“You will guard us from this generation forever.” – Psalm 12:7
As we conclude our series on Psalms 11 and 12, I want to be candid about my initial reaction to Psalm 12. At first, I questioned why David didn’t end the Psalm at verse 7, which would have been a strong, impactful conclusion. However, upon deeper reflection, it became evident that David’s choice to end the Psalm as he did was intentional.
The Already/Not Yet
In a world that persists before Jesus returns to renew all things, we encounter a culture where vileness is exalted. The promises of Psalm 11:7 and Psalm 12:5 assure us that the righteous will behold God’s face, and He will arise to place His people in safety. We live in the tension between Jesus’ first coming and His second coming—a reality theologians describe as the “already/not yet.”
We have glimpsed God’s face in Jesus, the humiliated Christ, and one day we will see it face-to-face in Jesus, the exalted Christ. This tension between the “already” and the “not yet” should shape our engagement with a chaotic world.
What Not To Do
The already/not yet reality of Christ’s Kingdom excludes several distorted “gospels”:
- Prosperity Gospel: Underestimates the “Not Yet” of the Kingdom, claiming promises for the “now” that are actually for the “then.”
- Social Gospel: Focuses solely on immediate physical well-being, neglecting eternal redemption.
- Hyper-Spiritual Gospel: Emphasizes justification while ignoring the implications that drive us to care for the needy.
- Culture-War Gospel: Creates a divide between “us” and “them,” setting up adversaries out of people whom God calls us to love and engage.
Our Response
Our response to the already/not yet tension must reflect the dual reality of the Kingdom that is already established and the Kingdom still to come. As Russell Moore notes, “We must learn to be strange enough to have a prophetic voice, but connected enough to prophesy to those who need to hear.” Michael Goheen adds, “The church must not be taken captive by the sinful social structures of its culture, but neither must it withdraw from those structures… It must demonstrate its character as something of a wholly different order.”
Our aim in cultural engagement is not to achieve success but to remain faithful. We engage with culture not to win but because Christ has already won. We press in with the truth and trust God with the results.
A Call to Action
I began this series with a discussion about my family fire plan—what to do when the alarm sounds. As God’s people, we have a family fire plan full of hope because we serve a risen Christ! Our God reigns from heaven and has instructed us to look to the east, anticipating His return. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:7-10:
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
This is what it means to live in the already/not yet. Life is still life, sin is still sin, and God is still God! He reigns in righteousness, and His promise is pure. Let’s reject the false refuges we have sought, engage our world with love and justice, and set our faces to the dawn, for He who promised is faithful.
To read When My Culture Collapses (Pt. 4) CLICK HERE
