The Already and Not Yet

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:24-29).

One of the most important features of biblical teaching about last things is the concept of the “already” and the “not yet.” The “already” means many of the OT’s predictions concerning the future have already come to pass, the most important being the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. The “not yet” means many aspects of the last things remain unfulfilled.

This passage contains both the “already” and the “not yet.” “Already” those who receive Jesus’ message have “passed from death to life” (v. 24). They have been regenerated, born again now to a newness of life that Jesus likens to a spiritual resurrection (v. 25). But they have “not yet” experienced the physical resurrection from the dead, which awaits the “hour” that “is coming” when the dead will hear Jesus’ voice and “come out” of the tombs (vv. 28–29).

The time between the “already” and the “not yet” is the most exciting time in world history thus far. We already have been “born again to a living hope” through Jesus’ resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3), but we will struggle with sin and suffering until his return brings the resurrection and the new earth.

Adapted from the ESV Systematic Theology Study Bible