Ask just any modern person what they think of when they hear the word “Apocalypse,” and the answer is almost certain to be a terrifying description of the Day of Doom, darkness, death, destruction and the end of the world. A lot of that comes from very enigmatic passages in a book titled The Apocalypse, or in English Revelation, that final book of the New Testament that reads nothing like the other twenty-six. Add to that the “Four Last Things” contemplated in the season of Advent, death, judgement, heaven, and hell, and the dread of what is coming on the earth becomes only more frightening. How very odd then that Bach’s Cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, is so joyful. What is his positive and happy approach to eschatology all about, and where did it come from? Let us take a look and see about that.
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