The End of This Era

A man among us named John, one of Christ’s Apostles, received and foretold that the followers of Christ would dwell in Jerusalem for a thousand years, and that afterwards the universal and, in short, everlasting resurrection and judgment would take place. —St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Ch. 81, The Fathers of the Church, Christian Heritage

…the prince of devils, who is the contriver of all evils, shall be bound with chains, and shall be imprisoned during the thousand years of the heavenly rule… —4th century Ecclesiastical writer, Lactantius, “The Divine Institutes”, The ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 7, p. 211

THE END OF AN ANTICHRIST
Before Satan is chained, Revelation tells us that the devil had given his power to a "beast."The Church Fathers agree that this is the one whom Tradition calls the "Antichrist" or "lawless one" or "son of perdition." St. Paul tells us that,

…the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and render powerless by the manifestation of his coming the one whose coming springs from the power of Satan in every mighty deed and in signs and wonders that lie, and in every wicked deceit… (2 Thess 2:8-10)

This Scripture is often interpreted as the return of Jesus in glory at the end of time, but…
This interpretation is incorrect. St. Thomas [Aquinas] and St. John Chrysostom explain the words quem Dominus Jesus destruet illustratione adventus sui ("Whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the brightness of His coming") in the sense that Christ will strike the Antichrist by dazzling him with a brightness that will be like an omen and sign of His Second Coming. —Fr. Charles Arminjon, The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life, p.56; Sophia Institute Press

St. Paul does not at all say that Christ will kill [Antichrist] with His own hands, but by His breath, spiritu oris sui ("with the spirit of His mouth") —that is, as St. Thomas explains, by virtue of His power, as a result of His command; whether, as some believe, executing it through the cooperation of St. Michael the Archangel, or having some other agent, visible or invisible, spiritual or inanimate, intervene. —Fr. Charles Arminjon, The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life, p.56; Sophia Institute Press

I am prolonging the time of mercy for the sake of [sinners]. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation… before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy… I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice…. —Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul, n. 1160, 83, 1146

Since God, having finished His works, rested on the seventh day and blessed it, at the end of the six thousandth year all wickedness must be abolished from the earth, and righteousness reign for a thousand years… —Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (250-317 A.D.; Ecclesiastical writer), The Divine Institutes, Vol 7

God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions, and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles… All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. —Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837), Catholic Prophecy

Clouds with lightning rays of fire and a tempest of fire will pass over the whole world and the punishment will be the most terrible ever known in the history of mankind. It will last 70 hours. The wicked will be crushed and eliminated. Many will be lost because they have stubbornly remained in their sins. Then they will feel the force of light over darkness. The hours of darkness are near. —Sr. Elena Aiello (Calabrian stigmatist nun; d. 1961); The Three Days of Darkness, Albert J. Herbert, p. 26

Before the triumph of the Church comes God will first take vengeance on the wicked, especially against the godless. It will be a new judgement, the like has never been before and it will be universal… This judgement will come suddenly and be of short duration. Then comes the triumph of the holy Church and the reign of brotherly love. Happy, indeed, they who live to see those blessed days. — Venerable P. Bernardo María Clausi (d. 1849)

THE SABBATH REST BEGINS
It must be said that God’s justice does not only chastise the wicked but also rewards the good. Those who survive the Great Purification will live to see not only an era of peace and love, but a renewal of the face of the earth during that "seventh day":

…when His Son will come and destroy the time of the lawless one and judge the godless, and change the sun and the moon and the stars—then He shall indeed rest on the seventh day… after giving rest to all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day, that is, the beginning of another world. —Letter of Barnabas (70-79 A.D.), (written by a second century Apostolic Father) then the Lord will come from Heaven in the clouds… sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day… These are to take place in the times of the kingdom, that is, upon the seventh day… the true Sabbath of the righteous. —St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Church Father (140–202 A.D.); Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus of Lyons, V.33.3.4, The Fathers of the Church, CIMA Publishing Co.

It will be as a precursor and type of the new heavens and new earth that will be ushered in at the very end of time.