The Parousia - Father Juan Rovira S. J. - Introduction

It is this Greek name derived from the verb pareimi, "to be present", and it means presence, advent, and with it is designated in the Holy Books of the New Testament the Second Advent of Christ Our Lord to judge men. Of the Parousia we know nothing other than what we are told in the Holy Books.

Reality of the Parousia

Christ, the Messiah and Redeemer promised to the human race at the beginning of time (Gen. 3, 15) is the Word of God who became flesh (Jn. 1, 14) and dwelt among men and suffered and died for the health of men in the fullness of time, and the same Christ who ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, will come from there to judge men at the end of time.

There are two, then, the Comings of Christ; the one in the fullness of time; the other at the end of time; the first to teach man with his words and with his example, to suffer and die for man, to save men; the second to judge men and give each one according to his works, eternal reward for the good because they kept his holy commandments and eternal punishment for the bad because they did not keep them. This Second Coming of Christ is an article of our holy faith, which is contained in that article of the Creed: "From there he will come to judge the living and the dead", and is predicted in many texts of Sacred Scripture, from which will suffice to bring some.

Thus, Saint Paul speaks of the two comings (Heb. 9, 28). Christ offered himself once to take away the sins of many; the second time out of sin, that is, without being atonement for sin, he will appear to those who hope in him, for his salvation; and Christ himself says in Saint Matthew (16, 27): the Son of man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will give to each one according to his works. And after the Ascension of Christ, as referred to in the book of the Acts of the apostles (1, 10-11), while the disciples were looking at the sky, while He was leaving, behold, two men with dresses The whites stood by them and said to them: “Men of Galilee, what are you looking at in the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, so he will come, just as you have seen him ascend into heaven.” Thus, as Christ ascended to heaven on Ascension day, so he is to come again, and this is the Second Coming, the Parousia.

Hour of the Parousia

As for the time and hour of the Parousia, four things are told to us in the Sacred Pages: a) The first, that it will be soon. b) The second, which is not imminent. c) The third, that his hour is unknown. d) The fourth, which will be sudden and unexpected.

1st) That it will be soon, we are told in the epistle of James (5, 8): "You also have patience, confirm your hearts because the coming of the Lord draws near." And more clearly in the Apocalypse (22, 20). Thus says he who bears witness to these things: “Surely I am coming quickly.” But these words: it is coming, soon, shortly, have to be understood relatively, Saint Peter seems to indicate it in his second letter (3, 8): "Do not hide this from you, dear ones, that one day before the Lord, is like a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.”

2nd) From here, then, it follows that the Parousia, although it was to be soon or shortly, was not therefore imminent. And this is what the Apostle Saint Paul says in his second letter to the faithful of Thessalonica. Apparently some had stirred up the Thessalonians either by means of false revelations, or perhaps by means of letters, announcing and persuading them of the imminent proximity of the Parousia or Second Coming of the Lord, and disturbing them with these forebodings and predictions.

Saint Paul wrote them a letter in which he tells them (2 Thess. 2, 1-2): “We beg you, brothers, that regarding the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and our meeting with Him, do not move easily from your feel or be disturbed, neither by spirit, nor by words, nor by letters sent in our name; as if the day of the Lord was near.” And then, in the following verses, he proves to them that this coming is not imminent, because before it other things must happen that he puts there: apostasy and rebellion, and the manifestation of the man of sin, and he refers to the teachings that he will have given them his word about this.

And Christ himself expressly says that before his Advent and his consummation, his Gospel must be preached throughout the world (Mt. 24, 14). “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the consummation will come.” Thus, the Apostles did not see the coming of the Lord as imminent. Actually, they ignored the time of the Parousia, since:

3rd) The hour of the Parousia is unknown to all, as Christ himself says (Mt. 24, 36): "That day and that hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only the Father." Sure It is that Christ, Son of God, and one God with the Father, who receives from the Father all the divine nature and the divine understanding and science and, in short, all that the Father has (Jn. 16, 15), he knows and also knows the time and the hour of the Parousia. And if it is said that he does not know it, as in Saint Mark (13, 32), it must be understood that he does not know it in order to communicate it and reveal it to men, as Saint Gregory the Great (590-604) already declared against the agnoetas. Because being He, as He is, Head of the Church, which is His Mystical Body, He communicates power, doctrine and grace to this Mystical Body.

But this knowledge of the time of the Parousia does not communicate or reveal it and, therefore, this knowledge does not belong in any way to the deposit of revelation. Whence it follows that the Apostles, who, as such, preached only what was contained in the deposit of revelation, the doctrine they had received from Christ, could not in any way, either in their apostolic teachings or in their inspired writings point out or specify the time and hour of the Parousia.

Recently, with this reason, some erroneous or inaccurate opinions were raised that motivated some decisions of the Holy See. Because some, basing themselves perhaps on the cited text of Saint Mark (13, 32) or, rather, on the sentences or opinions of some Holy Fathers, tried to limit the extension of the human science of Christ.

Against which the Supreme Congregation of the Holy Office issued the decree of June 5, 1918, in which, among others, it prohibits the teaching of this proposition: "The sentence that affirms that the soul of Christ did not ignore anything, but that it from the beginning he knew in the Word all things present, past and future, that is, everything that God knows by the science of vision.” Then, on the contrary, we can affirm with certainty that the soul of Christ was not ignorant of anything, but that from the beginning he knew in the Word all things present, past and future.

The other error refers to the statements of the Apostles and, especially, of St. Paul about the Parousia. Some therefore said that the Apostles and, in particular, Saint Paul, in their inspired writings, although without teaching any error, expressed or could express their own sentiments about the proximity of the Parousia. But the Pontifical Biblical Commission, in its responses of June 18, 1915, gave the following decisions:

1st) That no Catholic exegete is allowed to affirm that the Apostles, although under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit do not teach any error, nevertheless express their own human feelings, in which error or deception can slip.

2nd) That, considering on the one hand the true notion of the apostolic ministry and the fidelity of Saint Paul in his apostolic mission, and on the other hand, the dogma of inspiration, according to which everything that the sacred writer affirms, enunciates or insinuates , it is affirmed, enunciated and insinuated by the Holy Spirit; Having examined, furthermore, the texts of the letters of Saint Paul and his way of speaking, which agrees with that of Christ Our Lord, it must be affirmed that Saint Paul in his writings did not say anything that is not in accordance with that ignorance of the time of the Parousia. , which, as Christ said, is proper to men.

