Revelation 22:6-7 — And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

A couple of days ago I was talking with someone, a good Christian, and the conversation saddened me a little. I missed an opportunity. It’s been on my heart and I’m taking a break from my Christmas devotions to address it.
The person I was talking with — perhaps with Christmas in mind — asked me if I thought we would ever see universal peace. I said that I saw no reason to believe we would see it before the events described in the Revelation. I see our job, as Christians, as to make a difference where we can. We hold back the tide of sin, we do what we can to reverse the flow — but it can only be localized. There will be a long term decline until the end. When we witness we are, if you like, like firemen rescuing victims from a fire while everything collapses around them.
The person I was talking with said that was why they didn’t like the Revelation, and tended not to read it — “all those unpleasant events”. And that was a misunderstanding that saddened me.
There are two things about those “unpleasant events”. The first is that I don’t think Christians are going to experience them. I believe that 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 teaches a key message: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” I believe we will be taken to heaven without experiencing the terrors outlined in the Revelation.
The second thing is that those terrible events are, in fact, one more sign of God’s mercy … One last desperate attempt to show those left behind how much danger they are in, and give them one last chance the avoid an eternity of agony.
There are two more things about the Revelation that I should have focused on — First, after the terror comes the glory. The Revelation tells us of the New Jerusalem, the heart of our eternal home.
Second, it tells us that though we cannot know the day or the hour, Jesus is coming quickly.
I can’t deny that the Revelation is hard to understand. Nor can I deny that it depicts some frightening events. But it is also the story of the happy ending. It should be essential reading for any Christian!