Apocalypse 

(from Ancient Greek ἀποκάλυψις (apokálupsis) 'revelation, disclosure') is a literary

genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary.
[1]
 The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys,[2] and they typically
feature symbolic imagery drawn from the Hebrew Bible,[3] cosmological and (pessimistic) historical
surveys, the division of time into periods, esoteric numerology, and claims of ecstasy and inspiration.
[4]
 Almost all are written under pseudonyms (false names), claiming as author a venerated hero from
previous centuries,[5] as with Book of Daniel, composed during the 2nd century BCE but bearing the
name of the legendary Daniel.[6]
Eschatology, from Greek eschatos, last, concerns expectations of the end of the present age,[7] and
apocalyptic eschatology is the application of the apocalyptic world-view to the end of the world, when
God will punish the wicked and reward the faithful.[8] An apocalypse will often contain much
eschatological material, but need not: the baptism of Jesus in Matthew's gospel, for example, can be
considered apocalyptic in that the heavens open for the presence of a divine mediator (the dove
representing the spirit of God) and a voice communicates supernatural information, but there is no
eschatological element.[9]
Scholars have identified examples of the genre ranging from the mid-2nd century BCE to the 2nd
century CE,[10] and examples are to be found in Persian and Greco-Roman literature as well as
Jewish and Christian.[11] The sole clear case in the Jewish Bible (Old Testament) is chapters 7-12 of
the Book of Daniel, but there are many examples from non-canonical Jewish works;[12] the Book of
Revelation is the only apocalypse in the New Testament, but passages reflecting the genre are to be
found in the gospels and in nearly all the genuine Pauline epistles.[13]