3rd) That in no way should the traditional interpretation based on the correct understanding of the Greek text and on the interpretation of the Holy Fathers, and especially Saint John Chrysostom, on the fourth chapter of the first letter to the Thessalonians, in verses 15-17. It should be noted that this text was mainly based on those of the opposite opinion that the Biblical Commission rejects. This text describes the Parousia, and says as follows: “The Lord himself, with empire and with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4, 16-17).

From this text they tried to deduce that Saint Paul thought that the Parousia would be very soon while he was still living or the Thessalonians, to whom he wrote the letter, were still living. But the Greek text does not say: "We, who live", those who are left, but says it in a participle: "We, the living", that is, those who live, those who remain. So he does not say or hint that the Parousia was to be soon or that he or the Thessalonians were to see it.

4th) Finally, the hour of the Parousia will also be sudden and unexpected. The day of the Lord will come like the thief. So says St. Peter, 2 Pet. 3, 10, and Saint Paul, 1 Thess. 5, 2, and Saint John in his Apocalypse, 16, 15, and Christ himself, in his Gospel, compares the time of the Parousia with the days of Noah and with the days of Lot, Lc. 16, 26-30: “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of man. They ate and drank, took wives and married, until the day that Noah entered the ark: and the flood came, and destroyed them all. And likewise, as it was in the days of Lot; they ate and drank, bought and sold, planted and built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. So, then, it will be the day that the Son of man appears” (Mt. 24, 38-39). His unexpected coming will be like a snare that will come over all those who inhabit the earth (Lk. 21, 35); it will be sudden like the lightning that comes out of the East and shows itself to the West (Mt. 24, 27; Lk. 17, 24).

One could indeed ask how it is that the coming of Christ could be unexpected, since so many signs must precede it, as we will see later. To this the answer is that it will be unexpected, according to Christ himself, as the deluge was unexpected in Noah's time. For certainly signs and predictions of the deluge were not lacking then. And the same Noah who announced it and who by order of God built that great ark, to save himself in it with his family and the animals, what else was he but a living and continuous prediction of God's punishment.

But men did not pay attention to those predictions (2 Pet. 3, 20) and they got used to them, and so when the flood came, they were caught off guard. And the same thing will happen with the advent of Christ that, seeing the signs of his coming, the majority of men, accustomed to judging things with a merely natural criterion, will look at those signs as phenomena of nature, as effects of corruption and human perversity, and thus the coming of Christ will catch them unawares and unprepared.

Signs of the Parousia

Although Christ Our Lord said that the hour of his Coming was unknown, he nonetheless gave his disciples, and in them us, some signs by which the nearness of the Coming of Christ could be glimpsed in some way. the. These signs are of various kinds; some remote, others close; some in heaven, others on earth; some in nature, others in human society. We will speak first of the remote and general ones, then of the next and more special and determined ones.

Remote Signals

Remote signs of the coming of Christ are:

1st) Wars, famines, plagues, earthquakes, of which he says: “You will hear wars and rumors of wars: take care that you are not disturbed, because all this must happen, but it is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be pestilences and famines and earthquakes. And all these things are the beginnings of sorrows.” (Mt. 24, 6-7; Mk. 13, 7-8; Lk. 21, 9-11).

2nd) The persecutions and martyrdoms of the Apostles and the Servants of God, of which he says: “Then they will hand you over to be afflicted and kill you; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake." (Mt. 24, 9; Mk. 13, 13; Lk. 21, 12).

3rd) The scandals and persecutions and martyrdoms, the hatreds and discords: "And then many will be scandalized, and will betray one another, and will hate one another." (Mt. 24, 10; Mk. 13, 12; Lk. 21, 16-19).

4th) The seduction of false prophets, as was, for example, Mohammed: "And many false prophets will arise and deceive many." (Mt. 24, 11).

5th) “A consequence of all this will be the increase in wickedness and the cooling off of charity: And because wickedness has increased, the charity of many will cool down. But he who perseveres to the end will be saved.” (Mt. 24, 12, 13).

6th) “Jerusalem will be destroyed and will be trodden down and violated by the people until the times of the nations are fulfilled.” (Luke 21, 20-24).

7th) The preaching of the Gospel throughout the world: “And this Gospel will be preached throughout the world, as a witness to all nations; and then will come the consummation.” (Mt. 24, 14).

Upcoming signs in the world

1st) Voices or rumors about the next coming of Christ, of which Christ Jesus himself said: “Then if someone tells you: here is the Christ or there, do not believe it; for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will give great signs and will do wonders, so that they will deceive, if possible, even the very elect. So, if they tell you: Behold, he is in the desert, do not believe it; behold, he is in the precincts, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the East and appears to the West, so also will the coming of the Son of man be.” (Mt. 24, 23-26; Mk. 21. 22; Lk. 17, 23-24).

2nd) Another sign will be, according to the words of Christ already quoted, the appearance of false Christs and false prophets, who will not be like Mohammed, who did not perform any miracles, but who will perform pretended and apparent prodigies or portents, with which they will induce error and will deceive men.

3rd) The spirit of apostasy and irreligion and rebellion that Saint Paul speaks of in his second letter to the Thessalonians (2, 3).

4th) The coming of the two witnesses who, according to the interpretation of many Holy Fathers s, are Elijah and Enoch. The coming of Elijah is expressly predicted in the prophecy of Malachi (4, 5-6): “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of fathers to children and the hearts of children to fathers; lest I come and strike the earth with destruction.” And Christ Jesus himself also predicted the future coming of Elijah (Mt. 17, 11): "Elias will come and restore all things." Elijah and Enoch, then, will preach to the Jews and to the Gentiles. These two witnesses, according to Saint John, sent by God, will preach and prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, dressed in sacks:

“And if anyone wishes to harm them, fire comes out of his mouth and devours his enemies. And if someone wants to harm them, it is necessary that he be dead. And these have power to close the sky, so that it does not rain in the days of their prophecy, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague as many times as they wish. And when they have finished their testimony (that is, after the twelve hundred and sixty days), the beast that ascends out of the abyss (that is, the Antichrist) will make war against them and will overcome and kill them, and their bodies will lie in the square of the great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where their Lord was crucified. (It is the city of Jerusalem, but he does not call it that because of its wickedness.) And those of the various peoples and tribes and tongues and nations, will see their bodies three and a half days, and will not allow their bodies to be put in graves. And the inhabitants of the earth will rejoice over them and rejoice and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. But after three and a half days the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: Come up here, and they went up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them. And at the same time there was a great earthquake throughout the earth, and a tenth of the city fell, and 7,000 men died in the earthquake and the rest, full of fear, gave glory to the God of heaven” (Rev. 11, 3-13).

