Premillennialism is the prophetic school which misinterprets and teaches that the kingdom prophesied in the Old Testament will be a literal, political kingdom effected by Christ on earth at His Second Coming. The view is pre-millennial in that Christ returns before and in order to establish the Millennium.
Premillennialism is today largely associated with Dispensationalism rather than the older, more simple form of Historic Premillennialism. Dispensational premillennialism may be summarily summarized in the following points: (1) The Davidic kingdom, an earthly, political kingdom, was offered by Christ in Christ’s first advent in the first century. It was rejected by the Jews and thereby postponed until the future. (2) The Church Age is a wholly unforeseen and distinct era in the plan of God. It was altogether unknown to and unexpected by the Old Testament prophets. It is called a “parenthesis.” (3) God has a separate and distinct program and plan for racial Israel, as distinguished from the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ is a parenthetical aside in the original plan of God. (4) The Church may experience occasional small scale successes in history, but ultimately she will lose influence, fail in her mission, and become corrupted as worldwide evil intensifies toward the end of the Church Age. (5) Christ will return secretly in the sky to rapture living saints and resurrect the bodies of deceased saints (the first resurrection). These will be removed out of the world before the Great Tribulation. The judgment of the saints will be accomplished in Heaven during the seven-year Great Tribulation period before Christ’s bodily return to the earth. (6) At the conclusion of the seven-year Great Tribulation, Christ will return to the earth in order to establish and personally administer a Jewish political kingdom headquartered at Jerusalem for 1,000 years, the Millennium. During this time, Satan will be bound, and the temple and sacrificial system will be re-established in Jerusalem as memorials. (7) Toward the end of the Millennial Kingdom, Satan will be loosed and Christ surrounded and attacked at Jerusalem. (8) Christ will call down fire from heaven to destroy His enemies. The Resurrection (the second resurrection) and judgment of the wicked will occur, initiating the eternal order.