Christian Eschatology

The word "eschatology" is the study of the end of things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, or the end of the world. Some Christians believe that toward the end of times, the global population will convert to Christianity as a result of evangelization. Jesus will appear at the end of the Millennium to lead his people into the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem.

Biblical scripture and other writings in the Jewish and Christian religions, such as Protestantism, Orthodox Christianity, and Orthodox Judaism, expect the literal renewal of Jerusalem to take place at the Temple Mount (the site of Al-Aqsa) in accordance with various Judeo-Christian prophecies. Dispensationalists believe in a certain chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways. As for Jerusalem, Dispensationalists (a Protestant evangelical tradition) believe that God has yet to fulfill His promises related to the nation of Israel, which amongst others includes a future where Jesus, upon His return, will rule the world from Jerusalem for a thousand years. Dispensationalists also believe in a literal New Jerusalem that will come down out of Heaven, which will be an entirely new city of incredible dimensions.

Other Christian sects, such as various Protestant denominations, Mormonism, modernist branches of Christianity and Reform Judaism, believe that such a renewal may already have taken place, or that it will take place at some other location besides the Temple Mount.

The King James Version of the Bible paints the physical description of the New Jerusalem as a city of magnificence and enormity as follows: 

“And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Revelation 21:10-14 

“And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.” Revelation 21:15-17 

 “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.” Revelation 21:18-20

Christians also believe that in the New Jerusalem, physical and spiritual life will be illuminated by the presence of the God and thus there won’t be any need for the sun, the moon, or the building of a temple. The King James Version of the Bible states: 

 “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” Revelation 21:22-23