This is the sum of what he tells us on the subject of Antichrist; and he declares that when he has reigned, sitting in the temple of Jerusalem, for three years and a half, then the Lord will come to judgment, and to introduce the times of the kingdom of heaven, and the true Sabbath, in which many shall come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob(518).
It is foreign to my purpose to enter into the probability or improbability of these interpretations: but two things strike me as remarkable: first, the decided identification of the ten horns of _the beast_ with the Roman Empire in a state of division; and secondly, the admission of the mystical meaning of _days_ in the prophecy of Daniel (viii. 27) as signifying _years_, coupled with the literal interpretation of time in other passages; as, for instance, Dan. vii. 25, and Rev. xiii. 5.
When the short reign of Antichrist ceases, the undisputed reign of Christ (according to Irenæus) will begin, and will continue a thousand years. For as the days of creation were six, and the day of rest one; as moreover one day is with the Lord a thousand years; this world is destined to endure six thousand years in this state of turmoil and perplexity(519), and then will succeed a thousand of rest and enjoyment(520). When that time arrives, the world will be restored to its pristine state; the very animals will all associate together in peace; the just will rise with their bodies, and upon this very earth, upon which they suffered, will receive the reward of their endurance(521). Then shall Abraham receive, fully and literally, the promise made to him and to his seed, i. e. the Church, and shall really enjoy his inheritance from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates(522). Then shall Jesus drink the fruit of the vine new with his disciples(523); for there shall be no more labour, but there shall be a continual table prepared by a creative hand, by the incredible productiveness of the fruits of the earth(524). Then shall the righteous hold intercourse and communion with Angels(525) in Jerusalem, which shall be then rebuilt(526).
This state of things he believed, as I have said, would last a thousand years; and he adopted this view, not for want of knowing that there was an allegorical interpretation, but because he thought it forced and unnatural, and labouring under irremediable difficulties(527).