The Rambam put Moshiach right there in the 13 Ikrim. It is a very important part of us. The Gemara says that after 120 they ask if you were Metzape Leyeshua.
The Gemara that divides up the 6000 years into units of exact 2000 shows us that it was actually meant very literally. The interesting thing about that Gemara is that we see that if not for that Gemara we would definitely say it is not literal since the Torah was not given in the year 2000. However, the Gemara points to the Bris Bein Habesarim and calls that the beginning of the era of Torah.
The same goes for many things. Chazal say that even Malachim don’t get the Cheshbonos of Hashem. The Torah says that we were in Mitzrayim for 430 years, while we were only there for 210 years, and the heavy work was for 86 years. When Avraham Avinu was foretold about these 400 years he might have thought that the actual work was going to be for 400 full years. But Hashem has another way of calculating, that can only be realized afterwards. The same goes for the 70 years of Galus Bavel. While we take for granted that the 70 years goes from the Churban to the Binyan, this was far from simple at the time.
At the time this Braysa was put into the Gemara we were well into the last 2000 years.