I. Pseudo-Sibyllines—“Mortal” Man’s Role in Drama of the Ages

One of the first in the apocalyptic writings of the time that must be noted is the Sibylline Oracles. These “oracular utterances” were of Greek origin. They began in the second century B.C., though the parts here noted are dated in the early Christian Era, and exerted considerable influence. The Sibyllines are a composite, falling into three categories—pagan, Jewish, and Christian; though all apparently had their place of writing in Egypt. The latter two groups—called the pseudo-Sibylline writings—were composed in imitation of the antecedent heathen sibyls (Greek designation for a mysterious prophetess, or revealer of the secrets of the gods).CFF1 659.1

1. A REFLECTION OF ONE VIEW OF THE SOUL

These writing are not here cited for any authority attached to them, or because of their known authorship, but as a reflection, or voice, of the time, setting forth one view of the soul and its destiny and expressing dim presentiments of the future as conceived by the writers. What we are here to survey is from the Jewish sibyls, dated about A.D. 80.CFF1 659.2

The pseudo-Sibyllines flourished in the first three centuries A.D., and passed with the downfall of pagan Rome. They were apparently a device used first by Jewish and then by Christian writers in the hope of catching the ear and thus winning the heathen to their respective faiths, by copying the Greek hexameter verse of the heathen sibyls.CFF1 659.3

This form of writing also afforded protection against pagan retaliation, which protection was a highly important factor. By simulating the pagan sibyls and concealing their message in figure and symbol, the writers could the more safely utter their predictions that mighty eternal Rome was destined to perish—a forecast fraught with peril for the writer. So this Jewish sibyl was couched in the phrasings of a pagan prophetess.CFF1 659.4

2. PORTRAYED DRAMA OF THE JUDGMENT

A history of the world was here attempted, and a prediction of mankind’s future fate, both individual and corporate. It was an attempt to embrace all history in one grand theocratic sweep, with the proud kingdoms of the world of men to be destroyed in order to make way for the reign of the Messiah and the future kingdom of God and the righteous.CFF1 660.1

Its fundamental emphasis was on the terrors of the last times and the drama of the judgment—the dead of all ages summoned before the tribunal of God, their bodies raised by the power of God, the righteous to be purified and the wicked to be plunged into final ruin. The separation of good and evil is curiously portrayed as effected by passing through a river of fire, angels conveying the righteous to safety, and the wicked abandoned in the fire for destruction.CFF1 660.2

The coming judgment is therefore a “day of wrath,” they declared, which will destroy the world by fire. But it will be preceded by darkness and distress of nations, the light even of the heavenly bodies failing. Then God will appear in the clouds to destroy the earth and consume evil men, as Messiah comes to assume the predicted kingdom. ^{11) R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2, p. 375. (Robert H. Charles [d. 1931], whose text we shall follow, was regarded as the great authority of his day in Jewish eschatology and apocalyptic matters. He was not only professor at Dublin and Oxford but also archdeacon of Westminster.} These were the elements that made the Sibyllines conspicuous in the literature of the time. And in the second century an imperial decree forbade the reading of the Sibyllines, because they contained prophecies of the coming world kingdom of Messiah.CFF1 660.3