Messianic Apocalypse Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521). A nonbiblical, poetic work found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. 250 bc–ad 50). The Messianic Apocalypse is made up of 17 (or 18) Hebrew fragments of which the second is the most important. Messianic Apocalypse describes the coming age of the Messiah and in doing so provides a New Testament parallel.

The language of the Messianic Apocalypse appears to parallel the response of Jesus to John the Baptist in the Synoptic Gospels, perhaps pointing to more widely held views about resurrection in the messianic era (Matt 11:2–5; Luke 7:22). This may suggest that the Gospel writers knew the Messianic Apocalypse or the traditions from which it comes (Abegg, Dead Sea Scrolls, 420–22).

Fragment two seems to allude to Psa 146 and to passages from Isaiah, Malachi, and Daniel (Evans, “Messianic Apocalypse,” 696). Abegg suggests that the Gospel writers may have been familiar with the Messianic Apocalypse (“Redemption and Resurrection,” 420). Evans suggests that this text may hold significance for understanding Jesus (Evans, Ancient Texts, 99), as the language of the Messianic Apocalypse seems to parallel Jesus’ healing ministry, especially the account of Him raising the dead in Luke 7:22. Collins locates the “anointed” in the Messianic Apocalypse in the prophetic tradition (Collins “Jesus, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls”).

The Messianic Apocalypse appears to be a nonsectarian document that may have similar themes to the Apocryphon of Elijah (4Q382) and 4Q558; it may use Isa 61 similarly to The Coming of Melchizedek (11Q13; Allison, Constructing Jesus, 265).