Did the early church believe in premillennialism?
Yes. For the first 250 years of church history, from roughly 40 or 50 A.D. to the end of 299 or into the 300s, the early church stood solidly on what is now called premillennialism. They called it Chiliasm, from the Greek Chileoi, meaning 1,000.
Les explains that critics claim the rapture and millennium began with a teenage girl in Spain, and that these teachings are absent in Luther and Calvin. However, for the first 250 years of church history—roughly 40 or 50 A.D. to the end of 299 or into the 300s—the church stood solidly on premillennialism. They used the term Chiliasm, from the Greek Chileoi, which also means 1,000.