The Already and the Not Yet

I’ve often tried to grasp the thought of what it will be like in Heaven. Specifically, what I will be like in Heaven and what life will be like. I’ve tried to imagine myself with absolutely no sin and a world without a curse. This thought always stops me in my tracks as it is an unthinkable phenomenon. Picture yourself in the presence of a perfectly Holy, Righteous, Loving, Merciful, Gracious, Kind, and Compassionate God who, for the first time, looks at you in complete and full acceptance. That alone is mind blowing. Then imagine the Son’s work being completed, your mortal body is now immortal, all of creation is restored back to perfection and you stand complete (perfect) before Him in a blessed world. Again, I have to stop in reverence to the glorious thought.

We live between the already and the not yet. We have already been chosen as Children of God, but with regards to our perfection, we experience the not yet. I remember being almost 11 and hearing that I was going to meet my dad for the first time. I remember being filled with excitement and fear at the same time. The thought of spending time with him excited me yet the fear of him not accepting me intensified the anticipation. Living between the already and the not yet is much like the anticipation of meeting your father for the first with the exception of fear. We should not fear for Christ signed the adoption paperwork with His blood, paid the ransom of wrath and rose up to prepare our future home in Glory. He has already accepted the true Believer; the only thing left is when He returns to take us to our new home. For the Christian, this is like an orphan who has been adopted and is now awaiting the arrival of his new parents. The past is almost forgotten in the light of what is yet to come.

Paul, in Romans 8:18-19, speaks of this transition period when he wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” If anyone knew suffering, it was the Apostle Paul. He suffered on so many accounts, yet he was always looking to his future revealing and glorification. In fact, there are too many instances in his writings to list all of them in this blog. Simply pick any book he authored and I bet you will find at least one reference to this thought. To grasp Paul’s attitude towards his earthly life, consider what he wrote in 2 Corinthians:

2 Cor 1:8-10; His reality: “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.” His revelation: “He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again .”

2 Cor 2:12-14; His reality: “When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ … my spirit was not at rest ….” His revelation: “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession ….”

2 Cor 4:8-18; His reality: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” His revelation: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.”

2 Cor 12:7-9; His reality: “A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.” His revelation: “But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”.

This is how Paul persevered in his present time; Phil 3:12-14 “Not that I have already obtained this (righteousness) or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” So shall we also.

The sufferings of this present time should always be endured in the hope and anticipation of our future glory. As we read on in Romans 8, we see that all of creation groans with us as we wait “eagerly for adoption as sons” and the “redemption of our bodies”. Why? Rom 8:24-25 – “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Our hope rests not in the things of this world or the removal of the trials we now face, but in the future glory of our perfection and the glorious presence of God in a glorious world of perfection and being in perfect fellowship with Christ forever.