Fourteen years is not
soon. Neither is 2000 years. God NEVER used the word "soon" to mean "more than two thousand years. He never used the word to mean anything other than "close in time or space." He never used the word to mean anything other than it's normal meaning in ordinary usage. Some words, like "life" or "death," He used in multiple ways but the word "soon" was never used to mean anything other than soon.
Look it up and verify that fact.
Do the word study. Do the work and verify that fact.
Well then.....
If the word "
soon" could mean as much as
fourteen years, what makes you think God did NOT mean fourteen years when He first used the word? Do you see the problem? Every day we turn on a Christian radio and hear preachers saying, "
I believe Jesus will be returning soon," and when they use the word "
soon" they mean soon. They mean Jesus will be returning within a
brief period of time. There is an unstated
urgency when they speak of "
soon" because they want people to repent and come to Jesus
now, and if they aren't going to come to Christ now then they should come
soon because Jesus will be returning
soon. They need to repent and believe before his
soon coming.
But not a single one of them ever tells their audience they are not reading God's use of "
soon" the same way they use the word "
soon." They never disclose the fact they are using the word with its normal meaning in ordinary usage but do NOT do the same with God's use of the word "
soon"
even though God never uses the word soon in any other way.
In other words, they do not practice what they preach

.
- Modern futurists say they believe Jesus could come at any time, but they also say Jesus won't be coming until after the tribulation. Those two beliefs contradict one another.
- Modern futurists say Jesus can return any day at any time but they also say Jesus will not return until after the tribulation, or after a temple is built or after the land is all recaptured, or after sacrifices are reinstituted, or all of those things combined. Jesus cannot return any day at any time if a bunch of stuff has to happens before he returns.
- Modern futurists say no one knows the day or hour but they constantly say he is coming soon. A person has to either know when he is coming in order to qualify it as "soon," or he has to redefine the word "soon."
- Modern futurists say no one knows the day or time but they say there are signs that determine the time when he comes, signs that they and anyone else can recognize as signs of his return. If no one can know the day or time, then there are no signs and if there are signs then the time of his return can be known. These viewpoints contradict each other.
- Modern futurists either use the word "soon" differently than God in His word, or they deny their meaning applies to God's use of the word.
They do it every single day. They fill forum threads with these contradictions. It would be best if these contradictions were removed from their eschatology, but that would require relaxing the allegiance to modern futurism and putting it into greater allegiance to God's word as written and reason.
God never uses the word "soon" to mean anything but soon. When you use the word "soon," you mean soon but you're flexible with that meaning. It can mean as long as fourteen years.
I will fix your car soon. It'll be ready for you in fourteen years. I'll pick you up soon. It'll be fourteen years after you're ready. The jury will decide your case soon. They will deliberate for fourteen years. I promise to propose to your daughter soon; give me fourteen years and it'll happen. Whole congregations sit in rapt belief every Sunday in modern futurist congregations, taking in this dysfunctional use of "
soon," treating it as truth when it is, in fact, a pile of contradiction. It contradicts God's word, and it contradicts reason.
Very well. If what you have said in agreement with me is true, then you and I will both know for certain, without any doubt, whether that belief is true and correct in fourteen years. We may speculate now, but in fourteen years we will
know, and we will
know without any doubt.
The problem with that viewpoint is.....
- Not a single similar use of "soon" has been correct in the last 200 years and
- If we die in fourteen years, we will draw our last breath knowing we were wrong AND we were wrong teaching others to believe our belief. We will die as false teachers.
This is what modern futurism does to otherwise good, earnest, faithful Christians. Some modern futurist (mf) Christians know and understand these problems but do nothing about them. Other mf Christians wrestle with these problems their entire life trying to find some means of reconciling the contradictions only to die unsuccessful. Some mf Christians leave the theology, study the alternatives and choose one that does not have these problems. Some mf Christians lash out at anyone who broaches these concerns and asks for thoughtful, deliberate, patient, goodwill discussion because they have difficulty with
self-examination and put the very real and substantive problems of modern futurism on others. Some, a minority, are just trolls. There are no modern futurist Christians who have ever been able to reconcile the contradictions.
If Jesus can literally return at any time, then stop claiming there are events that
must first occur before he returns. If the time when Jesus returns is unknowable, then stop claiming signs exist and you know what they are. No other eschatology has these problems. As far as these matters goes,
every other eschatology would be better.