Time&Eternity

50 chapter 1
kenosis mean in this case? At least Johan Åström and Britt G. Hallqvist appear
to plead for the idea that Jesus’ relationship to God’s eternal time was
not cancelled by his coming in human form; his humble birth does not put
an end to his eternal nature—it merely conceals his majesty. 292
In addition to statements regarding the preexistence of Christ and Christ
in time, all the hymnals I have examined also contain formulations referring
to the future coming of Jesus. The Christ of the future is no longer primarily
the Son of the Father, but rather the coming Lord who will end time: 293
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave; .l.l.
so the world shall be his foot-stool, and the soul of time his slave:
our God is marching on. 294
The day of the Second Coming is the Day of Judgment and, from an
inner-worldly and inner-temporal perspective, it is the day on which eternity
definitively arrives. 295 Statements are made about this day that cannot
easily be reconciled with each other. On the one hand, the day is predetermined,
296 but, on the other hand, its arrival can also be hastened by prayer
and faith. 297 Furthermore, it is the continually approaching day. The Judge
stands at the door; he is already among us; nevertheless, no one can know
when the day will arrive. 298
The returning Lord will come unexpectedly some day, but he also allows
himself, even now, to be discovered within the world:
Look not for his presence in heaven’s dark space:
by the light of our living on earth we’ll discover his face.
The face of the master is always at hand .l.l.
—in the face of a man. 299
People raised from the dead will finally see Jesus Christ as the last and
the first. 300
Numerous passages address the topic of a “post-worldly Christ.” This
Christ is the King of the Universe, the King of all times, 301 and the victor
over death and time. 302 But here, once again, irreconcilable statements are
found. Thus, the risen Christ lives beyond the borders of time, 303 but he
also lives today, 304 in time, and even a normal day can be a day of Jesus. 305
He is the one who has risen from the dead and, at the same time, the one
who can never die. 306 He is always new and yet unchangeable. 307 He comes
every year and every day, though he was never gone. 308 He lives and walks in
our midst, 309 and yet he lives in heaven and sits at the right hand of God. 310
The primary concern of the hymns with regard to this topic is and remains
above all the assurance of the redemptive proximity of the living Christ. An
oft-cited hymn by Wren provides a good example of this: