The New Testament View of the End of the World

Reading Revelations is quite the endeavor, almost as confusing as reading Nostradamus. The language is loaded with bizarre metaphors and images that a rational mind cannot fully fathom. This revelation comes to John and speaks about the future on earth. It reminds us of a strange dream sequence that one could find in a Kafka novel. The book of Revelations has four distinct visions, each consisting of seven messages thus a total of 28 messages. The number seven in Christianity represents perfection. Most will agree that Revelations centers in on the battle between God and Satan or good and evil.

In the first seals, four hoursemen are predicted to descend on earth: Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. These horsemen ride horses that are white, red, black and green in that order. Following these evils, Revelations speaks of what is known as the “Rise of the Witnesses” or the dead coming back for justice. The ghosts ask God, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?”. Then comes the sixth seal, which I will fully quote below because it is one of the most famous passages of Revelations:

…”There was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,  and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale;  the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.  Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,  calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;  for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?”

Following this prediction, an angel calls out that no harm shall come to the servants of God who bear a special seal on their foreheads. There is a total of 144,000 servants of God protected with seals on their foreheads. These special chosen ones will bathe in a new world we are told; “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

In Matthew, we are told that those who shall inherit the earth are the mild-tempered ones: “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). So the New Testament, although it predicts a very gloomy period on earth also reassures us that there will be a time when no more suffering, no more pain, and no more hunger or famine shall reign. Although Revelations begins as a very dark prophecy much like Nostradamus’ predictions, it does give some hope that part of humanity shall survive the Apocalypse and will see a brighter future on earth.