Judgement Language and Apocalyptic Writing

There is a common thread that is reused again and again in Scripture, that being Apocalyptic poetic hyperbole. An example of this is a famous saying that it said to describe the end of the world: “The sun will darken, the moon turned to blood”. Those words and words like it are found in many Old Testament prophecies.

The use of apocalyptic poetry was actually popular during the second temple years and those years prior to Revelation’s writing. Yet something that is important to remember, the context of scripture; we want the text informing us on its contents, not our own modern cultural ideas and creativity. Apocalyptic poetry is a distinct genre, popular for John but obscure to modern readers. Between 200 B.C. and A.D. 100, Jewish and Christian writers produced a large number of non-canonical literary works that, because of their similarities to Revelation, the Apocalypse, are now referred to as apocalyptic.

Some examples of these are 1 Enoch, 4 Ezra, The Apocalypse of Baruch, The Book of Jubilees, The Assumption of Moses, The Psalms of Solomon, Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Sibylline Oracles, and the list goes on. Although this type of literature was popular, no other book of the New Testament was written in this style.

There are four ways that the Book of Revelation is like other apocalyptic writings. Firstly, being that angels appear commonly as tour guides and interpreters. Secondly, like other works if its genre, Revelation was written during or in anticipation of a time of intense persecution of believers. Such as John says in Revelation 1:9 that he is a companion in the tribulation, that one of the churches had lost a member to martyrdom (Rev. 2:13), and others are warned of impending tribulation, imprisonment, and testing (Rev. 2:10; 3:10). Thirdly, is the use of vivid images and symbols in the portrayal of conflict between good and evil; the failure to take this into account has led to many of the outlandish interpretations and teachings of this book; by some rule of interpretation is “Always literal, unless totally absurd”. In apocalyptic literature, symbolism is the rule and literalism the exception. Common imagery being: dragons, angels, earthquakes, rivers, light, tribulation, and so forth; which symbolically represent ordinary characters and events in the story.

Such imagery like this is found in some canonical books of the Old Testament: Isaiah 24, Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. In Revelation, impersonal phenomena are personified. For example, Death and Hades are represented in chapter 6 as horsemen and his footman, respectively. Like actual characters they are later thrown into the Lake of Fire in chapter 20. Various entities are portrayed as animals (a lamb, a serpent, monstrous beasts, demonic locusts, etc.). There are two spiritual communities portrayed as a harlot and a bride are given symbolic names: Babylon, Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem. A sinful woman is symbolically called ‘Jezebel’. Political upheavals are described in terms of cosmic disruptions: the sun and moon darken, stars falling, every island and mountain disappearing and so on. All of these images are typical of apocalyptic literature and would have been recognized as such by readers in the first century.

Lastly, numbers in Revelation generally convey larger concepts, rather than functioning as mere statistical data. Such as the number seven, meaning perfection. There are 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls, 7 thunders, 7 beatitudes, and so on. Fractions such as one-third and multiples of 12 (24 and 144,000) also seem to be used in non-literal ways that transcend their value as mathematical figures. The number ten and multiples thereof seem to function similarly. For this reason, it may be unwise to press for literal interpretations of certain time periods mentioned in Revelation. Arguably, “1,000 years” means “a very long time”, (Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8), contrasted with passages where “ten days” (2:10), “one hour” (17:12, and the infantile “A little while” (20:3) would seem to convey briefer periods in equally nonspecific terms.

Just as there are similarities that Revelation shares with its genre there are three ways that Revelation is different than others in its genre. Firstly, unlike other Jewish apocalyptic books, Revelation claims to be a prophecy inspired by God. Secondly, Revelation identifies its true author by name; usually a pen name is used, John did not use one. Lastly, Revelation actually predicts the future, as the things are soon to come to pass.

Turning to the language of judgement. There is a certain way that the prophets speak when they are telling those around them about the judgement that God is bringing upon a nation. There are similar words and phrases that are used again and again to describe military conquest, political crumbling and plagues. This same language found in the Old Testament prophets is also found in Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives. In the discourse by verse 29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

This is a familiar use of imagery for judgement on a nation and later in verse 34, Jesus says that “this” generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Jesus says that the sun darkening and the moon not giving its light, and stars falling will take place before the generation is dead. How do we read this text and Jesus’ use of imagery? Do we take it “literally” or do we take it in its literary sense, which is where we get the literal sense from? So, if we take it woodenly, then yes, the sun would actually darken, the ball of gas out in space will dim, then the stars other balls of gas miles away will start falling, they will all move from their appointed place in the universe. This is the issue with taking this “literally” or better described as woodenly. When we read it literally, that being what is its literary sense, what is Jesus describing here?

We must read the Bible biblically, but this means not casting our own presuppositions onto the text, instead, let the text speak for itself. Jesus in these verses is speaking just like the Old Testament prophets when they gave God’s judgement on a nation, a King, and Israel themselves at times. Those images of the stars falling and the sun darkening, or mountains falling into the sea. This is the same language. In verse 27, describing lightning from the East then into verse 28 that of vultures gathering to eat; in other translations it is eagles [which is a better translation of that word]. Those verses are also similar in language to Habakkuk 1:6,8; Isaiah 46:11; and Jeremiah 7:33-34. They are describing that a bird of prey is coming to devour a corpse that meaning a city. Jesus says this in His own prophecy of judgement. God used this language regularly to describe judgment coming upon His covenant people. This would not have been a new experience for the covenant people, all they had to do when Jesus was saying this was open the scrolls of the Hebrew Scriptures in their synagogues.

