Apocalyptic Hope

The Book of Daniel was recently preached through in the church I attend. I appreciated that the pastor went through the whole book and was willing to engage in all the chapters - even the ones with apocalyptic material. Because “Apocalyptic”, as a genre in its Second Temple period form (roughly 530 BCE to 70 CE), is not readily produced today, we often don’t know what to do with it. I want to ask the question, "can we engage in hope in an apocalyptic fashion today?” In order to be able to answer the question, it would be helpful to talk about what apocalyptic is. 

Besides the well-known apocalyptic texts within the Bible (especially Daniel and Revelation), there are apocalyptic texts outside of the canon of scripture. These include Esdras (aka 4 Ezra), Apocalypse of Abraham, Apocalypse of Moses as well as at least a couple dozen others. The word itself just means unveiling or revelation. If we go with a genre description from the Anchor Bible Dictionary, it explains that Apocalyptic is “A genre of literature, produced by oppressed peoples in order to keep hope alive for the future as an independent people, comprised of indirect messages which are highly symbolic, intentionally cryptic, uniformly negative about the future, and communicated by angelic mediators.” (*J. Collins, “Early Jewish Apocalypticism,” Anchor Bible Dictionary 1:282-88) This definition on its own is a mouthful and while it starts to shed some light, it still leaves one saying, “but what is it?” 

Perhaps instead of hard and fast definitions it’s better to investigate how the concept of apocalyptic works. Years ago, I had an Old Testament teacher who said “there is a time to be prophetic and a time to be apocalyptic, and if you are prophetic in an apocalyptic situation you are being unfaithful”. He went on to explain that an apocalyptic situation was one where there is little or no ‘this world’ reason or resource for hope. I might adjust his statement and say it is meaningful to declare God’s goodness over someone in an apparently hopeless situation, but when we do so in an ‘apocalyptic’ manner, that message is able to go down deep into the core of a person. 

A few weeks after hearing my professor teach about not being prophetic in an apocalyptic situation, I was talking with a person who had recently been diagnosed with a debilitating disease. It was a diagnosis that without a miracle would mean their eventual demise. When I began to talk to them, they stopped me and asked “are you saying I just need to have faith and I will be healed?” It was easy to hear the pain in the question which implied they had already been given this advice numerous times. It was clear this was a faithful person, willing to believe and endure, no matter the cost. I think I surprised them when I said “No, I’m not”. When they heard my response, the Kevlar came off and the depths of their despair came to the surface. In the conversation that followed, I was allowed to offer hope and encouragement to a place inside of the person which would have remained locked away from anyone who would answer “yes” and just exhorted them to hang in there. 

I think this little example is only a small piece of what we might start to shape our understanding of apocalyptic. One aspect of the ancient apocalyptic genre is that it uses dramatic cosmic imagery understood by its recipients. For example, Daniel chapter 7 gives descriptions of non- human beasts that were symbols of the real-world people who would rule over and torture the inhabitants of the earth. The Jewish people suffering under the vicious, murderous rule would read or hear the vision of Daniel would be able to say “yes, that’s how awful it is.” Apocalyptic hope has the ability to first identify with or validate the pain of those who find themselves in oppression. It recognizes that the opposition people experience feels less like bad luck and more like massive cosmic forces of evil aligning against them. 

The ability to identify with despair is a foundation for apocalyptically shaped hope. It reminds me of something Walter Brueggemann once wrote; “Hope expressed without knowledge of and participation in grief is likely to be false hope that does not reach despair....it is precisely those who know death most painfully who can speak hope most vigorously”. As Brueggemann’s quote communicates, validation of pain is powerful, but it’s just the first part. There is more. 

A second part of being apocalyptic is providing a powerful, previously unimaginable positive picture of the future. This is where the cosmic forces which have seemed un-opposable become relativized in light of the unveiling of God’s previously unseen power. There is a bit of a paradox at work. Generally, it’s only when we have some sense of God’s goodness and power that would we really be able to acknowledge how bad a challenging situation truly might be. Often, we have to move forward into challenging situations with much less of a complete understanding of God’s goodness than we would like to have. Apocalyptic visions insist that we can and should continue forward, proclaiming that if we do, we will move from a theory of God’s goodness and power to the experience of it. 

