The Acts of the Apostles, from 70-90 CE, has been associated with Luke, the gospel writer. This book described the activities of the early Christians in their various missionary efforts. The Book of Revelation, from around 70-100 CE, is apocalyptic in nature, as it describes the end times. Some have claimed that this belongs to John, the apostle. Both these books emphasize the role of the Christian community as it developed and what might happen to it in the future.
apocalyptic
The dark day of the Lord (Isa 13:9-13:10)
“See!
The day of Yahweh comes!
It will be cruel!
There will be wrath
With fierce anger.
He will make the earth
A desolation.
He will destroy its sinners.
The stars of the heavens
Will not give their light.
Their constellations
Will not give their light.
The sun will be dark at its rising.
The moon
Will not shed its light.”
If the preceding section was about Babylon, this is a wider apocalyptic total destruction on the day of Yahweh, a kind of dark end of time. This day of the Lord will be a cruel day with wrath and anger. The earth will become desolate as sinners will be destroyed. All the heavenly lights will be extinguished. The stars in the heavens as well as the constellations will no longer give any light. Even the rising sun will be dark, while the moon will no longer glow. This will be a time of total darkness.
Army from a distant land (Isa 13:4-13:5)
“Listen!
A tumult on the mountains
As a great multitude!
Listen!
An uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathering together!
Yahweh of hosts is mustering
An army for battle.
They come from a distant land,
From the end of the heavens.
Yahweh comes.
The weapons of his indignation
Comes to destroy
The whole earth.”
Yahweh told Isaiah to listen to the great multitude on the mountains. All the nations were getting together. Yahweh was going to bring a great army from a distant land, even from the ends of heaven. Yahweh was going to bring his weapons of indignation to destroy the whole earth. Although at times it seems like an attempt to destroy the vast Babylonian Empire via the far away Persians, there are apocalyptic end time tones with the idea of the end of the whole earth and the heavens.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 