Big Ideas · 18 · Hannah and Samuel
The 'already' and the 'not yet'
After defeat, hopes for a restored king were postponed to a future messianic age, and redefined. Second Isaiah even calls the Persian Cyrus God's anointed.
Sovereignty postponed, peoplehood pursued.
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Christian theology's tension between the Kingdom of God already begun and not yet complete has roots here. Meanwhile, the people would follow the roadmap of the People's History, living under foreign rule.
Bible reference: Isaiah 45:1
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 291–292
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