Premillennialism

The Doctrine of the Week for this Sunday is premillennialism. We've already covered the doctrine of the

Millennial Kingdom, which is the 1 ,000 -year reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth, as described in Revelation chapter 20.

But this term, premillennialism, is in reference to when Jesus returns in regard to that 1 ,000 -year period.

Revelation chapter 20, verse 6, says, And you notice right there, the saints reign with Christ, meaning

Christ will be here on the earth, reigning with his saints.

That's made very clear in Revelation 20, that it happens on the earth. Christ will be on earth, reigning as king.

John says the saints will reign with him. So, about this word, premillennial, it's very simple to understand.

Pre - means what? Before. So, the prefix pre - means before, and the millennium is the 1 ,000 -year kingdom.

So, Jesus returns premillennial. He returns before the millennium.

There are two other positions on this that some churches hold. One is called amillennialism.

They say there is no literal kingdom. There will not be one. And then there is postmillennialism.

That is the teaching. Jesus comes at the end of the millennium. This is not a salvation issue, but we do believe those to be false.

So, this is very simple. This is one of the most simple teachings, I think, in all of the

Bible. Jesus returns in Revelation chapter 19. The kingdom is set up in chapter 20.

If you look at the gospel of Matthew, Jesus returns in chapter 24. The kingdom is set up in chapter 25.

And you say, Pastor, is it really that simple? Well, if you take the Bible literally, yes, it is.

God wants us to know what he has in store. So, really, when you think of Christ reigning upon the earth with his saints, earth's best days are still yet to come.