The End of This Age

Photobucket WE are approaching, not the end of the world, but the end of this age. How, then, will this present era end?

Many of the popes have written in prayerful anticipation of a coming age when the Church will establish her spiritual reign to the ends of the earth. But it is clear from Scripture, the early Church Fathers, and the revelations given to St. Faustina and other holy mystics, that the world must first be purified of all wickedness, beginning with Satan himself.

THE END OF SATAN’S REIGN

Then I saw the heavens opened, and there was a white horse; its rider was called "Faithful and True"… Out of his mouth came a sharp sword to strike the nations… Then I saw an angel come down from heaven… He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the Devil or Satan, and tied it up for a thousand years… (Rev 19:11, 15; 20:1-2)

It is this "thousand year" period which the early Church Fathers called a "sabbath rest" for the people of God, a temporal time of peace and justice throughout the entire earth.

A man among us named John, one of Christ’s Apostles, received and foretold that the followers of Christ would dwell in Jerusalem for a thousand years, and that afterwards the universal and, in short, everlasting resurrection and judgment would take place. —St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Ch. 81, The Fathers of the Church, Christian Heritage

But in order for there to be true peace on earth, among other things, the adversary of the Church, Satan, must be chained.

…so that he could no longer lead the nations astray until the thousand years are completed. (Rev 20:3)
…the prince of devils, who is the contriver of all evils, shall be bound with chains, and shall be imprisoned during the thousand years of the heavenly rule… —4th century Ecclesiastical writer, Lactantius, “The Divine Institutes”, The ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 7, p. 211

Continue reading here.

The way I understand it (YMMV), Satan will be bound 1000 years. During this time, people will be born who will STILL have a choice to follow Christ or not. After the 1000 years, Satan will be released for a VERY short time to gather all those from the 1000-year reign of Christ who DO NOT want to follow God.

At that time, God sends fire from Heaven to consume Satan’s army, Satan himself is judged, and then he’s thrown into the Lake of Fire where the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet have already been for the previous 1000 years. (Rev. 20:7-10, if you want to look it up)
The old heaven and old Earth are destroyed, God creates a new Heaven and a new Earth, and we who follow Christ live for an eternity with Him in joy and peace.

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