Spoiler Alert: The conclusion of the Bible ends with a curse! Most Christians describe the Bible as a great book of hope, which portrays Jesus as the embodiment of that promised hope. If that is the case, it may seem very strange that the closing sentences of the Bible contain a curse.

Revelation 22:18-21 KJV
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: [19] And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. [20] He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. [21] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

This curse at the conclusion of the Bible is intentional. To understand why the Bible ends this way, it is important to realize that the Bible is, first and foremost, literature. Most professing Christians believe it is God-inspired literature, written by men as the Holy Spirit moved them. Nonetheless, the Bible is still literature, and as such, it uses nearly every literary device known to humanity. The device that concludes the Bible is known as a closing hook. A closing hook resolves the main plotline of any good story while it introduces a new twist or character conflict. This literary device provides a conclusion while inviting the reader to delve deeper into the story to understand it better. So indulge me as we do exactly what the hook at the end of The Revelation of Jesus Christ invites the reader to do, let’s dig a little deeper into the well. (See Revelation 22:17)

Every plotline in the Bible starts in Genesis, exactly as it should. The Biblical creation account is an opening hook that sets the narrative for the entire Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. The outline for this curse plot is set up in Genesis 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

In Genesis 3, the reader, along with Eve and Adam, is lured into the trap, so to speak:
“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: … And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;”

We see the curse plotline thicken further in the account of Cain's murderous encounter with his brother in Genesis 4:11, “And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;”

As the plotline of the curse develops, we see the children of men getting worse and worse, and for some reason, God always finds a few people he chooses to deliver. Time passes, and we find God's chosen people, known as Israel, enslaved by the Egyptians. As the story goes, God hears his people's cries and sends a lawgiver and deliverer named Moses. After Moses delivers them in a great Exodus, we find the first generation of free Hebrews camped at Mt Sinai, and God gives Moses his law. This first generation of free Hebrews wanders in the wilderness for 40 years because they will not obey God's law. After the first generation dies, we can read in Deuteronomy Moses detailed explanation(codification) of God's law to the second generation. The word Deuteronomy is an ancient Greek translation of the original Hebrew; in English, it literally means ‘second law’. So, in essence, the title implies a second chance for the next generation of the freed Hebrews to do what the first generation could not.

Within Moses explanation to the second generation, we find these interesting warning summaries concerning the changing of God's Law: Deuteronomy 4:1-2 “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. [2] Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

HUM!

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; [27] A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: [28] And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.”

This curse is all part of God's covenant with Adam, which is Hebrew for "man" or "mankind." Contained or interwoven within this curse, there was first and always a fountain of hope, which also began in Genesis 1:1-2: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

The blessing only comes by and through following Jesus, the giver of living waters. John 4:10 “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”