The Kingdom of God is among us; “eschaton” is not an exclusive event of the future, we have received a foretaste of it through the Holy Ghost! As humankind trudged its way through “chronos” beneath the dominion and scourge of the present evil age and the dominion of sin they moved along a horizontal plane, with what seemed as very little divine intervention. History along this horizontal plane was replete with apocryphal writings and prophecies of a hopeful people seeking deliverance and/or a savior. Ancient Jewish literature is filled with apocryphal prophecies; their hope being deliverance from “chronos” and the ushering in of “kairos” by God through “Eschaton,” or “The Day of the Lord.” These actions would thus lead to the establishment of “The Kingdom of God,” in its perfect state!
The question may well be ask, “How does this apply to me as an apostolic living in a different epoch?” Things have dramatically shifted; we are not looking for the establishment of an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly. Humankind continues to exist along a horizontal plane, no hope, no peace, ever under the whip of sin’s dominion. Chronos and its existential conditions remain part of the human experience. But the advent of Christ broke into chronos, violently shattering its grip and moving those who would into the age to come or “the already but not yet,” kairos! How does this happen? It happens as the result of the new birth (repentance, baptism in Jesus Name and the infilling of the Holy Ghost) that frees us from the dominion of sin. The Holy Ghost is a foretaste of the Heavenly Kingdom, the earnest of our inheritance. The church lives in an eschatological tension, in a time when evil is still present but the power to overcome it has been made readily available through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the church and is a guarantee of that which is to come.
The advent of Christ was the Kingdom of God breaking in upon the present evil age, while not consummating the Kingdom. The consummation of the Kingdom only takes place when Christ returns the second time, which is described in scripture as “The Day of the Lord.” This means that while Christ tarries the Church has been imbued with power from on high to do Kingdom exploits, to speak in the realm of the prophetic and to operate in the realm of “kairos.” While not fully realized in earth “Eschaton” moves the church “into” the future, as a community and as individuals in particular we become part of something vastly superior in strength and quality. This superior quality and strength enables the church to operate triumphantly amidst this eschatological tension.
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