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Apokalupsis -- the Unveiling

     The apocalypse—the very word conjures up visions of end-time destruction to most minds.  We equate it with the four horsemen in the book of Revelation who bring death and despair to the inhabitants of the earth during the latter days. 

     Yes, these things are coming.  But in the common understanding of the word “apocalypse”, something huge is left out.  An event of monumental proportions will take place during the time of this destruction.  The apocalypse is the unveiling of the sons of God to the world.  This event is a stupendous revealing by God of His glory in a body of many sons.  The true apocalypse will happen at the time of the catastrophes contained in the prophecies of Revelation, but it is not those catastrophes.

     Wait a minute, you are thinking.  I’ve been told all my life that the apocalypse is the destruction of evil by the good that will take place at the end of the world.  Even the dictionaries and commentaries say this is so.  Now you are saying that it is something else.  What’s going on?

“Apocalypse” Is Taken From the Greek Word “Apokalupsis”

     The English word “apocalypse” is derived from the Greek word apokalupsis.  Apokalupsis is never translated “apocalypse” in the Bible. It is #602 in Strong’s Con-cordance and is translated in the King James as “appearing, coming, manifestation, and revelation,” to name  a  few.   Apokalupsis  is  from  the Greek word apokalupto, #601.  Apokalupto, in turn, is derived from two Greek words.  The first, apo (#575), means “off.  In composition (as a prefix) it usually denotes separation, departure, cessation, completion, reversal.”  The second word is kalupto, #2572.  It means “to cover or to hide.”  When the two are put together in apokalupto, it means the end of the covering, to separate the covering, to cease with the covering, or, simply, to uncover or to reveal.  Since a veil is a scriptural covering, then it means to unveil. Apokalupsis is the noun form of the verb apokalupto, and it means “the uncovering, the unveiling, the appearing, the manifestation, the revelation.”

     Consequently, when we now read all of these different English words in the scripture, they are all pointing to the same thing—to the unveiling or the revealing or the revelation. 

Paul Wrote of the Apokalupsis in Romans

     The apostles were always using these two words, apokalupsis and apokalupto, and invariably, they were referring  to the sons of God coming upon the scene in the

latter days.  In Romans 8:5-14, for example, Paul is speaking about this glorious event when the sons and daughters are changed from mortals to immortals.  They shall have put away all carnal thoughts and actions.  They can and will do this, for the Spirit of God is dwelling in them.  In fact, he says that if a person does not have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within, then they are not Christ’s offspring.  And if you have this Spirit in you that raised Christ up from the dead, then He will also make your mortal body alive, by His Spirit that is within you.  And it is by the Spirit within us that we can put to death the old fruitless actions of the body.  This is being led by the Spirit of God, and only those so led are, in reality, the sons of God. 

Glory Shall Be Revealed (Apokalupto) in the Sons

     Paul continues to say that we have this spirit of sonship that resides within us, and it helps us cry unto our Father for help.  For the sufferings while in this fleshly body are many.  But they are nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us, Paul is saying (8:15-18).  “Revealed” is  translated from apokalupto.  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed {unveiled, uncovered} in us. Romans 8: 18. 

     Paul is saying that the whole created realm is laboring under this curse of eventual decay and physical corruption.  It is the hope of the Creator that even the whole creation itself will be liberated from this bondage to decay by the immortalizing of the sons of God.  They will have the veil of their corruptible flesh bodies dissolved, and they will be transformed and translated into immortal spiritual bodies by their Wonderful Spirit Father Yahweh (8:19-22). But now, we must wait patiently for our Father

to help us in this weak state that we currently find ourselves in.  Paul then speaks of his utter confidence and faith in God that He will help us complete what He has already written about us in the Book of Life in the heavens. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.  Romans 8: 28-29.

     The  above  quote proves the following things concerning the sons of God: (1) Foreknowledge—God knew them before their current earthly life; (2) Predestination—He had a destiny for His children already pre-determined and pre-set before their arrival here on earth; (3) The Calling—The pre-destined ones are those who He will call into this first resurrection; (4) Justification—These He will justify or “render innocent” or forgive and forget their sins; (5) Glorification—He will glorify those that He redeems and forgives and renders innocent from all of their transgressions and sins.  And the glory Paul is talking about is the sons of Yahweh receiving immortality! And this glorification process is the apokalupsis—the revealing, the unveiling of the sons of God at the time of the end!