已然未然TheAlready and the Not Yet
作者: Burk Parsons 译者: Duncan Liang
这世界不是我们的家，但将来是。我们在这悲惨世界上过日子，迫切等候新天新地，天天紧紧抓住这应许：“看哪，神的帐幕在人间。祂要与人同住，他们要作祂的子民；神要亲自与他们同在，作他们的神。神要擦去他们一切的眼泪，不再有死亡，也不再有悲哀、哭号、疼痛，因为以前的事都过去了。”（启21:3-4）我们是天路客，走在回家的路上，为着一个我们从未去过的地方思乡心切。我们是外人、客旅、寄居的，住在异乡，那在我们前面去了的那一位，为我们得着了天上国民的身份，祂现在坐在父的右边，要再来审判、征服、让万有完满。
在这世界上我们有苦难，但耶稣说，“你们可以放心，”——不是因为我们要最终胜过这世界，完全改变这世界，适应这世界，或变得爱上这世界——而是因为耶稣宣告说：“我已经胜了世界。”（约16:33）因此，我们在已然和未然之间，在我们的主已经宣告那已经成就的和那尚未显明的之间等候。但我们的等候不会徒然，这也不是一种被动或孤立的等候。我们而是等候我们的新郎为祂的荣耀，从各族各方各民招聚祂的新妇。我们等候，带着盼望，积极投身神的使命，在耶稣基督的教会里过共同体的生活。因基督是世界的光，我们这些因信，唯独因信与祂联合的人是在祂里面。这样，基督呼召我们出黑暗，入祂奇妙的光明，然后马上就差派我们重新进入这黑暗，在众目睽睽的世人面前，用我们的言行发光。当世人看见我们的好行为，当世人听见我们宣告这荣耀的福音，全世界的选民，基督的新妇就要荣耀我们在天上的父。
虽然全然撤退，离开这世界，有时看起来是一件吸引人的事，主却从未给我们这种选择（林前5:9–10）。而是当我们在这罪的世界上生活，活在罪身之内，我们却是基督的使者，走在前往应许之地的路上。当我们这些天路客回到家，耶稣要擦去我们眼中一切的眼泪——不仅我们哀伤的眼泪，还有我们喜乐的眼泪——因为若不是这样，我们在祂面前永远敬拜祂的时候就绝不能看见祂了。
The Already and the Not Yet
by
Burk Parsons
This
world is not our home, but it will be. We live out our days in this sad world
eagerly awaiting the new heaven and new earth, clinging daily to this promise:
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and
they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He
will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither
shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things
have passed away” (Rev. 21:3–4). We are pilgrims on our journey home, and we
are homesick for a place we have never been. We are foreigners, aliens, and
strangers in a strange land whose citizenship in heaven is secure in the One
who has gone before us, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and who
is returning to judge, to conquer, and consummate.
In
this world we will have tribulation, but “take heart,” Jesus said—not because
we will eventually overcome the world, completely change the world, get used to
this world, or come to love the world—but because Jesus declared, “I have
overcome the world” (John 16:33). And so, we wait between the already and not
yet, between what our Lord has declared is already true and what has not yet
been revealed. However, our waiting is not in vain, nor is it a passive waiting
or an isolated waiting. Rather, we wait for our Groom so that He might gather
His bride from every tribe, tongue, and nation for His glory. We wait with
hopeful expectation, with active participation in the mission of God, and in
community with the church of Jesus Christ. For Christ is the light of the
world, and we who are united to Him by faith—and by faith alone—are in Him. As
such, as soon as Christ calls us out of darkness and into His marvelous light,
He sends us back into the darkness to shine in both word and deed before the
watching world. As the world sees our good works and as the world hears our
proclamation of the glorious gospel, the elect bride of Christ from around the
world will glorify our Father in heaven.
Although
withdrawing entirely from the world often seems attractive, the Lord never
gives us that option (1 Cor. 5:9–10). Rather, as we live in this world of sin
and in these bodies of sin, we are ambassadors of Christ on our journey to the
promised land. When we pilgrims arrive home, Jesus will wipe away every tear
from our eyes—not just our tears of sadness, but our tears of joy—for otherwise
we would never be able to see Him face-to-face as we worship Him forever coram
Deo.