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In fact, "fulfillment without consummation" was the scandal of Jesus's ministry. He claimed that the kingdom of God "is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:21), and yet Jesus was not overthrowing the Roman regime. Even John the Baptist was perplexed and asked, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (Matthew 11:3).

This was the "secret of the kingdom" revealed only to a few. "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables" (Mark 4:11). The secret was that the kingdom was indeed already present ("If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you," Luke 11:20), but the kingdom has not yet come completely ("I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom," Matthew 26:29).

But most of us are not accustomed to speaking of the antichrist as already here but not yet here. But consider the way the apostles John and Paul speak of this figure. Only John uses the term "antichrist." But Paul refers to the same figure as "the man of lawlessness."

First listen to Paul. "Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day [of Christ's second coming] will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. . . . And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work" (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 6-7).

Paul says that a "man of lawlessness" is coming. And he says that the "mystery of lawlessness" is already at work. I take this to mean that a distinct figure of great satanic power (verse 9) is coming, but that his mysterious presence can already be felt in the present time. He is "already" here, and he is "not yet" here.