Revelation - It's Happy Climax!

A REVELATION TO JOHN - this thrilling book of the Bible brings the divine record to a happy climax. Why do we say "happy"?   Well, the Author of the Bible is described as "the happy God," who entrusts "glorious good news" to those who love him.  He wants us to be happy too.  Thus, at the outset Revelation assures us:  "Happy is he who reads . . . the words of this prophecy."   In its final chapter we are told:  "Happy is anyone observing the
 words of the prophecy of this scroll." -1 Timothy 1:11; Revelation 1:3; 22:7.  

How do we find happiness through the book of Revelation?  We do so by searching out the meaning of its vivid signs, or symbols, and acting in harmony therewith.  Mankind's turbulent history will soon reach a catastrophic climax, as God and Jesus Christ execute judgment on today's wicked system, replacing it with  "a new heaven and a new earth," where  even "death will be no more." (Revelation 21:1, 4)  Do not all of us want to live in such a new world, in true peace and security?  We can if we build up our faith through study of God's Word, including the stirring prophecy of Revelation.  

Apocalypse - What Is It?

Is not Revelation also called the Apocalypse?  That is so,  "revelation  being the English translation of a-po-ka'ly-psis in the Greek text.  Many people equate Apocalypse with world destruction by nuclear warfare. In a Texas, U.S.A. city where great numbers of nuclear warheads are made, religiously inclined people have been saying, "We'll be the first to go."  Clergymen in that area are reported  to have "become convinced that Armageddon is not only inevitable but also close at hand, and that the final battle between the forces of good and evil, of God and Satan, will take place as a nuclear holocaust.:

But what really is an apocalypse?  Though dictionaries define it by using terms  such as "an imminent cosmic cataclysm," the Greek a-po-ka'ly-psis basically means " unveiling " or uncovering ."  Thus, the last book of the Bible  is properly entitled "A Revelation." Here we find, not a mere fatalistic message of world doom, but an uncovering of divine truths that should build in our hearts a radiant hope and an unmovable faith.

True, Armageddon is described in the last book of the Bible as "the war of the great day of God the Almighty."  (Revelation 16:14, 16)  But it will be far different from a nuclear holocaust!  Such a holocaust would likely mean the annihilation of all life on earth.  On the contrary, God's Word gives the happy assurance that only wicked opposers  of God will be destroyed -by forces under God's control.  (Psalm 37:9, 10; 145:20) A great crowd of humans, out of all nations will survive the climax of divine judgment at Armageddon. Christ Jesus will then shepherd and guide these  to life everlasting in a paradise earth.  Do you want to be one of them?  Happily, Revelation shows that you may be! -Revelation 7:9, 14, 17.  

Next time: Revelation - It's Happy Climax! - Searching Out Divine Secrets 

From the book of Revelations