Apocalypse

apocalypse

noun apoc·a·lypse \ə-ˈpä-kə-ˌlips\

Popularity: Top 20% of words

Definition of apocalypse

1. 1a : one of the Jewish and Christian writings of 200 b.c. to a.d. 150 marked by pseudonymity, symbolic imagery, and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom   b capitalized :  revelation 3
2. 2a : something viewed as a prophetic revelation   b :  armageddon
3. 3 : a great disaster <an environmental apocalypse>

 

11 Words from the Bible

Examples of apocalypse in a sentence

1. His book tells of an environmental apocalypse.
2. <the fear that the next global pandemic could be an apocalypse of biblical proportions>

Origin and Etymology of apocalypse

Middle English, revelation, Revelation, from Anglo-French apocalipse, from Late Latin apocalypsis, from Greek apokalypsis, from apokalyptein to uncover, from apo- + kalyptein to cover

First Known Use: 13th century

Apocalypse: over 2000 years words can lose their meaning, particularly if the context they were initially used in are taken over by a present context. Today the word apocalypse is commonly understood as the 3rd definition –

3 :  a great disaster <an environmental apocalypse>

This is the context of the popular media, the movies and TV, even the news. The word is thrown out as a caveat, a rider that resonates because of our cultural context, and we hear it, and get it.

it is a sign of our times that words have lost their meaning. What do I mean by this? We tend to be too full of ourselves to see beyond our self. Today I heard a quote of Winston Churchill: “The further back you look, the further ahead you can see.” I don’t know what the Greek word “apokalypsis” meant to the Greeks culturally and in context 2000 years ago; I’m not a Greek scholar but the Dictionary Scholars have stated that its derivation is from apokalyptein – to uncover, from apo- + kalyptein to cover. In other words, apocalypse is an “uncovering”, a revelation of what is covered, hidden. When Revelation was written, the author and his Inspiration chose this as the title that would ultimately come to designate the Book; the title it ultimately received and has remained intact would be “the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ” – the “uncovering/revelation”. What is being uncovered – revealed? Prior to the vision and the encounter that presages the Book, Christ was a local figure, known in a region of several Jewish and Gentile provinces under Roman rule. The Jewish/Roman historian Josephus dedicated just a few pages to Him and His contemporaries in “Antiquities”. The world did not know of the crucified Man, the significance of the sacrificial Lamb, the power of a resurrected Body, the forces that revolved around all these things. It was the message of those who had been with Him, accompanied by the Presence and witness of the Spirit to their message that has been resonating these last 2000 years. What has changed since then? The message of that original event is still spread by word-of-mouth, and the record of the “Apocalypse of Jesus Christ” now stands in 2000 years of history, a record of Who and what is to come. The what loses all context of the original text without the Who, the Who that is being revealed in the what. What does the what reveal: the disasters? No. the what reveals the nature of the reality of the world as it has been from the beginning, the world of Elohim, and the elohim (plural), and the reality of the seen and unseen world we are in, and what these disasters are all about. If the disasters were the issue, then Christ would not have told His disciples and us through them “not to worry” in His masterful cliff-note of Daniel’s vision and John’s revelation in Matthew 24, while He answered their 3 questions about His statement of the destruction of the Temple. “Matthew 24:1-3 (NKJV)

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

The when started almost immediately, the what started at the point of His departure in front of 500 witnesses as He was lifted into the clouds and angels appeared – “Acts 1:9-11 (NKJV)

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

The end of the age is now what is in question.

The Bible has been in print (hand-written) intact as a whole book for a thousand years, 10 centuries (google it). If you were so inclined and allowed to, you could put your hand upon it. The earliest printed versions exist from 5 centuries ago. The contents of the “Apocalypse” have not been edited, updated. We can read them in the whole context of the text as written 1000 years ago. The question is how does the text and what it stated hold up to what is occurring in our time?

Let’s return to the most appropriate definition of apocalypse for our context:

1a :  one of the Jewish and Christian writings of 200 b.c. to a.d. 150 marked by pseudonymity, symbolic imagery, and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom

The terms in this definition are so loaded that I am not going to attempt to parse them; I will state that the definition misses the point and the necessary focus of my preceding statements. Apocalypse is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and the only difference from the first revelation is that this time the whole world will be made aware of Him all at once at its culmination: all the nature and forces of the first coming are still present and in play, except now on a scale affecting all humanity. “What is the sign of His coming?” The “apocalyptic events” are all signs of His coming, and the signs are caused by the realities of the seen and unseen world around us and the forces of God and those who oppose Them.  – God, Jesus Christ, Spirit. These things have not changed from our beginning, and within the text that remains on record intact from 1000 years ago.