5th) In short, another sign will be the Antichrist, so called par excellence, the one that Saint Paul calls a man of sin or rebellion and son of perdition, "he who opposes and rises up against everything that is called God or that is called God." he adores, to the point of sitting in the temple of God and showing himself and appearing as if he were God; that wicked one, whose coming will be, according to the operation of Satan, with great power and with signs and lying wonders and with all deception of wickedness” (2 Thess. 2, 3-9).

This is the beast that Saint John speaks of in the Apocalypse, chapter thirteen (not that it is to be a beast, but an evil man), the beast to whom the dragon (the devil) gave all his power and his throne and his throne. power and one of its heads as if it were wounded to death, and the wound to death was healed, “and the peoples of all the earth marveled and worshiped the dragon that gave power to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying: Who is like the beast? And who can fight her? Saint John says that four things were given to the beast, thus allowing God.

– He was given the power to act for forty-two months (that is, three and a half years or one thousand two hundred and sixty days, as it is said in other texts).

– Gave him a mouth that speaks great things and blasphemies; "And he broke out in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven."

– He was given, by divine permission, to wage war against the saints and to defeat them.

– Finally, all tribes and peoples and languages and peoples were given power: “and all the inhabitants of the earth worshiped him; all whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world.”

To this beast, the Antichrist, is added the second beast, the False Prophet, who will be the lieutenant of the Antichrist. Saint John says, then, that he saw another beast that had two horns similar to those of a lamb, but spoke like the dragon:

“And this one exercised the power of the first beast in his presence, and caused the earth and its inhabitants to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he performed great signs, even to the point of causing fire to come down from heaven to earth before men, and with the signs that he performed he deceived the inhabitants of the earth, commanding them to make an image of the beast, which had the wound of death, and lived (the Antichrist). And it was given that he gave spirit to the image of the beast (no doubt by diabolical art) so that the image of the beast could speak. And he will cause any who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he will cause everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to put a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that none may buy or sell, but he who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of your name. And this number is six hundred and sixty-six.” Undoubtedly, this number is symbolic, as the words of St. John suggest (Rev. 13, 12-18).

Such is the character of the Antichrist and the False Prophet and such is the terrible persecution that they will raise against the good ones. Some of these characteristic features of the Antichrist, the blasphemies or words against the Most High, the violating of the saints of the Most High, we also find in Daniel's prophecy about the four beasts (Dan. 7, 23-28). According to this, then, the Antichrist will be a powerful king who will receive the power of the dragon or the devil, by divine permission, who will have the False Prophet as his lieutenant and will reign in all the earth and will be adored by all the inhabitants of it except for the elect, those who have their names written in the Lamb's book of life; and therefore he will persecute the saints, but not without punishment from God; for as it is said there: “He who leads others into captivity will himself go into captivity; He who kills with a knife must be killed with a knife” (Rev. 13, 10).

But the Antichrist will not be the only king on earth, since Saint John also speaks of ten other kings who will have power together with the beast, who have the same council and will give their power and authority to the beast (Rev. 17 , 12-13).

Then there will be other calamities and plagues or punishments from God that Saint John describes in chapter 16, and there will also be great wars. Because the ten kings and the beast or the Antichrist, will take and destroy and burn the city of Babylon, metropolis of vice, the great city that has its kingdom over the kings of the earth and with which the kings of the earth have transgressed (Rev. 17), whose ruin and punishment is described in Rev. 18. Finally, the kings and the Antichrist will come together to fight against the Lamb (Christ) and the Lamb will overcome them because He is the Lord of lords and the King of the Kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen and faithful (Rev. 17, 14).

And so, Saint John says that he saw three unclean spirits in the form of frogs that came out of the mouth of the dragon and of the mouth of the beast and of the mouth of the pseudo-prophet, and that they made signs to go to the kings of the earth and of all the world to gather them for the battle of that great day of God Almighty. And he assembled them in the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon (Har Mageddo: “mountain of Megiddo”).

Antichrist and kings and armies are not likely to join together to fight against Christ in his person, since Christ will still be in heaven; but rather to fight against Christ in the person of his servants and followers; which seems to indicate that a nucleus of resistance will have already been formed, of supporters of Christ against the Antichrist. This nucleus will probably have been formed in Jerusalem, perhaps among the Jews converted by Elijah, and this seems to be indicated by the prophet Zechariah, chapters twelve and fourteen, since it says that the Lord will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be taken and destroyed. Their homes will be plundered and half the city will go into captivity. And the Lord will go out and fight with those nations as in the day of his battle.

“And his feet shall stand on that day on the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will split in the middle, to the east and to the west, making a very large valley”; and then he adds: “And it shall come to pass that on that day there will be neither clear nor dark light. It will be a day, which is known to the Lord, which will be neither day nor night; but it will happen that in the evening there will be light.” (Zech. 14, 4; 6-7).

And this is hinted at in Joel's prophecy, chapter 3, where he says that the Lord will gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, because of his people and Israel, his inheritance. When, then, the Antichrist with his kings and his supporters get together to fight against the Lamb, that is, against the followers of Christ, the converted Jews and their helpers, then Christ himself will come down to defend his own, to conquer and break and overthrow the Antichrist, and then it will be the Parousia.

Upcoming signs in the sky

To these near signs of the Parousia in the world or in human society, other signs will be added in heaven, which Christ predicted in his Gospel and which Joel also brings in his prophecy. And then, after the affliction of those days (the affliction and persecution of the Antichrist to which the Lord alludes in Mt. 24, 21-22), the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky. heaven and the virtues of heaven will be shaken (Mt. 24, 29; Mk. 13, 24-25). Similar signs before the day of the Lord are also brought by Isaiah and Joel in their prophecies (Is. 13, 9-11; Jl. 2, 30-31; 3, 15).

