It's Not the End of the World

Oh, what a difference a day makes.

Yesterday was an historic Election Day. Meanwhile, last night, while so many watched the results come in at parties or in the solitary anxiousness of their home, there was a Bible study at the church. It was not scheduled intentionally to conflict with Election Day as a distraction or otherwise. It was just our usual Bible study that meets every Monday midday and Tuesday night to pour over Scripture and share what struck us this week from the still-speaking Word of God.

But, given the day’s occasion, what was peculiar was the Scripture assigned to this week in particular. We were looking at Revelation: the final book of the Bible, often associated with the end times. So, was our Bible study preparing for the end of the world? Quite the opposite.

It is true that Revelation is an apocalyptic text. In fact, translated from the original Greek, the word for ‘revelation,’ apokalypsis, means what it sounds like: “apocalypse.” Rather than calling it the Book of Revelation, some translations of John’s vision on the island of Patmos refer to it as “The Apocalypse of John.”

But “apocalypse” in the New Testament does not mean the end of the world. It means that the veil is pulled back to reveal something new and hopeful; metaphorically, as a veil is pulled back from a bride’s face. All of that goes to say while many of us may have been fearing end time scenarios as we awaited the results of the midterm elections, our group of eight Bible geeks were looking at a mysterious New Testament text with a hopeful message about something new being revealed in the midst of anxious, troubling circumstances. As we thumbed through Revelation together, I took comfort in that.

Regardless of one’s political leanings, it is apocalyptic—a new and hopeful revelation—that New Hampshire elected this country’s first-ever openly gay senator, that Michigan elected this country’s first-ever Muslim senator, that New Mexico elected the first-ever Native American woman to be a governor in this country, that Texas elected its first-ever Mexican-American and Latina governor, and that Georgia elected the first Black woman to ever serve as a governor in the United States.

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

Another Election Day came and went. It turns out that it was not the end of the world. Things may feel different today than they did yesterday, but we are still here, and the earth is still spinning, and we remain invited by the risen Christ to follow him in a life devoted to loving God and loving people with relentless faith, no matter what this day may bring.

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13b). Amen.