We do not believe that prophecy is being fulfilled today because we are living in the age of the Mystery, not prophecy. This will come as a shock to some prophecy preachers who must constantly revamp their statements as they continue to struggle to match current events to Bible prophecy.

The regathering of Israel back into their land in 1948 was not a fulfillment of Matthew 24:31 or any other prophecy. Rather, the establishment of the current state of Israel was a man-made political action, not the act of God in regathering His chosen people from the four corners of the earth. The prophetic regathering of Israel will not take place until after the Battle of Armageddon (Matt. 24:28 cf. Rev. 19:17-18). The “wars and rumours of wars” that we hear of do not fulfill Matthew 24:6, neither do any current earthquakes fulfill verse 7, nor does any persecution of the Church fulfill verse 9. We know this because verse 15 then speaks of the appearance of the Antichrist (before the regathering of Israel in verse 31, by the way).

The context of all prophecies will show that they cannot find their fulfillment during the dispensation of the Mystery. To say that prophecy is being fulfilled today is to mix God’s prophetic program for Israel with His mystery program for the Body of Christ—and to do this is an inconsistent hermeneutic for interpreting the Bible.

However, while we maintain that prophecy is not being fulfilled today, we can also see how current events could be “setting the stage,” so to speak, for prophetic events to occur after the Rapture.