10:9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’[a]”
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little SCROLL.
John immediately does what the voice from heaven tells him to do. If the angel is just that, an angel (1 Corinthians 6:3), then the request is not out of place. If the angel is Christ, as some scholars believe, then to demand the little scroll certainly is BOLD.
He said to me, “TAKE IT
It appears that the little scroll was not handed to John; John had to make a conscious choice to reach for it and take it. So we, too, must reach out and TAKE GOD'S WORD
and EAT IT.
This is not a passive act, like watching a ball game or such. This requires action as a part of our believer walk.
It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’[a]”
What we are seeing is a spiritual world which is not at all close to our earthly experience. Jeremiah experienced a similar feeling in Jeremiah 15:15-16-18. Note how his perpetual pain was like a deceptive stream (could be interpreted as attacks from demons).
Ezekiel as a result of eating the scroll (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3), which was full of lamentations, mourning and woe (the bitterness), became a great prophet. He, too, says that when he ate the scroll, it tasted sweet as honey.
In Psalm 19:7-10-14 and Psalm 119:97-103-104, the Word of the Lord is depicted as sweet to the taste. Every believer, at first will enjoy the Word of God. It is our spiritual sustenance (Matthew 4:4). However, a little later, Jesus in Matthew 10:16-23 tells us the consequences of digesting the Word. Our family, "church", and demons will turn on us and persecute us even unto death.
This all is part of being "joint heirs" with Christ, Romans 8:5-17. We will be judging with HIM:
There is no pleasure in the death of the wicked as pointed out in Ezekiel 18:19-23-32 and Ezekiel 33:7-11-16.
This little scroll that John eats apparently is his part of the inheritance (title deed). It carries with it an associated responsibility to judge. To judge, one MUST KNOW the law (righteousness => Word of God). But passing this judgment could be very bitter, indeed, especially if it is against your own neighbors, 1 Corinthians 6:1-3. Also note that judgment extends to nations too, Revelation 2:26-27.
[a] Ezek. 3:3