Millennial Debate
Pre-millennialism

Pre-millennialism comes in two packages. One is dispensational pre-millennialism, which is the majority view of Christians is the USA today. The other vie is historic pre-millennialism. Dispensational pre-millennialism is of recent vintage having first appearing in early 19th century England. It was propagated successfully and thoroughly by and through the Schofield Reference Bible first published in 1909. C.I. Schofield was the first leading proponent of dispensationalism followed by Lewis Sperry Chafer, Harry Ironside and most recently Norman Geisler, Charles Ryrie, and John Walvoord.

Charles Ryrie defines Dispensational Pre-Millennialism as follows:

Pre-millennialists believe that theirs is the historic faith of the Church. Holding to a literal interpretation of the Scriptures, they believe that the promises made to Abraham and David are unconditional and have had or will have a literal fulfillment. In no sense have these promises made to Israel been abrogated or fulfilled by the church, which is a distinct body in this age having promises and destiny different from Israel’s. At the close of this age, pre-millennialists believe that Christ will return for His Church, meeting her in the air (this is not the Second Coming of Christ), which event, called the rapture or translation, will usher in a seven-year period of tribulation on the earth. After this, the Lord will return to the earth (this will be the Second Coming of Christ) to establish His kingdom on earth fro a 1000 years, during which time the promises to Israel will be fulfilled.
Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Basis of the Pre-Millennial Faith, (New York, New York: Loizeaux, 1953), p. 12.

Historic Pre-Millennialism distances itself from dispensationalism. An historic pre-millennialist sets forth his objection:

The idea of a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church was nor seen in the Scriptures by the early church fathers. They were futurists and pre-millennialists but not pretribulationalists…Pre-tribulationlism was an unknown teaching until the Plymouth Brethren among whom the doctrine originated…The vocabulary of the Blessed Hope knows nothing of the two aspects of Christ’s coming, one secret and one glorious…it [meaning dispensationalism] misrepresents the Blessed Hope by defining it in terms of an escape from suffering rather than a union with Christ and thus may be guilty of the positive danger of leaving the Church unprepared for the tribulation when the Antichrist appears.
George Eldon Ladd, The Blessed Hope, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmanns, 1956), pp. 162-64.

The Dispensationalist expects a literal re-establishment of the Old Testament economy under the reign of Christ. For the dispensationalist, the age of the church is a parenthesis between the Old Testament and the Millennial Kingdom. Therefore, there are two distinctly different programs for the church and Israel. The church is not the “new Israel” and does not fulfill Old Testament prophecies so that in the Millennium, the temple will be rebuilt and the sacrifices re-instated.

The historic pre-millennialist does not impose a dichotomy on Israel and the church. They believe the church will apostatize and pass through the Great Tribulation at the end of which Jesus Christ will return and set up a 1000 year earthly kingdom.
Historic pre-millennialists are less explicit about the extent of the Old Testament economy during the Millennium, but the central expectation is for the salvation of the Jews.

Pre-millennialism of either form is based on a 1000 year reign of Christ. That 1000 year reign, or millennium, is only specifically mentioned in Scripture in Revelation Chapter 20. And, while historic pre-millennialism is acclaimed as the view of the ancients, the dispensational variety is of recent vintage and is a new way of looking at the history of redemption whereby, in the words of Louis Berkhof, “Israel plays a leading role and the Church is but an interlude.” It is a system that creates multiple returns of Christ, dispensations and judgments. Dispensational pre-millennialism is the dominant view in the US church today.