In "The LastDays" series, we can cover the subject of premillennialism adequately but not exaustively. It would not be profitable to go into every detail. Premillennial theories are diverse and conflicting. There is not one premillennial theory, but many. So, when we say that premillennialists teach a certain thing, you must understand this as a generalisation. There may be some premillennialists who teach otherwise on that point.

What is Premillennialism?

Premillennialism is a system of beliefs concerning the second coming of Christ happening before a millennium (1000 years) in which he will supposedly reign on earth.

The complicated premillennial timetable is put together by selecting, and misinterpreting, certain portions of only about 30 chapters of the Bible (See gold box).

The following overview will help you understand better those lessons on simplybible.com that refute premillennialism. At the end of this lesson I will present the simple Bible view of the future.

The Future as Premillennialist’s See It

To study the subject of premillennialism intelligently, you need a clear over-all idea of what Premillennialists teach. So you are about to go on a journey in a premillennial time machine. You will first visit the distant past, then fly into the future.

Please keep in mind as you travel that you are seeing the premillennialist view. You are not seeing the real future, but premillennial fantasies. Please don't think that I teach what you are about to read. For what the Bible really teaches you will have to wait till the end of this lesson.

The premillennial time machine will take you back to when Christ was crucified, then transport you to the last half of the 20th century, then into an imaginary future. Now fasten your seat belts and enjoy your trip.

Soon after the close of the 20th century you come upon a day in which you are startled to see people here and there vanishing into thin air. There is chaos in government, industry, transport, homes, and all facets of life, at the sudden disappearance In mid-stride of every true Christian in the world. You have just witnessed the Rapture. This is an invisible return of Christ to gather his church into heaven for seven years.

Around this time the Jews repossess Jerusalem and rebuild the temple on its historic site —having managed somehow to get rid of the Dome of the Rock, the moslem mosque which occupied the site for a long time.

There is a spiritual rebirth of the nation of Israel. Every Jew is converted to Christ. This total conversion is the work of 144,000 specially chosen Jews who then evangelise the entire world.

For a while It seems that the Roman world rule has brought prosperity and peace to the world but the world leader soon shows his true colours and becomes the Antichrist.

Instead of peace the world leader brings tribulation. He proclaims himself God and desecrates the temple in Jerusalem He murders the 144,000 elect Jews. A new world religion, Mystery Babylon, takes the place of true religion.

The Antichrist’s desecration of the temple occurs in the midst of the seven years that the raptured church is in heaven. From that desecration, for the next three and a half years, you watch the Pax Roma (Roman Peace) crumble and the tribulations of the world wax worse and worse.

Wars increase and culminate in the terrible war of Armageddon. The theatre of this war Is Israel but its repercussions are world wide.

From the west come the armies of the Roman states. From the north comes Russia. From the east China sends 200 million men. From the south Egypt and the Arab bloc join the conflict.

Only divine intervention stops the Armageddon war from escalating to destroy the world. You hear an awful trumpet sound. You see Jesus Christ himself descending from the sky to set foot an the Mount of Olives. He is followed by the glorified saints in vast company. It’s the second coming.

Jesus destroys the Antichrist and puts an end to the war. Now he will rule the world. He sets up a throne in Jerusalem from which to rule the earth. At the sight of this throne you catch your breath. It’s the Throne of David.

One of the first acts of the Lord Is to judge mankind and separate as it were the sheep from the goats. The sheep are given places of blessing and authority on earth, the goats places of subjection.

You see the whole world ruled by Jesus with the help of the glorified saints he brought with him or raised from the dead. You see Moses, Adam, king Solomon, Jonah, Peter, Paul. You see saints from the Old Testament, the church, martyrs of the tribulation, even angels. They mingle with and rule ordinary mortals. Their glorious bodies are indescribably better than the flesh and blood bodies of ordinary mortals.

Through one thousand years you have a steady flight as you watch the world in that millennium transformed into utopia.

Evil men are not banished but they are ruled with a rod of iron and totally subjected. Though they would have Satan for their master, he is not their master for he has been bound in prison.

Oceans are dried into productive lands. Mountains are levelled and deserts made green. The curse of Eden is lifted and food production soars. Animals become tame and have the gift of simple speech. Humans speak one world-wide tongue. Poverty and opression are at an end.

The temple, with its priesthood and sacrifices restored, is the focus of worship in one world-wide true religion. You see fantastic mass pilgrimages to Jerusalem from the corners of the earth.

At the end of the thousand years, Satan is allowed to escape his chains. He seduces the masses. He declares war on Jesus and the holy city. So check your seat belts for another rough time: the battle of Gog and Magog.

This war is soon quenched like Armageddon. Then you see a resurrection of wicked dead, and these, together with the wicked who were subjugated in the millennium, are judged and thrown with Satan into hell.

The earth has been a beautiful planet, but now it is glorified even more so as to be eternal.

That is as far as your time machine can take you. It has brought you to the gates of eternity.

Many people believe that what you have seen, or something very like it, is the future as the Bible reveals it. This website’s lessons on "The Last Days" show that what you have seen is as imaginary as the time machine you saw it from. The Bible does not teach it at all. For comparison, our lesson now looks at what the Bible teaches.

The Bible View of the Future

The Bible’s schedule is much simpler. It tells us of one day in the future when the world will end. This day is the day of Christ’s second coming. Several things are scheduled for that day (see mauve box).

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