premillennialism

Premillennialism is a Christian eschatological view that asserts Jesus Christ will return to earth before a literal thousand-year reign, the Millennium. In this framework, Christ’s return inaugurates a future, earthly kingdom during which the righteous will reign with him, and after the millennium the final judgment and a new creation take place.

Most premillennialists hold that the Second Coming precedes the Millennium. The typical sequence includes a period of tribulation before Christ's return; at the Second Coming, the righteous are resurrected or transformed and begin to reign with Christ for a thousand years, while the wicked are judged at its end. Within premillennialism, there are variants on the timing of a rapture: historic premillennialism links the resurrection to the Second Coming, while dispensational premillennialism often teaches a separate pre-tribulation rapture followed by the Millennium. Other variants place the rapture mid-trib or post-trib.

Historically, premillennialism has roots in early Christian writers who spoke of a literal 1000-year reign (often called chiliasm). It declined in late antiquity in favor of amillennialism but was revived in the modern era, especially with the rise of dispensational premillennialism in the 19th century and popularized in Protestant circles through study Bibles and systematic theology.

Premillennialism is one of the major eschatological systems in Christian thought, alongside postmillennialism and amillennialism. It remains a contested position with varied regional and theological support, and interpretations of scripture on Revelation 20 and related passages differ among denominations and scholars.