INTRODUCTION — When Ordinary Language Cannot Carry Divine Reality

Throughout this series, we have seen a remarkable pattern:

• God speaks to people in ways they can understand.
• God binds Himself to His people through covenant structures they recognize.
• God forms a holy community using the cultural tools familiar to them—story, wisdom, ritual, festival, and sacred space.

But there is a point in Scripture where ordinary communication cannot bear the weight of divine revelation.
Law cannot carry it.
Wisdom cannot contain it.
Narrative cannot frame it.
Poetry cannot hold it.

When God wishes to unveil the great conflict of the ages,
to expose the powers behind empires,
to comfort persecuted believers,
to reveal the destiny of the world,
and to enthrone Christ before the universe—

He turns to the symbolic, dramatic, visionary language we call apocalyptic.

This is not a departure from anthropological missiology.
It is its culmination.

For in apocalyptic revelation, God speaks using the symbolic grammar of the ancient world—images, creatures, numbers, heavenly scenes, and cosmic drama that were immediately recognizable to the people who first heard them.

God takes the shared symbolic world of ancient cultures and uses it to reveal truths that transcend culture.

1. Apocalyptic Imagery Was Familiar to the Ancient World

When modern readers encounter beasts, horns, dragons, stars falling from heaven, or visions of the sea and sky shaking, they instinctively ask:

“Why does God communicate like this?”

But to ancient peoples—from Babylon to Persia, from Israel to Rome—
symbolic imagery was the language of cosmic meaning.

In the ancient world:

• Beasts represented kingdoms.
• Horns symbolized rulers or power.
• Mountains were seats of divine authority.
• Sea represented chaos or political turmoil.
• Stars represented heavenly beings or rulers.
• Eyes symbolized knowledge or divine sight.
• Numbers carried theological meaning.

This symbolic universe was not foreign or obscure—it was the normal way the ancient world expressed spiritual and political realities.

So when God gives apocalyptic visions, He is not being obscure.
He is being perfectly clear in the symbolic language His audience already knows.

This is anthropological missiology at a cosmic scale.

2. Daniel: God Reclaims a Shared Symbolic World

Daniel is the foundation of biblical apocalyptic.
Every symbol in Daniel has clear cultural connections.

A. The Four Beasts (Daniel 7)

Ancient empires—including Babylon itself—used animal imagery to represent royal or imperial power.

When Daniel sees four beasts arising from the sea, his audience knows exactly what is being revealed:

These are kingdoms. These are empires. These are earthly powers rising and falling under God’s sovereignty.

God is not adopting pagan beliefs—
He is overturning them.

B. Horns and Heads (Daniel 7–8)

Horns symbolized rulers.
Crowns were often depicted as horns in ancient iconography.

When Daniel sees horns rising and falling,
the message is unmistakable:
God knows every ruler. God raises them up. God brings them down.

C. The Son of Man (Daniel 7:13)

In the midst of beastly kingdoms, Daniel sees a human figure:

“One like a Son of Man.”

This is not symbolic confusion—
it is symbolic contrast.

Beastly kingdoms dominate through violence.
The true kingdom is given to the Human One—
the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Daniel’s entire symbolic world aims toward this revelation.

3. Revelation: God Confronts Empire and Exalts the Lamb

Revelation stands firmly in the tradition of Daniel, but now with Christ at the center.

John writes to believers living under:

• Roman imperial propaganda,
• emperor worship,
• goddess cults like Artemis and Hekate,
• persecution,
• political pressure,
• economic coercion.

God does not speak to these believers in abstract theological propositions.
He speaks in visions drenched with symbolic meaning—
symbols His people already know from Scripture and from their culture.

A. Christ Holds the Keys (Revelation 1:18)

In the Roman world, certain deities—especially Hekate—were depicted as holding the keys of life, death, and the unseen world.

Revelation confronts this directly:

It is Christ—not Rome, not Hekate, not the emperor—who holds the keys of Death and Hades.

B. The Lamb on the Throne (Revelation 5)

In Rome’s symbolic world:

• emperors are lions,
• conquerors are warriors,
• divine beings are enthroned.

But heaven reveals a different reality:

The universe is ruled by a slain Lamb.

Power is redefined.
Victory is redefined.
Kingship is redefined.

Apocalyptic language is necessary because ordinary words cannot convey this reversal.

C. The Dragon and the Beast (Revelation 12–13)

Dragons were widespread ancient symbols of chaos and cosmic evil.

John uses this symbol not to affirm pagan mythology but to unmask spiritual reality:

Behind Rome’s oppressive power stands a dragon—Satan himself.

And behind the persecuted church stands the Lamb.

This is not myth.
This is symbolic revelation communicating truth more vividly than literal description ever could.

4. Apocalyptic Is Missional, Not Mystical

Apocalyptic symbolism is not designed to confuse.
It is designed to communicate with power and clarity to a people who think in symbols.

Through apocalyptic imagery, God:

• confronts oppressive systems,
• comforts persecuted believers,
• exposes political and spiritual powers,
• calls for endurance,
• assures final victory,
• reveals Christ as Lord of history,
• anchors hope beyond suffering.

This is not obscure prophecy.
This is pastoral communication for a suffering church.

It is mission.
It is comfort.
It is confrontation.
It is hope.

5. Apocalyptic Imagery Is Also a Mercy to the Church Across Ages

Symbols cross cultures more easily than sentences.

If God had described history in literal political terms,
every generation would struggle to apply it.

But symbolism—
beasts, horns, mountains, stars, thrones—
is universally graspable.

Every culture understands:

• tyranny,
• corruption,
• spiritual evil,
• hope,
• victory,
• deliverance,
• divine presence.

Apocalyptic imagery is a gift—
a divine embrace of human imagination that allows the church to understand God’s message across continents, centuries, and languages.

CONCLUSION — A God Who Reveals Christ Through the Symbolic Language of the Ancient World

When we view Daniel and Revelation through the lens of anthropological missiology, a powerful truth emerges:

God reveals eternal realities through the symbolic vocabulary His people already understand.

He enters the symbolic world of ancient cultures—not to affirm their myths, but to redeem their imagery and overturn their claims.
He confronts oppressive powers, comforts the faithful, and reveals the supremacy of Christ in language that both ancient and modern hearts can grasp.

In apocalyptic revelation:

• Symbols become sermons.
• Imagery becomes theology.
• Cosmic drama becomes pastoral encouragement.
• Christ’s victory becomes visible.

This is not a departure from God’s pattern—it is the pinnacle of it.
A God who speaks through story, wisdom, ritual, and covenant now speaks through symbol and vision to unveil the Lamb and strengthen His people in every age.

And now, having laid the biblical foundation, we are ready to turn to the present day.

In the next article, we will step into the cultural world of the Colville Reservation and consider what happens when the same missionary God who spoke through Israel’s culture begins speaking through Native cultural forms—prayer, drum, ceremony, language, community, and story.

The question before us will be this:

If God has always revealed Himself through the living culture of a people, how might He be doing the same today—and how do we discern it faithfully?