Preparing for the Miraculous

2012 and 1956: Doomsday? 95cosmic catastrophe, there will arise a Palestine which willbe nothing less than a new Eden, Paradise regained” – aPalestine to which the whole world would consent to bowor which would gradually dominate the whole world. 2 Itshould be remembered that the Hebrews were the first tointerpret history not as cyclic but as linear, with a beginningat Creation and an end when evil will be conqueredand Earth become an eternal Paradise.The following words from Revelation, written by the visionaryJohn of Patmos, have had an enormous influencein Christianity: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city,new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ... And Godshall wipe all tears from their eyes; and there shall be nomore death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall therebe any more pain; for the former things are passed away.And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make allthings new. ... And he carried me away in the spirit to agreat and high mountain, and showed me that great city,the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,having the glory of God ...” 3It is rather remarkable that Jesus is seldom rememberedas having been an apocalyptic himself, the reason probablybeing that the Catholic Church had to do its utmost to coverthe fact because his predictions did not become true. BartEhrman writes in his Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the NewMillennium: “Jesus thought that the history of the worldwould come to a screeching halt, and that God would intervenein the affairs of the planet, overthrow the forces of2 Norman Cohn: The Pursuit of the Millennium, p. 20.3 As quoted in Cohn, p. 25.