Jeanne Guyon's Apocalyptic Universe

Book excerpt: In seventeenth-century France, Jeanne Guyon (1648–1717) writes about the suffering of the apocalypse followed by the consummation of the second coming. Guyon believed that in our earthly pilgrimage, we may find the way to union with our Savior Jesus Christ. To read her commentary on Revelation—translated into English here for the first time—is to be caught up in her conversation with the living Lord. We experience the wonder and passion of this conversation which is her authenticity at its highest level. As Guyon expresses her love to Jesus Christ, the words carry the attentive reader into the heart of God while deepening our own interior being. In her commentary on Revelation, Guyon interprets Jesus Christ’s grace needed for living faithfully during the time of suffering in the apocalypse before the advent of the new heaven and new earth in which believers experience eternal union with God. Guyon writes, “It is your universal reign that I desire, O God, and about which I am passionate. . . . So come, Lord Jesus! Let the grace of the Lord Jesus prepare us all for the second coming. Amen.”