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4. Of the four schools, the futurist position
sees most of Revelation (chaps. 4-22) as
prophetical of the end times.
5. There are two kinds of futurists: (1)
those who hold that the seven churches of
chapters 2-3 represent periods of church
history up to the rapture (as shown on the
chart); and (2) those who hold that chapters
2-3 are intended not to be prophetic, but
rather descriptive of the churches in John’s
day, with chapter 4 beginning the predictive
section. This view also sees the seven letters
as descriptive of local churches of all ages,
up to the end times.


CHART 121: THE FOUR MAIN SCHOOLS OF
INTERPRETATION OF REVELATION

J. MILLENNIAL VIEWS
The Millennium passage of 20:1-6 is the
classic passage giving rise to three di erent
viewpoints of the “thousand years.” Here are
the main tenets of these schools of
eschatology:
1. Premillennialism. Christ will come to the
e a r t h before (hence the pre x pre) the


Millennium begins, to rule the world with
His saints, for a literal one thousand years.

Satan is bound, as to activity and power,
during this time.
2. Postmillennialism. The second coming of
Christ is at the end of, or after (post) the
Millennium. This millennium is a period of
time (not necessarily a literal thousand
years) of blessedness, prosperity, and wellbeing for God’s kingdom in the world.
According to this view, we are now living in
the Millennium. This school has relatively
few adherents today, for the simple reason
of the apparent intense current activity of
Satan throughout the world.
3 . Amillennialism. There is no (pre x a)
literal reign of Christ on this earth for a
literal thousand years. A common view is
that the Millennium is a spiritual reign of
Christ with His saints in heaven at the


present time.
Chart 122 shows in a general way how
each of these millennial schools views the
scope of the entire book of Revelation.