End Times Part 1: What is the Millennial Kingdom?

For all of those who are curious about my end time beliefs (which is approximately nobody) this series is for you. But mostly this series will be a topical survey of the major views on the millennial kingdom and the rapture. Of course, if you look to the right on the blog you can see that I am premillenial so you can filter my description of other views through that lens, though I will try my best to be fair.

We will begin with a quick explanation of what is in reference when I talk about the millennial kingdom. People of different views will use different scriptures to defend their position. At this point I will simply give the anchor text, Revelation 20:1-6:

"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years."

In the coming weeks we will explore the three main views on this text:
Amillennial- This kingdom is not a literal reign of Christ but he reigns in the hearts of Christians.
Postmillennial- Christ will return after the millennial reign.
Premillennial- Christ comes back and then establish the millennial kingdom.

Then I will do a quick survey of the three views on the rapture within Premillennialism:
Pretrib- The rapture of the church will occur prior to the seven year tribulation.
Midtrib- The rapture of the church will occur at the mid-point of the seven year tribulation.
Posttrib- The rapture of the church will occur at the end of the seven year tribulation.

Come back next Thursday and we'll keep it going.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen