(Ezek. 3; Rev. 10)
Both Ezekiel and John were commanded to eat the book which contained the subjects of their future testimonies.... By eating we understand that the Word was to be appropriated. These prophets were to make the messages they were commissioned to deliver, their own.... Even eating, or appropriating, is not sufficient: there is also the digesting of what we have appropriated.... Most of us know from our own experience that the process of digesting the truth we have really received, is often a slow operation; and also that the truth is never effective in us, or through us, until it has been digested. There is a great distinction therefore between... Ezekiel having the roll in his mouth, and enjoying its sweetness, and eating it with his belly and filling his bowels with it....
In the case of John, that which was sweet in his mouth was bitter in his belly. This should be easily understood by every spiritual believer. The opening out of some new truth to the soul, the perception of its character and beauty, is ever a delightful experience, but when it is accepted in the power of the Spirit, it gradually brings death in upon all that we are, and then it becomes “bitter,” as it discovers to us the real nature of many things which we had hitherto cherished, and, in separating us from them, produces in us a growing conformity to Christ.