Amillennialism (Greek: a- "no" + millennialism), in Christian eschatology, involves the rejection of the belief that Jesus will have a literal, thousand-year-long, physical reign on the earth. This rejection contrasts with premillennial and some postmillennial interpretations of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation.
The amillennial view regards the "thousand years" mentioned in Revelation 20 as a symbolic number, not as a literal description; amillennialists hold that the millennium has already begun and is identical with the current church age. Amillennialism holds that while Christ's reign during the millennium is spiritual in nature, at the end of the church age, Christ will return in final judgment and establish a permanent reign in the new heaven and new earth.
Many proponents dislike the name "amillennialism" because it emphasizes their differences with premillennialism rather than their beliefs about the millennium. "Amillennial" was actually coined in a pejorative way by those who hold premillennial views. Some proponents also prefer alternate terms such as nunc-millennialism (that is, now-millennialism) or realized millennialism, although these other names have achieved only limited acceptance and usage.
Amillennialism rejects the idea of a future "millennium" in which Christ will reign on earth prior to the eternal state beginning, but holds:
Amillennialists also cite scripture references to the kingdom not being a physical realm:
Fundamentally, amillennialists regard the "thousand year" period as a figurative duration for Christ's reign, as in Psalms 50:10, where the "thousand hills" on which God owns the cattle are all hills, or in 1 Chronicles 16:15, where the "thousand generations" to whom God will be faithful are all generations. As "Fundamentalists", some postmillennialists and most premillennialists assert that the word millennium should be taken as a literal thousand-year period.