The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. - (Joh 4:23)
and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come - (Heb 6:5)
We believers are fascinating creatures, simultaneously operating in two realms in two different aspects of life: We are situated in both the natural and spiritual arenas, and we are living in two timeframes, the present and the Coming Hour.
No matter where you are as you read this, scripture says we are currently seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6). The writer of Hebrews states we have come to "the City of God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Heb 12:22). We can draw upon the treasures of these locations, for Jesus Christ assures us, "the Kingdom of God is at hand" (Mk 1:15).
"At hand" signifies ready access to things within reach. Our Very Present Help is a refuge and a strength (Ps 46:1) for those who believe!
But I am currently thinking about the divine clock, not the divine map.
We use the term "present" to refer to both time and place. You are presently present somewhere as you read this. For us who believe, the Kingdom of God and the Coming Hour are also presently present, that we might be witnesses of their presence. We are not the ones out of place and out of time; the Lost are.
Like Daniel amid dozens of people under a decree of death and like Paul among dozens of people in danger at sea, we are to honor God and bless our fellow man by tapping into the relevant reality of another realm, a heavenly time and place.
My quote of Hebrews 6:5 at the top lists tasting the goodness of God AND the powers of the age to come as fundamental aspects of his very definition of a Christian. I say the two parts of his description align with the two definitions of presence that we are considering.
Further, he doesn't say a Christian merely believes in these things, but "tastes" them. A Christian experiences them by drawing upon them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Ps 34:8).
Mary believed her brother Lazarus would live again, in a blessed Coming Hour. But Jesus demonstrated that not only was she in the presence of the Kingdom of God, but the Coming Hour was also a present reality for her. Frankly, the Clock of Heaven was the bigger revelation for her. Perhaps it is for us, too.
It is a cop-out for us to believe big thoughts about a coming day, while believing only small thoughts for today. "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" (Joh 11:40). But we will see His glory in the day we believe for it: Believe it is for someday and you will see it someday. But we are exhorted to believe in it for today, that we might experience it today.
There is a place where no bodies are broken. And there is a time coming when the bodies of our loved ones, along with the bodies of those Christ loves (though they don't yet know Him), will not be broken. We can draw from there and then today for those broken ones.
The same is true for the myriad ways this world is out of sync with, and in rebellion against, the Kingdom of God. There is a time and place where the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth like the waters cover the seas (Is 11:9). But here and now we are to be ambassadors of another realm and time.
As ambassadors, we are not only called to represent the spirituals, but also portray them, even lay them before the locals so they can sample them. Think of Abraham's servant persuading Rebekah to come out to Isaac. Yes, he spoke convincingly, but he also brought some of the wealth of Abraham with him for her to handle.
Christ invaded this sad, rebellious world to announce His Kingdom and the Day of the Lord. As on D-Day, He has established a beachhead in enemy held territory at great personal cost. He has commissioned His Body, empowered by His Spirit, to press on and out from that beachhead.
We don't need new weapons or tactics for our day. Because we are in the same Day in which Christ and His Apostles walked and worked, the Today of God. That day has stretched across twenty centuries of this world's calendar. We need to walk and work as they did, using the same weapons they did.
The result? The word of God, latent in His promises, will "become flesh and dwell among us." The glory of Christ, seated by the Father, can be revealed in our presence. We are either windows that let it shine in or doors that shut it out.
I say the glory of the Risen Christ which everyone, friend and foe, will one day behold ought to be presently present. What say you?
- Matt Schilling
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