Zoroastrian Final Renovation Of The Universe
The Zoroastrian 'Final Renovation' is the oldest end times story found in recorded history. A fully developed concept of the end of the world was established in the teachings of Zoroastrianism by 500 BCE.
According to the Zoroastrian cosmology, the world will last 12,000 years. Within this time frame, they believe that there will be four distinct epochs. At the end of these four epochs, the 'Final Renovation' of the universe will take place, evil will be destroyed, and everything else will be then in perfect unity with God. This is known as 'Frashokereti', meaning 'making wonderful', or 'making excellent'.
In the first epoch, good and evil are separated. In the beginning, creation was initially perfectly good.
In the second epoch, the good world was invaded by the evil.
In the third epoch, the fight between the two forces, of good and evil, intensifies.
In the final, the fourth epoch, evil is defeated and goodness prevails. After this epoch, the world will ultimately be restored to the perfection it had at the time of creation.
The final period is thought to have started with the birth of Zoroaster and still continues. In this last 3000 years Zoroastrians expect three saviours to come at 1000-year intervals. The first one is called Aushedar, ‘the developer of righteousness’. The second saviour is called Aushedar-mah, and goodness will continue to increase. The last saviour, Soshyant, will eventually defeat all the forces of evil. There will be a great battle between the forces of good and evil. The end of which, good will ultimately triumph. This will be the end of the fourth, and final, epoch.
At the end of this final battle between good and evil, a final judgment of all souls will occur. Before the 'Final Renovation', everyone on earth will have an opportunity to know God, and to purify themselves.
In Zoroastrianism, salvation for the individual is dependent upon the summation of the thoughts, words and deeds of the individual. There is no intervention by any divine being to alter this final judgement of the person. Every individual bears the responsibility for the fate of his own soul. And, as a member of Humanity, also shares in the responsibility for the fate of the world.
On earth, there will be a resurrection of the dead in the bodies they had before they died. This is followed by a last judgment through ordeal. The metal will melt in the mountains. The molten metal will flow across the earth like a river. All mankind, both the living and the resurrected dead, will be required to wade through that river. For the righteous it will seem to be a river of warm milk, while the wicked will be burned. The river will then flow down to hell, where it will annihilate evil in the universe.
The world will reach perfection, as all evil will disappear from the earth. Poverty, old age, disease, thirst, hunger, and death will disappear from the earth for good. Zoroastrianism teaches that bliss will be everywhere, and not just in a remote kingdom of paradise.
The righteous will have immortality placed upon them. Humankind will become like spiritual beings, living without food, without hunger, thirst, and without weapons or possibility of bodily injury. The material substance of the bodies will be so light as to cast no shadow. All humanity will speak a single language and belong to a single nation without borders. All will share a single purpose and goal, joining with the divine for a perpetual exaltation of God's glory.