Christianity teaches broadly that Christ, the Messiah, has already come to offer salvation, and he will come again to judge the world. In Islam the Last Judgment is a cardinal doctrine. While it is sometimes understood as a spiritual judgment of the individual soul after death, many passages in the Qur'an clearly describe it as a world-transforming event to occur at the end of time, when the earth will be destroyed and all people will see their just reward as they are sorted into groups bound either for Paradise or hell. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism contain teachings that the world is going through a cosmic cycle in which morals and religion have gradually decayed and have reached a state of dire corruption in this present age, identified as the Kali Yuga or Age of Degeneration of the Dharma. This Kali age will give way to a renovation of faith as the cycle turns and the earth enters a new golden age, the Krita age.
Millenarian beliefs are a minor part of the teaching of most religions.
Yet they blossom from time to time in sectarian movements, and they sometimes produce religious or political innovation. A number of bloody political revolts, from the Bar Kochba rebellion in Israel against Roman rule to the T'ai Ping rebellion in China against British rule, were fueled by messianic fervor. Millenarian movements among the oppressed indigenous peoples of Africa and the Americas have been significant forces which have fostered self-respect and encouraged economic and political independence.