Apocalypse
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- This article is about the religious meaning. For more uses of the word apocalypse, see Apocalypse (disambiguation).
Apocalypse (Greek: Ἀποκάλυψις -translit. APOKALYPSIS, literally: the lifting of the veil), is a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the mass of humankind. Today the term is often used to mean "end of the world", which may be a shorterning of the phrase apokalupsis eschaton which literally means "revelation at the end of the world".
[edit] Origins
The Greek root corresponds in the Septuagint to the Hebrew galah (גלה), to reveal. The last book of the New Testament bears in Greek the title Αποκαλυψις Ιωαννου, and is frequently referred to as the Apocalypse of John, but in English Bibles it appears as the Revelation of St Johannes, or the Book of Revelation. The term was first used among Hellenistic Jews to refer to a number of writings which depicted the future state of the world in a parabolic way (e.g. Apocalypse of Baruch). The whole class is now commonly known as 'Apocalyptic literature'. However, the Apocalypse technically refers to the unveiling of God, and not to the destruction of the world.
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Apocalypse in the terminology of early Jewish and Christian literature, is a revelation of hidden things given by God to a chosen prophet; the term is often used to describe the written account of such a revelation. Apocalyptic literature is of considerable importance in the history of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, because it makes specific reference to beliefs such as the resurrection of the dead, judgment day, eternal life and perdition. Apocalyptic beliefs predate Christianity, appear in other religions, and have merged into contemporary secular society, especially through popular culture (see Apocalypticism). Apocalypse-like beliefs also occur in other religious systems; an example is the Hindu concept of pralay.
From the second century, the term "Apocalypse" was applied to a number of books, both Jewish and Christian, which show the same characteristic features. Besides the Apocalypse of John (now generally called the Book of Revelation) included in the New Testament, the Muratorian fragment, Clement of Alexandria, and others mention an Apocalypse of Peter. Apocalypses of Adam and Abraham (Epiphanius) and of Elias (Jerome) are also mentioned; see, for example, the six titles of this kind in the "List of the 60 Canonical Books".
The use of the Greek noun to designate writings belonging to a certain literary genre is of Christian origin, the original norm of the class being the New Testament Book of Revelation. In 1832 Gottfried Christian Friedrich Lücke explored the word "Apocalypse" as a description of the book of Revelation, a usage obtained from the opening words of the book which refer to an apocalypse (prophecy) of Jesus Christ given to John, who wrote the text. In Greek the opening words are 'Aπōκάλυψις 'Iησōῦ Χριστōῦ.
[edit] Characteristic features
The Apocalyptic religious literature is regarded as a distinct branch of literature. This genre has several characteristic features.
[edit] Disclosure through a dream or vision
The disclosure of hidden wisdom is made through a vision or a dream. Moreover, the manner of the revelation and the experience of the one who receives it are generally prominent. The account is usually given in the first person. There is something portentous in the circumstances corresponding to the importance of the secrets about to be disclosed. The element of the mysterious, often prominent in the vision itself, is foreshadowed in the preliminary events. Some of the persistent features of the apocalyptic tradition are connected with the circumstances of the vision and the personal experience of the seer.
The primary example of apocalyptic literature in the Hebrew Bible is the book of Daniel. After a long period of fasting, Daniel is standing by a river when a heavenly being appears to him, and the revelation follows (Daniel 10:2ff). John, in the New Testament Revelation (1:9ff), has a like experience, told in very similar words. Compare also the first chapter of the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch; and the Syriac Apocalypse, vi.1ff, xiii.1ff, lv.1-3. Or, as the prophet lies upon his bed, distressed for the future of his people, he falls into a sort of trance, and in "the visions of his head" is shown the future. This is the case in Daniel 7:1ff; 2 Esdras 3:1-3; and in the Book of Enoch, i.2 and following. As to the description of the effect of the vision upon the seer, see Daniel 8:27; Enoch, lx.3; 2 Esdras 5:14.
[edit] Angels bear revelation
The introduction of Angels as the bearers of the revelation is a standing feature. God does not speak in person, but gives instruction through the medium of heavenly messengers, who act as the seer's guide and is easily impersonated by normal mortal human beings to trick and deceive the gullible.
There is hardly an example of a true Apocalypse in which the instrumentality of angels in giving the message is not made prominent. In the Assumption of Moses, which consists mainly of a detailed prediction of the course of Israelite and Jewish history, the announcement is given to Joshua by Moses, just before the death of the latter. So, too, in the Sibylline Oracles, which are for the most part a foretelling of future events, the Sibyl is the only speaker. Neither of these books are truly representative of apocalyptic literature in the narrower sense (see below).
