Only one book in the entire Bible begins by telling us,

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things written in it!

That is, of course, the book of Revelation (1:3). And yet, despite this explicit blessing upon its readers, it is a book that so many believers do not pay adequate attention to.

In the first of the quotes below, G.H. Pember (England, 1837-1910), the great student of Biblical prophecy and author of Earth’s Earliest Ages, makes it clear that unless we have a firm grasp of the truths contained in the Apocalypse, and its promise that the Lord is coming soon to reclaim the earth, it will be difficult for us to withstand the attractions of this present age. In the second, he goes on to give a very practical example of this. Namely, the basic reason for the failure of the Reformation was that, while the dear brothers at that time saw so much concerning the truths of the first coming of Christ, they saw very little regarding the second; and so, those who followed after them “settled down upon the earth” and became worldly, even in their handling of the Scriptures.

How we as the believers in Christ today need a fresh grasp of the book of Revelation, and of its great promise:

Behold, I am coming swiftly!
And My reward is with Me,
To repay each one
According to what his work is.
— Revelation 22:12 —

— G.H. Pember —

What the
Reformers Saw,
and Didn’t See

Even the past history of Protestantism has repeatedly shown, that a general knowledge of Scripture, without a spiritual apprehension of the Apocalypse, is insufficient to check the gradual inroads of worldliness and unbelief, or to detect and meet the stealthy approaches of a pagan Catholicism…

While the Reformers swept away the rubbish beneath which the truths of the First Advent were lying, and proclaimed salvation to all men through faith in the love of God and in the Blood of the Lamb, they failed to discover the promise of the Second. They “turned to God from idols to serve a Living and True God,” but not to “wait for His Son from the Heavens” [1 Thess. 1:9].

And since they were looking for no further deliverance, and longed not for the Appearing of Him Who loved them and gave Himself for them, there was nothing to hinder them from settling down upon the earth: they became worldly, sectarian, and political, disposed rather to talk or dispute about the Bible, than to dig out its precious and transforming truths: they had grown carnal instead of spiritual: and their Christianity was like to an embalmed corpse, and was no longer a living power.

— The Great Prophecies, Volume 4, pages 448, 592. Schoettle Publishing; reprinted 1984 from the original edition of 1909.

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— 12 March 2026 —