482. Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey. (10:10) But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. This symbolically means that so it came to pass, and thus it was shown, how this doctrine would be received before those people meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet were removed.

Because this follows as a consequence from the aforesaid, it needs no further exposition.

We read that the prophet Ezekiel, too, was commanded to eat the scroll of a book, and that it was in his mouth as sweet as honey (Ezekiel 2:8-10; 3:1-3).

It seems rather circular to say that “good” in the Bible represents good, but in a general sense it's true! The case is this: The Lord is love itself given form and expression as wisdom itself, and that Divine Love and Divine Wisdom flow down into us, into the world and into the Bible in an unending stream with endless variety. Divine Love gives rise to our loves, our affections, our desires for good and the joy we can feel; Divine Wisdom gives rise to facts, knowledge, intelligence, understanding and human wisdom. And the more we can bring those two aspects of our lives into harmony, the more elevated we can become -- which will in turn make us happier, more useful, and ultimately more angelic.