Premillennialists

Premillennialists are Christians who hold that Jesus Christ will return before a literal thousand-year reign on earth, the millennium, described in Revelation 20:1–6. In this view, Christ’s second coming inaugurates a future era in which the resurrected faithful will reign with him on a renewed earth, followed by a final judgment and the creation of a new heaven and new earth. Premillennialism is contrasted with amillennialism, which reads the millennium as symbolic of the present age, and postmillennialism, which regards the millennium as a future period of Christian dominance leading to Christ’s return.

Two major forms are commonly distinguished: historic premillennialism and dispensational premillennialism. Historic premillennialists generally affirm a single, future return of Christ prior to the millennium, with a literal personal reign on earth. Dispensational premillennialism adds a more detailed framework, including a distinct separation of the church and Israel, a future rapture of believers before a seven-year tribulation, and then Christ’s return to establish the millennium. Within dispensationalism, pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation views differ on when the rapture occurs relative to the tribulation.

Historically, premillennial ideas have appeared in various Christian communities, but the term and more systematic formulations emerged in the modern era and were particularly influential among evangelical Protestants and some Pentecostal groups. In many mainline traditions, amillennial or other eschatological perspectives have been more prominent.