Explaining the Apocalypse

Binge Reading the Bible  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Theme: God Reveals his sovereign perspective on history. Purpose: To have confidence to live in light of God's final outcome of history. Mission: Grow in Faith of God's sovereign work in history. Gospel: Jesus is the rock of the Kingdom that fulifills history.

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Daniel 2:16–23 NIV
At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him. Then Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.”
Introduction: 10 Best Apocalyptic Movies of all Time. - Esquire
Daniel 2:16-
10 - This is the End - Hordes of celebrities fall victim to an unexpected demon apocalypse.
9 - Armageddon - Involves a giant meteor that will destroy earth, and sending people in a spaceship to blow up the meteor before it hits.
8 - 12 Monkeys - A disease is about to destroy humanity, and a man goes back in time to stop it before it happens.
7 - The Road - An unnamed man try;s to protect his son in the aftermath of a cataclysmic disaster that wiped out the majority of the world’s population.
6 - Mad Max - who is a man surviving in a post-nuclear war that destroy’s the earth.
5 - Cloverfield Lane -
4 - Children of Men - people lose the ability to have children, no one knows why. The world devolves into chaos and hopeless despair.
3 - Arrival - Aliens Arrive, and everyone thinks they are going to destroy human existence.
2 - Akira - A Psychic Teenager obliterates Tokyo which sparks WWIII “Japanese popular culture is obsessed with the prospect of apocalypse, from Japan Sinks to Godzilla, but this may be our favourite.”
1 - On the Beach - The Nuclear Fallout of WWIII will threatens to finish off every creature.
1. the complete final destruction of the world, as described in the biblical book of Revelation. (especially in the Vulgate Bible) the book of Revelation. singular proper noun: Apocalypse
2. an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale. "a stock market apocalypse" - Google Search
Our Culture we define Apocalypse differently than how it actually works in the Bible.

15-What is Apocalyptic Literature? - Mike Baird

The Word Apocalypse means to Reveal something that is hidden. The sense is a removing the veil to see beyond our 5 sense world to the unseen world and perspective of God behind it all.
This is really quite different than what our culture considers Apocalypse which has come to mean the end of the world and the events that usher them in.
Apocalyptic books in the Bible Include the portions of the 1st part of Daniel and the rest of the 2nd part of Daniel, parts of Ezekiel, all of Zechariah, and in the New Testament the book of Revelation (The Apocalypse of Jesus or the Unveiling of Jesus behind human history).
Outside the Bible, The Pseudapigrapha. - So actually a very popular type of literature in Judaism and early Christianity from around 200 b.c - 200 ad.
Comes out of periods when the prophets were absent, during persecution - Macabees, Therefore it is a Revelation from God, but the writer is usually not called a prophet.
This is because Israel struggled with “Prophecy” as they often followed the wrong prophets in their history - They did not trust people who called themselves prophets.
Pseudapigrapha - Written in a famous persons name to give credibility.
This is the one difference of Biblical Apocalypse - We generally know the Authors, because the Church rejected the idea of Pseudapigraphe. - So Daniel we believe was written by Daniel, Zechariah by Zechariah, Revelation by John.
Highly Symbolic - Borrowed their symbols from the Old Testament Prophets and from Temple architecture, elements, furniture etc...
Written to the persecuted in order to encourage them that God is with them. The Symbolism is often hidden from the persecuted, but would be well understood by the persecuted.
Presents history as though the end was very near.
It is Pessimistic towards human history and wants to shake the foundations of our human view of reality.
But it is Positively Deterministic. That God is in complete Control of History and will bring it to a beautiful conclusion - And So it is full of hope and expectation.
It depicts the Spiritual Warfare that is being fought behind the human history that we experience with our 5 senses. And so it depicts a cosmic battle against God who is more powerful, and Satan who is created and less powerful.
Highly Visionary usually mediated by a guide - Usually an Angel.
How not to read the Apocalyptic Literature.
By thinking it is all about our future and trying to set up timelines of future events based on what we see in the news. - This always gets us into trouble. How many times have people predicted Christ’s second coming, or certain end time events and they don’t come true. - Jesus himself specifically told us not to do this.
Instead, we need to first ask the question like all Biblical texts, what was the purpose of this writing for the original persecuted readers, and then knowing that message, what does it mean for us?
We must do what we can to interpret the symbols and visions according to how the writer would want us to interpret them, not as some code to predict the future. In order to do that, we must read the Old Testament. We can actually go back and see where these symbols and visions draw their meaning. Yet another reason to read the OT.
Often times the writer will simply tell us what he means by a symbol or vision - Like John in Revelations - 7 lampstands represent the 7 churches that he is writing Revelation to
20 As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands—the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Or in our text here about Daniel where explains all of the symbols of Nebuchadnezzer’s dream.
Application Point: Read Apocalyptic Literature as it was meant to be read.
Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Application Point: Read Apocalyptic Literature as it was meant to be read.
If we do that, we will find that in Apocalyptic Literature....

