Robert Lowery

If you have read my book, you know that I have been deeply influenced by the concert of the now and the not yet (see pp. 42ff.). The crucial battle has been fought and won and we await victory day. We live between Christ’s first and final comings. And until that last day arrives, when Christ returns in glory, we live between the now and the not yet. Revelation was written to help us live with the tension of what it means to be faithful between the two comings. We can live confidently with this tension between what we already enjoy and what we do not yet possess. Already we have rich blessings in Jesus, but we must await his final coming until those blessings are complete.

Years ago I was listening to Amy Grant’s album Straight Ahead. She sang a song written by the Christian composer Pam Mark Hall, a song written in 1981 entitled “The Now and the Not Yet.” The lyrics capture what I write about:

No longer what we were before, but not all that we will be
Tomorrow when we lock the door on all our compromising
When He appears, He’ll draw us near
And we’ll be changed by His glory
Wrapped up in His glory

We will be like Him
For we shall see Him as He is
No longer what we saw before, but not all that we will see
Tomorrow when we lock the door on all our disbelieving
When He appears, our view will clear
And we’ll be changed by His glory
Wrapped up in His glory

But I’m caught between the now and the not yet
Sometimes it fees like forever and ever
That I’ve been reaching to be all that I am
But I’m only a few steps nearer
Yet I’m nearer

No longer what we were before, but not all that we will be
Tomorrow when we lock the door on all the disbelieving
And He appears, He’ll draw us near
And we’ll be changed by His glory
Wrapped up in His glory

When He appears, He’ll draw us near
And we’ll be changed by His glory
Wrapped up in His glory.

Amen.

Technorati Tags: Revelation, Bible, Amy Grant

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1. Singing About the Now and the Not Yet