We as a people are fascinated by apocalypse - we are endlessly curious about the end of the world. Images of the entire world changing under the power of God, nuclear weapons, melting ice caps, alien invasions, continue to sell movie tickets all over the world. People open Revelation with fear and trembling, watching monstrous angels pouring bowls of wrath upon a rebellious and tormented world. We wonder and watch for "how it's going to happen" and "what will happen next."
The people of Israel gradually began to become aware of these world-changing realities throughout the Old Testament, especially when the Temple was torn down and cascading empires took over the land. During this time we have writings like Ezekiel and Daniel which show power figures battling it out for domination of the world. The Hebrew understanding of the world was that it was full of darkness, an infection that had spread from the human heart to the very makeup of creation. And God somehow entered into this darkness in particular ways and places. Those places were spots in which to see light (the Temple, various altars built where God encountered God's people). And so as the people watched kingdoms melt and the world change, they knew that they could find refuge in God, who ultimately had power to deliver people from darkness. May we find that hope today in a world enraptured with its own destruction.
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