Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
Isaiah 42:1

Advent is the season of the already and the not yet.

For centuries, God’s people held fast to His promise that He would send them a Deliverer greater than Moses. A Prophet greater than Isaiah or Jeremiah. A Priest greater than Samuel. And a King greater than David.

He would send a Messiah.

The prophet Isaiah described a day in the future when the Messiah would rule as the leader of the greatest Kingdom on earth. “It shall come to pass in the latter days,” Isaiah wrote, “that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills” (Isaiah 2:2).

This long-awaited Messiah would come to rule in justice and peace.
“For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:3-4).

What should we make of Isaiah’s prophecy? If the Messiah has come, where is this promised Kingdom? Where is this justice and peace for which we long in our day?

It’s here. But it is not yet what it will one day be. It’s already, but not yet.

The Messiah has come. His eternal Kingdom has been inaugurated. He is ruling and reigning today over the hearts of men and women from every tongue and tribe and nation. Christianity spans the globe with more ethnic diversity in the Kingdom of God than in any other world religion. Indeed, in the Kingdom of God today, “He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love.”

That’s the already.

But a greater day is coming, when what Jesus inaugurated two millennia ago will reach its full consummation; when the foretaste of the Kingdom we experience in the community of faith today will be fully realized.

CS Lewis, in his classic story, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, pictured for us what it’s like to live in the “already but not yet,” as he described the end of a long winter:

“There was a moment's silence. And in that silence Edmund could at last listen to the other noise properly. A strange, sweet, rustling, chattering noise - and yet not so strange, for he'd heard it before - if only he could remember where!
“Then all at once he did remember. It was the noise of running water. All round them though out of sight, there were streams, chattering, murmuring, bubbling, splashing and even (in the distance) roaring. And his heart gave a great leap (though he hardly knew why) when he realised that the frost was over."

We live in the time of the thaw. But if we stop and listen, we can hear the roar of springtime in the distance. Winter’s curse has been broken. And one day, we will see the forest in full bloom.

At Christmas, we celebrate the already while we long for the not yet.

Prayer: Lord, help me to live contentedly today in the already while I wait for the coming of Your Kingdom in all its fulness. Help me to live in the already but not yet.