1. Revelation 10:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Is this little scroll the same as the one mentioned in Revelation 5?

Revelation 10:2 (ESV)

2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land,

The same word appeared in Revelation 5:1–14 to denote the scroll the Lamb took from the hand of God, though here in Revelation 10:2 some letters are added in the Greek to indicate the diminutive “little.” (Note, though, that in Revelation 10:8 the diminutive “little” is absent; in that verse John uses the identical term he used in chapter Revelation 5:1–14.) The answer to the question whether the scroll in the mighty angel’s hand is the same as the scroll the Lamb took out of God’s hand lies in the added words “open in his hand.” The fact is that by the time we get to Revelation 10 the scroll the Lamb took from God’s hand in chapter Revelation 5:1–14 is not yet completely open—while this scroll is open. A scroll cannot be unrolled until all the seals have been opened. In Revelation 8:1 the Lamb had opened the seventh seal, but the actions that come with the opening of that seal are still unfolding by the time we get to chapter Revelation 10:1–11 (those actions being the blowing of the seven trumpets). More importantly, the fact that the chapter does not explicitly tell us the content of this scroll indicates that its content is not actually important.