Something apocalypse is not, is a picture of the end that we just wait for. The visions, instead of depicting a fatalistic end of the world that we passively wait for, invest the current world situation with a heavenly perspective. This offers something different than "the world is going to end and then we go to heaven, so don't worry". That is not apocalyptic hope. Rather, the visions give a heavenly perspective of the spiritual battle at work within real history. It pulls “heavenly" hope into this world. It provides the important insight that God won't be denied victory in the battle that rages. Those who put their trust and allegiance in this God will take part or be caught up in the inevitable victory. 

So how does apocalyptic hope shape lives? For Daniel and his friends, it meant they couldn't lose, or to put it another way, they were "playing with house money". Instead of apathetically waiting for the next world, they boldly engage in this one. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego tell the king roughly "We don't have to defend ourselves. Our God can save us, he will save us, and even if he doesn't....." it would appear they are saying "we know we can't lose". The apocalyptic visions have done their work. A sentence of doom, whether from a government official (the king here), or a medical doctor with a terminal diagnosis are relativized within the heavenly perspective. The battle at hand doesn't disappear. Apocalyptic visions take seriously the onslaught of tragedies of this world that people are wrestling with and expresses an understanding that validates the scale and scope of what people are facing. But as big as the adversity being faced is, God is revealed as bigger. 

Having just examined certain aspects of apocalyptic hope, I next want to look at practical ways to allow our lives to be shaped by it. I don’t see on the horizon a likely comeback of the apocalyptic genre of literature as expressed a couple thousand years ago. That does not mean we can’t implement some aspects of apocalyptic hope that can shape our lives. There are numerous ways one could approach this. I will take a brief look at only two; worship and imagination. 

Worship 

Craig Koester, writing about the Book of Revelation, talks about a very appropriate use of the book that has existed (perhaps on accident) in the church for some time. He notes that the burden of wrestling with the meanings of the visions in the Book of Revelation seem to have kept those who designed The Revised Common Lectionary, used among many Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, from including the wild visionary material in the scheduled readings. However, what has made "the cut" are the scenes in the throne room of God that appear in between each "cycle" of darkness. There's no room here for a detailed exposition of Revelation, but what I will mention is this. Revelation, from chapter 4 on, is made up of successive cycles that all begin in the midst of worship in the throne room of God, but move on from there and plunge into darkness and calamity. Each time what is seen reaches the deepest depths of despair, depicting life on the verge of total annihilation, perhaps when a listener or someone experiencing the darkness would say “no more”, the vision returns to the throne room of God. It is here that worship resumes (or is still going on). In this way, like with other apocalyptic pictures, the darkness and chaos is relativized because God continues to rule on the throne and we regain that perspective in worship.  

The repeating throne room settings are the images in Revelation that we as the church have been most comfortable with (in comparison to the symbolic images outside the throne room). We understand the idea of coming before the Lord, who is on his throne, to worship him. We also often experience what it is to go out from our corporate worship only to be plunged into challenges of life. We see, experience and feel the pressure of the culture collapsing around us. When life feels like what we see is at its darkest is when it is most important that we return and corporately come in and worship before the Lamb upon the throne. In this way, we regain the heavenly perspective and are able to be sent out again with boldness. The stronger the sense we have of the reality of God on the throne and his sure outcomes, the more we can live like we are playing with "house money". When the church engages corporately in worship, we will experience the throne room of God for ourselves. It is in his presence that we gain a heavenly perspective. In this way, our lives get shaped like Daniel and his friends. 

An interesting side note, Koester points out the disproportionate number of hymns and songs that have come out of the Book of Revelation in the history of the church. I'm part of a faith community that makes less use of hymns, but still, a disproportionate number of the contemporary songs we sing come from or are inspired by the images in Revelation. In this way, we the church continue to make appropriate use of Revelation. We use the images passed on to us from our spiritual forefathers in the community of faith, while we receive fresh vision. Just like the rhythm of the cycles in Revelation, our life can have the same rhythm (lather, rinse, repeat). In this way, the church is engaging in what it means to be a community shaped by apocalyptic hope. 

