The First Apology

Since we prove that everything which has already happened was predicted by the prophets before it occurred, we must also believe that those things which are similarly predicted but have yet to occur will certainly happen. Just as the things that have already taken place happened as foretold, even though unknown, so too will the things that remain, even though they are unknown and disbelieved, come to pass. The prophets have proclaimed two advents of His: the first, which is already past, when He came as a dishonored and suffering Man; and the second, when, according to prophecy, He will come from heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host.

At that time, He will raise the bodies of all people who have lived, clothe those deemed worthy with immortality, and send the wicked, with eternal consciousness, into everlasting fire with the wicked devils. These things have also been foretold as yet to happen, and we will prove this. Ezekiel the prophet said: "Joint will be joined to joint, and bone to bone, and flesh will grow again; and every knee will bow to the Lord, and every tongue will confess Him." Regarding the sensation and punishment the wicked are to experience, hear what was similarly said about this: "Their worm shall not rest, and their fire shall not be quenched;" and then they will repent, when it is of no benefit to them.

What the people of the Jews will say and do when they see Him coming in glory has been predicted by Zechariah the prophet: "I will command the four winds to gather the scattered children; I will command the north wind to bring them, and the south wind, that it keep not back. In Jerusalem there will be great lamentation, not the lamentation of mouths or lips, but the lamentation of the heart; they will rend not their garments, but their hearts.

Tribe by tribe they will mourn, and then they will look on Him whom they have pierced; and they will say, Why, O Lord, have You made us stray from Your way? The glory which our fathers blessed has turned into shame for us."