The Apocalypse Revealed – The Bible Explained: Part 4

Contrary to the common understanding, Apocalypse does not mean end of the world destruction. Please, when you think of Apocalypse, do not think of things like the Left Behind series. It’s wrong and has done a lot of damage to the word.

Apocalypse is a Greek word that means unveiling or revealing. Apocalypse is a revealing of truth.

For the New Testament, the Apocalypse, or the ultimate revealing, is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the apocalypse. He reveals what it means for God to be God and what it means for humans to be human.

Here’s the point – the Apocalypse isn’t so much some future event. The Apocalypse has already happened in Jesus. And the event where we really see the Apocalypse being revealed is on the cross. The cross is the Apocalyptic moment that the New Testament refers to.

Let’s talk about humanity first. The Apocalypse, or revealing of the cross, shows us that humans have a tendency to unite against a scapegoat, or a common enemy. Rene Girard claims that the Jesus and the cross reveal what has always been true about us – when we are in a social crisis, we look for someone else to blame. Girard calls this the scapegoat mechanism. It’s the sin that has plagued humanity since the foundation of human culture and it’s the sin that killed Jesus.

But the Apocalypse of the cross also reveals God. On the cross, Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is literally true about humans. When we are caught in the scapegoat mechanism, we don’t know what we are doing. We are caught in something bigger than ourselves. But notice that Jesus also reveals something about God. Jesus prays for the Father to forgive. God is marked not by a desire for revenge, but by forgiveness.

The Apocalypse is Jesus, he is the revealing of God and humanity. Throughout his life, Jesus invites us to play a new game, not the old game of forming community against a common enemy, but a new game of forming community centered around Jesus, the one how forgives us of our sins and invites us to forgive one another. If we refuse to live by forgiveness, we will doom ourselves to our own destruction. But if we live by forgiveness, we will participate in the kingdom of God.

Image: Wikimedia “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Stay in the loop! Like Teaching Nonviolent Atonement on Facebook!

For more in this series:
Part 1: Creation is No Myth
Part 2: How the Bible Hijacked the “Image of God”
Part 3: The Bible is Progressive
Part 4: The Apocalypse Revealed
Part 5: The Key to Biblical Violence
Part 6: Adam, Eve, and the Mimetics of Being Human