Revelation 21
The Already and Not Yet Kingdom — Mark 1:15
Jesus' inaugural proclamation in Mark 1:14-15 — "the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe" — sets the tension of New Testament eschatology: the kingdom has arrived in him, yet awaits consummation. Wright frames Jesus' whole ministry as the in-breaking of God's reign and the end of exile, while Augustine's City of God distinguished the two cities now intermingled. The parables of Matt 13:31-33 picture a kingdom that grows hiddenly before its harvest. The 'already' is secured by the resurrection of 1Cor 15:20; the 'not yet' awaits the new creation of Rev 21:1. Between them the church lives by hope.
New Heavens and New Earth — Revelation 21
Rev 21:1-5 unveils the consummation: "a new heaven and a new earth... the dwelling place of God is with man... and he will wipe away every tear." Redemption ends not in heaven's escape but in a renewed creation. Augustine's City of God ends with this eternal Sabbath, the vision of God face to face, and Bavinck saw the new earth as creation brought to its destined glory. The covenant formula "God with them" reaches its final fulfillment. The renewed creation answers the first creation of Gen 1:1 and reverses the curse of Gen 3:17. The Immanuel promise of Matt 1:23 becomes eternal fact: God dwells with his people forever.
Pentecost and the Outpoured Spirit — Acts 2
Acts 2:16-21 interprets Pentecost as the fulfillment of Joel: "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh." The ascended Christ sends the Spirit, and the last days begin with the birth of the church. Augustine preached Pentecost as the love of God poured into the church, the reversal of Babel, and Calvin treated the outpouring as the public inauguration of the Spirit's new-covenant ministry. The Spirit given here is the same who proceeds in John 15. Pentecost fulfills the promise of the Spirit in John 15:26 and the new heart of Ezek 36:27. It constitutes the one body of 1Cor 12:13 and looks ahead to the consummation of Rev 21:3.