Are We Still 1000’s Of Years Away?

Q

With regards to end time prophecy, some theories that I have read lately suggest that specific prophecies (including the Olivet discourse) are being made to ‘fit’ with events that are happening at present and are just a matter of interpretation; they teach that the end times could still be thousands of years away. I would appreciate your thoughts.

A

The Bible says 2 things about End Times events. One is that believers should not be taken by surprise (1 Thes. 5:4) and the other is that there will be scoffers around who will deny their closeness (2 Peter 3:3-4). As for making events “fit” into prophecies, Jesus said the so-called birth pangs would be characteristic of the entire age. But there are clear beginning and end points in the Olivet Discourse. The End Times began when the nation Israel reappeared in 1948, and they will be over before the people being born at the time have all died (Matt. 24:34). This means they can’t still be thousands of years away.