Character of the Parousia

Before speaking of the same Parousia or Second Coming of Christ, it is good that we examine Let us see the character and end of this Coming. In Sacred Scripture this Coming is usually compared to the harvest, after which the wheat is separated from the tares, as in the parable of the tares (Mt. 13, 24-30; 36-43), and also in Mc. 4, 26-29; and in the Apocalypse the Son of man is described as coming on the clouds with a golden crown on his head and with a sickle in his hand as if to reap (Rev. 14, 14-20).

Compare it with threshing, and thus Saint John paints Christ with the window in his hand to clean the wheat and separate it from the chaff (Mt. 3, 11-12). Compare it with fishing, after which the good fish are chosen and separated from the bad ones, as in the parable of the net (Mt. 13, 47-50) and in the second miraculous catch of fish (Jn. 21, 6- eleven). Compare it to a wedding banquet to which many are invited, but many excuse themselves, and from which the unworthy are excluded, as in the parable of the guests (Mt. 22, 1-14; Lk. 14, 16-24; Rev. 19, 9) and in that of the wise and foolish virgins (Mt. 25, 1-13). Compare it with a lord, a king who is going to conquer and take possession of his kingdom, and who returns and asks his servants for the use of the talents he left them (Mt. 25, 14-30; Lc. 19, 12 -27). Compare it to a shepherd who discerns and separates his cattle, the goats from the sheep (Mt. 25, 31-46). Finally, it is described as a war against enemies and rebels, as it appears in Mt. 22, 7; Lc. 19, 14-27, and more clearly in Joel 3, 2; 9-13; Zac. 14, 2-4, and in Rev. 19, 11-21. Therefore, the Parousia or Coming of Christ has a triple aspect or character:

1°) Character of judgment, of discretion and separation of good and bad, and of just remuneration and retribution of some and others, as in some of the texts already cited and in some others (Mt. 16 28; Rom. 2, 5-10, 1 Corinthians 3, 13-15, 2 Corinthians 5, 10, 2 Thessalonians 1, 7-10.

2°) Character of war for breaking and destruction of the bad ones.

3°) Character of help and relief and salvation for the good, as Saint Paul says in his letter to the Hebrews 9, 28. Christ offered himself once to take away the sins of many (in his first Coming), the second time without sin (that is, without offering himself for sin) will appear to those who wait on Him for health.

Hence it is that Christ himself proposes his coming as a blessing and a reason for consolation for the righteous, as he says in Saint Luke 21, 28. “And when these things begin to take place (the signs of the Parousia that he spoke of before) Look and raise your heads, because your redemption is near... Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout, seeing them, you understand from there that summer is near. So you too, when you see these things happen, know that the Kingdom of God is already near.”

According to this, then, the Parousia will be the judgment or separation and due retribution of the good and the bad; ruin and destruction of the wicked, a wedding banquet of the Lamb Christ Jesus with the Holy Church his wife, to which the good will be admitted. But let us see more particularly the various details of the Parousia.

Glorious Coming of Christ

The Parousia is nothing else, as we said, but the second coming of Christ. Christ Jesus will come from heaven where he ascended in his glorious ascension (Acts 1, 9-11), but he will not come as he came the first time when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, when he was born of the Virgin Mary in the portal of Bethlehem and was reclined in a manger, when, finally, he became in all things like men except sin, in such a way that he was considered the carpenter's son; before he will come and appear with glory, with the glory and splendor of his divinity as he himself said to his apostles. And then, that is, after the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall, then the sign of the Son of man will appear (probably the Cross), and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and see the Son of man to come on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory (Mt. 24, 30; Mk. 13, 26, and Lk. 21, 27); and the Lord said the same thing to Caiaphas: “From now on you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the power of God and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Mt. 26, 64).

And in the same way the Coming of Christ is described in Revelation 1, 7 and in the first letter to the Thessalonians 4, 16 where Saint Paul says that the Lord, with the voice of empire and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from the sky. But among all of them stands out the description that Saint John the Apostle makes us of this Coming in the nineteenth chapter of the Apocalypse, where he describes him as a warrior king who is going to fight against the Antichrist, who gathered his troops to fight with the Lamb, as we saw before.

He thus says: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat on the horse is called Faithful and True, and with righteousness he judges and fights. His eyes like a flame of fire and on his head many crowns and he has a name written that no one knows but him, and he was clothed of clothes dyed in blood, and his name is called the Word of God, and the armies of heaven followed him, on white horses, dressed in the finest linen, white and clean, and from his mouth comes a sharp sword, to strike with it the people; and He will rule them with a rod of iron, and He treads the winepress of the fury and wrath of Almighty God, and on His garment and on His thigh He has this name written: King of kings and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19, 11-16).

Escort of Christ

But Christ will not come alone. As King that he is, he will come accompanied by his court. In the aforementioned text, Saint John already presents him followed by the armies of heaven. The Lord will come accompanied by his Angels, as He himself indicated when explaining the parable of the tares (Mt. 13, 41); and more clearly he said it on another occasion: “The Son of man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will give to each one according to his works” (Mt. 16, 27).

Likewise, in the evangelical texts in which he describes his coming, he says that he will send his Angels with a trumpet and with a loud voice to gather his chosen ones (Mt. 24, 31, and Mk. 13, 27). And Saint Jude in his letter brings some words of Enoch, who says: "Behold, the Lord comes with his holy myriads to judge all and to convince the wicked about all the works of their wickedness, which they did impiously, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against God” (Jude 14-15).

Resurrection of the Saints and Congregation of the Chosen

The resurrection of the saints will follow afterwards. It is true that theologians and interpreters do not agree on this point, since they commonly say that the resurrection must be of all together and at the same time. But this is to be understood of the general resurrection. But this particular resurrection of the Saints will be like a privilege, and just as Christ rose and with Christ other saints also rose, as Saint Matthew says (27, 52-53), who probably, as Saint Thomas feels (S. Th. Sup., 3 p., q. 77, a. 1, ad 3), they did not die again, so it can also be admitted that when Christ will appear in his second coming to destroy the Antichrist, they will rise by privilege, not all the Saints, but only some.

