Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
This shows that the Law was given for a time — and this is the reason why heaven and earth will pass away. Since, then, the Law began with Moses, it fittingly ceased with John, for Christ had come for its fulfillment; and for this reason the Law and the Prophets prophesied concerning these things until John. So too Jerusalem, beginning with David and fulfilling its own appointed time, had to have an end to its lawgiving, once the new Testament had been made manifest; for God does everything by measure and order, and nothing among him is without measure, since nothing is disordered either. And it was rightly said that the boundless Father finds his measure within the Son — the Son standing as the gauge by which the Father is comprehended, since he alone grasps him fully. Now, since their administration was for a time, Isaiah says: 'The daughter of Zion will be left like a hut in a vineyard, and like a watch-shelter in a cucumber field.' When will these things be abandoned? Is it not when the fruit is taken away, and only the leaves remain, which can no longer bear fruit? And what shall we say of Jerusalem, since even the pattern of the whole world must pass away, when the time of its passing comes, so that the fruit may be gathered into the barn, while the abandoned chaff is burned? For the day of the Lord is like a burning oven, and all sinners who do unrighteousness will be as stubble, and the coming day will burn them up.