A Beginner’s Guide to Apocalyptic Literature

We explore apocalyptic literature, one of the most misunderstood genres in the Bible that reminds us there's more happening than what we see, and God remains in charge even when life looks chaotic. This episode serves as preparation for our upcoming Daniel series, where starting in chapter seven, the book transitions from royal courts into wild visions.

• Apocalypse means revelation or unveiling, not disaster or end of the world
• Found primarily in Revelation and Daniel, with elements in Ezekiel 1-3 and Zechariah 1-6
• Written during times of exile, persecution, and uncertainty
• Characterized by striking symbols, beasts, and otherworldly imagery
• Numbers carry symbolic meaning rather than literal calendar dates
• Visions of heaven reveal God's throne and cosmic battles behind earthly events
• Contains messages of hope that God will ultimately defeat evil
• Offers comfort by showing that evil has limits and God's kingdom will outlast every empire

Thanks for listening to the Bible Basics podcast and if this helped you understand the Bible a little more, share it with a friend who's just getting started too. Until next time, keep reading, keep seeking, and keep growing in your faith.

SOURCES:

• Anyabwile, K. (n.d.). Literarily: How understanding Bible genres transforms Bible study (p. 133). Function. Kindle Edition.
• Barton, J. (2019). A history of the Bible: The story of the world’s most influential book. Viking.
• Brown, J. K. (2015). BI131 Introducing literary interpretation. Logos Mobile Education. Lexham Press.
• Collins, J. J. (2016). The apocalyptic imagination: An introduction to Jewish apocalyptic literature (3rd ed.). Eerdmans.
• Dillard, R. B., & Longman III, T. (2006). An introduction to the Old Testament. Zondervan.
• Longman III, T. (2012). An introduction to the Old Testament: Second edition (p. 375). Function. Kindle Edition.
• Matheny, J. M. (2018). What they don’t tell you in church: Strange visions—Apocalyptic imagery in Daniel 7–12 points to God’s triumph. Bible Study Magazine, 10(6), 28. Lexham Press.
• Osborne, G. R. (2006). The hermeneutical spiral: A comprehensive introduction to biblical interpretation (2nd ed.). IVP Academic.
• Ryken, L. (n.d.). Literary introductions to the books of the Bible. Function. Kindle Edition.
• Zuck, R. B. (1991). Basic Bible interpretation: A practical guide to discovering biblical truth (p. 243). David C. Cook.

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Note: All scripture references are from the NIV translation unless otherwise indicated.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Greetings listeners.
Quick question have you everopened your Bible and thought
what did I just read?
Maybe you saw strange beasts,horns on heads, numbers that
repeat and thought okay, what'sgoing on here?
You're not alone.

(00:33):
Welcome to apocalypticliterature.
It's one of the mostmisunderstood genres in the
Bible and today we're going tobreak it down simply and clearly
.
Well, welcome everyone.
I'm your host, jackie Adewale,and this is the Bible Basics

(00:54):
Podcast, where, weekly, we breakdown the basics of the Bible
into understandable, bite-sizedchunks bite-sized chunks.
This episode is a bonus to helpus prepare for part two of our
Daniel series, because, startingin chapter seven, the book

(01:18):
takes a sharp turn out of theroyal courts and into wild
visions.
So what exactly is apocalypticliterature?
Well, the word apocalypse mightmake you think of disaster
movies, the end of the world orzombies, but in the Bible,
apocalypse simply meansrevelation, an unveiling of

(01:41):
things not normally seen, andthat's where the book of
Revelation gets its name.
So, contrary to how it sounds,it's not about hiding things or
creating confusion.
It's about pulling back thecurtain to show what's really
going on, especially when theworld feels out of control.

(02:03):
This style of writing remindsus of something we all need to
hear, there's more happeningthan what we see, and God is
still in charge, even when lifelooks chaotic.
So where do we see this in theBible?
Well, we see apocalypticwriting most clearly in

(02:27):
Revelation and in the secondhalf of Daniel.
Those are the two primaryapocalyptic books in the Bible,
but we also find elements ofthis style in Ezekiel, chapters
1 through 3, and Zechariah,chapters 1 through 6.
These passages often emergeduring times of crisis, when

(02:51):
God's people were facingpersecution, exile or deep
uncertainty about the future.
This style developed duringtimes of oppression and violence
, especially around the time ofthe Babylonian exile and after.
Ezekiel and Daniel were both inBabylon, writing when Israel

(03:13):
was under foreign rule, andthough Zechariah was back in
Jerusalem, he too wrote during atime when Israel was still
living under Gentile control.
The book of Revelation waswritten under Roman rule, likely
during or just after the reignof Emperor Domitian, a time of

(03:35):
growing pressure to worship theemperor and growing hostility
towards Christians.
The author of Revelation, john,received the vision while
exiled on the island of Patmos.
That's in Revelation 1.9.
So this literature spokedirectly to people's pain and

(03:56):
fear.
It's met them in theirconfusion, suffering and doubt,
and offered hope.
Suffering and doubt and offeredhope.
You can imagine the kind ofquestions they were asking.
Where is God in all of this?

