The Apocalypse
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What is the
Apocalypse?
An
apocalypse, in the terminology of early
Jewish and Christian
literature, is a revelation of hidden things given by God to a chosen
prophet; this term is more 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, as
beliefs such as the resurrection of the dead, judgement day, heaven and
hell are all made explicit in it.
The word is
derived from the Greek ἀπōκάλυψις, apokalupsis meaning
revelation (literally, 'a lifting of the veil', or disclosure). It
seems to have originated among Greek-speaking Jews, and then passed
from them to the Christians, who developed it still further.
This usage has
its origin in the title given to the New Testament
Apocalypse; which title was itself obtained, very naturally, from the
opening words 'Aπōκάλυψις 'Iησōῦ Χριστōῦ (see above), in which the term
"revelation" is of course used simply to describe the contents of the
book, not as a literary designation. The name Apocalypse was then given
to other writings of the same general character, of which many appeared
at about this time.
From the second
century it was applied to a number of books, both
Jewish and Christian, which show the same characteristic features.
Besides the Apocalypse of John (thus named in some of the earliest of
the Christian Fathers), 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 class of literary products is thus of Christian origin, the
original norm of the class being the New Testament Revelation.
Characteristic
Features
Apocalyptic
religious literature is regarded as a distinct branch of
literature. This genre has several characteristic features.
Revelation of
mysteries
It is a
revelation of mysteries, things which
lie beyond the ordinary
range of human knowledge. God gives to select prophets or saints
instruction in regard to hidden matters, whether things altogether
foreign to human experience, or merely events in human history which
have not yet come to pass.
Some of the
secrets of heaven are disclosed, in greater or less detail:
the purposes of God; the deeds and characteristics of angels and evil
spirits; the explanation of natural phenomena; the story of Creation
and the history of early mankind; impending events, especially those
connected with the future of Israel; the end of the world; the final
judgment, and the fate of mankind; the messianic age; pictures of
heaven and hell. In the Book of Enoch, the most comprehensive Jewish
apocalypse, the revelation includes all of these various elements.
Disclosure
through a dream or vision
The
disclosure of hidden wisdom is made
through a vision or a dream.
Because of the peculiar nature of the subject-matter, this is evidently
the most natural literary form. Moreover, the manner of the revelation,
and the experience of the one who receives it, are generally made more
or less prominent. Usually, though not always, the account is 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 so 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. As Daniel after long fasting stands by the river, 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 Dan.
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 Dan.
8:27; Enoch, lx.3; 2 Esd. 5:14.
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 His
instruction through the medium of heavenly messengers, who act as the
seer's guide.
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 mere foretelling of future events, the Sibyl is the only speaker. But
neither of these books can be called truly representative of
apocalyptic literature in the narrower sense (see below). In another
writing which has sometimes been classed as apocalyptic, the book of
Jubilees, an angel is indeed the mediator of the revelation, but the
vision or dream element is wanting. In this case, however, the book is
not at all apocalyptic in its nature.
Deals with the
future
In the typical
compositions of this class the chief concern of the
writer is with the future. The Apocalypse is primarily a Prophecy
usually with a distinctly religious aim, intended to show God's way of
dealing with men, and His ultimate purposes. The writer presents,
sometimes very vividly, a picture of coming events, especially those
connected with the end of the present age. Thus, in certain of these
writings the subject-matter is vaguely described as "that which shall
come to pass in the latter days" (Dan. 2:28; compare verse 29);
similarly Dan. 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
Rev. 1:1 (compare the Septuagint translation of Dan. 2:28ff),
"Revelation . . . that which must shortly come to pass." Past history
is often included in the vision, but usually only in order to give
force and 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 Esd. 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 perhaps also Assumptio Mosis, vii-ix. In nearly
all the writings which are properly classed as apocalyptic the
eschatological element is prominent. In fact, it was the growth of
speculation regarding the age to come and the hope for the chosen
people which more than anything else occasioned the rise and influenced
the development of this sort of literature.
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
remarkably persistent; and this fact is unusually well illustrated in
the group of Jewish (or Jewish-Christian) writings under consideration.
This apocalyptic
quality appears most plainly (a) 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. How characteristic a feature this is may be seen from the
following list of the most noteworthy passages in which such creatures
are introduced: Dan. 7:1-8, 8:3-12 (both passages of the greatest
importance for the history of apocalyptic literature); Enoch,
lxxxv.-xc.; 2 Esd. 11:1-12:3, 11-32; Greek Apoc. of Bar. ii, iii;
Hebrew Testament, Naphtali's, iii.; Rev. 6:6ff (compare Apoc. of Bar.
