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Apocalypse depicted in Christian Orthodox traditional fresco scenes in Osogovo Monastery, Republic of Macedonia

St. John at Patmos: the receiving of an apocalyptic vision

An apocalypse (Ancient Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apokálypsis, from ἀπό and καλύπτω, literally meaning "an uncovering"^[1]) is a disclosure of knowledge or revelation. In religious and occult concepts it is usually a disclosure of something hidden, "a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities".^[2] Historically, the term has a heavy religious connotation as commonly seen in the prophetic revelations of eschatology and were obtained through dreams or spiritual visions.

It is also the Greek word for the last book of the New Testament entitled "Revelation".^[3] The term is also included in the title of some non-biblical canon books involving revelations.^[4][5][6] Today, the term is commonly used in reference to any larger-scale catastrophic event, or chain of detrimental events to humanity or nature.^[7] In all contexts, the revealed events usually entail some form of an end time scenario or the end of the world or revelations into divine, heavenly, or spiritual realms.

Origination

Dreams and visions

Viktor Vasnetsov, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The revelation may be made through a dream, as in the Book of Daniel, or through a vision, as in the Book of Revelation. In biblical accounts of revelations the manner of the revelation and its reception is generally described.

Fasting, mainly as part of a spiritual discipline, can lead one into an apocalyptic prophetic vision.^[8] One example of this is found in the Book of Daniel which is the first apocalypse in the Protestant Bible.^[9] After a long period of fasting,^[10] Daniel is standing by a river when a heavenly being appears to him, and the revelation follows (Daniel 10:2ff).

Symbolism

The Seven trumpets.

Numerical

Apocalyptic writing often makes wide use of symbolism. One instance of this occurs where gematria is employed, either for obscuring the writer's meaning or enhancing it; as a number of ancient cultures used letters also as numbers (i.e., the Romans with their use of "Roman numerals"). Thus the symbolic name "Taxo," "Assumptio Mosis", ix. 1; the "Number of the Beast" (616/666), in the Book of Revelation 13:18;^[11] the number 666 ('Iησōῦς), Sibyllines, i.326–30.

Lengths of time / periods

Similar is the frequent prophecy of the length of time through which the events predicted must be fulfilled. Thus, the "time, times, and a half," Daniel 12:7 which has been taken to be 3½ years in length by Dispensationalists;^[12] the "fifty-eight times" of Enoch, xc.5, "Assumptio Mosis", x.11; the announcement of a certain number of "weeks" or days, which starting point in Daniel 9:24, 25 is "the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks",^[13] a mention of 1290 days after the covenant/sacrifice is broken (Daniel 12:11),^[14] 12; Enoch xciii.3–10; 2 Esdras 14:11, 12; Apocalypse of Baruch xxvi–viii; Revelation 11:3, which mentions "two witnesses" with supernatural power,^[15] 12:6;^[16] compare Assumptio Mosis, vii.1.

Descriptions

Symbolic language also occurs in descriptions of persons, things or events; thus, the "horns" of Daniel 7 and 8;^[17]Revelation 17^[18] and following; the "heads" and "wings" of 2 Esdras xi and following; the seven seals of Revelation 6;^[19] trumpets, Revelation 8;^[20] "vials of the wrath of God" or "bowl..." judgments, Revelation 16;^[21] the dragon, Revelation 12:3–17,^[22]Revelation 20:1–3;^[23]
the eagle, Assumptio Mosis, x.8; and so on.

Result/purpose

Russian Orthodox icon Apocalypse

"Apocalyptic I" by contemporary Mexican painter Mauricio García Vega.

End of the age

In the Hebrew Old Testament some pictures of the end of the age were images of the judgment of the wicked and the glorification of those who were given righteousness before God. In the Book of Job and in some Psalms the dead are described as being in Sheol, awaiting the final judgment. The wicked will then be consigned to eternal suffering in the fires of Gehinnom, or the lake of fire mentioned in the Book of Revelation.^{[21][24][25][26][27]}

See also

• Apocalypticism


• Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction


• 
  Apocalypse Series


• Christian eschatology


• Hindu eschatology


• Human extinction


• Islamic eschatology


• List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events


• Messianic Age


• Ragnarök


• Ultimate fate of the universe

References

Further reading

• 
  Morris, Henry M (1985) [1983]. The Revelation Record. Tyndale House and Creation Life.
  


• Collins, John J. (2010) [2010]. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Imagination 2nd Ed. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.


• Collins, John J. ed. (2014)[2014]. The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature. Oxford University Press.

External links

• 
  The Apocalypse on In Our Time at the BBC
  


• 
  It's the End of the World: 8 Potential Armageddons, Fox, Sep 29, 2010.


• 
  Bible. N.T. Revelation. Latin. Selections. 1470. Apocalypsis Sancti Johannis. Germany, ca. 1470 48 leaves. illus. 31 cm. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress