To whom does the Mighty Angel of the Covenant relate to: the Jews or the Gentiles?
What does the vision of Rev.10 speak of?
There are some preachers who teach that Revelation 10 contains events dealing with the Jews only because they believe that 'THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT' relates Himself to the people of Israel and never to the Gentiles. They trace the Angel of the Covenant only to Abraham who fathered Isaac who fathered Israel or just to Moses. However, the first covenant God made was with Noah (in Genesis 9); and Noah was neither a Jew nor a Gentile. Now, the truth is that 'THE ANGEL OF THE COVENANT' binds Himself to His Own Covenant, to His Own WORD, not to a people. Read Heb.6:13-20.
Yahweh made many covenants (Rom.9:4). The utmost important covenant, commonly called THE COVENANT (hence the title: The Angel of the Covenant) is the one He made with Abraham concerning the PROMISED SEED and by which Abraham would be father of many nations with countless children (Gen.15:18; 17:2-13; 22:15-18). This covenant was sealed with a token of blood shedding — circumcision. Abraham then fathered Isaac who in turn fathered Jacob (Israel). The children of Israel were later made slaves in Egypt but they were brought out by a PASSOVER, a shedding of blood covenant, under Moses' leadership. The angel of the Lord who made the covenant with Abraham was the same angel who told Moses what to do and promised that "when I see the blood, I will pass over you".
Yahweh revealed Himself through the prophets and finally through His Son (Heb.1). To Israel He gave the Law. He bound the Law to Israel. But He bound HIS COVENANT to Himself.
The Lord who made the covenant will fulfill the covenant Himself. He Himself would be the Saviour. Malachi prophesied:
"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts" (Mal.3:1).
This prophecy was fulfilled when John the Baptist (the messenger who prepared the way of the Lord) baptized Jesus in River Jordan. Coming out of the water, heavens suddenly opened up and the messenger of the covenant came into his temple — the Word of God (the angel of the covenant) tabernacled in flesh, the Word of God incarnated.
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mat.3:16-17 cf.Col.1:19; 2:9).
Jesus Christ is the Mediator of THE COVENANT which is for both Jews and Gentiles. Read Heb.6:16-19;8:6;12:24, cf.Mal.3:1. Also, Abraham, the Father who received THE COVENANT concerning THE SEED was neither a Jew nor a Gentile. God keeps His Own Word.
Paul revealed that the Covenant God made with Abraham concerned a PROMISED SEED that is spiritual. The children of the flesh through Isaac, through Israel, are not the children of Abraham. True offspring of Abraham are those who have the promise through the righteousness of Faith established by the Lord of host, the messenger of the covenant, to Abraham. Amen. "By GRACE are we saved through FAITH."
"I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son" (Rom.9:1-9).
"For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be" (Rom.4:13-17).
Now, notice that the Mighty Angel of Rev.10 has a rainbow upon His head.
"And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:" (Rev.10:1).
Why the rainbow? And why is it that this rainbow taken to tie the Mighty Angel as the Angel of THE COVENANT to the covenant that He made with Abraham or that which He made with Israel and his people? The token of THE COVENANT that God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) is the BLOOD; it is not a rainbow in the sky. So, why the rainbow in Rev.10? The answer lies in the following verses of Genesis and Ezekiel:
"And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth" (Gen.9:12-17).
"Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking" (Eze.1:28, NKJV).
It is clear then that Rev.10 is not about Christ's coming to the Jews (on Mount Olivet) as some preachers have suggested, nor is it about Christ's coming back to earth only after William Branham is resurrected to preach again (as many Branhamites believe because of their carnal ideas over some statements of Branham). Rev.10 is a vision that depicts THE FINAL EVENTS of the Angel of the covenant's coming to claim the EARTH. The PAROUSIA (COMING) begins with the coming of THE WORD. There is a SHOUT (a CRY) made as He descends; He declares Who HE is. He then put His RIGHT FOOT on the SEA follows by His LEFT FOOT on the LAND. These actions respectively speak of His Coming to the Gentiles first (to claim a people made ready by His Word) before He goes to the Jews.
For more detail, go here.