Revelation 10:3

and he cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth: and when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.

It would be impossible to design a pageant which could any more emphatically and gloriously stress and glorify a little book with the effective impact of such a vision as this.

And he cried with a great voice ... The world-shaking power and importance of this angel, and what he was doing, are further emphasized by this.

When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices ... We shall not find out what these voices said; but the very fact of the reverberating thunders attending the words of this angel emphasizes even more dramatically his eternal authority and power to keep on doing what he is depicted as doing here, keeping that "little book open"! There's hardly anything in this prophecy any more important. Some have wondered why these were mentioned at all, since John was forbidden to convey the message they spoke; but, as is often true in the Bible, what is concealed is as significant as what is revealed.

For example, the shepherds who heard the announcement of Jesus' birth are not identified by name, number, race, age, or whether they owned or merely tended their flock; and the very absence of specific details endows them perfectly as symbols of all mankind. So it is here. The voice of the seven thunders, by the omission of any specific message, is endowed with a symbolism infinitely beyond any specific message. This mighty angel crying with a loud voice, accompanied by the reverberating thunders, is the impact of God's word upon the world. What happens? The voice of the seven thunders rolls through the centuries. Mighty consequences follow the preaching of the word of God. Thus, the utterances of these thunders being first mentioned, and then their messages hidden, are by no means a meaningless part of the vision.

What did the thunders say? People have no right to ask such a question; but the proof that they do ask it is seen in the volumes of answers people have given. One famous writer has a total of five pages in fine print on the subject. We shall conclude with a single quotation from Pieters:

So far as I have learned the views of expositors, most of them do . not attempt any explanation; and those who do attempt it produce nothing worth repeating. This must therefore remain among the unexplained and unexplainable passages of the book.[21]