The term Premillennialist identifies Christians who believe that the thousand year reign spoken of in Revelation chapter 20 is an earthly reign of Christ. The word Millennium is from two Latin words. "mille," meaning thousand, and "annum" meaning years. The word pre means before. Premillennial literally means before millennial, or before the thousand years.

Thus, Premillennialism is the belief that Christ returns bodily pre or before the thousand years to rule in an worldly kingdom on earth from the middle east. Generally, Premillennialists believe in two separate and unequal Salvation programs. One for Israel, and one for everyone else (Gentiles). They hold that a redeemed nation of Israel will be the center of government and the spreading of the gospel to the nations of the world. They point to scriptures such as,

Zechariah 14:16-17

• And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

• And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain."

Premillennialists believe that at the end of this reign of Christ on earth, an imprisoned Satan will be loosed to lead a worldwide rebellion before the victory by Christ and His Saints. The weakness in this position is that it undermines the work of the Church, Jews who are Saved prior to this period, the "One" Olive tree, and scriptures which say that both the Rapture and the judgment are both occur on the last day and at the last trumpet.

There are many variations of this doctrine, such as pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation rapturists. There are also the Chiliasts or so called Historical Premillennialists, and Dispensational Premillennialists who place the rapture not at the second coming but at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation.

There is a general consensus among premillennialists, that they are those who take scripture literally, while the others' tend to spiritualize. This is a misnomer also, as the only real difference is in "where" they spiritualize.

The use of the scriptures in the old testament that speak of literal kings and earthly reigns are used in support of this view that Christ will also reign as a literal earthly king from a literal jerusalem.

Some forms of Premillennialists make a distinction between the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of heaven. The primary difference between Amillennialists and Premillennialists is that Premillennialists believe the Reign of Christ is earthly, while Amillennialists believe Christ is reigning now from above.