Why was the Book of Revelation included in the Bible?

Answer 1

Originally, all the gospels were written anonymously, but around 180 CE Irenaeus identified the author of the fourth gospel as the apostle John, son of Zebedee. The Book of Revelation is signed by a person called John, and it was subsequently decided that that this John was the same as the John who wrote the Gospel of the same name, although the theology is strikingly different. If the book had been written by one of the apostles, then the Church would have wanted to include it in the New Testament. So, as a result of this decision, a strange book, that might otherwise have been lost to history, was preserved in the New Testament.

Answer:

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God..." (II Tim.3:16). Therefore, are all the books of The Bible included by His inspiration.

Revelation "completes" the Bible. Genesis marks the beginning of God's plan... Revelation marks its conclusion... the return of Jesus Christ with His Kingdom - and the NEW BEGINNING:

"...Behold, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW. And He said unto me, Write: for THESE WORDS ARE TRUE AND FAITHFUL. And He said unto me, IT IS DONE. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the Water of Life freely. He that overcometh SHALL INHERIT ALL THINGS [all things includes the universe, which God created, which Jesus inherited first... and which the Bible says He will share with His brothers]; and I will be his God, and HE SHALL BE MY SON." (Rev.21:6-7)

"...God [the Father]... hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom HE HATH APPOINTED HEIR OF ALL THINGS, by whom also He made the worlds..." (Heb.1:1-2).

"...WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD: and if children, then HEIRS; HEIRS OF GOD, and JOINT-HEIRS WITH CHRIST..." (Rom.8:16-17).

The inspiration of Revelation brings to full circle all the Prophets' promises of the "Day of the Lord"... the time of the return of Jesus Christ to establish the good news of the Kingdom of God on earth - the heart and soul of the message of the Bible.

"...there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him: and His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that which shall never be destroyed... the saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom, and possess the Kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." (Dan.7:14-18).

"...the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." (Mark 1:15)

"...behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." (Rev.22:12)

The setting of John's inspirational vision was on THE LORD'S DAY:

"...I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day..." (Rev.1:10)... which many men take to mean a particular "day of the week," which some suppose to be Sunday.

But the storyline of Revelation is clearly about the DAY OF THE LORD: the "seventh seal"... the final prophetic global events that lead up to and include the final seven vials of God's wrath poured out on the earth, followed by Jesus' triumpful return to the earth MAKING WAR! And the remaking of the earth, when His Father descends upon it for the "new beginning" - with the completed newborn Family of God beginning its new life in Eternity. God's Children... who will just be starting out. Who will have the whole universe out there to play with.

The Bible's message is incomplete without Revelation. It's both the end... and a new beginning.