The Jewish Rabbis of the age in which it appeared saw, quite correctly, that it had points of affinity with other pseudepigraphic apocalypses which arose in the same epoch.
It resembles Old Testament literature in very few respects, and all its peculiarities are such as abound in the later apocalypses and Apochrypha.
The lines of connection which run backwards towards the Psalms of Solomon, Enoch, and Daniel, and forwards towards the apocalypses of Baruch and Enoch, are extremely important for the understanding of certain general conceptions.
In the Apocalypses of Baruch and Ezra we see, especially in the theological character of the latter, the persistent traces of this ethical deepening of apocalyptic.
The only difficulty is that Kalthoff omits to produce any proof out of the Jewish apocalypses that communism was "the fundamental economic idea of the apocalyptic writers.
The chief points to be queried are as follows:-- Is it the case that the apocalypses mark the introduction of a process of spiritualisation applied to the ancient Israelitish hopes?
He is described in accordance with the Apocalypses of Daniel and John as well as according to Matth.
Footnote 107: This caused the most decisive breach with tradition, and the estimate to be formed of the Apocalypses must at first have remained an open question.
They were cherished by the monks; hence Jewish Apocalypses accepted by Christians are preserved in the Coptic and Ethiopian languages.
They would carry on the propaganda, not in the sense of the strict standpoint of the Law, but of the Jewish Apocalypses and their religious teachings.
The Sermons, Epistles, and Apocalypsesof Israel's Prophets, 1910; IV.
The age of such apocalypses is determined, not by the date assigned to the imaginary seer, but by the actual standpoint of the author as disclosed in the visions.
We have seen that the apocalypses are apt to appear in times of great calamity, and we have accepted the verdict of later scholarship, that this Apocalypse of St. John appeared about 68 or 69 A.
The figure of the Messiah in the apocalypses is as incongruous as anything can possibly be with the idea of spiritual indwelling.
Thus the Messianic doctrine of the apocalypses is an insufficient basis for the Pauline Christology.
The Messiah of the Jewish apocalypses is not great enough to have been the basis of the Pauline Christ.
All that can possibly be maintained is that it was derived from apocalypses which have been lost, or from an apocalyptic oral tradition.
Thus theapocalypses passed out of use among the Jews, and, in some cases at least, have been preserved only by the Church, and only because of their congruity with Christian views.
In the second place, there is in the apocalypses no trace of the warm, personal relation which exists between the believer and the Pauline Christ.
The Messiah of the apocalypses is hidden in heaven.
The Messiah of the apocalypses is preexistent, but He is not thought of as being associated with God in the creation of the world.
His doing so proves at least that the heavenly being of the apocalypses was not always thought of as distinct from the promised king of David's line.
Neither in the apocalypses nor in what is presupposed in the New Testament about Jewish belief is there any trace of a vicarious death of the Messiah.
Thus it must be insisted against Brueckner that in the first century the transcendent conception of Messiahship attested by the apocalypses was not the only conception that prevailed.
If, however, the transcendent conception of Messiahship which is found in the apocalypses was not the only conception held by pre-Christian Judaism, it is none the less of special interest, and will repay examination.
The greatest of the apocalypses are no doubt the canonical ones, Daniel and Revelation; and they are great in their confidence in the divine government of the world, and in its final vindication, and in their assertion of the martyr virtues.
The second element which the apocalypses add to the hope of the Old Testament and which the New Testament Apocalypse adopts, is the conception of a millennial earthly kingdom.
The book possibly includes older apocalypseswhich reflect earlier conflicts, but in its present form it apparently comes from the closing years of Domitian's reign.
Underlying all the apocalypses is the eternal truth voiced by the poet: "God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.
Sidenote: The literary activity of the first four centuries] Many other apocalypses were written by the early Christians.
Sidenote: The order and date of the prophetic books] The prophetic sermons, epistles, and apocalypses fall naturally into five great groups.
In the hymns of Mary and Zacharias and Simeon, purely political and materialistic conceptions are in the background, and the speculations of the apocalypses do not appear.
The Jewish apocalypses appeared under assumed names--the most important of them under the name of Enoch--while John is so firmly convinced of having received genuine revelation that he requires no such spurious authority for his work.
But the Christians in receiving these Jewish Apocalypsesdid not leave them intact, but adapted them with greater or less Christian additions (see Ezra, Enoch, Ascension of Isaiah).
Not only the genuine Greek portions of the Septuagint, but also many Apocalypses were quoted by Christians in the second century as of equal value with the Old Testament.
With regard to the first point, we have not only to consider passages in Apocalypses and other writings in which pre-existence is attributed to Moses, the patriarchs, etc.
Footnote 95: The proof of this may be found in the quotations in early Christian writings from the Apocalypses of Enoch, Ezra, Eldad and Modad, the assumption of Moses and other Jewish Apocalypses unknown to us.
But outside the Apocalypsesthere seems to have been little interest in the good angels.
Apocalypses were also used by some under the names of Old Testament men of God and Apostles.
To this literature belong essentially the apocalypses which were published in fast succession from Daniel onwards.
Another prolific source of apocryphal gospels, acts and apocalypseswas Gnosticism.
The text, as first published in the original Greek by Tischendorf (Apocalypses Apocr.
To these belong the apocalypses in Arabic, Ethiopian and perhaps also in Syrian, preserved in the so-called Liber Clementis discipuli S.
Later Jewish and Christian writers of Apocalypses saw in Nero the tyrant of the end of time.
This is shown by the late Greek apocalypse of Ezra (Tischendorf, Apocalypses Apocryphae, 1866, pp.
We may also perceive an attempt at a more accurate classification of crimes and punishments; in this respect, too, those Apocalypses display more method than the visions of subsequent writers.
In general, apocalypses were written in times of great distress for God's people, and represented the deliverance which should usher in God's kingdom as near at hand.
They are found in many other apocalypses not included in our Bible, and indicate how persistently the minds of the people turned towards the promises spoken by the prophets, and meditated on their fulfilment.
It is probable, however, that the apocalypses gave formulated expression to thoughts that were more widely current than those writings ever came to be.
Sabatier has wisely said, "Apocalypses do not reveal to us the secrets of the divine providence, but do reveal the optimistic believing nature of the soul.
To the historical student these apocalypses have become, in their general character and chief messages, among the best instead of quite the least understood books of the canon.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "apocalypses" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
