Apocalyptic Literature-III: Characteristics

I discussed in the first two articles in this series the background, conditions, and purposes of apocalyptic literature. Let me discuss some of the characteristics one will find when reading material of an apocalyptic nature. Some of this will be a little repetitive, but that’s not bad given our basic unfamiliarity with type of writing.

1. Historical significance. There will nearly always be some critical historical situation with which an apocalyptic book is connected. For example, Daniel and Ezekiel in Babylonian captivity. There is a work called The Book of IV Ezra, written in the late 1st century A.D. which laments the destruction of Jerusalem by “Babylon” (Rome). In this book, everything in nature is out of harmony: the sun appears at midnight, the moon will shine at noon, blood will seep from wood, stones will speak, etc. The Book of Baruch was also written in the late 1st century to comfort the Jews after Rome destroyed Jerusalem. One more book I’d like to mention is The Assumption of Moses, written in the 1st century A.D. as a protest against the diversion of Israel’s interests towards political affairs, and to encourage piety while awaiting God’s intervention and triumph. Ray Summers, in his excellent book, Worthy is the Lamb, discusses the language of The Assumption: “The descriptions of the events attending the end is characteristic of this type of Jewish literature [apocalyptic]. The Heavenly One will arise from his throne and he will go forth with indignation and wrath because of the wickedness of men. The earth shall tremble; the high mountains shall be made low, and the hills shall be shaken and fall. The sun shall be turned to darkness; the moon shall give no light but shall be turned wholly into blood. The stars shall be disturbed. The sea will retire into the abyss, and the rivers shall be dried up. The eternal God will appear to punish the Gentiles and destroy all their idols. Israel shall be happy when she looks upon her enemies in hell. She shall rejoice and give thanks to her Creator” (Worthy is the Lamb, p. 12). This is apocalyptic literature; do you see a comparison with the book of Revelation? John wrote within the context of Roman persecution. There is always some critical historical condition behind an apocalyptic book.

2. Generally, pseudonymous authors. Not always—John wrote the Revelation under his own name. However, The Book of Enoch, for example, wasn’t written by Enoch, nor was The Assumption of Moses written by that great man. The authors remain anonymous not for base reasons. They have admiration for the greatness of previous prophets, there is a need for personal safety, there was a desire to emulate prophetic messages in a time when prophecy had ceased. And there were other motives as well, I’m sure. So, for the most part, the apocalyptic works are pseudonymous.

3. The message was presented in visions. I’ve already discussed this, and we have the Revelation as a perfect example. Also, look again at the illustrations in point 1 above. Visions were the chief means of expressing truth. They would vary from scenes in heaven to scenes on the earth. There is an abundance of messengers or angels who are God’s agents in securing the revelation to the seer. And we must not try to interpret these visions literally or to necessarily find specific historical events for each figure used.

4. Predictive. There is a predictive element to apocalyptic literature, but it’s general, not specific. Apocalypses deal with the character of events—good or evil—not the precise details. We must be very cautious in trying to apply specific historical events or people to the symbols of apocalyptic literature. This is done all the time by writers and, not surprisingly, there are hundreds of different ideas at to what a vision might specifically represent. And they are probably all wrong, because the vision dealt in general principles and not exact events. It’s especially difficult for us, who live far removed from the time of writing; those who lived at the time of the message would have had more of an idea of any particulars that might have been intended. But we do need to be familiar with the historical circumstances, at least in general, and seek to try to put ourselves in the shoes of those who first received the message.

5. A dramatic element. The author of the work tries to make the truths taught as vivid and forceful as possible. So there are often very grotesque and terrible symbols: rivers of blood, hailstones weighing 100 pounds, a dragon so large he knocks a third of the stars from the heavens with his tail, death riding on a horse, a woman with the moon as a dress and the sun as a footstool, animals with many heads and horns, a dragon, a beast, and a false prophet, each of whom vomits up a frog which joins in gathering an army. Some of these are found in the Revelation, and other places. But that’s the idea. Exaggerated symbols for the purpose of dramatic effect.

Once we get the nature of apocalyptic literature in mind, and realize that the book of Revelation is simply one example among many in ancient history, then we can have a better idea of what the book is about and avoid some of the egregious errors that have been made in interpreting it.