Futurism is the view that most prophecies have future fulfillments, particularly those concerning the end of the age, the Day of the Lord, and the return of Christ. The churches of God hold this position because the Old and New Testaments speak of these events as still ahead. Most futurists also hold to the principle of type and antitype, or dual prophecy. A prophecy receives a minor fulfillment within a generation or two of when it was given, and then a larger, more significant, sometimes spiritual fulfillment at the end time before Christ's rule. Isaiah, for example, prophesied in Hezekiah's day about Babylon, only about a hundred years ahead, yet those prophecies also point to a greater fulfillment still to come. Futurism stands against idealism, which allegorizes prophecy, against historicism, which treats prophecy as history written after the fact, and against preterism, which claims prophecy is already fulfilled. Its handling of Matthew 24:34 shows how it reads prophecy. Christ speaks in a "prophetic tense," reflecting God's view of time, which shifts between present and distant future without clear markers. "This generation" therefore refers to the generation that has the technology to destroy all flesh, as Matthew 24:22 implies, and so the Great Tribulation is still future. The proper response is to know the prophecies themselves, avoid confident speculation, watch, and be ready.

Richard Ritenbaugh, citing Mark Twain's aphorism, "The art of prophecy is difficult, especially with respect to the future," points out that there are too many variables for any human to predict accurately. We can be thankful that God's prognostications and prophecies are totally trustworthy, many of which have already come to pass. God is a forecaster extraordinaire. Prophecy is the ability to forecast an event in advance. Many predictions are quite probable with regard to general predictions, but the more qualifiers and variables we add, the less probability the prophecy will work out. Some futurists, like H. G. Wells, have been successful in their prognostications, although many turned out to be duds. We should gaze forward, anticipating what God will reveal to us, becoming "nostalgic about the future," and not wistfully looking back, lingering or dallying, as did Lot and his family. By looking back, Lot's wife was boldly repudiating the will of God. Once we have made the commitment to follow God, to recount the cost would be suicidal. God has to come first before anyone else from the time of commitment and beyond. Looking back leads to "plowing a crooked furrow." Paul assured us that pressing forward to knowing Christ makes every other goal rubbish. In putting all into the goal of following and knowing Christ, we are not alone; we have a big cloud of witnesses who have provided us an example to follow something we cannot immediately see, except through the lens of faith.