What concerns us today? clearly the “apocalyptic events” we are confronted with every day in our news. When I started this project several years ago, there were many facts that became part of my research and I will present just a few of them here:

• The world has been at peace since WWII; yet the number of displaced persons is greater than after the war by 10 million, and in the 2 years since that figure has grown another 10%; that is the population of England and New England combined. Their stories are in the news every day, called immigration crises; it is a humanitarian crisis.
• The role of climate change is held out as a factor; we have not seen the tip of the iceberg yet. Ever changing technology holds out a carrot; while human nature or even practice has not changed. What are our present politics and policies predicting for our ability to cope with the future crises?
• The role of partisanship has not changed; we hold to our own position and miss the functionality of the threefold dynamic of morality, legality, and practicality expressed through governance and economic policies, and we cannot talk to the opposing view about our view, neither it appears can we listen to theirs.

These are just a few of the things I hear every day in the news. What about you?

If we establish the Book of the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ as a valid perspective of the present, then we can look back into the past and acquire even more understanding and perspective, which will then allow us to look into our future from our present based on reality, and see our present as it is, not as we hope it is.

Apocalypse part II

In part one of the Apocalypse, I presented the perspective of a historical record of the events that would precede the apocalypse – the revelation of Jesus Christ.  These events have been recorded in parts for many thousands of years, but we have a complete compilation of them in one physical book that is a thousand years old. The point of this is that in context we have a whole record of both the history of what has happened as it relates to the history of Humankind, and the prophecies that have surrounded those events. More important for our consideration is the understanding that prophecies concerning future times from these texts are also present in these texts. It may not require stating, but I will for the sake of absolute clarity; the fact that we have a 1000 year old physical text precludes the possibility of any tampering with the contents from a current perspective. This is the equivalent of a control in a scientific experiment, that which is fixed and does not change.

Further consideration: in many cases much has been spoken of the ancient mindset and the limitations of those times and the perceptions of those minds. I have no issues on this subject; at the time a prophecy was given, whether it concerned the writer’s imminent time or the far future, the Spirit was able to communicate precisely what was needed to be recorded, and the same Spirit makes it clear when a prophecy has occurred or is occurring: ie. that a specific event has to do with a specific prophecy and the record stands true as the event prophesied is presently occurring. There can be a question about the historical “prophetic” record being written after the fact of the actual event, and consequently the text becomes a moral story, not a historical/prophetic record; if the text is considered at all this will be the perspective of the sceptic or nonbeliever. These things said, this brings us to the present, and a thousand-year old text with prophesied events that clearly have not happened; but are they happening now, or are there clear signs that point to the events imminently occurring? This question presents us with valid reasons to consider the nature of the text, the nature of the Spirit, the nature of prophesy, and our own nature in regard to all these things.

Before we address these things, there are other issues relating to the text, issues that have nothing to do with the ancient mindset, but the modern one. I am referring to the volumes of prophetic interpretations of the text, specifically the prophecies, in our time, and the clear failure of those interpretations to get it right, much to the shame and confusion of the authors and the recipients of those interpretations. Whether they were received or scorned, the end result was a discrediting of the authors and a disparagement of the text, and of course a nulling of the purpose and effect of God and prophecy itself. The discrediting the authors may be valid, but not of the text, of prophecy, or of God. If prophecy is accepted in the context of the text, it is clear that prophecy is not usually and possibly always misunderstood, even by those receiving it directly at the time it is first given, and clearly by people in our own times. The question arises, “Why prophecy at all?” Again, in the context of the text presenting the historical record, and the nature and function of prophesy, the pattern is one of:

• Elohim foreknows the event and outcome and presents it to be recorded, usually first by spoken words which then become recorded …
• Then the events occur, validating the prophecy in historical time and space, which consequently locks in the body of the prophecy, which often contains other future events which have not occurred at the time of the canonization of the scripture.
• AND finally, at some point in the future someone understands the past prophecy written and recorded years earlier as being relevant to their time and circumstances, and hopefully get the text, the context, the present revelation and message correct from the same Spirit that delivered the prophecy in the first place, and this dynamic institution and procedure from Elohim is validated in the present, gloriously and convincingly. The clearest examples of this are contained in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel (so specifically in Daniel 9:1-2).

In summary for part 1&2:

We have a valid historical control to evaluate ancient scripture as a valid prophetic instrument for our time (part 1) and …

We have a context to consider the nature and function of prophesy that allows us to approach it rationally even if we have not had a convincing personal experience of its nature, function, or Source.

The ancient mindset or the present consideration of the prophesy are not the critical factors in relating to the prophesy, but the Spirit who enables their initiation and ultimate understanding, the Spirit who spans all time and space and individuality.

Part III will address the sceptic and unbeliever, the believer, and the Spirit who enables anyone and everyone to find common ground of understanding and perspective, and consequently to discuss this topic and these issues progressively and rationally.