Why Did The Bible Stop Being Written At Revelation?

Why did the Book of Revelation need to be the last book of the Bible? Was there a reason it was placed last?

Whose Revelation is it?

The Book of Revelation is not the Apostle John’s book but “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw” (Rev 1:1-2). John was only the one who bore witness and wrote testimony to what he saw. To be sure, there are places in this book that are difficult to understand but even so, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Rev 1:3). Notice that there are two blessings for the person who reads the Book of Revelation; they are blessed who hear and keep the words and then they are blessed who “reads aloud the words of this prophecy.” What does it mean “reads it aloud?” You hear the Word of God read aloud in preaching, Sunday school, Bible studies, and on just about any mobile media imaginable, you can hear it as downloads. There are even audio-Bibles.

Adding to or Taking Away

Why did the Bible stop at the Book of Revelation? Maybe the Book of Revelation can tell us the reason; “and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Rev 22:19). Who has the courage to add to or take away from this book or any book in the Bible? The book appears totally complete and has an ending (Rev 22:20-21). What about the Old Testament? Were there warnings about adding to or taking away words there? Deuteronomy 12:32 warns Israel, “See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it” and again in Deuteronomy 4:2 “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.” Even Solomon had the wisdom to write “not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar” (Prov 30:6).

Why is Revelation the End?

The Bible is not written in strict chronological order. That is, the books of the Bible don’t appear in the same order that as the timelines in which they were written but you can clearly see that the Bible has a beginning (Gen 1:1; John 1) and an ending. The ending is very obvious in Revelation 22:20-21 which says “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Why would we think we need more added since the Bible has everything we need to know already in it. It is sufficient to tell us; it is efficient to save us. The Bible tells us all we need to know from God; Who God is; Who Jesus is; why we need the Savior; and why the Savior took our sins upon Him. Why would we need to have anything more added after the Book of Revelation? It’s like telling God, “Your Word is awesome God…but I need more….sorry about that.”

The Faith Once Delivered

Jude was a half-brother of Jesus Christ but he still called himself “a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” (Jude 1:1) focused on apostasy. If you want to read about apostasy, then read the one chapter Book of Jude. Jude wrote that “I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). Why would the church need to contend for the faith? The word “contend” shows that it is a definite, continuous effort. The Greek verb for “contends” is “epagōnizomai” and means “to struggle for, earnestly contend for” and comes from the root word for “agonize” in it. There was already apostasy creeping into the church (Jude 1:4). Jude saw the need to contend for the faith to the point of agonizing over it but what faith was Jude writing about? It was “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” The way that this is expressed in the Greek language is that “it is a done deal” or “a one-way action” so that nothing could be added to it. The “faith” is not of human origin either so this faith that was “delivered” by God to the saints; it is a finished product. No one delivers something that needs modifying or added to at a later time. This “faith” was delivered once and for all! It’s done, finished, completed.

Conclusion

I trust what I already have and that is the Bible. I don’t have to rely on dreams (Jude 1:8) or other books or so-called “gospels” that were never a part of the Bible to begin with. It is up to “him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:24-25).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.