February 4th, 2025
by Dr. Josh Franklin
by Dr. Josh Franklin
Revelation 10:8–11 (NKJV)
8 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.”
9 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.”
10 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.
11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
The angel tells John to "eat the scroll" or "eat the little book", which is symbolic of consuming or internalizing God's Word. Ezekiel 3:1-3 and Jeremiah 15:16 similarly uses this expression to "eat the scroll". It does not mean to literally, physically eat the scroll.
Ray Stedman shared this interesting story from history: "Menelik II was emperor of the African nation of Ethiopia from 1889 until his death in 1913. Historians credit him with having brought Ethiopia into the twentieth century by introducing public education, telephone and telegraph service, and railroads to his country. However, this forward-thinking monarch had one rather backward and superstitious eccentricity. He believed that whenever he felt ill, all he needed to do to feel better was to eat a few pages from the Bible. Menelik practiced this form of self-medication for years, and it did him no apparent harm. Then, during the last few years of his life, he suffered a series of strokes that left him partially paralyzed. After one such stroke in December 1913, he was feeling very weak and ill. He asked his aides to tear the entire book of 1 Kings out of the Bible and feed it to him, page by page. It was later reported that he died about the time he was consuming the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba."[1]
The command to "eat the scroll" is a symbolic way of saying "internalize God's Word." God wants His Word in our hearts. Matthew 4:4 says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God." What physical food is to our bodies, the Word of God is to our spiritual lives. How do we consume God's Word?
Seven Ways to “Eat the Scroll” or “Feed on God’s Word”:
1. Study it carefully
2 Timothy 2:15 - "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
Acts 17:11 - "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."
Have a regular plan to go through God's Word. Don't just pull out verses by themselves. Read those verses in their context. A daily plan can be one chapter of God's Word each day. It can be "The One Year Bible" or "The Everyday Bible".
2. Search its meaning
Nehemiah 8:8 - "So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading."
Proverbs 2:4-5 - "If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."
Seek to discover truths from God's Word like one would search for buried treasure. A good Bible study or Sunday School class can help you wrestle with the concepts found in God's Word. Don't be satisfied with a surface-level understanding of God's Word. Go deeper.
3. Save it in writing
Jeremiah 30:2 - "Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.’"
Deuteronomy 17:18 - "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites."
Use a devotional journal to write down the observations you have about God's Word. Study your Bible with a pen in hand. Mark up your Bible by highlighting important verses that speak to you.
4. Store it in your heart
Psalm 119:9 - "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word."
Psalm 119:11 - "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You."
Jeremiah 15:16 - "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts."
Job 23:12 - "I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."
Make a decision to memorize Scriptures. AWANA is a great program for children, but teenagers and adults need to do this, too! My book "Pathway to Power" provides many verses to memorize, topically arranged. Some will want to memorize whole sections.
5. Speak it to God in prayer
Isaiah 55:11 - "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
1 John 5:14-15 - "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."
The best praying you and I will ever do is taking God's Word and quoting it back to God in prayer. Remind Him of His Word. Recite the promises of God.
6. Show it in your life
James 1:22 - "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
Matthew 7:24-27 - "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
You have not fully internalized God's Word until you have become a "doer of the Word". Ask God to show you how to apply God's Word to your everyday life. You will find God's Word incredibly relevant for today as you seek to live out what you have read.
7. Share it with others
Matthew 28:19-20 - "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen."
2 Timothy 2:2 - "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."
2 Timothy 4:2 - "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."
Share your insights with family, friends, co-workers as you are given the opportunity. As a follower of Christ, look around and ask God to show you someone with whom you can share the insights God is teaching you from His Word.
I cannot write a blogpost like this without including the "Pledge to the Bible" that my mentor, Dr. Bill Bennett, taught me many years ago. Each week, at our Men's Mentoring Discipleship Initiative on Sunday nights, we conclude our time holding up our Bibles and saying:
This is my Bible. It is God’s inerrant word. It is my most valuable earthly possession. I will, therefore, make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and I will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God. The Bible is God talking to me personally. I will, therefore, listen to it carefully and obey it fully. And I will endeavor to internalize it in my life by doing four things:
• I will know it in my head by diligent study,
• I will stow it in my heart by memorization and meditation,
• I will show it in my life by obeying its teachings, and
• I will sow it in my world by my witness.
Hereafter, I will never be the same. Never, never, never! In the name of Jesus, for His honor and glory, both now and forever more, Amen.
Take time to internalize God's Word!
[1] Stedman, Ray. God's Final Word: Understanding Revelation (pp. 288-289). Discovery House. Kindle Edition.
