Historic premillennialism is an old theory that may be traced as far back as Irenaeus. Although the view ties the church to Old Testament prophecies and identifies the church age with the heavenly phase of the kingdom-rule that Christ presently exercises over Jews and Gentiles, it also teaches that Christ will return to the earth to establish his throne in Jerusalem and from there will rule his earthly kingdom for a thousand years. The Old Testament promises concerning the restoration of Israel will