Historic Premillennialism

“I will take the sons of Israel out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land.” Ezekiel 37:21

The Locus Classicus:

“They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
Revelation 20:4

“And the wolf will dwell with the lamb.” Isaiah 11:6

“They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Luke 21:24

Shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus in his Olivet discourse predicted the destruction of both the temple and Jerusalem. It was fulfilled about 40 years later by the Romans in A.D. 70. But then Jesus added another remarkable prediction: from that point on, “Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” In 1948 Israel was reestablished as a nation in her ancestral land promised to them by God as “an everlasting possession” (Gen. 17:8). During the Six Day War of 1967, Israel captured Jerusalem. For the first time since A.D. 70, Jerusalem was no longer under Gentile control. It is now the capital of the State of Israel. What follows the restoration of Jewish control of Jerusalem according to the Olivet discourse? The cosmic signs that portend the second advent of Jesus.

With the eyes of the world on Israel and the Near East, eschatology, and in particular millennialism, should today be the most important branch of theology. We take a rather polemic approach here, more so than on other topics discussed on this Web site. That is because of the importance we attach to these issues. We hope you find these papers helpful. Note: some of the papers below are written by dispensationalists, and their commitment to a pretribulational rapture is at times apparent. We do not believe that this detracts from the value of the articles as a whole.