Bible Students

Essentially, the greatest biblical evidence for Premillennialism are the Scriptures which indicate a literal earthly Messianic Kingdom while suffering still exists. This is important, because Scripture shows the Millennial Kingdom will act as a sort of intermediate between the earthly kingdoms and the heavenly kingdom. During the Millennial, there will still be suffering, but Jesus will be physically on the throne. This means the kingdom can not be now, because the nations are not submitting themselves to Jesus. This also means these verses can not be talking about the future kingdom of heaven because heaven will not have any suffering. Below are three examples of this balance between Christ’s earthly rule during the Millennial kingdom and the suffering that still is present. 

First, Isaiah 65:20 speaks about the Millennial Kingdom and how people relate to death. In Christ’s kingdom, there will be both death and the supernatural extension of long life. Those who die at the age of 100 will be considered to have died as a child. There will be no death in heaven. People do not live to be well over 100 now. This means the Millennial is not yet, and will precede heaven. 

Second, Zechariah 14:5-17 speaks of the Lord standing on Zion with all of the nations bowing to Him. The nations do not yet bow to Jesus, though this verse indicates that Jesus will stand on this earth, before it is remade, in order to have a period of time when all nations will bow to Him. During this time, there will still be some death and suffering, which contradicts the biblical idea of heaven. This indicates, like above, that the Millennial kingdom is not yet, but precedes the kingdom of heaven. 

Lastly, Psalm 72:8-14 speaks of the Lord reigning over the earth while suffering still exists. During this time, the Lord will rule over the earth in a very present way, though there will be suffering still. This, like the verses before, demonstrates that the Millennial kingdom is a sort of kingdom where the Lord physically reigns on earth, but suffering still can occur. With those two premises in mind, the Millennial kingdom can neither be the kingdom of this age, nor be the future kingdom of heaven.