The theological position that maintains that we are living before the time when Jesus Christ will literally come to this earth to establish the literal, physical Kingdom promised to Him from God the Father. It is believed that this Kingdom will be a world wide kingdom that will be ruled by Jesus Christ Himself at Jerusalem. It will be a time of peace, righteousness, and justice like the world has never known.

Adherents of this view arrive very naturally at their conclusions by following the plain sense rule of interpretation of Scripture. In this manner of interpretation, the Scriptures are allowed to stand for their plain sense meaning as they occur in their contexts. In other words, the scriptures in question mean exactly what they say unless the context determines that a symbolic meaning is more desirable. Most who hold this view agree with the proverbial statement while interpreting Scripture: "When the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense, lest you wind up with nonsense".

It is generally agreed among scholars that premillennialism was the view of the early church fathers. There is no record of any church leaders for the first two centuries of church history that disagreed with this view. Among those from the first century were: Aristio, John the Presbyter, Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Papias; from the second, Pothinus, Justin Martyr, Melito, Iranaeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. Two of these are of particular interest: First, Papias by his own testimony stated the apostles Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, John, and Matthew were premillennial. Second, Justin Martyr of the second century declared those teachers who were not of the premillennial point of view as heretics.

It was not until the third century that premillennialism was challenged. That challenge came from the Catechetical School of Alexandria which, influenced very heavily by Greek mythology, was given to the figurative, symbolic interpretation of Scripture. Augustine, influenced from the theologies of this school, developed the doctrine known as amillennialism. The Roman Church accepted this teaching and it thereby became church dogma until the Protestant Reformation.

Premillennialism gave way to amillennialism until the reformers of the Reformation demanded that the church return to the literal or plain sense meaning of Scripture. As a result of this principle, naturally, premillenniallism began to resurface.

It is believed among premillennialists that this coming Millennium will last for a literal 1,000 year period. This is maintained because in the Millennium chapter of Revelation, chapter 20, six times the Scripture declares that this period will last for 1,000 years. During this time Satan will be bound in a place the scripture calls the bottomless pit, or the abyss (Rev. 20:1). Satan will remain in this place until the 1,000 years are complete (Rev. 20:7). Proponents of this view believe it will be during this time that great prophetic scriptures such as Zechariah chapters 13 and 14 will be fulfilled. These Scriptures call for a time when the Lord will be present at Jerusalem and king over the whole earth (Zech. 14:4-9). The saints of this age will rule and reign with Jesus during this period (Rev. 5:10). The government of the whole world will rest on His shoulders (Is. 9:6). Life of mortal man will be extended (Is. 65:20). The animal kingdom will cease to have predators and there will be no more hurt and harm (Is. 65:25). War will cease to exist and Jesus Himself will teach the world His Word (Mic. 4:2-3).

Because there is expectation of the literal accomplishment of the millennial promises described above, most premillennialists have a strong desire for the Lord to come and to bring these things to pass.