Christ's kingdom is present now, but not yet consummated. It is a "semirealized" kingdom. Even now, the blessings that Christ has won for us being distributed by him through his Spirit in the ministry of preaching and sacrament. We are already chosen, redeemed, called, justified, renewed; we are bring sanctified, and we will one day be glorified. For now, though, we live in the tension between the kingdom's inauguration and its consummation. A related distinction is drawn in the New Testament between this age and the age to come. Even now the age to come is breaking upon this passing age, but not yet in the visible and completed form that will be universally evident at Christ's appearing.
Michael Horton, Pilgrim Theology
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