I don’t believe the Bible teaches a strict dispensational framework as some, a minority, in the modern Church era teach.
Just a reminder: John Nelson Darby was not an author of Scripture, and Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) and Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind series are not books of Scripture.
I think the Bible clearly teaches that the return of Jesus Christ is a singular event—not a Second Coming where the Church is scooped up and taken away for three and a half or seven years, followed by a third coming.
That doesn’t preclude our gathering together unto Him to meet Him in the air at His return, or the Millennial Kingdom that immediately follows. It also doesn’t mean that the people of God aren’t going to suffer great tribulation—they have, they are, and they will until the restoration of all things.
Here are four famous quotes that express or support Premillennialism (the belief that Christ will return before a literal 1,000-year reign on earth, as described in Revelation 20):
Justin Martyr (100–165 AD) – Early Church Father
“But I and every other completely orthodox Christian feel certain that there will be a resurrection of the flesh, followed by a thousand years in the rebuilt, embellished, and enlarged city of Jerusalem, as was announced by the prophets Ezekiel, Isaiah, and others.” — Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 80
Irenaeus of Lyons (130–202 AD) – Early Church Father
“For in as many days as this world was made, in so many thousand years shall it be concluded. And for this reason the Scripture says: ‘Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all their adornment. And God brought to a conclusion upon the sixth day the works that He had made; and God rested upon the seventh day from all His works.’ This is a history of the things formerly created, and a prophecy of what is to come. For the day of the Lord is as a thousand years; and in six days created things were completed: it is evident, therefore, that they will come to an end at the six thousandth year.” — Against Heresies, Book V, Chapter 28
George Eldon Ladd (1911–1982) – Evangelical Theologian
“Premillennialism is based on the exegesis of Revelation 20:1–6, which, if interpreted literally, teaches that Christ will come again before the millennium and will reign on earth with His saints for a thousand years.” — The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views
John F. Walvoord (1910–2002) – Dispensational Premillennialist
“The premillennial interpretation is the only view that does justice to the plain statements of Scripture. When taken in their ordinary meaning, the promises of the Old Testament to Israel and the prophecies of the kingdom of God find their fulfillment only in a future literal reign of Christ on earth.” — The Millennial Kingdom
