Millennium

The COGC holds a premillennial, earthly kingdom eschatology: Christ will return before establishing a literal reign on earth, in which the resurrected saints share his rule over the nations. The millennium (whether understood as exactly 1,000 years or as the age of the kingdom more broadly) is the fulfillment of the Old Testament covenants — particularly the Abrahamic promise of land and blessing and the Davidic promise of an eternal throne.

During Christ's reign, the earth will be transformed: justice will prevail, the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, and creation will be restored from the effects of the Fall. The resurrected and immortalized saints will serve as co-regents with Christ, participating in the governance of the kingdom. Israel will have a central role in this restored order, consistent with the COGC's covenantal reading of Old Testament prophecy.

The COGC's premillennial, earthly kingdom orientation is the natural consequence of its rejection of soul sleep and its conditionalist anthropology. If the dead are unconscious until the resurrection, then the kingdom cannot begin until the resurrection occurs — and the resurrection occurs at Christ's return. The kingdom is therefore necessarily future and post-resurrection, consistent with premillennial eschatology.