Lactantius, Divine Institutes 7.26
We mentioned a short while ago that at the outset of the holy kingdom the prince of demons would be conquered by God. Yet once the thousand years of that kingdom — in other words, seven thousand years — begin to draw to a close, he will be released once more, let loose from custody, and will go out to incite all the nations then living under the rule of the just, so that they wage war against the holy city. An innumerable multitude of peoples will be gathered from the whole earth; they will besiege and encircle the city. Then the final wrath of God will fall upon the nations, and He will war against them until not a single one remains. First He will shake the earth with utmost violence; at its convulsion the mountains of Syria will split apart, valleys will plunge abruptly downward, and the walls of every city will collapse. God will then command the sun to stand still for three days so that it does not set, and He will set it ablaze. An overwhelming heat and a great scorching will descend upon the perverse and impious peoples: showers of sulfur, hailstones, and drops of fire. Their spirits will melt in the heat, their bodies will be crushed by the hail, and they will turn their swords against one another. Mountains will be filled with corpses, fields covered with bones. Meanwhile, for those three days the people of God will be hidden in the hollows of the earth until God's wrath against the nations and the final judgment have run their course. Then the just will emerge from their hiding places to find everything blanketed with corpses and bones. The entire race of the impious will perish root and branch, and no nation will remain in this world except the one nation of God.
For seven years thereafter the forests will stand untouched; no tree will be felled on the mountains. Instead, the weapons of the nations will be burned, and war will be no more — only everlasting peace and rest. When the thousand years are completed, God will renew the world: the heavens will be rolled up, the earth transformed. God will refashion human beings into the likeness of angels; they will be white as snow and will live forever in the presence of the Almighty, offering sacrifice and service to their Lord for all eternity. At that same moment the second, public resurrection of all will take place, and the unjust will be raised for everlasting torment. These are the ones who worshiped things made by hand, who either did not know or denied the Lord of the world and Father. Their own lord, together with his ministers, will be seized for punishment and condemned; along with him the whole throng of the impious will be burned in eternal fire before the angels and the just, each for their own deeds.
This is the teaching of the holy prophets, which Christians follow; this is our wisdom. Those who worship fragile things or defend empty philosophy mock it as foolishness and vanity, because we are not accustomed to defend and proclaim it publicly. God commands that we keep His mystery in silence and hidden within our own conscience, and not engage in stubborn contention with those profane people who attack God and His religion not to learn but to argue and scoff. The mystery must be hidden and concealed most faithfully, especially by us who bear the name of faith. Yet they criticize our silence as if it were a guilty conscience, and from that they invent execrable accusations against chaste and innocent people, readily believing their own fabrications.
Latin
Diximus paulo ante in principio regni sancti fore ut a deo princeps daemonum uinciatur. sed idem, cum mille anni regni hoc est septem milia coeperint terminari, soluetur denuo et custodia emissus exibit atque omnes gentes quae tunc erunt sub dicione iustorum concitabit, ut inferant bellum sanctae ciuitati. et colligetur ex omni orbe terrae innumerabilis populus nationum et obsidebit et circumdabit ciuitatem. tum ueniet nouissima ira dei super gentes, et debellabit eas usque ad unum. ac primum concutiet terram quam ualidissime et a motu eius scindentur montes Syriae et subsident ualles in abruptum et muri omnium ciuitatum concident. et statuet deus solem triduo ne occidat et inflammabit eum, et descendet aestus nimius et adustio magna super perduelles et impios populos et imbres sulphuris et grandines lapidum et guttae ignis, et liquescent spiritus eorum in calore et corpora conterentur in grandine et ipsi se inuicem gladio ferient: et replebuntur montes cadaueribus et campi operientur ossibus. populus autem dei tribus illis diebus sub concauis terrae occultabitur, donec ira dei aduersus gentes et extremum indicium terminetur. tunc exibunt iusti de latebus suis et inuenient omnia cadaueribus atque ossibus tecta. sed et genus omne impiorum radicitus interibit nec erit in hoc mundo ulla iam natio amplius praeter solam gentem dei. tum per annos septem perpetes intactae erunt siluae nec excidetur de montibus lignum, sed arma gentium comburentur, et iam non erit bellum, sed pax ac requies sempiterna. cum uero conpleti fuerint mille anni, renouabitur mundus a deo et caelum conplicabitur et terra mutabitur. et transformabit deus homines in similitudinem angelorum et erunt candidi sicut nix et uersabuntur semper in conspectu omnipotentis et domino suo sacrificabunt et seruient in aeternum. eodem tempore fiet secunda illa et publica omnium resurrectio, in qua excitabuntur iniusti ad cruciatus sempiternos. hi sunt qui manu facta coluerunt, qui dominum mundi ac parentem uel nescierunt uel abnegauerunt. sed et dominus illorum cum ministris suis conprehendetur ad poenamque damnabitur, cum quo pariter omnis turba impiorum pro suis facinoribus in conspectu angelorum atque iustorum perpetuo igni cremabitur in aeternum. haec est doctrina sanctorum prophetarum, quam Christiani sequimur, haec nostra sapientia, quam isti qui uel fragilia colunt uel inanem philosophiam tuentur, tamquam stultitiam uanitatemque derident, quia nos defendere hanc publice atque adserere non solemus, deo iubente ut quieti ac silentes arcanum eius in abdito atque intra nostram conscientiam teneamus nec aduersus istos ueri profanos, qui non discendi, sed arguendi atque inludendi gratia inclementer deum ac religionem eius inpugnant, pertinaci contentione certemus. abscondi enim tegique mysterium quam fidelissime oportet, maxime a nobis, qui nomen fidei gerimus. uerum illi hanc taciturnitatem nostram ueluti malam conscientiam criminantur: unde etiam quasdam exsecrabiles opiniones de pudicis et innocentibus fingunt et libenter iis quae finxerint credunt.