1. A religious teaching that Christ will return to the earth and, afterward, rule for one thousand years; or Jesus will return before the millennium.
2. The belief that Jesus Christ will return for the Last Judgment just before the one-thousand-year reign of peace.

Premillennialists place the return of Christ just before the millennium and just after a time of great apostasy and tribulation.

After the millennium, Satan will be loosed and Gog and Magog will rise against the kingdom of God; this will be immediately followed by the final judgment.

While similar in some respects to the dispensational variety; in that they hold to Christ's return being before the establishment of a thousand-year earthly reign), historical premillennialism differs in significant ways (notably in their method of interpreting Scripture.

The historical premillennialist's viewpoint interprets some prophecy in Scripture as having literal fulfillment while others demand a semi-symbolic fulfillment.