“Then the Lord will come on the clouds and accompanied by his angels with great power and majesty, and he will send his angels with a loud voice and with the sound of a trumpet and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other. border” (Mt. 24, 31 and Mk. 13, 27). But who are these chosen ones, and from where and to where are they to gather?

These chosen ones that the Lord speaks of here are from the earth and from the earth they are to be taken, and this is clearly indicated by those words that he added later: “Then two will be in the field, one will be taken and the other will be left.” ; two will be grinding on a millstone, one will be taken and the other will be left” (Mt. 24, 40-41 and Lc. 17, 34-35).

But what will they be taken for and where will they go? The disciples asked Christ the same thing: “Where to, Lord?” And He told them: "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will gather" (Lk. 17, 37), which is as if to say, just as the eagles or the vultures congregate around the body, so the chosen ones they will gather and gather around the glorious Christ.

Saint Paul also speaks of this congregation of the chosen ones in his first letter to the Thessalonians, but he warns that the resurrection of those who died in the Lord must precede it. And so he says: “The Lord himself, with dominion and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we the living, who remain with them, will be caught up in the clouds through the air to meet the Lord, and thus we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 16, 17). And he says the same thing in the first letter to the Corinthians. He says that he will blow the trumpet and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we (that is, those who are alive) will be changed.

According to this, he clearly distinguishes Saint Paul at the coming of Christ two classes or classes of righteous who will join him. Some will be the dead who will rise first, they will rise incorrupt; the others will be the living, who will not die, but will be transformed from mortal and corruptible into incorruptible and immortal, and together with the others they will be caught up in the air on the clouds to meet Christ.

But who will be these happy mortals who will then be resurrected or transformed? Will all the righteous be dead? Will all the righteous be alive? Saint Paul speaks in general terms, although he does not expressly say that all the righteous must be. The evangelical texts speak of the chosen ones, they say that the Angels will gather the chosen ones, but they do not say or imply that they are all the just or predestined. And so of the two who will be in a field they say that the one will be taken with Christ, and the other will be left; they do not say that this other will be condemned, but that he will be left.

Who, then, will be these chosen righteous ones, who will be taken and caught up to join Christ at his coming? If, as is probable, the resurrection of the just that Saint Paul speaks of in his first letter to the Thessalonians is the one that Saint John calls in the Apocalypse the first resurrection, then the resurrected ones, the chosen ones are those that Saint John says there . He says that he saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image or received his mark or sign, on their forehead or in their hand: and they lived and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

This text of Saint John seems to indicate two classes or kinds of chosen ones, one of them are those who were slaughtered for the testimony of Jesus, that is, the martyrs, or all of them or some of them, and in the first place the Apostles to whom Christ himself promised that in regeneration they would sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel; the others are those who did not worship the beast or receive his mark, even if they were not martyred but are alive, otherwise there was no point in distinguishing them from the martyrs. And of the ones and of the others, Saint John says, that they lived; of the martyrs because they were resurrected, of the others because, although they were alive, they were transformed and began to live incorruptible and immortal life.

Defeat and destruction of the Antichrist

The effect of the Coming of Christ will also be the destruction of the Antichrist and in general of all the anti-theocratic powers that oppose the government of God. We have already seen that the Antichrist is to gather his kings and his armies at Armageddon to fight against the Lamb. Then, then, Christ will come to destroy him and to save and deliver his own.

This is what Zechariah already said, as we saw, that: the Lord will go out and fight against those enemies of Jerusalem, and his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14, 3-4). And more clearly Saint Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians. “And then that wicked one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his face and will destroy him with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thess. 2:8).

And Saint John in the Apocalypse says the same thing. After describing Christ King of kings and Lord of lords mounted on a white horse, his eyes like a flame of fire, on his head many crowns, coming out of his mouth a sharp sword to strike down the people with it, and followed by the heavenly armies and squadrons, says:

“And I saw the beast (the Antichrist) and the kings of the earth gathered together to make war with him that sat on the horse and with his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the pseudo-prophet, the one who performed the signs before it, with which he deceived those who received the sign of the beast and worshiped its image. Both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the one sitting on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their meat” (Rev. 19, 19-21).

Along with this defeat and destruction of the Antichrist and of the earthly anti-theocratic powers, it seems probable, as we shall see later, that the binding and imprisonment of the devil and the infernal powers that Saint John puts next must also be placed:

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, the ancient serpent (the one from paradise), who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he threw him into the abyss, and closed and sealed over him so that he deceives the nations no more, until the thousand years are over: and after this he must be loosed for a little while” (Rev. 20, 1-3 ).

And this is what Isaiah seems to be referring to in his prophecy when he says: “On that day Yahweh will call to account the host of heaven, up there (that is, the devil and his angels), and here below, the kings of heaven. the earth (that is, the Antichrist and the other kings his supporters); he will gather them all together and put them in a dungeon, and they will be shut up in prison, and after many days (the thousand years of Saint John), they will receive their sentence.”

Realm of Saints

Once the anti-theocratic powers have been destroyed and the devil chained and imprisoned, the kingdom of Christ and of the Saints will follow. This kingdom is predicted by the prophet Daniel in the seventh chapter of his prophecy, in which, after describing those four beasts that symbolize four empires, after describing the ten horns that come from the fourth beast, which are ten kings and the eleventh horn (the Antichrist) who will speak words against the Most High and will break the saints of the Most High and will think that he can change the times and the laws and they will be delivered in his hand until time, and times and half a time (that is, three and a half years) adds that the judge will sit and his lordship will be taken from him so that it will be ruined and destroyed to the end and so that the kingdom and the lordship and the majesty of kingdoms under all heaven be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve and obey him (the people of the saints).

In this text it is clearly predicted that the destruction of the Antichrist and of the other anti-theocratic powers will be followed not only by a triumph, but also by a kingdom of Christ and of the saints, a kingdom, which will be on earth or under heaven, as Daniel says. , a kingdom in which power will belong to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose people all kings will serve and obey.

