I'll take a shot. Lets start with historic "Millenialism" (now commonly called "Pre-Millenialism")
From Got Questions:
What is often referred to as the “millennial kingdom” is mentioned in Revelation 20:1–7:
“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They 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 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 are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison” (emphasis added).
This period of 1,000 years is marked by a binding of Satan and the reign of Jesus Christ. When that period of 1,000 years is over, Satan will be released for a short period for a final period of rebellion before the final end of all things.
Much of Christian eschatology (teaching about the “last things”) is couched in terms of a particular view of the millennial kingdom and of when Christ returns in relation to the inauguration of that kingdom.
The premillennial position teaches that Christ will return to earth to inaugurate the millennial kingdom. Despite the best efforts of Christians to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, the world will never be “Christianized,” and culture will continue to grow worse and worse. However, Christ will come and establish His kingdom visibly on earth, and Satan will be bound—unable to have any impact on world affairs. The governments of the nations of the world will submit to Christ, and there will be a “golden age” of human existence. Truth and justice will be the hallmarks of government instead of the self-centeredness and corruption that is common today. However, because there will still be human beings with fallen natures inhabiting the kingdom, there will still be sin and rebellion. At the end of the literal 1,000-year period, Satan will be loosed, and there will be a final rebellion of humanity against Christ. The Lord will put down the rebellion once and for all and usher in a new heaven and new earth where there is no opportunity for any sin.
Those who are looking forward to a future kingdom of 1,000 years’ duration that begins with the return of Christ (premillennialists) are also often referred to as “millennialists.” The term millennialism was in use before the pre-, a-, and post- prefixes were added to the word. In older literature, the position that might be called “premillennialism” today would simply be called “millennialism.” This is the only position that holds to a literal 1,000-year kingdom inaugurated by Christ and characterized by His visible, earthly reign.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT:
- It takes Revelation 20 literally. Taken as merely "symbolism", most of the chapter becomes somewhere between "meaningless" and merely "irrelevant". Taken as a LITERAL kingdom, it becomes PROPHETIC.
- Jesus reigning over a literal kingdom fulfills many OT promises that otherwise really appear to go unfulfilled in any meaningful sense of the term. I will leave it to you to figure out which promises to Israel and David seem presently unfulfilled.
- Jesus just RETURNS. The details need to be worked out after His return, but Jesus said He would leave and Jesus said He would return and in Millenialism, Jesus does. Some other schemes make this more complex.
- It is predicated on a world that gets progressively worse ... so far we seem to be on track.
- This may be a little harder to explain ... it presents ALL OPTIONS in God's "Angelic Play".
- In Genesis, God allowed Man freedom and personal instruction and demonstrated that we (people) were incapable of choosing to do right unaided. Someone might say ... "but if only God would LEAD us, then ..."
- Following Moses, God created a country with an actual THEOCRACY and demonstrated that people did not want God as their ruler. Then God demonstrated that people did not want to obey Prophets or Written Laws.
- Jesus came, and presented a choice (not for is, for the watching Angels to observe). People could attempt to follow rules (and continue to fail), people could create their own gods (and everyone do what they think is right), or people can be indwelt by God (revealing that with GOD, all things are possible). Someone might say "What if God removed all of the EVIL influences? Could Adam have succeeded if God had governed him like He governed Israel?
- Millenialism answers this possible objection for the Angelic Audience. God's glory is enhanced as even this last possible objection is shattered. Jesus returns, evil is restrained for 1000 years, GOD rules PERFECTLY ... and then people still choose to rebel.
- God's PERFECT WISDOM is PROVEN! There really IS only one way to salvation, EVERYTHING ELSE was tried and ONLY the drawing of the Father, the blood of the Son and the indwelling of the Spirit was able to save people.
So that's what I like about "Millenialism".
