Mike,

Has man been on the earth for millions of years? Do you think it could be possible that Christ not return for over 10,000 years?

God be with you,
J____

Hi J____,
Thank you for your questions. Your first question is:

Has man been on the earth for millions of years?

The answer is, no man has not been on the earth for millions of years. If he has, then the entire Bible is a lie. Here is what the scriptures plainly teach:

Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

It is neither scientific nor scriptural to attempt to take away the qualifying statements of how long were the days of Creation. The scriptures declare that those six days consisted of  exactly six “evenings and mornings.”

Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 
Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

That is very clear language with very clear, six times repeated qualifying remarks which tell us that Christ created all that is in the heavens and in the earth, in six “evenings and mornings.”
Add this very plain verse to those very plain verses, and you get the very plain truth of the scriptures:

Isa 48:3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

“From the beginning… they went forth out of my mouth… I did them suddenly.” Christ is telling us that “from the [ very] beginning” he spoke the entire creation into existence. Here is the Hebrew word translated “suddenly.”

H6597
   
pith’o m  pith’o m
pith- ome’, pith- ome’
From H6621; instantly: – straightway, sudden (- ly).
Here are a couple of instances of how this word is used elsewhere in scripture:

Jos 11:7 So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly; and they fell upon them.
Isa 29:5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

It will be the holy spirit which will impart the faith to put the Word of God above “science falsely so called.” It did not take millions of years for a hen to lay an egg, nor did an egg lay on the ground for millions of years waiting to hatch, and it is a sure thing that the egg did not evolve without a hen to sit on and hatch the egg. God has given plenty of scientific proofs to those to whom He gives the faith of Jesus Christ, but it will still take the faith of Jesus to overcome all the lies of “science falsely so called:”

1Ti 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane [ and] vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

The scriptures simply do not reveal or permit millions of years since Adam and Eve, whereas they do reveal that the heavens and the earth were created in six evenings and mornings, and that they were spoken into existence “at an instant, suddenly.”
Your second question was:

Do you think it could be possible that Christ not return for over 10,000 years?”

No, absolutely not! The seven day week and the seven holy days of the Jewish calendar year are both the Old Testament types of God’s Workings with mankind during what Paul calls “time eonian.”
Each life in this “vessel of clay” is an ‘aion’ unto itself. So when Christ’s apostles asked him “what would be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world,” what they asked in the Greek was ‘What will be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the ‘aion’ or age.”

Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what [ shall be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

This is the exact same question you are asking, and it is the same question we all have asked in our turn. Mat 24 and Luk 21 both record Christ’s answer to this question, and I certainly do not believe that I can do any better at answering this question than did Christ.
But I will point out that after telling us all that:

Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [ these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Apostasy deceiving many, wars among nations, famines pestilences, and earthquakes, are “all   the beginnings of sorrows.” Christ continues to answer this question about when he will return, and when the end of the age will occur:

Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, ( whoso readeth, let him understand:)

There it is! The end of the age comes after the gospel has been preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. That event is apparently preceded by “the abomination of desolation, standing in the holy place.” But notice that Christ interrupts Himself to tell us “whoso readeth, let him understand.”
So right here in the middle of answering the question of when He would return, we are made to know that everything being spoken in answer to this question is being spoken in words that no one will understand but those to whom it is “given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

The fact that He says “read” instead of ‘hear,’ indicates that Christ knew full well that people would be reading His words for many years to come. He actually tells us this, just a few verses later:

Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

“It is near, even at the doors… My words will not pass away.” So what Christ is telling us is something that will be true in every generation and will not pass away. But look at that amazing statement right there in the midst of these verses: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” 
So, if you are given the faith to see and hear and read and understand, then you will understand that everything Christ just said, was “fulfilled in that generation,” and has been being fulfilled in every generation since Christ. If you “read and understand” what is “the abomination of desolation,” then you will also understand that the gospel was preached to all nations in that generation and that the end came in that generation, and since His words never pass away, the end comes in every generation that reads and understands what is “the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.”
But now notice and believe the next verse. Everything we have read is primarily spiritual in it’s application. If it is taken to be primarily physical in its application, it will never be understood, and Christ will have been made out to be a common liar. Here is what Christ tells us of what we can know of the timing of His coming:

Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

So none of us can know when Christ will come into our lives, dethrone the beast of self, sitting on the throne of our heart, and begin His rule in our lives. But what is true of the spiritual coming is also true of His rulership over the literal and physical kingdoms of this world, by our Lord and His Christ:

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
But the truth is that Christ’s own apostles were not converted themselves until the day of Pentecost, and so they pose this question to our Lord again after His resurrection:

Act 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Act 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

There is that statement about preaching the gospel “unto the uttermost part of the earth” which we were told by our Lord in Mat 24, would be done in that generation. That will make no sense at all, and will only make Christ out to be a liar until we are given to understand that “Jerusalem  and all Judaea, and the uttermost part of the earth,” is the same thing as “all the cities of Israel,” in this verse:

Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

“You will not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son Of Man be come” demonstrates that “the utter most parts of the earth,” and the “cities of Israel” are both within the hearts and minds of God’s elect, and the phrase “will not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son Of Man be come,” is just another way of saying that we will “die daily” until we relinquish this “vessel of clay” in the death of this sinful flesh. Only then will we, as our Lord, be perfected:

Luk 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
So, once again let us ask the question which all of Christ’s disciples ask as newborn babes, “When shall these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
And once again, let us allow Christ to answer that question. It is not the answer any babe in Christ wants to hear, but it is the only true answer we have in scripture:

Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
I will close with one more verse, coming directly from the mouth of our Lord and bearing on this very question:

Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [ is] the evil thereof.

Here is the context of that statement, and it serves to show how utterly unnecessary is it that we know the times or season of the coming of our Lord:

Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [ shall he] not much more [ clothe] you, O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Do not bother yourself with the times or seasons of Christ’s coming to rule this physical earth. Concern yourself only with His kingdom. Where is that kingdom?

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

While we tend to concern ourselves with the outward and the dispensational, Christ and His Father are concerned with what is within:

Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [ you and me, Lord willing] with better sacrifices than these.

“Clean first the inside of the cup… cleanse the heavens,” and then you can rest assured that Christ will always be right on time for every appointment He has be assigned of His Father:
I hope this helps you to understand that God is working a short work now just as he did in the beginning, and I hope this helps to give you Christ’s “take no thought of the morrow” mindset towards the times and seasons of His outward, physical coming to rule the nations of this world with a rod of iron.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike