Missing Tooth

five-year-od grandboy

"It was sweet in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach." (Revelation 10:10)

Our five-year-old grandboy is missing his first tooth. No, the tooth is really missing. He swallowed it while eating supper last night.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John is on the prison island of Patmos when he receives a panoramic vision from heaven. In the vision, an angel gives John a little book and says, "Take it and eat it." In John's mouth, the book tastes sweet like honey, but in his stomach, it's sour. Then the angels tells John, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

This vision symbolizes the great joy of representing God and His Word and the overwhelming sorrow of the coming judgment.  Preaching God's prophetic truth is bittersweet. 

Although not recorded in Scripture, tradition holds that John eventually left Patmos and returned to Ephesus in modern-day Turkey where he preached God's true story until his death sometime after AD 98 (the only apostle to die peacefully).

And the point of this post is? Beloved, be God's faithful witness. Testify of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ—even when it's bitterly unpopular. Eternal lives are depending on it!