It is, therefore, very probable that, immediately after the death of the Antichrist, the world will not end, but the Holy Church will still follow, the Kingdom of the Saints that will exercise sovereignty over the whole earth. And in this sense, Daniel's text is interpreted by the best and most renowned interpreters, Maldonado, Mariana, Menoquio Tírini, Gaspar Sánchez, Cornelio a Lapide and Kabenbauer. See, for example, what Cornelius says to Lapide: “Then, when the kingdom of Antichrist is destroyed, the Church will reign over all the earth and from the Jews and from the Gentiles there will be one single fold with one single shepherd.” [one]

Universal Resurrection and Final Judgment

Then will follow the uprising or rebellion of Gog and Magog against the city of the saints, which is probably, as we shall see, different from the persecution of the Antichrist. Then, later, the fire of the conflagration, with which the heavens and the elements will be set on fire and scorched, as the apostle Saint Peter says in his second letter (3, 7-12). And, finally, everything will end with the last resurrection and the final judgment.

This resurrection and judgment was described by Christ to his disciples, as referred to in the Gospel of Saint Matthew (25, 31-46): “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on the throne of his glory. And all nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats: and he will put the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those who will be at his right hand: Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world; because I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink. And the righteous will answer him saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry and gave you food, thirsty and gave you drink? And answering the king will say to them: In truth I say to you, that as many times you did it with one of my smallest brothers, you did it with me. Then the king will say to those on his left: Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and for his angels, because I was hungry and you did not give me food, I was thirsty and you did not give me food. to drink." And they will also ask him the same question as the good ones and he will give them the same answer: “Truly I tell you, how many times you did not do it with one of these little ones, you did not do it with me either. And these will go to eternal torment, and the righteous to eternal life.”

Contained, then, in this description, is the court of the judge, the congregation of the people, the separation of the good and the bad, the examination of the cause, the sentence of the judge and its effects, eternal life and eternal torture. Plus the examination of the cause, which is limited and circumscribed to the works of mercy.

Another description of the final judgment we find in the Apocalypse (20, 11-15): “And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose presence the earth and the sky fled, and the place was not found. from them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before God, and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged by the things that were written in the books, according to his work. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and hell gave the dead that were in them; and judgment was made of each one according to his works. And hell and death were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death and whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

And Saint Paul (1 Cor. 15, 24-28) also says that Christ will reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet, and death will be destroyed last of all: after this Christ will hand over his kingdom to the Father and then God will be all in all.

Finally, as the culmination and complement of everything, the new heavens and the new earth that Saint Peter speaks of (2 Pet. 3, 13), in which justice dwells, the new heavens and earth, that Saint John saw in the Apocalypse and the new city of Jerusalem, which there describes, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride ataviada for her husband, the tabernacle of God with men, and will dwell with them; and they will be her people, and the same God with them will be her God (Rev. 21, 1-27).

Duration of the Kingdom of the Saints

We have seen that, according to the prediction of Daniel (7, 26-27), immediately after the death of the Antichrist the world will not end, but the Church will follow, composed of Jews and Gentiles and spread throughout the earth, and the Saints will exercise power and sovereignty and all the kings of the world will serve and obey them. This interpretation of the text of Daniel is not universally recognized, but it is the most common and authoritative and most in accordance with the words of the prophet.

But how long is this kingdom of the saints to last on earth? This is already the subject of discussion; Nothing can be extracted from the Danielic text, because although Daniel says that his kingdom will be everlasting, it is because he presents us with this kingdom of the saints on earth continuing with that of heaven, the kingdom of the saints before the final judgment, continuing with that of after the trial. But now we speak only of the kingdom of the saints on earth, of the kingdom of the saints prior to the Final Judgment: and this, of course, will not be eternal. But how long will it last?

Some interpreters, even those who admit the kingdom of the saints on earth, say like Tirini, Lapide and others that this kingdom will last a short time; others do not speak of its duration; others suppose or affirm that it will last a long time; and the latter seems more consistent with the mind of Daniel, since he presents us with a kingdom on earth, under heaven, and contrasts it with the other four anti-theocratic kingdoms represented by the four beasts, which are, according to the common interpretation of the Holy Fathers and good interpreters, the Babylonian kingdom or empire, the Medo-Persian, the Greek and the Roman.

But, finally, Daniel tells us nothing about the duration of this kingdom of the saints on earth. And, therefore, from Daniel's words we cannot draw how long it will last, if short, if long. If, then, there is another text in Sacred Scripture that determines for us in some way the duration of the reign of the saints, we will know it, if not, we will not know it.

At this point the millenarians, basing themselves on the Apocalypse (20, 1-9), admitted after the death of the Antichrist a kingdom of Christ and the Saints on earth that was to last a thousand years. But the millenarians were of two kinds. The heretical and Judaizing millenarianism, whose founder was Cerinthus, of those who admitted an earthly kingdom of Christ with material and sensual pleasures and delights, or also a Judaizing kingdom in which circumcision and the sacrifices, rites and ceremonies of the law would be restored mosaic.

The other millenarianism admitted a spiritual kingdom of Christ and the saints on earth that was to last a thousand years. This other millenarianism, although not universally admitted, was nevertheless very widespread in the first centuries of the Church. And so, millenarians were Saint Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis; Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, Adv. Haer. (ch.32-36); Saint Justin Martyr, Dialog. cum Tryph. (n. 80), who says that many Christians, although not all, are of the same mind; the Author of the Epistle of Barnabas (t. 15), that of the Didascalia, Tertullian, Adv. Martion (L. 3, c. 24), Saint Victorian, Petavionian bishop and martyr, De Fabrica Mundi; Saint Methodius, Conviv. Decem Virginum (Or. 9, c. 5), and Lactantius, Divinae Institut. (Lib. 7, c. 24), Saint Zeno, Bishop of Verona (Lib. 2, Tract. 6) and others.

It is true that other Holy Fathers do not admit millenarianism and even positively reject and combat it, but, in general, they attack and combat earthly and carnal or Judaizing millenarianism, but not that of Irenaeus and Papias. And so Saint Augustine (De Civitate Dei, lib. 20, c. 7), says: “This opinion (that of the millenarians) would be tolerable if they judged that the saints on that Saturday were to enjoy spiritual delights by the presence of the Mr. Well, we too were once of this opinion; but since they say that those who are resurrected will give themselves over to carnal pleasures without any moderation, this can only be believed by the carnal.” From where it is seen that Saint Augustine rejects carnal millenarianism.

