The Bitter with the Sweet

"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."  Rev. 10:9

In Revelation 10:10 John takes the "little scroll" out of the strong angel's hand and eats it as he was instructed to do.  It was indeed sweet as honey in his mouth but bitter in his stomach.  This reminds me of the good news that we proclaim.  Those of us who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8), sometimes forget that just because the gospel is "good news" doesn't mean that it is readily received with joy and gladnesss by the masses (1 Cor. 1:18-23).  We often are guilty of preaching grace apart from the law and in doing so we preach an incomplete gospel. 

The Apostle John recognized the sweetness of the message of God and equally the bitterness because he knew that judgment is just as much of a reality as mercy.  We too must understand that the heart is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9).  As such we must be honest about humanity's sinful condition as well as the consequence of sin.  It is then that the gospel becomes exceedingly good news.