O Key of David, O royal power of Israel, controlling at your will the gate of heave: Come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and lead your captive people to freedom.
Apocalypticists proclaimed an imminent act of transcendental power that would make the whole world, but especially the land of Israel, into a space of unhindered fertility and unlabored prosperity, into a Eutopia of perfect justice, idyllic peace, and absolute holiness. Soon. Immediately. Any day. Now. Recall, also and always, that apocalypse then did not mean destruction but transformation, not just the end of the material world of space and time but the end of the social world of evil, impurity, injustice, and violence.Jon Dominic Cross and Jonathan Reed, Excavating Jesus, revised & updated (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), p. 182.
"And Mary said, 'My soul extols the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has shown consideration for the lowly status of his slave. As a consequence, from now on every generation will congratulate me; the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name, and his mercy will come to generation after generation for those who fear him. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has put the arrogant to rout, along with their private schemes; he has pulled the mighty down from their thrones, and exalted the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, remembering his mercy forever.' "--Luke 1:46-56, SV.
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