[edit] Deals with the future
Apocalyptic writing is how the prophet sees God's justice taking place in the future. This genre has a distinctly religious aim, intended to show God's way of dealing with humankind, and God's ultimate purposes. The writer presents, sometimes very vividly, a picture of coming events, especially those connected with the end of the present age. In certain of these writings the subject-matter is vaguely described as "that which shall come to pass in the latter days" (Daniel 2:28; compare verse 29); similarly Daniel 10:14, "to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days"; compare Enoch, i.1, 2; x.2ff. So, too, in Revelation 1:1 (compare the Septuagint translation of Daniel 2:28ff), "Revelation . . . that which must shortly come to pass." Past history is often included in the vision, usually in order to give the proper historical setting to the prediction, as the panorama of successive events passes over imperceptibly from the known to the unknown. Thus, in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, the detailed history of the Greek empire in the East, from the conquest of Alexander down to the latter part of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (verses 3-39, all presented in the form of a prediction), is continued, without any break, in a scarcely less vivid description (verses 40-45) of events which had not yet taken place, but were only expected by the writer: the wars which should result in the death of Antiochus and the fall of his kingdom. All this, however, serves only as the introduction to the remarkable eschatological predictions in the twelfth chapter, in which the main purpose of the book is to be found. Similarly, in the dream recounted in 2 Esdras 11 and 12, the eagle, representing the Roman Empire, is followed by the lion, which is the promised Messiah, who is to deliver the chosen people and establish an everlasting kingdom. The transition from history to prediction is seen in xii.28, where the expected end of Domitian's reign -- and with it the end of the world -- is foretold. Still another example of the same kind is Sibyllines, iii.608-623. Compare also Assumptio Mosis, vii-ix. In nearly all the writings which are properly classed as apocalyptic the eschatological element is prominent. The growth of speculation regarding the age to come and the hope for the chosen people more than anything else occasioned the rise and influenced the development of apocalyptic literature.
[edit] The mysterious or fantastic
The element of the mysterious, apparent in both the matter and the manner of the writing, is a marked feature in every typical Apocalypse. The literature of visions and dreams has its own traditions which are well illustrated in Jewish (or Jewish-Christian) apocalyptic writing.
This apocalyptic quality appears most plainly in the use of fantastic imagery. The best illustration is furnished by the strange living creatures which figure in so many of the visions--"beasts" in which the properties of men, animals, birds, reptiles, or purely imaginary beings are combined in a way that is startling and often grotesque. This characteristic feature is illustrated in the following list of the most noteworthy passages in which such creatures are introduced: Daniel 7:1-8, 8:3-12 (both passages of the greatest importance for the history of apocalyptic literature); Enoch, lxxxv.-xc.; 2 Esdras 11:1-12:3, 11-32; Greek Apoc. of Bar. ii, iii; Hebrew Testament, Naphtali's, iii.; Revelation 6:6ff (compare Apocalypse of Baruch [Syr.] li.11), ix.7-10, 17-19, xiii.1-18, xvii.3, 12; the Shepherd of Hermas, "Vision," iv.1. Certain mythical or semi-mythical beings which appear in the Hebrew Bible also play an important role in these books. Thus "Leviathan" and "Behemoth" (Enoch, lx.7, 8; 2 Esdras 6:49-52; Apocalypse of Baruch xxix.4); "Gog and Magog" (Sibyllines, iii.319ff, 512ff; compare Enoch, lvi.5ff; Revelation 20:8). Foreign mythologies are also occasionally laid under contribution (see below).
[edit] Mystical symbolism
Mystical symbolism is another frequent characteristic of apocalyptic. This is most strikingly illustrated in the well-known cases where gematria is employed for the sake of obscuring the writer's meaning; thus, the mysterious name "Taxo," Assumptio Mosis, ix. 1; the "number of the beast," 666, of Revelation 13:18; the number 888 ('Iησōῦς), Sibyllines, i.326-330. Very similar to this is the frequent enigmatic prophecy of the length of time which must elapse before the events predicted come to pass; thus, the "time, times, and a half," Daniel 12:7; the "fifty-eight times" of Enoch, xc.5, Assumptio Mosis, x.11; the announcement of a certain number of "weeks" or days (without specifying the starting-point), Daniel 9:24ff, 12:11, 12; Enoch xciii.3-10; 2 Esdras 14:11, 12; Apocalypse of Baruch xxvi-xxviii; Revelation 11:3, 12:6; compare Assumptio Mosis, vii.1. Symbolic language is also used to describe persons, things, or events; thus, the "horns" of Daniel 7 and 8; Revelation 17 and following; the "heads" and "wings" of 2 Esdras xi and following; the seven seals of chapter 6 of Revelation; trumpets, 8; bowls, 16; the dragon, Revelation 12:3-17, 20:1-3; the eagle, Assumptio Mosis, x.8; and so on.