8 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.”
9 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.”
10 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.
11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
The angel tells John to "eat the scroll" or "eat the little book", which is symbolic of consuming or internalizing God's Word. Ezekiel 3:1-3 and Jeremiah 15:16 similarly uses this expression to "eat the scroll". It does not mean to literally, physically eat the scroll.
Ray Stedman shared this interesting story from history: "Menelik II was emperor of the African nation of Ethiopia from 1889 until his death in 1913. Historians credit him with having brought Ethiopia into the twentieth century by introducing public education, telephone and telegraph service, and railroads to his country. However, this forward-thinking monarch had one rather backward and superstitious eccentricity. He believed that whenever he felt ill, all he needed to do to feel better was to eat a few pages from the Bible. Menelik practiced this form of self-medication for years, and it did him no apparent harm. Then, during the last few years of his life, he suffered a series of strokes that left him partially paralyzed. After one such stroke in December 1913, he was feeling very weak and ill. He asked his aides to tear the entire book of 1 Kings out of the Bible and feed it to him, page by page. It was later reported that he died about the time he was consuming the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba."[1]
The command to "eat the scroll" is a symbolic way of saying "internalize God's Word." God wants His Word in our hearts. Matthew 4:4 says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God." What physical food is to our bodies, the Word of God is to our spiritual lives. How do we consume God's Word?
Seven Ways to “Eat the Scroll” or “Feed on God’s Word”:
1. Study it carefully
2 Timothy 2:15 - "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
Acts 17:11 - "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."
Have a regular plan to go through God's Word. Don't just pull out verses by themselves. Read those verses in their context. A daily plan can be one chapter of God's Word each day. It can be "The One Year Bible" or "The Everyday Bible".
2. Search its meaning
Nehemiah 8:8 - "So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading."
Proverbs 2:4-5 - "If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."
Seek to discover truths from God's Word like one would search for buried treasure. A good Bible study or Sunday School class can help you wrestle with the concepts found in God's Word. Don't be satisfied with a surface-level understanding of God's Word. Go deeper.
3. Save it in writing
Jeremiah 30:2 - "Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.’"
Deuteronomy 17:18 - "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites."
Use a devotional journal to write down the observations you have about God's Word. Study your Bible with a pen in hand. Mark up your Bible by highlighting important verses that speak to you.
4. Store it in your heart
Psalm 119:9 - "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word."
Psalm 119:11 - "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You."
Jeremiah 15:16 - "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts."
Job 23:12 - "I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."
Make a decision to memorize Scriptures. AWANA is a great program for children, but teenagers and adults need to do this, too! My book "Pathway to Power" provides many verses to memorize, topically arranged. Some will want to memorize whole sections.
5. Speak it to God in prayer
Isaiah 55:11 - "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
1 John 5:14-15 - "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."
The best praying you and I will ever do is taking God's Word and quoting it back to God in prayer. Remind Him of His Word. Recite the promises of God.
6. Show it in your life
James 1:22 - "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
Matthew 7:24-27 - "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."
You have not fully internalized God's Word until you have become a "doer of the Word". Ask God to show you how to apply God's Word to your everyday life. You will find God's Word incredibly relevant for today as you seek to live out what you have read.
7. Share it with others
Matthew 28:19-20 - "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen."
2 Timothy 2:2 - "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."
2 Timothy 4:2 - "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching."
Share your insights with family, friends, co-workers as you are given the opportunity. As a follower of Christ, look around and ask God to show you someone with whom you can share the insights God is teaching you from His Word.
I cannot write a blogpost like this without including the "Pledge to the Bible" that my mentor, Dr. Bill Bennett, taught me many years ago. Each week, at our Men's Mentoring Discipleship Initiative on Sunday nights, we conclude our time holding up our Bibles and saying:
This is my Bible. It is God’s inerrant word. It is my most valuable earthly possession. I will, therefore, make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and I will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God. The Bible is God talking to me personally. I will, therefore, listen to it carefully and obey it fully. And I will endeavor to internalize it in my life by doing four things:
• I will know it in my head by diligent study,
• I will stow it in my heart by memorization and meditation,
• I will show it in my life by obeying its teachings, and
• I will sow it in my world by my witness.
Hereafter, I will never be the same. Never, never, never! In the name of Jesus, for His honor and glory, both now and forever more, Amen.
Take time to internalize God's Word!
[1] Stedman, Ray. God's Final Word: Understanding Revelation (pp. 288-289). Discovery House. Kindle Edition.
Dr. Josh Franklin
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