Two of the basic premises upon which the premillennial concept is based are: First, that the prophecies concerning the coming and nature of the kingdom had to be literally fulfilled with a material, earthly kingdom. Second, that if the Jews had accepted Jesus as the King, he would have set up the kingdom as promised. However, since they rejected him, he postponed it and will set it up at some future time when he will reign for 1000 years.

In all the literature we have read written by premillennialists, we have not seen any clear explanation of this problem: If the Jews were looking for an earthly king, and Jesus came to establish an earthly kingdom, and he was fulfilling all that they thought the prophets had spoken of him, why did they reject him? Why did Jesus say to his disciples in Luke 24:25,  "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!" Why did he say in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."

The truth is that the kingdom which he came to establish was so very different from the kingdom they envisioned that they rejected him and the kingdom. If it had been anything like the kingdom of Solomon or David, with a king that could feed multitudes with loaves and fishes, raise the dead, cure the sick and do all the miracles he did, they would have accepted him. The fact that he demanded a new birth before they could enter his kingdom, and they were satisfied with their old birth -- the fact that they were children of Abraham is the reason they rejected him and his kingdom. Neither they, nor their modern counterparts, the premillennialists, were interested in the spiritual kingdom where greatness is measured by obedient service rather than by political and social prominence.