God Reveals His Sovereign Perspective.

16-God Reveals His Sovereign Perspective.

The Prayer of Praise that Daniel offers is in effect the intended impact that Apocalyptic Literature in the Bible is intended to make.
God is willing to respond to prayer.
God wants to reveal himself and his perspective on human history.
God is ultimately Sovereign and in control of human history.
17-The Vision Explained.
18-So if we role back the veil on this particular vision we see.
God raises up successive human kingdoms, but they do not last.
God’s Kingdom will come and surpass all human kingdoms, will grow and cover the entire planet
This Vision of Daniel becomes the hub of most Apocalyptic literature in the Bible. A number of visions in the book of Daniel expand on this basic visionary framework. I would suggest that many people mis-intepret a lot of Daniel’s visions as still future for us, but for Daniel and his original readers, the message is primarily for them, and so it covers history that is future for them. It points to Jesus in entirety and specifically his first coming, but is unclear on the timing of first and second comings. It basically just envisions one eternal kingdom.
The Book of Revalation picks up Daniel’s themes in light of Jesus coming, death, resurrection, and ascension, and reveals Jesus’ kingdom now, to second coming, to beyond. Keep in mind that a lot of revelation is also not future to us, but to first century Christians.
Application Point: We can trust God has history under control.

19-How can we live in light of that Perspective?

Daniel and his friends in exile.
Feel oppressed.
Feel like that evil empires like Babylon are winning and God is losing.
The Readers of Revelation.
Feel oppressed
Feel like the evil empire of Rome was winning and God was losing.
Apocalyptic literature, however, alows us through very imaginitive, emotive, and symbolic imagry to look behind our human perspectives on our current circumstances to see that rather the opposite is true. God is in control, and God’s Kingdom through Jesus will prevail.
We have the luxury of reading much of both Daniel and Revelation and see that God’s Perspective was correct. In fact, The Babylonian Empire did give way to the Mede/Persions who gave way to the Greeks, who gave way to the Romans, and at that Time Jesus came, and his Kingdom has been spreading through the entire earth, while the Roman empire is no more.
What’s more is Apocalyptic Literature encourages us that the Church can hear from God in prayer.
Story of Threats towards our denomination.
There are a lot of things we can be fearful of about the World and our Nation...
No Matter who is president there is a group of people who thinks our nation will go to pot, but Presidents come and Presidents Go…Jesus’ Kingdom lasts forever.
There are a great number of conlicts around the world that can cause fear…Yet Jesus’ Kingdom will prevail.
Application Point: We can live confidently that God will establish his Kingdom on Earth.
Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Chatechism: Q&A 26-25 Belgic Confession: Articles 2, 13 Canons of Dort: Head III & IV, Articles 6-7
Conclusion: 1. Let’s help each other read these Books of the Bible Well. 2. Let’s Trust that God has control over human history, 3. So that we may live confidently that God will establish his Kingdom on Earth.
Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Chatechism: Q&A 26-25 Belgic Confession: Articles 2, 13 Canons of Dort: Head III & IV, Articles 6-7
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