The Map

The Overlap

The verdict is issued. The enforcement is pending. The Son reigns at the Father's right hand. The powers are legally defeated but operationally active. This is where we live. The Kingdom of God is present. The Kingdom of Heaven is coming. The household holds.

Between the present Kingdom of God and the coming Kingdom of Heaven, we live in the overlap. The Son reigns at the Father's right hand, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion. And yet the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Both statements are true simultaneously.

The authority is legal. The enforcement is still in progress. The convicted powers are still operating. Still deceiving. Still offering themselves as gods. Still saying: Worship me. I have what you need.

The creation groans. The love of many is growing cold. The apostasia, the formal, deliberate departure from the faith, is underway. Knowledge has increased. False messiahs and false prophets are performing signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. The birth pains are intensifying. They are the signal, not the event. They are not the baby. They are the labor.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved.Matthew 24:13

Think of it this way. A court issues a verdict. The verdict is legally binding the moment the judge speaks it. But there is a period between the verdict and the full enforcement of the sentence. The convicted party may still be walking around. They may still cause damage. But their legal standing has changed. They are operating on borrowed time. That is where we are. And if you understand that, you understand the tension of everything happening in the world right now.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.1 Corinthians 15:25