By Sheldon

Recent news pieces about Trump’s Evangelical base describe a longing, almost a hunger for the apocalypse. These people hope that Donald Trump will help to usher in the End Times, the Rapture, and the end of the world. Apocalyptic expectations are running hot and growing hotter.

Mother Jones has an excellent summary of this trend here. We’ve also discussed this apocalyptic mania among the Jews of late antiquity a couple thousand years past, and what came of it (Spoiler alert: it didn’t end well).

Apocalyptic Follies

For those who want a quick review, political instability coupled with cultural and military pressures starting around 200 BCE prompted an explosion of sacred writings. One form of this writing dealt with how a nation weathers foreign occupation and oppression, religious persecution, and offers theological rationales for this or that course of action. This literature was called “apocalyptic” which comes from a Greek word meaning “to uncover”, as in to uncover what will happen in the future.

Partly due to the influence of apocalyptic literature and partly due to their unlikely victory over the Seleucid Greeks, the idea of solving these problems by kicking Roman ass was a popular sentiment. This led to two disastrous wars against Rome and countless smaller rebellions, which were crushed without mercy.

But what is particularly interesting is how the Jewish religious leadership responded. This was also the time when the Jewish canon of scripture was still forming and didn’t fully close until 100 or 200 CE. When the dust settled, the Rabbinic authorities had rejected almost every last instance of the apocalyptic literature, particularly the stuff that preached military solutions to spiritual and social problems.

Apocalypse Tomorrow

Modern advocates of apocalyptic solutions would do well to ponder the words of the prophet Amos (5:18):

Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

There are tons of other theological and ethical problems with that whole worldview, too many to cover here. Perhaps some other time. I mean, how screwed up do you have to be to hunger for the destruction of everything? Well, at least as long as you’ve got yours.

Upheaval happens. Disasters beset us. There’s a reason why nearly every generation looks at a book like Revelation and sees itself among the dramatis personae. But somehow, the world spins on. Instead, one should skip to the end of Revelation, and consider its happy ending; the new heaven, the new earth, a tree of life whose fruit and leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Anyone can destroy, or crave destruction. True goodness will create anew and heal the world.