Bittersweet

“Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter.  And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” Revelation 10,8-11(NKJV)

The first time I encountered this passage, it left me wondering about this word “bitter”.

My assumption was that anything from God should be good and “bitter” to me sounded negative.

But I got to understand.

Here, the word “bitter” is in the context of taste; same as the word “sweet”. Some translations like the New Living Translation (NLT), use the word “sour” for bitter. The little book is a representation of the Word of God.

As someone eats the Word of God, it is sweet in the mouth but becomes sour or bitter in the stomach.

Eating the Word of God is not just reading the Scriptures or listening to a good sermon, but it is remembering what one read, what one learned from the sermon and thinking about it. The word tastes sweet: it is received with joy. But as the word gets into the system, unpleasantness is felt within. Yes, the Word of God is that powerful.

And after eating, the angel told John what he must do.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.  

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Matthew 16,24-28 (NKJV)

Jesus describes the cost of following Him: deny yourself and take up your cross. It means putting down your own will and taking up God’s will even when it hurts. That’s what Jesus did, He prayed to the Father: “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Luke 22,42 NLT)

God’s will was to save humanity, but this will involved the suffering of Jesus. The ultimate purpose of God was not to make Jesus suffer, but to save the world. It never ends with suffering, it ends with glory.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2,5-11(NKJV)

The opposite of this is no good at all! Jesus warns: "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 16,25)

The literal translation of King James Version uses the word 'shall' for 'will': shall lose it and shall find it. This signifies that it's a principle: a principle is an undisputable truth; one that says 'believe it or not, it is what it is'.

It’s like when Jesus said: “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 14,11 KJV). Sooner or later, the man is abased or exalted.

Child of God, when you begin to feel ‘the sourness in your stomach’, remember that your sacrifice is an act of worship, it’s an act of love towards God. We love Him because He first loved us. We give our lives because He first gave His own. And because He is worthy of it all.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7,13-14 (NKJV)