Accessible Eschatology: already, but not yet

The central thrust of New Testament eschatology can be summed up in one phrase: already, but not yet.

At the end of my last post, I said this idea has the power to serve as a holistic framework for the way a Christian looks at life. That sounds a little over the top, doesn't it? Do I really mean that? Well, yes. When I first heard a professor focus on the already-but-not-yet character of our life in Christ, it gave me a row of hooks to hang all my hats on. It fits the biblical evidence so well, I would be so bold as to say it's the second-most important Christian idea that is only indirectly taught in the Bible, right behind the doctrine of the Trinity.

The "already" is about the fact that the kingdom of God has already come to earth. Jesus came as God in the flesh, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. He lived a perfect life, empowered by the Holy Spirit, saying and doing exactly what God the Father wanted him to say and do. He healed the sick, embraced the outcast, challenged corrupt authorities, and taught broken people about eternal life. He died for all people, making it possible for us to be reconciled with a holy God, corrupt though we are. As a result, those who embrace Christ are current participants in the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit, who was only given to special individuals under special circumstances in the Old Testament, is now available to the entire community of people who follow Christ, just as the prophet Joel had promised.

The "not yet" is about the fact that the kingdom of God has not yet reached its ultimate fulfillment on earth. Jesus did not bring final judgment on the wickedness of this earth, so the good stuff remains mingled with the bad stuff. Everything is in shades of gray, the worthless so frustratingly intertwined with the worthwhile. The Old Testament expectation of the Messiah had included complete restoration and redemption - socially, politically, economically, spiritually, physically, vocationally... you name it. It had included Judgment Day, because that had to be part of the equation; if God were to usher in a golden age, he would have had to cleanse Israel from all evil. Christians continue to embrace this Old Testament hope for the consummation of the kingdom of God on earth, which we expect to occur when Jesus returns to earth (cf. Acts 1:1-11).

One way to put this is that we are currently living in an era that is an overlap of the old era (earth before the Messiah) and the new era (earth under the Messiah's rule). A visual representation of this is helpful (this is from our professor/boss/friend Craig Blomberg's Jesus and the Gospels, p. 385 - click the image for a larger view):


Thus our life in Christ is replete with the tension between the already and the not-yet. We experience it in our struggle with sin: we have the power of the Spirit living within us to make us conquerors over sin, yet we still struggle almost constantly with our enduring sinful tendencies (see Romans 7-8). We experience it in our worship and knowledge of God: "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12) We experience it in our churches: the church is sometimes the most beautiful example of community the world has ever seen, yet it has known all the interpersonal ugliness one can find anywhere else in the world. We experience it in our mission in the world: the gospel continues to spread in Africa, Asia, and Latin America; William Wilberforce successfully argued for the end of the slave trade in England; the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement here in the U.S. brought an end to institutionalized racism, and we now have a biracial president... YET, the gospel has eroded in lands once populated with Christians through forces such as Islam in the 7th century and the Enlightenment in the 18th; though no longer sanctioned by our governments, there is more slavery on our globe today than at any point in human history; much of the Western world has decided it's okay to kill the most vulnerable persons in our societies for the sake of convenience. We experience it in our work: we often find satisfaction in our efforts and toils, particularly when we get to do something we enjoy or when the fruits of our labors are evident, yet we all too often find work to be a frustrating, futile endeavor, or our job brings us very little joy, or demand drops and we lose our income.

There's plenty more to say on this topic, but there's already plenty of food for thought in this post, so we'll draw the line here and save some for the next post, where we'll talk about the "already, but not yet" in spiritual formation.