Theologians sometimes describe this delay as the “already” and the “not yet.” God’s kingdom has already come, but it is not yet here in all its glory. Christ has already come, but He has not yet come again. The Puritans described the same truth in a different way. They made a distinction between the “kingdom of grace” and the “kingdom of glory.” These are not two different kingdoms, but one kingdom in two installments.

Philip Graham Ryken (b. 1966), Theologe, Pastor & Präsident des Wheaton College

Topics: Eternity & Hope Beyond Death, Hope & Confidence

Occasions: For Reflection

Philip Graham Ryken

Philip Graham Ryken (* 1966) ist ein US-amerikanischer presbyterianischer Theologe, ehemaliger leitender Pastor der Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia und seit 2010 Präsident des Wheaton College. Er steht für eine evangelikal-reformierte Theologie und verfasste zahlreiche Bibelkommentare sowie theologische Schriften zur Gnadenlehre und Kultur. Bibellesern dient er als systematischer und praxisnaher Schriftausleger, dessen Leitungswirken jedoch auch von Kontroversen um Bekenntnistreue und Kritik am Umgang mit Missbrauchsvorwürfen in seiner früheren Gemeinde begleitet wird.

All quotes by Philip Graham Ryken (37)

More on this topic

I ask myself: what does hell mean? I maintain: it is the inability to love.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

God has put eternity into our hearts and filled it with longing.

John Piper

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

C.S. Lewis

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot

I want you to know that we will reach God's kingdom. That's why I am happy today. I am not worried about anything. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming Lord.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Whoever knows Easter cannot despair.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We do not know what is coming; but we know who is coming. That means: losing fear, because I know the final reality.

Helmut Thielicke

Death in its substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it remains… Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot block a man’s pathway for even a moment. The shadow of a dog can’t bite; the shadow of a sword can’t kill.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

All quotes · lumen.bible

lumen.bible