As typical examples of more elaborate allegories -- aside from those in Daniel 7, 8 and 2 Esdras 11, 12, already referred to -- may be mentioned: the vision of the bulls and the sheep, Enoch, lxxxv and following; the forest, the vine, the fountain, and the cedar, Apocalypse of Baruch xxxvi and following; the bright and the black waters, ibid. liii and following; the willow and its branches, Hermas, "Similitudines," viii.
[edit] The Apocalypse as the "end of the age"
The word apocalypse in Greek means "unveiling". In John's apocalypse, the book of Revelation, he refers to the "unveiling" or "revelation" of Jesus Christ as Messiah. This term has been downgraded in common usage to refer to the end of the world. But it is more accurate to interpret the term "end of the world", as we see in the King James Version of the Bible, as the "end of the age". The word translated as "world" is actually the Greek word "eon" or "age".
The eschatological pictures of the end of the age in the later books of the Old Testament were images of judgment of the wicked, as well as the resurrection and glorification of those who were righteous before God. The book of Job and in the Psalms the dead are seen as being in Sheol awaiting the final judgement, from whence the wicked will be consigned to eternal torment in the fires of Gei' Hinnom.
The New Testament letters written by the Apostle Paul expand on this theme of judgment of the wicked and glorification of those who belong to Christ or Messiah. In his letters to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians Paul expounds further on the destiny of the righteous. He speaks of the simultaneous resurrection and rapture of those who are in Christ, (or Messiah). This is a combined apocalyptic event that comes at the end of this age and before the coming Millennium.
Christianity had a Millennial expectation for glorification of the righteous from the time it emerged from Judaism and spread out into the world in the first century. The poetic and prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible, particularly in Isaiah, were rich in Millennial imagery. The New Testament Congregation after Pentecost carried on with this theme. During his imprisonment by the Romans on the Island of Patmos, John described the visions he experienced, writing the Book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 20 contains several reference to a thousand year reign of Christ/Messiah upon this earth.
Throughout Church history the kings and princes of Europe had traditionally viewed with extreme disfavor the idea of a judgement at the end of this age and a Millennium to follow. King Henry VIII was very angry when he heard that his subjects were reading smuggled copies of William Tyndale's New Testament. Upon hearing that they were discussing the judgement at the end of the age he flew into a rage. Archibishop Wolsey was summoned and questioned about this. A series of events then led to William Tyndale being hunted down, captured, condemned, and burned at the stake. Preaching or teaching on end time apocalytic themes in the "Three Self" government church in China is strictly forbidden.
Modern Christian movements in the 18th and 19th Centuries were characterized by a rise of Millennialism. Christian Apocalyptic eschatology was a continuation of the same two themes referred to throughout all of scripture as "this age" and "the age to come". Evangelicals have led the way in rediscovering and popularizing the biblical prophecy of a showdown between good and evil at the end of this age and a coming Millennium to follow. Most evangelicals have been taught a form of Millennialism known as Dispensationalism which arose in the 19th century. Dispensationalism sees separate destinies for the Church and Israel. Its concept of a special Pre Tribulation Rapture of the Church has become extremely popular. This is the central thesis of the Left Behind books and films. Recently, however, Dispensationalism has been enduring some stiff opposition from those who embrace what is termed Traditional Millennialism. Prominent among them are those who hold to a Post Tribulation Rapture.
One of the most most complete exegetical works on the meaning of the Book of Revelation was written by Emanuel Swedenborg called the Apocalypse Revealed, first published in two volumes in Amsterdam in 1766.
[edit] See also
- Apocalypse of Abraham
- Apocalypse of Peter
- Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
- Apocalyptic literature
- Apocalypticism
- English Apocalypse Manuscripts
- Eschatology
- Millennialism
- Millenarianism
- Premillennialism
- Kali Yug, Hindu view
- Kalki, Hindu prophetic figure
- Qiyamah, Muslim view
- Dajjal, Muslim Satanic figure
- Summary of Christian eschatological differences
- Doomsday
- Armageddon
- Apocalypse Now, a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola
- Ragnarök
- Just a Couple of Days, an apocalyptic novel with a happy ending
- The End Is Nigh, a magazine looking at the end of the world
- Apocalypse Nerd, a comic book exploring human relationships in the Apocalypse
- Dream dictionary
- New World Order (conspiracy)
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] External links
- Belief in the last days
- 'Lifting of the Veil'
- Islam and Second Coming
- A Brief History of the Apocalypse - Very extensive timeline of apocalyptic prognostication
- The End Time Pilgrim - A scriptural guide into the climactic final seven years of this age.
- the Apocalypse cave The cave of Apocalypse on Patmos island.
- Biblaridion magazine: Revelation: Historic and interpretive investigation.
- A verse by verse analysis of the Apocalypse by a Greek researcher (Historicist viewpoint).
