is stable or consistent. What this angel is doing here, by planting a foot in the sea and a foot on the land, is to bring the two together. The chaos in the sea is going to also visit the land. The message was to be sealed until later. Imagine a message that exceeds the terror and blood of all that had already previously been spoken. Or if that was not the case, imagine a message that was so tremendously powerful it needed to be sealed from our tender brains until the moment they would be spoken during the Tribulation.
Prophecy is supposed to motivate us to witness, and yet the reality of the judgments of souls in rebellion to God is omitted from the message of the Good News. How terrible that it’s omitted so often these days, when the days are coming that many will be living it!