The Christian life is filled with doctrines that affirm truths which seem mutually exclusive or contradictory. Perhaps most famous is the Trinity, as we believe in one God who exists eternally in three persons who share the same essence and yet are distinct persons. Another key one is the idea that Jesus is both fully God and fully man, with these two natures existing in one person in a way that they are inseparable but not combined. We believe that the Bible is God’s Word written through human messengers so that the words both reflect the personalities of the authors but also the very words of God. Christians believe that God is absolutely sovereign over the world and that humans are responsible and accountable to our choices. Christians are called to be people who speak in both truth and love, who stand unwavering in our commitments and beliefs while also loving those who not only disagree with us but even seek to hurt us. All these have led me to say many times over the years that in a world of “either/or” we serve a “both/and” God.
The kingdom of God is another one of these “both/and” truths because the Bible shows that the kingdom of God is something that has come and also is something that will come. Theologians refer to this idea as the “already-not yet” or the “now and not yet” nature of the kingdom of God; another term that people have used for this idea is “inaugurated eschatology” which means that the end (eschatology is the study of the “last things”) had already started in the present. Let me explore how both of these both/and truths are found in the Bible and then turn to discuss why it is important to remember both.
The Kingdom Has Come
Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God arrives in his ministry here on earth. This is the essence of the first words Jesus speaks in the Gospel of Mark: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). The Gospel of Matthew has a similar statement as Jesus’s first public words but utilizes another way of referencing this same kingdom: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). The arrival of the kingdom of God in Jesus is also made clear in his ability to cast out demons (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20). The present nature of the kingdom of God is also found in Jesus’s words in Luke 17:20-21, where he responds to the Pharisees’ question about when the kingdom of God would come by saying, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; no one will say, ‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” Jesus instructed his disciples to declare that reality as well, both when they performed miracles (Matthew 10:7; Luke 10:9; also see Luke 9:2) and also when they were rejected by others (Luke 10:11).
The present nature of the kingdom of God may also be revealed in the way that Jesus describes people as belonging or being in the kingdom of God. For example, Jesus says in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” He does not say, “it will be theirs,” which would point to it not being here. Rather, it seems that they already are in possession of the kingdom of God in a certain sense. When we recognize that the kingdom of God is His reign and rule, we see that this is something that breaks into the present and into our lives as well.
I believe that some of Jesus’s parables also point to the present nature of the kingdom of God, such as the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19) that could be interpreted as noting that the kingdom of God has come in “seed” form. That parable, however, I think also points us to the fact that the kingdom of God is not yet here in that the time of the “harvest” has not yet arrived.
The Kingdom Will Come
At the same time that Jesus says that the kingdom of God has come, he also talks a lot about a day when the kingdom of God will come. For example, in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, 47-50, Jesus tells parables about the kingdom of God that speaks about a day in which the good and bad will be separated and receive different judgments. Similarly, Jesus tells parables in Matthew 25 about the kingdom in which a person goes away for a time but then will return, pointing to the idea that there are important future developments when it comes to the kingdom of God. When the Book of Revelation describes what happens at Christ’s return, it says “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15), indicating that this is the moment in which the world as a whole is under the reign and rule of God; that day has not yet come so one that we still await.
The “not yet” nature of the kingdom of God is also seen in two regular practices of the church: communion and the Lord’s Prayer. When Jesus established communion, he said “Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:25). These words indicate that there is a new day to come in this kingdom; it is not yet here. In addition, if the kingdom was not still to come, then it would not make sense for Jesus to tell his disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10) as he does in the prayer that he taught his disciples and that his church has prayed through the ages. Jesus thus invites us to enter the kingdom of God now but also to long for and await for it to come.
Why We Need to Remember The Kingdom Has Come and Will Come
There are more verses and passage that I could refer back to in terms of both the “now” and the “not yet”-ness of the kingdom of God, but I will stop there because I want to move to the question of why it is important for us to remember these two ideas that seem mutually exclusive but Jesus affirms are both true.
If we fail to remember and recognize that the kingdom of God has come, we will forget the blessings that we already see at work in this age in terms of overcoming sin and the forces of evil. Because the kingdom of God has come, we know that Satan stands defeated and limited in what he can do. The Spirit can lead us to overcome sinful tendencies in our life, and we can expect to see the Spirit at work in ways that restore pieces and parts of the world back to the way that God intended for it to be like. The “already” and “now”-ness of the kingdom also points to us having hope and joy even in this world because God is at work.
At the same time, if we forget the “not yet”-ness, we might be left thinking that all the blessings that God promises are here now. This could lead us to be overly optimistic or triumphant in life, thinking that we can fully overcome the effects of sin upon us. It could also lead to us being disillusioned, thinking that “this is all there is” when things aren’t that good or to wonder why every miracle to pray for doesn’t happen. We need to remember the kingdom of God has come and is advancing in our world now but that it has not fully arrived so we will always feel a little homesick and have something to look forward to.
While we need to keep both truths in mind, we likely have a natural tendency to go towards one or the other. The Bible not only teaches us the need to keep both truths in mind but also helps us to do so because it seems that the Christians that received the letters and writings of the Apostles also struggled with it and drifted off to one extreme or the other. Therefore, the best way to remember and uphold both truths is to keep looking back to the Word to be reminded of the reality of a kingdom that both has come and will come. Let’s be people of the “both/and” kingdom in the midst of our “either/or” world.
Questions about the Bible or theology? Email them to Pastor Brian at Theology@WeAreFaith.org. You can also email to be added to the list that receives weekly emails with our blog posts.
