Common Sayings from the Bible: “Apocalypse”
Earthquakes! Fire! Floods! Tornadoes! It must be the Apocalypse, the end of days. The word is used in contemporary contexts to denote the horrors accompanying the end of the world. When the word was originally assigned in English (about 1200 AD), it was used to categorize Jewish and Christian writings that used figurative writing to speak of the future to come. The most common book classified as Apocalyptic literature came to be titled the Apocalypse of St. John of Patmos. Today, we simply call this the Book of Revelation.
Revelation begins by stating, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” The word “revelation” is the Greek word we transliterate apocalypse. The word itself is more general than symbolic imagery of the cataclysmic events of the end times. The Greek meaning of apokalupsis is “to uncover; to reveal”; thus, revelation.
This word is also found elsewhere in Scripture where it is not referring to the end of the world.
Romans 16:25: “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the [apokalupsis] of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”
Galatians 1:12: “For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the [apokalupsis] of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 3:3: “How that by [apokalupsis] He made known unto me the mystery…”
Despite its original assigned use in English and its current use, the word simply refers to any type of revelation from God. For further examples, see Romans 2:5; I Corinthians 14:6,26; Galatians 2:2; Ephesians 1:17; I Peter 1:13.
by Pastor Matt Ritchey
Take me to another common saying from the Bible in this BABQ edition here: “Scapegoat”
