Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 5.35

If some attempt to allegorize these matters, they will not be found consistent with themselves in every respect, for the very words themselves will convict them. When the cities of the nations are deserted, when houses stand empty because no one lives in them, and the earth is left desolate, Isaiah declares: "Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it" (Isaiah 13:9). He says again: "Let him be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord" (Isaiah 13:19), and when these things have come to pass, God will prolong the days of men, and the deserted ones will multiply on the earth. They will build houses and inhabit them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. These words speak plainly of the resurrection of the just, which takes place after the coming of the Antichrist and the destruction of all the nations that exist under his rule. In that time the just will reign on the earth, growing through the vision of the Lord and becoming accustomed through him to receive the glory of God and the unity of spiritual things in the kingdom. Those whom Christ finds on the earth, waiting for him from heaven and having endured tribulation, who also escaped the hands of the wicked — these are the ones of whom the prophet says, "And the deserted ones will be multiplied on the earth." As many believers as God has prepared for this, to be left on the earth and to serve under the Kingdom of the Saints, ministering to this Jerusalem and the kingdom within it, Jeremiah the prophet foretold, saying: "Look around toward the east, O Jerusalem, and see the joy that comes to you from God himself. Behold, your sons whom you sent away shall come, gathered from the east to the west by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of your God. Put off the garment of your mourning and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from your God. Wrap yourself in the robe of righteousness from your God; place on your head the crown of eternal glory. For God will show your splendor to all under heaven. Your name shall be called by God forever: peace of righteousness and glory to those who worship God. Arise, O Jerusalem, stand on the height; look toward the east and see your children gathered from the rising of the sun to its setting by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them. For they went out on foot, led away by enemies; but God will bring them back to you, carried in glory as upon a royal throne. For God has decreed that every high mountain shall be made low, and the everlasting hills, and the valleys filled up, to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God's command. For God will lead Israel with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him. But these things cannot be understood as belonging to some supercelestial realm; for God says he will show Jerusalem's splendor to all under heaven — yet this happens in the times of the Kingdom, when the earth has been reclaimed by Christ and Jerusalem rebuilt according to the pattern of the Jerusalem above, of which Isaiah says: "Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." The Apostle writes to the Galatians in the same way: "But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother" (Galatians 4:26) — not from the thought of some errant Aeon, nor by any virtue that has emanated from the Pleroma and the Prunicus, but from the Jerusalem that has been depicted in the hands of God. And John saw this Jerusalem descending, new, upon the earth in the Apocalypse. For after the times of the Kingdom, he says: "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them" (Revelation 20:11). He describes the general resurrection and judgment: "The sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:13-15). This is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord said is eternal fire. And after these things John says: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away'" (Revelation 21:1-4). Isaiah says the same: "They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." This is what the Apostle declared: "The form of this world is passing away." So also the Lord says: "Heaven and earth will pass away." When these things therefore pass away on the earth, the Lord's disciple John says there will be a new and higher Jerusalem on the earth, like a bride adorned for her husband; and this is the tabernacle of God, in which God will dwell with men. The image of this Jerusalem is the one that existed on the former earth, in Jerusalem, where the just are prepared for incorruption and made ready for salvation. Moses received the pattern of this tabernacle on the mountain; and nothing can be allegorized — all things are firm and true, possessing substance, made by God for the enjoyment of just men. For just as God is truly the One who raises man, so also he truly rises from the dead, and not allegorically, as we have shown through so many proofs. And just as he truly rises, so also will he truly prepare incorruption, and will increase, and will flourish in the times of the kingdom, that he may become the perfect glory of the Father. Then, when all things have been renewed, he will truly dwell in the city of God. For the One seated on the throne says: "Behold, I make all things new." And the Lord says: "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me: "It is done." And this is according to reason.