[Syr.] li.11), ix.7-10, 17-19, xiii.1-18, xvii.3, 12; the Shepherd of
Hermas, "Vision," iv.1. Certain mythical or semimythical beings which
appear in the Old Testament are also made to play a part of increasing
importance in these books. Thus "Leviathan" and "Behemoth" (Enoch,
lx.7, 8; 2 Esd. 6:49-52; Apoc. of Bar. xxix.4); "Gog and Magog"
(Sibyllines, iii.319ff, 512ff; compare Enoch, lvi.5ff; Rev. 20:8). As
might be expected, foreign mythologies are also occasionally laid under
contribution (see below).
Mystical symbolism
The
apocalyptic quality is seen again (b) in the frequent use of a
mystifying symbolism. 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 Rev. 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," Dan. 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), Dan. 9:24ff, 12:11, 12; Enoch
xciii.3-10; 2 Esd. 14:11, 12; Apoc. of Bar. xxvi-xxviii; Rev. 11:3,
12:6; compare Assumptio Mosis, vii.1. The same tendency is seen also in
the employment of symbolical language in speaking of certain persons,
things, or events; thus, the "horns" of Dan. 7 and 8; Rev. 17 and
following; the "heads" and "wings" of 2 Esd. xi and following; the
seven seals of chapter 6 of Revelations; trumpets, 8; bowls, 16; the
dragon, Rev. 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
Dan. 7, 8 and 2 Esd. 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, Apoc. of Bar. xxxvi and
following; the bright and the black waters, ibid. liii and following;
the willow and its branches, Hermas, "Similitudines," viii. To this
description of the literary peculiarities of the Jewish Apocalypse
might be added that in its distinctly eschatological portions it
exhibits with considerable uniformity the diction and symbolism of the
classical Old Testament passages. As this is true, however, in like
degree of the bulk of late Jewish and early Christian eschatological
literature, most of which is not apocalyptic in the proper sense of the
word, it can hardly be treated as a characteristic on a par with those
described above.
The end of the
world
In
recent times the designation apocalyptic literature, or apocalyptic,
has commonly been used to include all the various portions of the
Jewish and Christian Scriptures, whether canonical or apocryphal, in
which eschatological predictions are given in the form of a revelation.
That the term is at present somewhat loosely used, and often made to
include what is not properly apocalyptic, is due in part to the fact
that the study of this literature as a distinct class is comparatively
recent.
In English, the
word apocalypse now commonly refers to the end of the
world. The current meaning may be an ellipsis of the phrase apokalupsis
eschaton (apocalyptic eschatology), meaning "revelation of knowledge of
the end of time". This ellipsis in common usage echoes the ellipsis in
the title of the last book of the Bible, Book of Revelation, which is
commonly interpreted as prophesying the end of the world in graphic
detail. See also eschatology and millennialism.
The
eschatological end of the world was often accompanied by images of
resurrection, judgement of the dead in apocalyptic literature, and
ineffective people going to hell. Interestingly, these ideas were not
explicitly developed in the pre-apocalyptic books of the Hebrew Bible.
So the existence of such beliefs in Judaism, Christianity and Islam may
all be traced to apocalyptic writings.
The history of
Christianity is peppered with Millennial sects almost
from its very beginning. The modern Christian movements are
concentrated in the 18th and 19th Centuries and include the rise of
Apocalyptic sects such as the Christadelphians, Mormons, Jehovah's
Witnesses of note. Islam has its own movements especially the awaited
or missing Imam of the Shia. In the 14th Century (1890's CE) of Islam
among the Sunni there is a belief that the Promised Messiah for both
Muslims and Christians would come; many of these were Jehadists such as
Muhammad al-Mahdi, Muhammad ibn Abdalla of Sudan, Usmna dan Fodio of
West Africa among them who married political power with kingship. Later
Mahdi's including Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah
Khomeini who were basically religious reformers. Recently, we have seen
a revival with Jehadists like Osama bin Laden's of Al-Qaeda fame who
are exclusive and political. The prophesy of the Promised Messiah at
the head of the 14th century has for the majority of Muslims has only
been claimed by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the majority view was summed up by
Al-Azhar University, Cairo as the ushering in of an Islamic Age.
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