Understanding Apocalyptic Visions: There's More To Reality Than Meets The Eye

This Sunday, Harderwyk preachers will be working through Daniel 7.  It’s the first in a series of dreams and visions that dip into the “apocalyptic” writing of Daniel.  As we start in that, I want to collect some thoughts and Scriptures that I think are key to understanding apocalyptic writings in light of the Gospel of God’s Grace.

To begin: I believe that if we take the Bible seriously as it is written, it presents us with a very complex and nuanced view of reality.  As a 21st century, college-trained American, I am very comfortable with the “cause-and-effect” reality of the physical world.  The Scriptures offer that – but they offer more as well.  The Scriptures do not contradict the scientific process of that cause-and-effect view, but they do say that there is more to reality than only that cause-and-effect.  In the worldview of the Bible, there is BOTH a physical world of cause-and-effect AND a “spiritual realm.”  They are distinct, but in some way connected.  They are different, but they interact.

I’ll admit, that I have more questions about these two realms - how they operate, and how they connect - than I have answers.  I think that what the Bible tells me about all of this is sparse enough, that I will hold my conclusions on these matters pretty lightly.  For now, all I need to know for faith and life is sufficiently revealed in the Scriptures for me to respond to the Gospel of God’s Grace.  

But this I know: it is a reductionist error to say that the “cause-and-effect” of the physical world is all that there is to reality.  That is an over-simplification of the world in which we live.  There is more to reality than simply meets the eye – or the telescope or the microscope.

Here are some key texts that make this more complex view of reality clear to me:

Genesis 1:26 (NIV) 

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 

Job 1:6–7 (NIV)

6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” 

Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 

2 Kings 6:16-17 (NIV) 

16 “Don’t be afraid,” Elisha the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 

17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Book of Revelation – “in the spirit”
Revelation 1:10 (NIV) 

10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 

Revelation 4:2 (NIV) 

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 

Revelation 17:3 (NIV) 

3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 

Revelation 21:10 (NIV) 

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 

Ephesians 6:12–13 (NIV) 

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

While these texts don’t answer every question we might have about this “spiritual realm,” there are some solid conclusions that we can draw:

• This view permeates the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  It is not an isolated idea.
• The LORD God created all that exists: both physical and spiritual.
• The LORD God is sovereign over this realm as well as the physical realm.
• The incarnation of Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, and the Great Commission are much more prominent issues in the Bible than the details of the interaction of these two realms.  We ought to, therefore “keep the main thing as the main thing.”

I find that this more complex view of reality helps me understand the apocalyptic portions of the Scripture.  The dreams and visions are often seen in the realm of the spirit.  That realm is different from the physical realm in which I typically live and move.  How those two relate – ie. how an apocalyptic vision connects to the headlines of today – can be pretty tricky.  Hold conclusions lightly, and look to the Gospel.  Which is, after all, the Main Thing.