What does the term Apocalypse mean when used in the Bible?

by Angela Bardon

The word Apocalypse has often been interpreted in our contemporary world as the End of Time or a major disaster that ends life as we know. I interpret End of Time to mean living fully in the present moment. If we are absorbed fully in the present moment, there is no past, there is no future, time ends whilst absorbed in the zone or in a trance state. Nothing else exists except for the present moment and whatever it is that we are consciously or unconsciously absorbed in. As soon as we start thinking about what we will do tomorrow or what happened yesterday or the appointment we have to attend in an hours time, time resumes. If we can live in the eternal present moment then time ends. Time is a human construct which allows us to measure how creation flows forwards and backward in a linear manner. This is a simplified version of how I interpret the words End of Time. I know that the majority will disagree with my interpretation. I ask you to simply ponder this notion of End of Time and I invite you to share with me your thoughts.

Apocalypse is an interesting term but means something very different in biblical literature to how it is understood in our contemporary world and our own perceptions. After briefly studying The Revelation of John during my Religious Studies degree, I learned what Apocolypse means in Biblical literature. I came to the conclusion that the Revelation of John is an apocalyptic story, symbolically outlining one person's journey through the spiritual transformation process and a spiritual crisis. Here I share with you my academic findings written in 2011.

Using The Revelation of John as the main (but not only) text, identify the major themes of apocalyptic literature.

Apocalyptic literature appears confusing for many readers as the literature is often read and interpreted as an end of time eschatology at a collective level. The following essay seeks to explore John’s Revelation in order to tease out the predominant themes of apocalyptic literature. In exploring and walking with John through his apocalyptic journey and other apocalyptic journeys, the literature revealed to me the individual’s journey through the spiritual transformation process, not an apocalypse at a collective level. Hence the following essay also seeks to argue that the themes that emerge in apocalyptic literature can also be read and interpreted as an individual apocalyptic journey.

How one defines the term apocalypse determines how one reads and takes themes from apocalyptic literature. A simple definition taken from its Greek word apokalypsis refers to an “unveiling or revelation” in which” one gains insight into the present” (Kovacs and Rowland, 2004: 2) in order to transform the life one is living in the here and now (Woodman, 2008: 8). Glasson (1965: 2) states that apocalyptic revelations are usually written in times of crisis or great danger, which tests one's faith and asks one to stand firm in times of persecution. Watson (2002: 1) and Woodman (2008: 9) indicate that apocalyptic discourse refers to topics such as journeys through heaven and hell, end of time literature, visions of a transcendental reality that portray eschatological salvation and catastrophic events. Apocalyptic literature differs from prophecy as a divine intermediary, such as an angel in Zechariah 1:9; 2:3–4 or in John’s case a Christed being delivers the revelation in the form of a vision (Collins, 1999: 117).

Considering Woodman’s definition of apocalypse which involves an inner transformation in the here and now, and the letters written by John to the seven churches, church is a word which requires a definition. In the Oxford dictionary (Elliot, Knight, and Cowley, 1997: 25), church is defined as a collective body of people who worship God and Jesus Christ. Fillmore (1931: 151) a Christian mystic, defines church as

“an aggregation of spiritual ideas in individual consciousness. To establish the church or ecclesia of God in man, a new state of consciousness must be formed….. The church of God begins its activity in man as a mental perception, which must go through certain processes before it is established in the whole of consciousness”.

In considering these two definitions of the word church, is the revelation experienced by John simply for John or a vision to share with the seven Christian churches? Collins (1999: 120) notes that when the door to heaven opens and John is invited to enter heaven, this suggests that what occurs in Rev 4:1–22:5, is John’s personal journey. In John’s revelation, John describes heaven with a throne, which could symbolize the sovereignty and autonomy of divine power. The throne could also symbolize cosmic order and harmony (Collins, 1999: 125). Twenty–four elders situated around the throne could symbolize twenty-four aspects of wisdom, knowledge and divine mysteries that accompany the state of sovereignty and autonomy and the seat of divine power God or Christ consciousness. Fillmore (1931: 187) defines an elder as a state of unity consciousness within the self, in which intelligent directive powers are aligned with peace, harmony, and wisdom. Are these qualities that John’s higher self or God self are seeking to manifest within John’s consciousness so that John can serve God? John’s and Zechariah’s revelations also contrast the glory of Heaven above with the state of hell and chaos below on earth, creating duality (Cook, 1995:129; Kovacs and Rowland, 2004: 49).

