Coming Events and Present Duties — J. C. Ryle
The Reading Which is Blessed
“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw — that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near!” Revelation 1:1-3
We live in “troublous” and “perilous” times. It is many years since there has been so much in the aspect of public affairs to raise anxious thoughts as there is in the present day. We are always apt to exaggerate the importance of events that happen in our own days. I do not forget that. But I cannot retract what I have just written. I look around me at the things now going on in the Church and in the world. I look forward to the possible future. And as I look, I feel that I am justified in speaking of our times as “perilous” and “troublous.” I appeal to the judgment of all who observe the history of their own times. “Is there not a cause?”
There are three heavy judgments which God can send upon a nation — the sword, the pestilence, and the famine. All these three have fallen heavily upon our country within the last few years. The Irish famine, the Russian war, the cholera, the cattle plague — have left marks on this country which cannot be erased. Surely these signs of the times deserve no common notice. They should make us say with Habakkuk, “I will stand upon my watch, and set upon my tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me” (Hab. 2:1). They should make us cry with Daniel, “O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?” (Daniel 12:8.)
But one thing, at all events, is clear — and that is the duty incumbent on Christians to search more diligently than ever the prophetic Scriptures. Let us not be, like the Jews at the first advent, blind to the hand of God and the fulfillment of His purposes in all that is going on in the world. Let us rather remember that the word of prophecy is given to be “a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the daystar arises” (2 Peter 1:19). Let us walk much in that light. Let us search “what and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in the Prophets did signify, when He testified before the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (1 Peter 1:11). Let us compare prophecies fulfilled, with prophecies unfulfilled — and endeavor to make the one illustrate the other. Let us strive, above all, to obtain clear views of the things yet to be expected, both in the church and the world, before the end comes and time shall be no more.
With such feelings I now invite you to enter on the consideration of the verses of Scripture which stand at the head of this address. Those verses, I need hardly remind you, are the preface or opening words of the Book of Revelation. May the blessing which is specially promised to the readers and hearers of this book, be with all into whose hands this address may fall! Reader, there are three points to which I desire to call your attention:
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The general character of the Book of Revelation.
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The arguments commonly used to deter men from reading it.
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The many useful lessons which the study of it is calculated to teach.
1. The GENERAL CHARACTER of the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation differs widely from any other book of the Old or New Testaments. In many respects, it is thoroughly unlike the rest of the Bible. There is a solemn and majestic peculiarity about it. It stands alone.
It is peculiar in the dignity with which it begins. The very first verse prepares the reader for something extraordinary, for a book even more directly from God, if possible, than one written under the plenary inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is called, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.”
It is peculiar in the subject matter which it contains. It contains less of doctrinal and practical Christianity, in proportion to its length, than any book of the New Testament. With few exceptions its pages are filled with prophecies — prophecies of the widest range, extending, it seems to me, from the time of John to the very end of the world; prophecies embracing a vast number of events, spreading over the whole “times of the Gentiles” and covering the mighty interval between the destruction of the first Jerusalem, and the descent of the new Jerusalem from Heaven; prophecies of universal importance to all mankind, having reference not only to the condition and prospects of the believing Church, but also of the unconverted world.