What specifically characterizes New Testament eschatology is an underlying tension between the “already” and the “not yet.” The believer, so the New Testament teaches, is already in the eschatological era spoken of by the Old Testament prophets, but he is not yet in the final state. Already he experiences the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but he still awaits his resurrection body. He is living in the last days, but the last day has not yet arrived.

Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), 68.