t of:

The Rainbow Angel.

"And I saw another mighty angel descending from heaven, clothed
with a cloud: and the rainbow was over his head, and his face was
like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire; and he had in his
hand a little book opened: and he set his right foot on the sea,
and his left foot on the land. And shouted with a loud voice, as a
lion roareth: and when he shouted, seven thunders uttered their
voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I
was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal
up those things, which the seven thunders uttered, and write them
not. And the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the
land, raised his hand to heaven, and swore by him who liveth for
ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things in it, and the
earth, and the things in it, and the sea, and the things in it,
that the time should not yet be; but in the days of the voice of
the seventh angel, when he will sound, the secret of God will be
finished, as he hath announced to his servants the prophets. And
the voice, which I heard from heaven, spoke with me again, and
said, Go, take the little book, which is opened in the hand of the
angel, who standeth on the sea and on the land. And I went away to
the angel, and said to him, Give me the little book. And he said
to me, Take, and eat it up; and it will make thy stomach bitter,
but in thy mouth, it will be sweet as honey. And I took the little
book from the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth
sweet as honey: and when I had eaten it my stomach was bitter. And
he said to me, Thou must prophesy again concerning many people,
and nations, and tongues, and kings."--Rev. 10:1-11.

This angel, like those in corresponding passages, must symbolize a body of
men, whose importance is indicated by the might and splendor of the
symbol.

His descent from heaven, the cloud, the rainbow, the sun-like face, and
the fire-like feet of the Mighty Messenger, attest the heaven-inspired
origin of his utterances. His "eyes as a flame of fire, and his feet like
unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace," would not be given to
one who came to announce other than heaven-inspired truths.

The _open book_ in the hand of the angel, fixes the chronology of the
fulfilment of this vision at an epoch when the Scriptures cease