If we read the Revelation of John as the inner transformation that must be undertaken to establish the inner church of God within John, then the narrative can be read quite differently. When one reads John writing to the seven churches, John addresses his letters to the angels of the seven churches (Rev, 2:1, 2:8, 2:12, 2:18, 3:1, 3:7, 3:14). How one defines angel depends on whether we view John as writing to divine supernatural beings who are messengers of God that are not manifest in physical form (Elliot, Knight, and Cowley, 1997: 25), or do we interpret the letters as being sent to people with angelic qualities in the actual physical churches at the time. A different way of viewing the letters could be John is engaged in a form of ecstatic journaling with the aid of angels, immersed within his own consciousness and in the spirit of God, seeking to gain insight into the inner transformations that are required to establish Christ qualities and the Kingdom of Heaven within himself (Kovacs and Rowland, 2004: 49).

It should be noted that in the letters to the angels of the seven churches, worship of Jesus is not enough to ensure salvation. Each of the seven letters states that repentance and transformation are required before divine rewards can be gained (Rev, 2: 1–29; Rev, 3: 1–22). Hence spiritual transformation is a theme established in John’s revelation. In order to establish the Kingdom of Heaven, John needs to find courage, strength, and leadership, which could be symbolized by the lion, to sacrifice the lower, darker material attachments in consciousness which require transformation and “surrender of the human life to spirit” (Filmore, 1959: 116). The act of sacrifice and Christ consciousness are symbolized by the slaughtered lamb. The lower, darker material aspects of John’s consciousness are symbolized by Babylon. What the literature shows us is that after all the tests and trails and inner battles in consciousness Babylon is judged and destroyed along with the dragon or the illusion of good versus evil and earthly power within John’s consciousness. There is tension between hope for new life rooted in Gods covenant, and the loss, grief, and despair as the old ways of being are destroyed (Rapple, 2004: 98–99). John initially appears in his vision as being marooned on the island of Patmos, all alone. But as we read John’s revelation, the vision shows that regardless of the trials John experiences as John journeys towards Jerusalem, God is the alpha and omega, the one true power and the message is that of maintaining faith in God and Christ, that John is not alone and will be birthed into union with God (Kovacs and Rowland, 2004: 49).

Rapple (2002: 105) argues that the two cities Babylon and Jerusalem in the Revelation of John symbolize states of living death (Babylon) and life in God (Jerusalem). Major cities in the ancient world were called the divine wives of the patron God of the city. Therefore Babylon is symbolized as a woman (Rapple, 2002: 87–88). Babylon as a Jezebel and harlot symbolizes a state of evil, ignorance, chaos, adultery, fornication, greed, pride, arrogance, dishonor, idolatry, immorality, corruption, abuse and blasphemy (Rapple, 2004: 76–77). Babylon holds power or “royal dominion over the kings of the earth” or the physical world (Rapple, 2002: 85). Jerusalem is the heavenly city of God who is the one true power, the Alpha and Omega. According to Fillmore (1931: 341–342), Jerusalem symbolizes the “dwelling place of peace,…. the constitution of harmony” and “the abode of prosperity” in the “redeemed state of man” (Fillmore, 1931: 341–342).

Eschatology refers to “talk about the end” and as Collins (1998: 129) argues eschatology cannot be defined specifically as the end of anything in particular. If we take the definition of church in its collective sense, the dragon symbolic of the illusion (Sams and Carsen, 1999: 145–147) continues to attempt to re-establish itself in the world of men. If John’s vision is identified as a collective eschatology, the end of time, the punishment of the wicked and the establishment of heaven on earth is taken as a future event which the reader hopes is imminent (Watson, 2002: 6). However, no actual time frame is given in John’s vision. Regardless of the hope held by Christians of God destroying Satan, punishing the wicked and establishing peace on earth, this hope and desire has not yet manifested on planet earth. Therefore it seems feasible to attempt to interpret John’s apocalyptic revelation in the light of John’s own individual journey. The eschatological end in which the city of Jerusalem descends from heaven to earth would, therefore, symbolize the establishment of Christ consciousness or inner peace and harmony in the mind of John who is receiving the vision (Rev 21: 9–10).

The battle to conquer the dragon, destroy the city of Babylon and stay faithful to God through all the tests and trials occurs in stages as is described at Rev 11: 14 (1989: 1366), “The second woe has passed. The Third woe is coming very soon” as the dragon is defeated in heaven, but continues to pursue a path of control on earth (Holy Bible, 1989: 1368–1369). It appears that the final defeat of the dragon is foretold in John’s revelation when the dragon is defeated in heaven and thrown down to earth (Rev 12: 7–9). This could indicate that the battle is won and the transformation has been made in heaven or the mind of God but is yet to manifest in the physical world (Collins, 1999: 124). Cosmic order which Collins (1999: 125) states, is symbolized by, “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth” (Rev, 12: 1–2) is also protected by God in heaven and on earth, assuring final victory.