Likewise Saint Jerome, a staunch opponent of Judaizing millenarianism, says of the other millenarianism, in his Comm. in Jer. (c. 19): "And even if we do not follow this opinion, yet we cannot condemn it, because many ecclesiastical men and martyrs said these things." Two things are also worth noting. The first is that the Holy Church has never positively disapproved of the millenarianism of the Holy Fathers and martyrs of which Saint Jerome speaks. The second is that the oldest millenarians, such as Saint Papias and Saint Irenaeus, transmit this doctrine of the millennial kingdom not as the result of their scriptural interpretations, but as teachings received from the Apostles and from the apostolic men.

Still, you can't deny that in the millenarian doctrine other errors were often mixed and involved, which led to the condemnation of books by millenarian authors. Therefore, leaving aside everything else, we will deal only with this question: Can or should a kingdom of a thousand years be admitted between the Antichrist and the final judgment, as described by Saint John at the beginning of chapter 20 of the Apocalypse? Or, in other words: The kingdom of Christ and of the saints, a kingdom of a thousand years, described by Saint John in the Apocalypse (20, 1-7), must it be subsequent to the death of the Antichrist? The most likely answer seems to be yes, whether you look at the extrinsic reasons or clues, or whether you look at the intrinsic arguments.

We see, in fact, that the oldest millenarians are Saint Papias and Saint Irenaeus, who appeal, as we said, to the apostolic teachings. Now, Saint Irenaeus is a disciple of Saint Polycarp, and Saint Polycarp and Saint Papias are disciples of Saint John the Evangelist, the author of the Apocalypse. Is it not, then, the most natural thing that in the Apocalypse the same doctrine taught by Saint Papias and Saint Irenaeus is found?

In addition, it is known that many millenarians were based on this text of the Apocalypse and, on the contrary, Eusebius of Caesarea, to reject millenarianism, questioned the inspiration of the Apocalypse and denied that it was written by Saint John the Evangelist. To this can be added the comparison of the text of the Apocalypse with that of Daniel already quoted (Dn. 7, 25-28). In both texts the destruction of the Antichrist is described (Dn. 7, 25-26; Rev. 19, 19-21). In both, a kingdom of the saints is predicted (Dn. 7, 27; Rev. 20, 4).

The kingdom of the saints in Daniel is subsequent to the death of the Antichrist; it is therefore natural that the kingdom of the saints described in the Apocalypse (20, 4-6) is also subsequent to the death of the Antichrist. But let us now come to the intrinsic reasons and arguments and examine the text itself and the mind of Saint John. Two main things the text in question says:

1st) The chaining and imprisonment of the devil. The Angel saw that he bound the devil for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss and closed and sealed over him so that he no longer deceives the people until the thousand years are over; then they will untie it for a little while.

2nd) The resurrection and the kingdom of the saints with Christ. He saw the souls of those slain for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God and those who did not worship the beast or his image, nor received his mark on their foreheads and on their hands and lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. .

All this can be understood in two ways:

1º) Some say: All this has already been fulfilled. The devil was imprisoned and chained with the Incarnation or, better, with the Passion of Christ, because then he was defeated and can only harm those who come close to him. The first resurrection that Saint John speaks of here is the entry into heaven of the souls that enjoy the beatific vision and reign with Christ and are revered and venerated on earth.

2º) Others, on the contrary, say that none of this has been fulfilled: everything has to be fulfilled after the destruction of the Antichrist. Because the devil, although with the Passion of Christ he was defeated, it does not seem that he is bound and locked up in the abyss, as Saint John paints him here; Before, other texts of the Scripture present him very loosely. Thus, Saint Paul says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers, against the lords of the world, of this darkness, against the spiritual malice in the air -that is, against the demons- (Eph. 6, 12); and Saint Peter paints the devil as a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Pet. 5, 8). So the Princes of the Apostles do not describe the devil locked up and imprisoned in hell.

Nor does it seem that what St. John calls the first resurrection is to be understood from the glorious life of souls; because the word resurrection, anastasis, is usually said of bodies and is not usually applied to souls, much less to their entry into glory. It could be said that the soul resurrects or rises from sin to the life of grace (Eph. 5, 14); but it seems violent to say that the soul is resurrected at the beginning of its life of glory, since only what has died is resurrected.

Besides this, Saint John clearly says that he saw those who did not worship the beast, nor his image, nor receive his sign, and that these lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years; but these who did not worship the beast, nor his image are contemporaries of the Antichrist who had his image worshiped, as it is said in Rev. 13, 14; then, if these reigned a thousand years, these thousand years must begin to be counted after the destruction of the Antichrist.

Let us finally consider the mind of Saint John: how Saint John understood this text. As for the devil, he distinguishes three periods:

1º) A first period in which the devil is in the sky or in the air fighting with Saint Michael until he is knocked down on the ground, as described in Rev. 12, 3.

2º) A second period in which the devil is on earth, a period that begins what seems to be shortly before the appearance of the Antichrist (Rev. 12, 13-18), and that lasts the entire time of the persecution of the Antichrist ( Rev. 13, 4; 16, 13).

3rd) Finally, a third period in which the devil is locked up in the abyss; which does not seem to be possible until after the destruction of the Antichrist.

And as for the kingdom of the saints, what does Saint John think? He expressly says that they are to reign on earth (Rev. 5, 10). But does he understand that they already reign over the earth? Compare Rev. 6, 9-11 with Rev. 20, 4-6, and the description he makes of the souls of the martyrs in both texts. In the first of them (6, 9-11) the souls of the martyrs appear under the altar, crying out to the Lord with loud voices and saying: "How long, Lord, do you not judge and do not avenge our blood from those who live in the earth?" And they were given white stoles and told to wait a little while, until the number of martyrs is completed.

And who will say that, according to the mind of Saint John, the souls that are here crying out to the Lord and asking for judgment and vengeance of those who live on earth, and waiting for the number of martyrs to be completed, already reign over the land? If they already reign, what do they ask then? Why do they cry? What are you waiting for? It will be said that they ask for the resurrection of their bodies. This could be said, but Saint John does not say this, rather they ask for judgment and revenge.

