Already/Not Yet: Living Between the King's Arrival and His Return

Jesus' first sermon announced it: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). The kingdom had arrived — in Him. But then He taught His disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10) — as if it hadn't. Both are true. The kingdom is already here, and not yet fully here. Theologians call it inaugurated eschatology. The New Testament just calls it the Christian life.

Think of it like D-Day and V-Day. On D-Day, the outcome of the war was decided — the decisive blow was struck. But the fighting continued until V-Day, when the victory was fully realized. The cross was D-Day: "having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15). The enemy's defeat is certain. But Paul still tells Christians to put on armor, because "we wrestle not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12). The victory is won; the mopping-up continues.

The resurrection is the pattern. Christ is "the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20) — firstfruits, the sample of the coming harvest. His resurrection body is the preview of ours. It's already happened for Him; not yet for us. "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming" (1 Corinthians 15:23). The future has broken into the present in one Person, and it's spreading.

That's why the Christian life feels like groaning mixed with glory. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now... we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:22-23). Groaning isn't a sign the gospel failed — it's the sound of people who've tasted the already and ache for the not-yet. Hope lives in the gap: "we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope" (Romans 8:24).

And the already/not-yet isn't just a doctrine to understand — it's a way to live. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). The future pulls the present forward. Because the kingdom is coming in full, we live kingdom-shaped lives now: forgiving as the forgiven, giving as the enriched, hoping as the certain.

One day the tension resolves. "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:4). Until then, we live in the overlap — citizens of the arrived kingdom, soldiers in the unfinished war, groaning with hope. Already loved. Not yet home.

If you want to walk through this thread day by day, the study Already/Not Yet is in the Ten Threads collection.