(04:16):
Has he forgotten us?
Will justice ever come?
And apocalyptic literatureanswered God sees, god knows and
God will win.
So what makes apocalypticliterature so unique?
Well, besides being writtenduring times of exile or when
God's people were under foreignoppression, these books use a

(04:39):
very different style to deliverGod's message, especially
messages about hope, judgmentand the future.
Let me walk you through four keyfeatures that show up again and
again.
First, there are strikingsymbols and imagery.
Apocalyptic books love theirsymbols.

(05:02):
We're talking beasts, horns,stars falling from the sky and
strange living creatures thatlook like a mashup of humans,
birds, lions and more.
These images aren't alwaysmeant to be taken literally.
They often stand in forkingdoms, rulers or deeper

(05:23):
spiritual truths.
These images aren't alwaysmeant to be taken literally.
They often stand in forkingdoms, rulers or deeper
spiritual truths.
Now, if you ever want to digdeeper into what these symbols
might mean, you can check outyour Bible commentaries or

(05:45):
dictionaries.
But, fair warning, scholarsdon't always agree on the
details, and that's okay,because the goal isn't to crack
every code.
It's to grasp the messagebehind the mystery and, honestly
, some of these images are justwild.
Like in Daniel, we meet awinged lion, a four-headed

(06:07):
leopard and a violent goat thatknocks stars out of the sky.
In Ezekiel, there's a spinningmetal chariot with four-faced
creatures, part man, part bird,part ox.
It's intense part bird, part ox.

(06:30):
It's intense and, yes,sometimes it borders on the
bizarre.
Compared to the more groundedmetaphors in books like Isaiah
or Jeremiah, apocalypticliterature often uses imagery
that feels more dramatic orotherworldly.
These visions aren't the resultof personal imagination,
however.
They are revealed by God usingsymbolic language that stirs the

(06:52):
heart and challenges the mind,especially about how dark evil
can get and how powerful Godreally is.
Then number two there arenumbers with meaning.
In apocalyptic books, numbersare often used symbolically and

(07:12):
intentionally.
You often see certain numbersrepeated, like seven, ten or
three and a half, especially inbooks like Daniel and Revelation
.
These numbers often show up invisions or time frames that may
sound mysterious Time times andhalf a time, or 70 weeks or

(07:36):
1,290 days.
These time references aren'talways meant to be read as
literal calendar dates.
They often carry theologicalmeaning or signal something
significant within the story,see Daniel, 9.24, 12.11, and 12.

(07:58):
As New Testament scholar GrantR Osborne explains in the
Hermeneutical Spiral.
Apocalyptic symbols, includingnumbers, are not there to give
us a schedule.
They are there to point ustoward God's purpose.
Another major theme visions ofheaven.

(08:20):
Apocalyptic writers are oftentaken into the spiritual realm,
either shown a throne room sceneor a cosmic battle behind the
scenes.
These glimpses into heavenremind us what we see on earth
is not the whole story.
Even when the world looks likeit's falling apart, god is still

(08:44):
seated on the throne, and oftenan angel shows up to help
interpret the vision, becausethese messages are too big and
too layered for us to figure outon our own See Daniel 8, 18
through 26.
And we're just like Daniel, whoneeded help understanding what

(09:05):
he saw, and we see that inchapter 8, verse 27, and chapter
12, verse 8.
Then there are messages aboutGod's future victory.
At the heart of everyapocalyptic vision is this
message God will defeat evil.
Apocalyptic literature is lessabout predicting every event and

(09:30):
more about anchoring us in thetruth that God is moving history
toward a good and final end.
Or as one writer joked we allknow that a sentence that goes
like this the stars will fallfrom heaven, the sun will cease
from shining and the moon willdrip blood it's not going to end

(09:56):
with, and the rest of thecountry will be partly cloudy
with scattered showers.
No, exactly.
It's a dramatic, powerfullanguage and it's meant to wake
us up to what God is reallydoing.
So what does all this mean forus today?
Well, apocalyptic literaturespeaks into chaos and pushes

(10:21):
back with comfort, encouragementand hope.
It reminds us that evil has alimit and God's kingdom will
outlast every empire.
In our next episode, we'll stepinto the second half of Daniel,
where things get intense.
There are, as I mentioned, bees, thorns, a ram, a goat.

(10:45):
It's a wild ride, but now thatyou know the style, you won't be
caught off guard.
Apocalyptic writing isn't aboutdecoding every detail.
It's about seeing the bigpicture, god revealing his
purposes, pulling back thecurtain and saying trust me,

(11:06):
I've got this.
This is for people like us,people who need to remember God
reigns, evil won't last and thefaithful are not forgotten.
Join me in the next episode aswe explore the dramatic, hopeful
and sometimes puzzling secondhalf of Daniel.

(11:29):
Thanks for listening to theBible Basics podcast and if this
helped you understand the Biblea little more, share it with a
friend who's just gettingstarted too.
Until next time, keep reading,keep seeking and keep growing in
your faith.