The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever, Hallelujah! (Revelation 11:15)

The last book of Christian scripture is understood to be the vision of John of Patmos regarding the last days. What is to come is unveiled through the words of an angel who warns John not to edit even a word.

An angel dictates the unveiling as if it is taking place now. As a result, while presumably the narrative relates events in some indeterminate future, it has a tone of immediate urgency. The Kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord.

The language of Revelation has a feeling of being outside time. This is reinforced in the original Greek. Unlike English, Greek tenses are much more focused on action than time. The tense has more to do with whether the verb is ongoing or completed.

In this verse the tense is aorist. I have some difficultly getting my time-oriented grammar around this tense. But it might be understood as a very specific action that takes place over an indeterminate period.

Envision, perhaps, a slow motion fight scene in some Hollywood movie. How much time expires is not the point. We are focused on the action that is unfolding. Depending on the observors' angles it may seem to take forever or be over in a moment.

To the participants the action is outside time. Action happens. The passage of time is secondary, barely perceived. Until the action is finished there is only a persistent present. While we are engaged in action we exist only in the now.

This is my experience of the Kingdom of our Lord: it is happening now, it is unfolding now, it can be experienced now, the reign of God is arriving in the very present. I suppose it has been unfolding for a very long while. I have no idea how long the unfolding may continue. But it is well underway.

You may listen to the Hallelujah Chorus performed by the Poznan Boys Choir (Poland).

Above is St. John on Patmos from the Very Rich Hours of the Duc de Berry.