The Ultimate Melodrama

We enjoyed a high school play a couple of weeks ago—a melodrama!  The students delighted us as they played their carefully scripted and predictable parts.  We cheered and booed on cue as the hero and the villain, respectively, came onstage. 

Why do we like melodrama? Maybe because we can safely predict a  satisfying conclusion, no matter what happens before then.  There’s a Damsel in Distress, tormented by the Villain.  Then along comes the Hero who falls in love with the Damsel and eventually puts an end to the Villain.  He then sweeps the Damsel onto his horse and they ride away into the Sunset, where they Live Happily Ever After.  And of course there’s the audience who cheers and boos.

This is how we want our stories to end.  How we want our lives to work out.  Have you read the book of Revelation lately?  All the ingredients are there—but this is no fictitious melodrama—it will really happen!

The Damsel is introduced in chapters 1-3—the Church in various places.

The Audience—amazing beings and humans surrounding God’s throne in heaven, punctuating the whole story with their cheers of praise.  (4:8, 11; 5:9-14 et al)

The Distress—that’s most of the book of Revelation, isn’t it?  Persecution (6:9-11; 7:14) and all kinds of disasters released from seals, bowls, and trumpets.

The Villain—three of them:  the Dragon (12:3-18; 20:1-3), the Beast from the sea (13:1-8), and the Beast from the earth (13:11-18). 

The Hero—the Lamb (5:5-8; 7:17) a.k.a. the Rider on the White Horse, a.k.a. King of kings and Lord of lords (19:11-16, 21) who totally annihilates his enemies!

The Defeat of the Villains—Into the Lake of Fire. (19:20, 20:10)

The Wedding and endless Honeymoon, on a New Earth ruled from a dazzling City that descends from heaven.  (21:10 – 22:5)

And the Wedding Invitation?  Come!  Anyone who wants to!  (22:17) Be a part of this better-than-fiction drama that will soon unfold.  Be (part of) the Damsel no longer in distress but in the arms of her beloved and beautiful Savior!