Jeremiah 19:7, another example of God raising up enemies to use as his hand of judgement on His covenant people. Referring to them as a corpse and He will call the fowls of the air. Jesus says just that. This is also in Revelation 19 when all the birds feast on the flesh of those in Jerusalem, being called Babylon, Sodom, and Egypt. The use of lightning is similar to Isaiah 30:27-30 in which he was speaking against Assyria. Jesus is in line with the judgement language that God always used. God used this symbolic, metaphorical, hyperbolic language to describe judgements. (Lightning, corpses, birds of prey, constellations being taken out, etc.).

A quote from John Gill, a well renowned theologian and exegete: “So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be, which must be understood not of his last coming to judgement though that will be sudden, visible, and universal, but of its coming in His wrath and vengeance to destroy that people, their nation, city, and temple. So that after this to look for the Messiah in a desert or a secret chamber must argue great stupidity and blindness when His coming was as sudden, visible, powerful, and general to the destruction of that nation as the lightning that comes from the East and in the moment shines to the West.” (John Gill, About Matthew 24).

The Romans were used by the God as His hand of judgment on Israel, the armies came down from the north then swept from the East and the standards of the Roman legions was the eagle. They marched to the carcass of Jerusalem from the East and they carried the eagle standards. This is nothing more than the providence of God and His invisible hand in doing what He has always done. This action is described as curses for covenant unfaithfulness in Deuteronomy 28 where the description of what would happen is eerily similar to what happened in A.D. 70 in that besieged city. God keeps His promises whether they be of blessing or cursing.

Another quote from a renowned church father, John Lightfoot, in 1859. The popular view of Eschatology in the Western Church (Pre-mil Dispensationalist) did not exist until the middle of the 19th century, throughout church history it did not exist. It was made popular by the popular reference Bible, the Scofield Reference Bible, that is where the view came from. In 1859, John Lightfoot says this, “For wheresoever the carcass is, I wonder any can understand words of pious man flying to Christ when the discourse here is of quite a different thing. They are thus connected to the foregoing; Christ shall be revealed with a sudden vengeance for when God shall cast off the city and the people grown ripe for destruction like a carcass thrown out the Roman soldiers like eagles shall straight fly to it with their eagles and signs to tear and devour it and so this also agrees the answer of Christ in Luke when after the same words that are spoken here in this chapter it was inquired “where, Lord”, he answered, “wheresoever the body is” silently hinting thus much that Jerusalem and that wicked nation which he described through the whole chapter would be the carcass to which the greedy devouring eagles would fly to prey upon it.” (John Lightfoot).

Another image is God coming on a cloud, He is in other words cloud surfing. The image that Jesus uses can be found in Hosea 8:1 and Isaiah 19:1 where God is riding a cloud coming in judgement. Again, do we take God coming on a cloud as what everyone would see if they just looked up? Or that this is divine judgement language? Do the hearts of the Egyptians actually melt and sink into their stomachs, or is it to describe, symbolize, and make metaphor to a feeling?

God often uses pagan nations as servants that execute His judgement; they never saw it that way, their minds were on their own reasons for invading. Nebuchadnezzar is called God’s servant in Jeremiah 25. The Assyrians were also used by God, He works within what they mean for evil and brings it out for His purposes. Often God also restrains the evil that people want to do as well, we do not thank Him enough for that, the restraining of evil.

The question is not symbolic interpretation over literal interpretation. We have to recognize what type of literature we are reading when reading the Bible. Recognize the symbolic, metaphoric, hyperbolic usage in the text. It is not a question of literal or figurative, it is whether or not were going to interpret the Bible biblically or are we just going to be creative. It is Biblical vs Creative. Here are some examples:

“Jesus is the door” …does that mean He is actually made of wood and has a doorknob and a lock?

“Jesus is the lamb of God” …really? Do we have to brush Him or sheer Him?

These are both symbols that God gave, and they have meaning.

“Our God is a consuming fire” …literally fire? I thought God is spirit?

“Our righteousness are as filthy rags” …literally? No, we know what the symbol means.

“Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep” …Are we sheep? Or is this testifying to something about the shepherd and sheep relationship?

“False teachers are wolves” …do we look for fur and teeth? Or do we understand that the wolves come to destroy the sheep?

God is big on symbolism and symbolic language. This should not be something new. Two of the biggest being that of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. How do we know the meaning of these things, do we just get creative? Or do we biblically interpret, God tells us the meaning. We are not allowed to be creative, we need the Bible to give us the definitions. Baptism is our Death, Burial, and Resurrection that we share with Christ by being in Christ, how do we know this? (Romans 6:1-14).

The Lord’s Supper, Jesus says, “Eat my flesh”, “Drink my blood”. How do we know it’s a symbol? Because it could not be literal as eating human flesh and human blood is an abomination to God and its actually used as a curse and judgment on people. John 6, Jesus tells them that He is the manna from heaven. The point is this: Scripture should be telling us what the symbol means, we don’t get to be creative. In Psalm 18, David used poetic hyperbole to describe what God will do to his enemies, the language is judgment language, deconstruction language, and it is not literal.