Revelation 10:5-7 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And the angel, &c. But though I was not allowed to reveal what the seven thunders had uttered, yet the angel proceeded to give a further revelation of the dispensations of Divine Providence toward the world and the church in general; and, to confirm the truth and certainty of his revelation, he took his oath in the most solemn manner: he lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever By the eternal God, before whom a thousand years are but as a day is with us; who created the heaven, the earth, the sea, &c. And consequently has the sovereign power over all; therefore all his enemies, though they rage a while on the earth and on the sea, yet must give place to him: That there should be time no longer Greek, οτι χρονος ουκ εσται ετι, that the time shall not be yet; (so Lowman and Bishop Newton understand it;) that is, that the lime of the glorious state of the church, though sure to take place in its due time, should not be yet; but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel Who was yet to sound; the mystery of God In his providence toward his church; should be finished Or completed. The mystery of God is his counsel or design, which begins in the present conversion and happiness of man on earth, will terminate in diffusing that felicity over all the world, and will complete it in a state of immortality; as he hath declared Ως ευηγγελισε, according to the good news which he hath published; to his servants the prophets And then the glorious state of the church should be no longer delayed. So long as the third wo remains on the earth and the sea, the mystery of God is not fulfilled. And the angel's declaration that it shall be fulfilled, confirmed by a solemn oath, is made peculiarly for the consolation of holy men, who are afflicted under that wo. Indeed the wrath of God must be first fulfilled by the pouring out of the vials, and then comes the joyful fulfilling of the mystery of God.