The Kingdom Has Already Come vs. The Kingdom Is Still Coming

 

The Kingdom Has Already Come vs. The Kingdom Is Still Coming

Mark 4:26-29 …The kingdom of God is like this: a man sows seed on the ground, …and the seed sprouts and grows… The earth produces grain naturally: first the seedlings, then the ears of grain, and then the ears of grain bear full, ripe kernels. When the grain is ripe, he immediately takes a sickle to harvest it, for the time of harvest has come. 

Item	The Kingdom Has Already Come	The Kingdom Is Still Coming	Intrinsic Relationship (Integrated View)
Meaning	Through His incarnation, death, resurrection, and becoming the life-giving Spirit, Christ has brought the kingdom of God to mankind and has sown Himself as the divine life into His believers.	The divine life of Christ continues to grow, spread, and mature within the believers until the kingdom is fully manifested.	The kingdom has already begun, yet it is still advancing; it begins with the sowing of life and is consummated in the maturity of life.
Reason	God's eternal economy is to dispense Himself as life into man.	God's desire is that the life He has dispensed would grow to maturity and exercise His complete reign.	Dispensing is the beginning; maturity is the goal.
Illustration	The sowing of the seed (Matt. 13:3–8); the seed has already been planted into the soil.	Growth, the ear, the full grain, and the harvest (Mark 4:26–29).	The entire life-process of one seed is the process of the coming of the kingdom.
Explanation	When the Lord Jesus came, the kingdom arrived (Matt. 12:28; Luke 17:21). When a person is regenerated, the kingdom enters into him.	The divine life continually spreads within the believers until their whole being is possessed by God, ultimately reaching its full manifestation in the millennial kingdom and the New Jerusalem.	The kingdom is not an outward political realm but the inward development of the divine life.
Result	People are regenerated, enter the kingdom, and receive God's life.	Believers mature in life, are transformed, built together, glorified, and become the manifestation of the kingdom.	Regeneration brings us into the kingdom; maturity makes us the expression of the kingdom.
Purpose	To bring God into man.	To bring man fully under God's divine reign.	God enters man so that man may enter God's administration.
Means	Through Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and His becoming the Spirit to enter believers through faith.	Through the Spirit's continual growth, the work of the cross, transformation, renewal, and the church life.	The same Christ first becomes our life and then our King.
Relationship	The kingdom has already come as the beginning of life.	The kingdom is still coming as the maturity of life.	The Already issues in the Not Yet. Today we live in both aspects simultaneously.
Biblical Examples	The Lord declared, "The kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matt. 12:28). Zaccheus, Nicodemus, and the disciples received Christ, and the kingdom entered into them.	Paul's maturity in life (Phil. 3:12–15; 2 Tim. 4:7–8); the believers growing together in the church life; the final harvest (Rev. 14:15).	Every believer experiences the kingdom from regeneration to maturity.
Practical Application	Daily receive Christ as life by calling on His name and enjoying His supply.	Daily allow Christ to spread into the mind, emotion, and will until He occupies the entire heart.	We do not merely wait for the kingdom to come—we allow the kingdom to spread within us today.
Ministry Burden	Help believers realize that the kingdom is not an outward system but the inward divine life.	Help believers pursue maturity so that God's authority may be fully established within them.	The message of the kingdom is fundamentally the message of life.
Speaking for the Lord	Proclaim that Christ has entered into us and that the kingdom has already come.	Testify that Christ is daily growing, reigning, and maturing within us until the kingdom is fully manifested.	Lead the saints to see that the kingdom is Christ's life from sowing to harvest.
Conclusion	The kingdom began when Christ entered into us.	The kingdom continues as Christ spreads and matures within us.	The kingdom is Christ Himself entering man as life, growing within man, maturing in man, reigning over man, and ultimately being manifested for eternity.
Overview of Related Scriptures	Matthew 6:10           "Your kingdom come." Matthew 12:28         The kingdom of God has already come upon you. Luke 17:20–21           The kingdom of God is in your midst (or within you). John 3:3, 5     Regeneration is required to see and enter the kingdom. Mark 4:26–29            The kingdom grows like a seed until harvest. Matthew 13:3–9, 18–23 The parable of the sower. 1 Corinthians 3:6–9 God causes the growth.  Romans 14:17           The kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Colossians 1:13         Transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Ephesians 3:17          Christ makes His home in our hearts. Revelation 11:15      The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Revelation 14:15      The harvest of the earth is fully ripe. Revelation 21:2, 10 The New Jerusalem is the ultimate manifestation of God's eternal kingdom.

 

Spiritual Sequence

Step	The Development of the Kingdom
1	God became flesh and brought the kingdom to the earth.
2	Christ was sown into humanity as the seed of life.
3	Through regeneration, the kingdom has already come into the believer.
4	The divine life grows continually.
5	God's reign is established through the inward growth of life.
6	Believers mature in life and are built up as the Body of Christ.
7	The kingdom is fully manifested in the Millennial Kingdom.
8	It reaches its eternal consummation in the New Jerusalem.

 

Spiritual Formula

God became man

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Christ is sown into man as the divine life

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The Kingdom Has Already Come (Regeneration)

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Growth of the Divine Life

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Expansion of the Divine Life

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The Establishment of God's Reign

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Maturity of Life

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The Kingdom Is Still Coming

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The Millennial Kingdom

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The New Jerusalem (The Eternal Kingdom)

 

The Central Spiritual Vision

The kingdom of God is neither merely an outward realm nor simply a future government. Rather, it is Christ Himself entering into man as the divine life, growing, spreading, maturing, and reigning within man until God gains His full expression in the Millennial Kingdom and ultimately in the New Jerusalem.

Therefore:

• The Kingdom Has Already Come — because Christ has entered into the believers as life.
• The Kingdom Is Still Coming — because Christ continues to grow, spread, and reign within the believers.
• The Kingdom Will Fully Come — when the mature life of Christ is manifested in the Millennial Kingdom and reaches its eternal consummation in the New Jerusalem.

One-Statement Prophesying Summary

The kingdom has already come because Christ has entered into us as life; the kingdom is still coming because Christ is continually growing, spreading, and reigning within us; and the kingdom will fully come when His mature life is manifested in the Millennial Kingdom and consummated eternally in the New Jerusalem.

 

*Please refer to the 2026 Memorial Day Special Conference theme: The Urgent Need for a New Revival, Part Four: Living the Life of a God-Man by Living in the Kingdom of God as a Holy Kind.