Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
He argues that the testimonies just cited cannot, through allegory, be taken to mean only heavenly blessings, but are destined for fulfillment after Antichrist's arrival and the resurrection, within an earthly Jerusalem; and to the earlier prophecies drawn from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and John's Apocalypse he attaches yet more. But should anyone try to allegorize prophecies of this kind, they will find themselves inconsistent at every turn, and will be answered by the plain wording itself — for it is written that once the nations' cities have been left desolate, empty of any inhabitant, and dwellings stand with no man in them, and the land turns to wasteland. "For look," Isaiah writes, "the Lord's day arrives, past remedy, brimming with wrath and fury, so as to render the earth's city desolate and to blot out its sinners from it." And again he states: "Let it be carried off, so it will not gaze upon the Lord's glory." And once this comes about, he says, God will banish mankind to a distant place, and those remaining will multiply across the land; "and they will raise houses and dwell in them, and set out vineyards and eat their fruit." For all these further sayings speak, without dispute, of the resurrection belonging to the righteous, occurring once Antichrist has come and every nation under his sway has been overthrown; in that resurrection the just will govern the earth, gaining strength from beholding the Lord, and through him growing accustomed to bear the glory of God the Father, and to share fellowship and speech with the holy angels, and to receive into the kingdom the union of spiritual beings — together with those the Lord finds still living in the body, waiting for him out of the heavens, having endured affliction and escaped the grip of the Wicked One. These are the ones of whom the prophet speaks: those remaining shall multiply across the land. And how large a number of believers God has readied for this purpose — to multiply on the earth as the remnant, to fall under the kingdom of the holy ones and serve this Jerusalem, and how a kingdom shall exist within it — the prophet Jeremiah revealed, saying: "Turn your gaze eastward, O Jerusalem, and see the joy God himself brings to you. Behold, the sons you sent away are returning; they gather from sunrise clear to sunset at the Holy One's command, exulting in the glory belonging to your God. Lay aside, O Jerusalem, the robe of your grief and hardship, and clothe yourself in the splendor of God's everlasting glory; wrap about you the double garment of righteousness from God, and place upon your head the crown of unending glory. For God will display your radiance to every nation beneath the sky. For God will forever call you by this name: Peace born of righteousness, glory of worship offered to God. Rise up, O Jerusalem, take your stand on high ground, turn your gaze eastward, and see your children gathered from where the sun rises to where it sets, summoned by the word of the Holy One, exulting in the very memory of their God. For on foot they departed from you, driven off by enemies; but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory, as upon a king's throne. For God has ordained that every towering mountain and the age-old hills be brought low, and every valley be raised up, leveling the ground, so that Israel might walk in safety within God's glory. And the forests and every fragrant tree gave Israel their shade at God's bidding. For God himself will go ahead rejoicing in the brightness of his glory, together with the mercy and justice that proceed from him." The prophet inquired how long the people's obstinacy would persist, and God replied: "Until the towns lie desolate" — the very thing the prophet had foretold, showing that its fulfillment lay in the future.
None of this material, then, can be taken as pointing to what lies beyond the heavens; for, he states, "God will display your radiance to every nation beneath the sky" — rather it points toward the age of the kingdom, when the earth has been summoned back by Christ, and Jerusalem raised anew according to the model of that Jerusalem which is on high, of which Isaiah the prophet writes: "See, I have inscribed your walls upon the palms of my hands, and you remain continually in my sight." The Apostle too, addressing the Galatians, states in the same vein: "But the Jerusalem above is a free woman, and she is mother to us all" — meaning by this not some notion of a straying Aeon, nor a power that broke away from the Pleroma along with Prunicus, but that Jerusalem engraved upon the hands of God. And it is this very Jerusalem — the new one — that John beheld coming down to earth in his Apocalypse. For following the age of the kingdom, he writes: "I beheld a vast throne, gleaming white, and one seated upon it, before whose face earth and sky fled away, leaving no place for them." He then goes on to depict what belongs to the universal resurrection and judgment, telling how he saw the dead, both the great and the lowly. "The sea," he writes, "released the dead within it, and death together with hell surrendered the dead they held; then the scrolls were opened. And a further scroll was opened, namely the scroll of life, and the dead were judged according to what was recorded in the scrolls, each by his own deeds; and death and hell were hurled into the lake of fire, which is the second death." This is what bears the name Gehenna, called by the Lord the fire that never ends. "And anyone," he writes, "whose name was absent from the scroll of life was hurled into the lake of fire." Following this he states: "I beheld a new sky and a new earth, for the former sky and the former earth had gone, and the sea existed no longer. And I beheld the sacred city, a new Jerusalem, descending out of the sky from God, made ready like a bride dressed for her groom. Then I heard," he writes, "a loud voice out of the throne, declaring: See, the dwelling place of God is among mortals, and he will make his home among them, and they will belong to him as his people, and God himself will be present with them as their own God. And he will dry every tear from their faces, and death will exist no longer, nor grief nor lament nor any further pain, since what came before has vanished." Isaiah proclaims this identical truth: "For a new sky and a new earth shall come to be, and what came before will not be recalled, nor cross anyone's mind, but instead they will discover joy and delight within it." And this is likewise what the Apostle declared: "For the shape of this present world is passing away." The Lord too states in the same way: "Sky and earth will pass away." These things, then, vanishing from the earth, we shall behold what is new — like a bride dressed for her groom; and this is God's dwelling place, where God will make his home among mortals. Of this Jerusalem, that earlier, earthly one stands as an image, in which the righteous are made ready beforehand for incorruptibility, and prepared for deliverance. And Moses received upon the mountain the model of this same dwelling place: nothing here calls for allegory, but everything stands firm and genuine, possessing real substance, fashioned by God for righteous men to enjoy. For just as surely as God himself raises mankind up, so surely does mankind rise again from among the dead, not in some figurative sense, as we have already demonstrated through many arguments. And just as he genuinely rises again, so will he genuinely be made ready beforehand for incorruptibility, expanding and flourishing throughout the age of the kingdom, until he becomes able to bear the Father's glory. Then, once everything has been made new, he will genuinely make his home in the city of God. For the one seated upon the throne declares: "See, I am making everything new." And the Lord states: "Set down all of this in writing, for these sayings are trustworthy and genuine." And he told me: "It is accomplished." And in this way it stands to reason.