The continuing re-emergence of the dragon in John’s vision seems to indicate that John continues to experience the illusion and one crisis after the next in the physical world. This could be explained in Rev 13:11 as the dragon summons the beast and it arises out of the sea. Fillmore (1931: 578) defines ‘the sea’ as symbolic for the potential of unformed and unexpressed thoughts in the universal mind of God. The beast is given authority on earth as it is allowed to conquer and destroy the saints, which could symbolize spiritual virtues (Rev, 13: 5–8). What this appears to show us is that whilst there is a desire for earthly power and the experience of life and learning in the physical form, God allows all thoughts, ideas, and desires of the soul to manifest from the universal mind into physical form. The continuing re-emergence of the dragon could indicate that John has unrealized desires or learning that requires John’s continued manifestation in the physical world which is controlled by the beast, prior to his ascension into heaven.

In reading John’s revelation as the individual journey towards enlightenment, the plagues, natural disasters, the tests and trials that are established by the angels where hell, torment, chaos and confusion reign could be symbolic of the theme of the individual spiritual crisis. Shamans undergo spiritual crisis prior to their ability to spiritually serve their community as a holy person (Walsh, 2007: 49–56). The shaman may undergo physical illnesses, extreme anxiety, psychosis, life-threatening behavior, attacks from the spirit world and bizarre dreams. The initiate becomes sleepy, isolative and detached from reality. This may last for weeks or many years (Walsh, 2007: 54–55). The purpose of the spiritual crisis is the cleansing and purification of the initiate’s consciousness, of the ego, fear and inner darkness in order to align the initiate’s consciousness with their divine power and purpose (Walsh, 2007: 49–56). It can be noted that Luther also underwent a spiritual crisis in which he experienced, hallucinations, hysterical anxiety and obsessive-compulsive preoccupations prior to his break from the Catholic Church and the work he undertook to establish the Protestant Christian order (Wuff, 1997: 389).

The themes drawn from the Revelation of John as Apocalyptic literature and other apocalyptic literature are determined by how one defines their terms and interprets the symbols used in the literature. In interpreting John’s revelation as a personal journey for John in the here and now, rather than an end of time eschatology, the themes that emerged were similar to the themes that emerge in end of time eschatology. The themes that emerged before me as I journeyed with John through his apocalypse were themes of spiritual transformation, the assurance of the victory of God as the one true power, a description of how John envisioned heaven and the spiritual crisis, which is akin to a journey through hell and torment, that John undergoes to transform his consciousness in order to reach the endpoint. The end point is the establishment of Christ consciousness, inner peace and harmony, wisdom and an understanding of the divine mysteries of the universe symbolized by the city of Jerusalem. In reading apocalyptic literature the journey can be read as a journey of releasing physical reality, the desire for physical power and separation from God to embodying the spiritual reality of divine union in the Kingdom of God within an individual’s consciousness.

References:

Collins, A.Y. 1999, ‘Apocalyptic Themes in Biblical Literature’, in Interpretation, Vol. 53, №2, 117–130.

Cook, S.L. 1995, Prophecy and Apocalypticism: The Postexilic Social Setting, Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress.

Collins, J.J. 1998, ‘From Prophecy to Apocalypticism: The Expectation of the End’, in J.J. Collins, (Ed), The Encyclopaedia of Apocalypticism, Vol 1, The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity, New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 129–159.

Elliot, J., Knight, A. and Cowley.C. 1997, The Oxford Paperback Dictionary and Thesaurus, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fillmore, C. 1931, Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, Unity Village, Missouri: Unity House.

Fillmore, C. 1959, The Revealing Word: A Dictionary of Metaphysical Terms, Unity Village, Missouri: Unity House.

Glasson, T.F. 1965, The Revelation of John, London: Cambridge University Press.

Kovacs, J. and Rowland, C. 2004, Revelation, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Company.

Sams, J. and D. Carson, 1999, Medicine Cards, New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Rapple, E.M. 2004, The Metaphor of the City in the Apocalypse of John, New York: Peter lang Publishing.

‘The Revelation to John’, 1989, New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Holy Bible, New York: Harper Collins, 1359–1375.

Walsh, R. 2007, The World of Shamanism: New Views of an Ancient Tradition, Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewwllyn Publications.

Watson, D.F. (Ed), 2002, The Intertexture of Apocalyptic Discourse in The New Testament, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.

Woodman, S. 2008, The Book of Revelation, London: SCM Press.

Wuff, D.M. 1997, Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary, New York: John Wiley & Sons.