And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
All Commentaries on Revelation 10:3 Go To Revelation 10
Victorinus of Pettau
AD 303
The seven thunders uttering their voices signify the Holy Spirit of sevenfold power, who through the prophets announced all things to come, and by His voice John gave his testimony in the world; but because he says that he was about to write the things which the thunders had uttered, that is, whatever things had been obscure in the announcements of the Old Testament; he is forbidden to write them, but he was charged to leave them sealed, because he is an apostle, nor was it fitting that the grace of the subsequent stage should be given in the first. The time, says he, is at hand. For the apostles, by powers, by signs, by portents, and by mighty works, have overcome unbelief. After them there is now given to the same completed Churches the comfort of having the prophetic Scriptures subsequently interpreted, for I said that after the apostles there would be interpreting prophets.
For the apostle says: And he placed in the Church indeed, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers, 1 Corinthians 12:28 and the rest. And in another place he says: Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge. 1 Corinthians 14:29 And he says: Every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonours her head. 1 Corinthians 11:5 And when he says, Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge, he is not speaking in respect of the Catholic prophecy of things unheard and unknown, but of things both announced and known. But let them judge whether or not the interpretation is consistent with the testimonies of the prophetic utterance. It is plain, therefore, that to John, armed as he was with superior virtue, this was not necessary, although the body of Christ, which is the Church, adorned with His members, ought to respond to its position.
