I don’t have enough faith to be an Amillennialist

Among the driving influences of evangelical apathy towards Israel has been the pervasive influence of replacement theology (supercessionism) and one of its related doctrines, Amillennialism. According to the amillennial perspective, there won't be a real millennium on Earth after the second coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem. Instead, the church is believed to be spiritually fulfilling all of the prophecies given to Israel and those concerning the Kingdom.

Though not the perspective of the first disciples of Jesus or many of the church fathers, it gained popularity with Augustine's theological writings, most famously The City of God. Although Origen did much to set the stage for the nonliteral approach of interpretation, Augustine was the one who systematically developed the amillennial framework.

Before Augustine, there were no champions of amillennialism. Instead, it was associated with the errors of the Alexandrian school of theology (Origen), which was known for its allegorical and spiritual interpretations of Scripture. They not only rejected premillennialism but also undermined any kind of literal interpretation of Scripture.

Most protestant reformers, while in different forms, embraced Augustine's amillennialism, which had become the dominant belief of the Roman Church throughout the centuries. Things weren't always this way. Prior to the fourth century AD, the prevailing perspective of the church during the centuries immediately following the Apostles was the premillennial view. That is, the belief that Messiah will physically and literally return to earth at Jerusalem before the millennial age commences. At that time, he will establish a kingdom over which he will preside as King. All the promises of Israel's covenants will be literally fulfilled during this reign. At the end of one thousand years, the kingdom will be transferred from the Son to the Father (1 Cor 15:24-25) and it will merge with the eternal kingdom (Rev 20-21).

J. Dwight Pentecost reminds us of the overwhelming evidence of premillenial views held among the earliest in the first century: 

(1) Andrew, (2) Peter, (3) Philip, (4) Thomas, (5) James, (6) John, (7) Matthew, (8) Aristio, (9) John the Presbyter—all these are cited by Papias, who, according to Irenaeus, was one of John’s hearers, and intimate with Polycarp…Now this reference to the apostles agrees with the facts that we have proven: (a) that the disciples of Jesus did hold the Jewish views of the Messianic reign in the first part of this century, and (b) that, instead of discarding them, they linked them with the Sec. Advent. (Things to Come, 374)

Abner Chou compiled a helpful list of some of the early church fathers who held premillennial viewpoints, including:

• Papias (ca. ad 60–150) - Believed that there would be a period of time when the curse would be reversed. This includes an incredible harvest and peace between the animals, as described in Isa 11:6. Irenaeus links Papias’ ideas to the tradition coming from the apostle John (Papias, Adversus Haereses 5:33.4).

• Justin Martyr (ca. ad 100–65) - Referred to a literal 1,000 years based upon Psa 90:4 in his dialog with Trypho. He argued that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and enlarged along with the temple (see Ezek 40:1–48:35). He thought the events in Rev 20:1–15 will unfold literally (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 90–91).

• Irenaeus (ca. ad 115–202) - Held similar ideas to Papias and Justin Martyr:

• Upheld Justin Martyr’s concept of a day as 1,000 years in relation to the Millennium.

• Supported Papias’ idea of a physical reversal of the curse, stating that animals will be subject to man as they were before the fall.

• Claimed that a lion will eat straw.

• His formulation of a Millennium seems to counteract the gnostic aversion to the physical.

• He argued that an earthly kingdom would precede a spiritual rest (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 5:32–39).

• Tertullian (ca. ad 150–230) - Held to a 1,000-year period. He argued that the blessings described in Millennium passages relate to Christ and His Church. Tertullian believed the Millennium was an earthly realm before the saints entered the heavenly kingdom after the 1,000-year period. This period would fulfill what Ezekiel predicted and what John saw (Tertullian, Against Marcion 3:24–25). (Millennialism, Lexham Bible Dictionary)

With such a strong historical and early commitment by those closest to Jesus and the Apostles, it's unclear why the amillenial position appears to be prevalent. Because the amillennial assumptions were not part of the framework of thinking at the time the prophets and Apostles wrote, theological inferences drawn from it should be approached with caution. It requires unnecessary faith in the tradition of subsequent Church fathers, reformers, creeds and catechisms, than in the legacy delivered by the Apostles.