The era in which Jesus lived was filled with the apocalyptic. There were straight forward apocalyptic books such as Daniel (in the Bible) and Enoch (not in the Bible). There were portions of other canonical books such as Ezekiel (38-39), Joel (3:9-17) and Zechariah (12-14) which offered a glimpse into the apocalyptic world. Even in the Dead Sea Scrolls the apocalyptic vision of a final battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness was a powerful theme. With this as a cultural background it would not be out of place for Jesus to use the apocalyptic as part of his teaching.
Before we look at Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet however I want us to be clear what we mean by apocalyptic. The word apocalyptic simply means an unveiling or a revealing. In other words what apocalyptic literature (such as the Revelation of John) does is reveal what God is up to. God's actions need revealing because we as human beings have limited vision. Our vision is limited first because we cannot see the spiritual dimension of life. We are limited to seeing the physical. Our vision is also limited because we cannot see beyond the confines of the earth and into heaven. I realize that these might appear to be the same thing but in first century cosmology (the way people view the earth and the heavens) heaven is a physical place just beyond the sky and is kept hidden by a curtain. Therefore if we really want to know what is going on we need to have someone unveil (apocalypse) heaven for us.
Apocalyptic literature then needs a couple of things to properly function as a revealing. First it needs a revealer. Sometimes the revealer is God. Other times the revealer is an angel. Second there needs to be a recipient; someone who can receive the revealing. The receiver in the Revelation of John is John the Apostle (at least according to tradition). Finally what is needed is the content that is revealed. Within apocalyptic literature the content will have some basic characteristics. It will allow us to see that the two arenas of physical and spiritual are now one. They interact on an intimate and immediate level. The content will allow us to see the future. We will get to see what God and evil are planning to do, especially the terrible conflict between God's people (children of light) and the enemy (children of darkness). Finally the content will also allow us to see the ultimate outcome of this conflict. We will almost always get a glimpse of God's great victory over the powers and principalities of the world.
This understanding then allows us to take a fresh look at Jesus as apocalyptic prophet. The most obvious way in which Jesus touches on the apocalyptic is in Mark 13:24-27 where he is the recipient who unveils the future. "But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see "the Son of Man (the Son of Man is an end times character found in the book of Daniel) coming in clouds" with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven." Jesus allows us to catch a glimpse of heaven and earth merging together as well as a vision for God's future victory. The rest of chapter 13 makes it clear that there will be difficult times coming upon God's people (Matthew, Luke and John also have similar apocalyptic passages).
The second way in which we see Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet is that he claims for himself the title, Son of Man. As noted above this was an apocalyptic title take from Daniel 7:13-14 in which the Son of Man is the one who will rule and reign for God over creation. All nations will come and serve the Son of Man. By claiming this title Jesus not only identifies himself with the apocalyptic visions of Daniel but also declares himself to be a major actor in the unfolding of Daniel's vision. The use of this title and its connection to Daniel would not have been lost on those who heard Jesus use it. Thus Jesus engages the apocalyptic tradition in his teaching in such a way as to further identify himself and his mission.
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