THE ALREADY BUT NOT YET
This is from The Vineyard Statement of Faith:
We believe that God’s kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it continues to come in the ministry of the Spirit through the Church, and that it will be consummated in the glorious, visible and triumphant appearing of Christ; His return to the earth as King. After Christ returns to reign, He will bring about the final defeat of Satan and all of his minions and works, the resurrection of the dead, the final Judgment and the eternal blessing of the righteous and eternal conscious punishment of the wicked. Finally, God will be all in all and His kingdom, His rule and reign, will be fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth, recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells and in which He will forever be worshipped.
The Already
The Kingdom of God has already come in the ministry of Jesus and continues to come through the ministry of the Spirit in the church.
Mark 1:14-15 (NIV)
14 Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Matthew 12:22-29 (NIV)
22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.”
Matthew 10:7-8 (NIV)
7 As you go, proclaim this message: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”
Colossians 1:12-14
12 Give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the authority of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Jesus’ birth is the story of the rightful King’s invasion into enemy-occupied territory and the initiation of the restoration of God’s Kingdom on Earth. Amazingly, God sent His OWN Son to rescue us!
Jesus’ teachings, healings, miracles and deliverances are power encounters attacking Satan’s kingdom. Through His perfect obedience to God’s law and His Father’s will, Jesus was qualified to be our substitute and the sacrifice for our sin.
What seemed to be the greatest Kingdom defeat—the King’s death on the cross—is revealed as the greatest Kingdom victory because the King came back to life. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sinners are forgiven, rebels are reconciled with God and captives are set free from Satan’s kingdom. Having accomplished the Victory, Jesus ascends back to Heaven with all authority in Heaven and on Earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
When we repent and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven and we are given the righteousness of Jesus. We are rescued from the kingdom of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of Light. We are reborn as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Spirit was given to the church to indwell and empower God’s people to carry on Jesus’ ministry of setting captives free from Satan’s kingdom. Just as we have freely received the Kingdom, we freely share the Kingdom with all.
The Not Yet
There is much of the Kingdom of God that we are experiencing already. However, there is more to come. We aren’t in Heaven yet.
This is why the Christian life is one of both abundant life and intense spiritual warfare. The Christian life is learning to live like Jesus by assimilating the values, priorities and mission of this new Kingdom in a world that is still captive to the kingdom of Satan.
1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)
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 John 3:2 (NIV)
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Romans 8:22-25 (NIV)
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
1 Corinthians 15:22-25 (NIV)
22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The Jewish Expectation and the Bible’s Reality
This Already but Not Yet of God’s Kingdom was not expected by the Jews in Jesus’ day. Here’s how they would have diagramed their expectation of the Kingdom:
One reason why the Jews reject Jesus is because He didn’t fulfill this expectation.
This, however, is the diagram of the Kingdom reality as found in the Bible:
We live in the overlap of The Present Age and The Age to Come where the Kingdom has come but not fully come. This is called the Already but Not Yet.
The Kingdom is really here but not fully here.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
You can picture the Already but Not Yet of the Kingdom like a massive dam.
At His first coming, Jesus opened the sluice gates—the river of the Kingdom of God is already flowing with great power. Yet there is still so much more to come. When Jesus returns, the dam will burst, and the river of the Kingdom will flood the whole world.
Sound the siren! The King has come—and He is coming again!
Living in the Tension
The Way believes that God’s healing power is still available today and that healing prayer is an important part of the ministry of the church.
However, we also know there is tension between the Already and Not Yet of God’s Kingdom. We all struggle with expectations and disappointments. How can we live in this tension and with this struggle?
This is from WHAT IS THE KINGDOM? A Vineyard Perspective on the Kingdom of God:
The Kingdom Not Yet
While the kingdom of God was breaking into the world through Jesus, all human suffering, pain, and difficulty did not disappear. In fact, it still remains with us to this day. For Jesus, while the kingdom of God was happening in the present, it was also yet to come in all its fullness in the future.
Through Jesus, God had inaugurated the kingdom on earth, but he would consummate it one day in the future. In practical terms, this means that when we pray for the sick (a hallmark of the Vineyard from the beginning), some will be healed and others will not. Yet, with faith, we pray confidently for healing and entrust the results to God.
The Dynamic Tension We Live In
In the Vineyard, we embrace this dynamic tension. While we believe that God’s kingdom can invade any moment of our lives, not everyone will experience God’s love the way we want for them. We rejoice when one person experiences a miracle of healing, while we grieve as another person succumbs to the effects of cancer or poverty.
Some Christians respond to this tension between the now and the not yet of the kingdom by saying that God does not do miracles today. They contend that the gifts given by the Spirit of God were just for Jesus’ time and are not available to us now.
Some Christians respond to this tension by largely ignoring the reality that suffering continues in the world. These groups triumphantly declare that the kingdom should always be experienced demonstrably in the here and now—or something is wrong. If we don’t experience a moment of physical healing or personal transformation, it is probably our fault. For them, unanswered prayer reveals a lack of faith in us—and we had better work up more if want to see God do what he has promised to do.
How We Carry This Tension In The Vineyard
In the Vineyard, we choose to respectfully step away from both of these extremes. We believe that a necessary tension will always exist between the now and the not yet of the kingdom. We pray for the sick, and we have seen many healed. We do the work of compassion, and we have seen the poor restored to hope. But we do not always see the results we want to see this side of heaven. Yet we believe that every faith-filled act of prayer puts a deposit of love in to the person who is suffering. And we have testimonies from every corner of the earth that, at times, the kingdom of God does break through with power to heal those who are sick.
As we live in this interim time, the kingdom of God to come is our future hope. It is a day when the Scriptures tell us that “all things will be made new” (Rev. 21:5) and every tear will be wiped away from the face of the brokenhearted (Rev. 21:4). It is the day Isaiah prophesied would come (Is. 35:1-10), and John describes in his vision in Revelation 21:1-5. There will be no more innocent girls enslaved in the sex trafficking industry. There will be no more cancer. There will be an end to poverty. God will one day right this world.
Toward that day, we trust, we hope, and we pray in the way Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
Stand AND Lean
What stance should we take regarding the Already and the Not Yet of God’s Kingdom? Think of it this way: just as we stand on two feet, we stand on both the Already and the Not Yet of God’s Kingdom. When we stand on both, we remain balanced.
However, as we stand on both legs, let’s lean toward The Already of God’s Kingdom. Let’s boldly pray and believe and hope for God’s Kingdom to come to Earth now. Let’s lean, but not fall over.
As we lean into The Already, let’s remain aware—sometimes painfully aware—of The Not Yet. We’re not in Heaven yet, but we still pray that Heaven will increasingly come to Earth in our lives and through our ministry.
How Much Kingdom Now?
The fullness of the Kingdom is still to come, so how much of the Kingdom can we experience in this life? Good question.
Rather than endlessly debating the answer, let’s go find out.
Let’s pray for the sick.
Let’s care for the poor.
Let’s share the Good News of Jesus.
As we do, we will sometimes see the Kingdom break in with surprising power. Other times we will wait, hope, and continue to pray. This is what the Vineyard has often called living naturally supernatural lives—simply doing the things Jesus taught us to do while trusting the Holy Spirit to work through us.
One thing is certain though: we will experience far more of the Kingdom by practicing it than by wondering about it. So let’s lean into obedience and pray the prayer Jesus taught us:
Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.