What is the Church’s tenure on the earth?
The Church will be taken to be with Christ before the outpouring of God's wrath, and after that she returns with Him to reign as kings and priests on the earth for a literal one thousand years, called the Millennium.
Scripture shows that the Church is kept from the hour of God's wrath. The seven last plagues, described as the wrath of God poured out upon the earth, come after the Church has been removed. As it is written, God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the answer to the prayer Jesus taught, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, since that temptation refers to the coming wrath.
Revelation shows the great multitude who came out of great tribulation standing before the throne in white robes, having washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. They are in heaven, having come through tribulation, and they serve God day and night in His temple, which points forward to the Millennium when Christ will sit on the throne of God and dwell among His people as King of the whole earth.
When the Lord returns, He sets up His kingdom on the earth, and this reign lasts a literal one thousand years, mentioned six times in Revelation twenty, so it is not to be spiritualized away. Satan is bound during this time, and those who did not take the mark of the beast are raised in the first resurrection to live and reign with Christ. They are made priests of God and of Christ, and blessed and holy is he that hath part in that first resurrection, for the second death has no power over him.
The saints who overcome are made kings and priests, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation, and they shall reign on the earth. This reign is not only spiritual; it is tied to the promise that the meek and blessed of the Lord shall inherit the earth, and that Abraham's seed, which is Christ, together with those in Him, are heirs of the world. So the Church's tenure on the earth includes returning with Christ to reign with Him through the thousand years, after which Satan is loosed for a season, following which the promise looks on toward the new heavens and new earth wherein dwells righteousness.
The scriptures
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
From the books
This answer is drawn from these passages in the Mary Banks Faith Library.