How different is the picture presented to us by chapter 20, 4-6. Here they no longer ask or cry; here the martyrs have risen and reign with Christ; here they are priests of God and of Christ and they reign with Him for a thousand years. They are priests and the priest is not a soul, he is a man, as Saint Paul says (Heb. 8, 3).

Thus, St. John clearly distinguishes two different periods, one before the Antichrist, before the number of martyrs is complete, in which the souls of the martyrs cry out, ask, await judgment and revenge (Rev. 6, 9-11 ); and another period, after the destruction of the Antichrist, in which they are judged and the martyrs, already resurrected, are priests of God and of Christ and reign with him for a thousand years (Rev. 20, 4-6).

To this is added that the persecution of the Antichrist is very different from that of Gog and Magog, nor can they be confused in any way. Because that of the Antichrist is a persecution in which the Antichrist, who is king, makes war on the saints and defeats and violates them (Rev. 13, 7 and Dn. 7, 25), but that of Gog and Magog is not a persecution, is a war and rebellion, in which the armies of Gog and Magog surround the camp of the Saints and the beloved city; but they do not enter it, because fire comes down from heaven, from God, which burns and consumes them.

So, all things considered, it seems more likely that the thousand-year reign predicted by St. John in his Apocalypse is to come after the destruction of the Antichrist. This admitted, many dark points of the Apocalypse become clear; otherwise, this book becomes a fabric of inexplicable inconsistencies. And not only the Apocalypse, but many other biblical texts are clarified with this explanation.

Affectingly admitted this kingdom, it is explained why the Prophets frequently, after describing the judgment, speak of the kingdom of the Lord. It explains, for example, why Zechariah (ch. 14), after having described the people who gather to fight against Jerusalem and the Lord who comes down to the aid of Jerusalem to fight against them (who, as we have seen, is Christ who comes to defeat and defeat the Antichrist), after telling us about that day that is known to God (Zech. 14, 7 and Mt. 24, 36), and that is neither day nor night, then continues in v. 9: “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day the Lord shall be one, and his name shall be one,” and then describes the situation and security of Jerusalem.

This explains why Joel (c. 3), after having described the judgment of God against the people, this is against the Antichrist and his kings, after describing the next signs of the Parousia, the sun and the moon that darken and the stars that deny their light, then, in the following verses, he paints the holiness of Jerusalem and its prosperity: “And the Lord shall roar out of Zion, and shall utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be shaken, but The Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord your God who dwells in Zion, the mount of my holiness: and Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more” (Jl. 3, 15-18). And so other examples could be brought.

It could, yes, object to everything said that the kingdom that Daniel predicts after the Antichrist (Dan. 7, 27) cannot be the one that Saint John predicts (Ap. 20, 4), because Daniel's is perpetual; but that of the Apocalypse has to last a defined time of a thousand years (or else an exact number or a round number has to be seen in it).

But Actually, there is no opposition between the two texts. Because the kingdom of the saints that Daniel describes is perpetual, as we said, because it lasts on earth until the end of the world and because it continues afterwards in heaven eternally. And in this sense, the kingdom of the saints that Saint John paints in his Apocalypse is also perpetual. But this one says that the kingdom will last a thousand years; because in reality, during this time, the devil will be imprisoned and chained and the saints will reign peacefully and universally throughout the earth.

Later, the seduction of the people and the uprising of Gog and Magog will come, during which the saints will conserve their power and sovereignty, since they will not be defeated; but his kingdom will then no longer be peaceful or universal as before; until, punished with fire from heaven the rebellious troops of Gog and Magog, the kingdom of the saints will be restored in its primitive splendor until the end of the world or until the time that God knows.

Since the end of the world will not immediately follow the rebellion of Gog and Magog, since, after it, says Ezekiel, the Israelites will spend seven years without spending any other firewood than the weapons of the armies of Gog and Magog . How much time there is then to elapse between this rebellion and the end of time, is something that only God knows.

[1] “And the kingdom and the empire and the greatness of the kingdoms under the heavens will all be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. The eternal kingdom is his kingdom, and all empires will serve and obey him” (Dan. 7, 27). Cornelius a Lapide comments: “I say that it is certain that this reign of Christ and of the saints will come, and that it will not be only spiritual like the one that has always had on earth, when they suffered persecution and martyrdom, but it will be corporal and glorious, for they will reign gloriously with Christ forever. However, Christ and the saints will begin this kingdom on earth, after the death of the Antichrist. Then, destroyed the kingdom of the Antichrist, the Church will reign in all the earth and the Jews and the Gentiles will become a single fold with a single shepherd, since it does not say "above" but "under heaven" , that is to say all the earth, all the space that is under the sky. Then, a little later, this kingdom will be confirmed and glorified for all eternity.” (Commentaria In Danielem Prophetam 7, 27)- Munich Digitization Center (MDZ) - Homepage: « Dico ergo, certum est hoc regnum fore Christi et Sanctorum: illudque non tantum spirituale, quale fuet in terra, cum ipsi persecutionibus, martyriis et morti obnoxii: sed etiam corporale ac gloriosum, quo scilicet Sancti et corpore et anima beati, cum Christo in coelis gloriose regnabunt in saecula saeculorum. Porro hoc regnum inchoabunt Christus et sancti in terra, mox post necem Antichristi; tunc enim Antichristi regno everso, Ecclesia ubique terrarum regnabit, et fiet tam ex Judaeis quam ex Gentibus unum ovile, et unus pastor: et hoc innuitur hic, cum ait, non ''quae est super'', sed ''quae est subter omne caelum'', id est in omni terra, sive in omni plague caelo subjecta. Deinde paulo post hoc regnum confirmabitur et glorificabitur in coelis per omnem aeternitatem. »

The Original Spanish Article: La Parusía - Padre Juan Rovira S. J

Enciclopedia Espasa-Calpe, Artículo “Parusía”, tomado de: P. JUAN ROVIRA S.J.: PARUSÍA - Texto publicado en 2018 por la editorial Vórtice en el libro “El que vuelve”: vorticelibros.com.ar/libro.php?id=156 - Este texto fue revisado, corregido, editado y publicado por Miles Christi el 25/10/2020.