Imagination 

A second way we can take part in 'being apocalyptic' is through imagination. One of the things that the apocalyptic literature did was to awaken or even heal the imagination of those who had stopped being able to picture any positive future by giving a vivid, alternate view of the future and one expressed “in living color”. 

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t see a comeback in store for the ancient genre of apocalyptic literature. That doesn’t mean there is not a way we can take up the apocalyptic tasks of stirring up imaginations. For people who have lost the ability to imagine a good future, we need to declare to them, by the power of the Holy Spirit, visions of the future. These pictures have the task of evicting the shrunken, tortured imagination that can’t grasp the concept of a positive picture of the future. 

This is not make believe versus reality. Much of our life is experienced through our imaginations, both positively and negatively. A counselor or pastor when ministering Jesus healing to a person's past is allowing them to imagine a future not haunted or limited by hurt, fear, guilt or shame. It is the work that friends regularly do as they speak encouragement into one another's lives. It's how parents work to open their children's future, by shaping what they can imagine. When a parent asks a child what they want to be when they grow up, they are inviting them to engage their imagination. A healthy child is able to imagine. The pictures they have in their minds begin to shape who they are, even at an early age. Perhaps imagination is one of the things that most shapes us. If we begin to let our imaginations be informed by visions from the Spirit of God, what ways might we be transformed? We need collective healing of our imaginations. 

In looking at scripture, we hear restored imagination when the psalmist says “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.” (Psalm 126:1) It's not uncommon for a person in the midst of grief to describe one of the effects as not being able to hope or dream. The powerful lament of Psalm 137 describes tormentors demanding a song but the captives hanging up their instruments saying "how can we sing?”. Restoration is often recognized when hoping or dreaming becomes a possibility again. We find expression of a healed imagination in the proclamation of a “new song”. In Psalm 40 it follows God’s deliverance. It appears a dozen times or so in scripture. New songs come as an expression that the imagination can be active and creative again because of the goodness of God. One aspect of apocalyptic hope is that the songs that normally come after deliverance, shift on the timeline. The notes start to ring out as those who engage in apocalyptic hope give voice to them before the mighty acts of God have been realized. Often the song even becomes the medium that God’s deliverance comes through (e.g. 1 Chronicles 20:20-23). 

The avenues that give expression to imagination are diverse. The broad umbrella of “the arts” should not go without mention. Art is something concrete that finds its genesis in the imagination. Once it is expressed, it has opportunity or even the power to reach into the imaginations of those engaging with it. The mediums are diverse: music, poetry, painting, drama, cooking, etc. We should take opportunity to use the gifts we’ve been given by our creator to give expressions to his beauty and goodness. We should also take advantage of the incredible art we are surrounded by and listen for our creator’s goodness coming through his ordained co-creators. 

A question one might ask as a result of what I’ve written here is this, “Did the apocalyptic authors Daniel or John (Revelation) really experience the visions they report, or is it just an art form”. My first response would be “I don’t know”. However, I would also say there is no reason to think that because a vision or picture comes in a specific form or genre that it has to be one (vision) or the other (art). Much of the prophetic writings of the Hebrew Bible come in methodical, intricately structured poetry. Because it is ordered using common conventions of Hebrew poetry does not make it other than “the word of the LORD”. The question I like to ask is, “who was the poet, God or the prophet”. I would suggest that the Spirit of God comes through human personalities resulting in inspired art. In this view, the “either/or” disappears and our imaginations act as the medium that the Spirit of God moves through. Just to be clear, imagination is not equivalent to make believe. Einstein’s imagination was key in discovering scientific realities which are still foundational in the world of physics today. He even said “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and so far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Healthy imaginations are powerful. A life shaped by apocalyptic hope will allow the imagination to receive and give expression to the purposes and goodness of God. 

In conclusion, apocalypse in a single word definition, still means unveiling. Having a life shaped by apocalyptic hope means we have seen something of God and his power and goodness. As a result, we are being transformed. It also means our life unveils something of God and his power and goodness to others. My pastor once quoted a father in the faith describing such a life as “one of those unknown saints, hidden amid the others like a marvelous light at the bottom of life, at a depth where night usually reigns.” May Jesus be unveiled before our eyes and may our lives become lights at the bottom of life where darkness, terror and night would no longer be able to reign.