Believers in Jesus are people of multiple focal points. We walk in the time dimensions of faith, hope and love. We live in the seen realm while we look at the unseen. We live out the will of God for our lives today while we look forward to our prophetic future. We are a people of two worlds. Is it possible to live a balanced two dimensional life? 

Already But Not Yet

• The Jews, in Jesus day were Messiah thinkers.
• They were ‘up the road thinkers’ always looking to the future.
• They were end time thinkers. They looked for the Messiah who would bring the end.
• The end meant a new beginning; the beginning of God’s new age, the Age of the Messiah.
• Isa. 11:4-9 describes this age known to the Jews.

Isaiah 11:4–9 (KJV)
⁴ But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, And reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. ⁵ And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, And faithfulness the girdle of his reins. ⁶ The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid; And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. ⁷ And the cow and the bear shall feed; Their young ones shall lie down together: And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸ And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, And the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. ⁹ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.

• The people tried to put Jesus into this mold of a ‘right now’ deliverer.
• Instead, Jesus laid a bombshell onto the Jewish mindset.
• He told them the kingdom they were looking for was already in their midst.

Luke 17:20–21 (KJV)
²⁰ And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: ²¹ Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

• Jesus kept hinting at this singular thought, the kingdom you are seeking is already here.
• What about Isaiah’s prophecy then? Did Jesus cast it aside? Is there a Kingdom of God to come?
• Yes, the kingdom is here but it’s also not yet here.
• This is what the scribes, the Pharisees, the scholars, and even the common Jewish person, didn’t see.
• There is a present component to the kingdom and a future component to the kingdom.
• It can be summed up in these words.
• Already but not yet.
• Already but not yet is not just a concept for first century Messiah watchers.
• It has strong implications for twenty-first century, Second Coming, Jesus watchers.
• Believers in Jesus are people of multiple realms and multiple dimensions.
• We live in the today but yet we look for the glories of tomorrow.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (KJV)
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

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• We live in the seen; we look at the unseen, that’s two realms.
• We are people of the spiritual realm and we are people of the natural realm.
• With our Spirits we contact God, the Creator of the Universe.
• With our bodies we take out the trash.
• We live in both worlds.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV)
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Three realms are described in this verse in Thessalonians – spirit, soul, and body.
• We could say it this way spiritual, mental, and physical.
• Believers in Jesus are people of multiple realms and multiple time dimensions.
• As believers in Christ, we are people of the present.
  • We labor with God in the here and now.
• But we are also people of the future.
• We are people of today and we are people of tomorrow.
• We are people who are dealing with the already but yet looking for the not yet.
• Christians are today and tomorrow folk.
• We all have had trying days in our lives. We refuse to allow those days to get us down.
• Why? because we have tomorrow to look forward to.
• The God who helps us today is also the God who holds tomorrow in His hand.
• Is that why the Lord gave you two feet?
• One to help you take a step today and one to plant firmly into tomorrow?

Bible Examples of Today and Tomorrow Living

The Lords Table

1 Corinthians 11:26 (KJV)
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

• The ‘today component’ in this verse is the communion table that we celebrate.
• The bread represents the body of Jesus and the cup represents the blood of Jesus.
• In the ‘today dimension’, we appropriate all this table represents.
• We appropriate healing for our bodies because His body was broken for us.
• We appropriate forgiveness for sins because His blood was poured out for us.
• The words, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup” is set firmly in today.
• But we do all of this against the ‘back drop of tomorrow.’
• Because while we yet have the elements of the Lord’s Table in our mouth’s, we are looking for the future return of Jesus.
• We shew the Lord’s death until He comes. Comes? That is, comes the second time.
• So, we celebrate Jesus today, but all the while, we look for Jesus tomorrow.

The Judgement Seat of Christ

2 Corinthians 5:10 (KJV)
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

• It is a wise thing to calculate tomorrow when you’re engaging ‘present’ day activities.
• Believers should know something about tomorrow.
• We know there is a judgment Seat of Christ.
• We know we are going to have to give an account for our actions today.
• Knowing this, we do something about it today.
• If we need to adjust, we do it today. Why? Tomorrow is coming.
• If we need to repent, we do it today. Why? Tomorrow is coming.
• If we need to forgive, we do it today. Why? Tomorrow is coming.
• Nothing can stop tomorrow from coming.
• What is not yet will yet be.
• If we need to engage the will of God, we do it today. Why? because of the certainty of tomorrow.
• We adjust the ‘the deeds of the body’ today, because tomorrow’s judgment is coming.

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Witnessing of Jesus

2 Corinthians 5:11 (KJV)
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

• Because we know there is a judgment tomorrow, we persuade men today.

Hebrews 10:31 (KJV)
³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

• Because we understand the fear of the Lord, we do something today; we persuade men.
• Because we understand tomorrow, we have a conviction about the need for our testimony today.
• The souls of men are at stake; tomorrow is certain and sure.

Sowing into the Kingdom

Galatians 6:9 (KJV)
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

• Here we have it again, the two dimensions, today and tomorrow.
• Where is the tomorrow part? It is in the phrase ‘due season’.
• We are going to reap in due season. This means tomorrow not today.
• You don’t plant a seed today and reap today. You plant a seed and reap tomorrow.
• What do we do today?
• We plant the seed today. We cultivate the seed today. We water the seed today.
• We know it will come up tomorrow and so our action today is to make sure that we are not weary or lose heart in doing well.
• Doing well is planting seed.
• We keep planting seed today.
• We keep doing well today.
• We keep putting the seed into the ground because of tomorrow.
• You cannot plant seed today and not look at tomorrow.

Galatians 6:7 (KJV)
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

• What kind of seeds did you plant this week? How much ‘well doing’ did you put into the ground knowing tomorrow is coming?

‘Some of us need to pray for crop failure,’ one minister said.

• Because we planted the wrong kind of seeds today.

Working for the Lord

1 Timothy 4:10 (KJV)
¹⁰ For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

• Because we have hope in God, we labor and strive in God today.
• The word’s ‘labor’ and ‘strive’ are working or energy words.
• Are you working for God today?
• Where have you expended your energy for Him this week?
• How have you striven because of your hope in God?
• What happens to us is the same thing that happened to the Jews of Jesus day.
• They got stuck in one dimension.
• They looked for ‘the not yet’, out in the future and missed ‘the already’, in the present.
• They kept looking for the future and they missed ‘the now’.
• A lot of us are the other way around.
• We get stuck in the muck and mire of today and we forget there even is a tomorrow.
• A healthy believer has both today and tomorrow firmly in his sights.
• Your confidence in tomorrow is one of the things that separate you from the world.
• The world lives in the today.
• They want everything now.
• They’ll take it yesterday if they could get their hands on it.
• They want all they can have and they want it right now.
• But you are not as they are. You are a balanced people of two realms.

Call to Action:

So, you have come to see the importance of living today with one eye toward the future. Maybe you need to make some adjustments. Think in these terms. After all, adjustments is part and parcel of the Christian experience.

Questions: What type of adjustments have you had to make to align yourself with God’s Word in the area we just talked about? Please share a comment below.