Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth. (Psalm 96: 11-13)

Use of the future tense is audacious. With it we view the future as something predictable and sometimes even within our control. Other languages and cultures condition their use of the future tense with "God willing," as in "I will join you tomorrow, God willing."

Hebrew does not have a future tense. Rather than a time-oriented grammar, it uses an action-oriented grammar. In Hebrew something is either finished or unfinished. Something is either done or is being done.

"For he is coming..." is a good example of the unfinished tense translated into English. In the last sentence above the translator has chosen to use future tense. A more literal translation is "He is judging..." The same Hebrew words can mean, "He is governing..."

For two thousand years many people of faith have expected to see the second coming of Christ. They have predicted it, depended on it, sometimes been disappointed when it did not seem to arrive.

What if we have misunderstood the teaching? What if the redemption of the world - and our lives - is already underway? Rather than happening in the future, it is something being done right now. Can we choose to live as if, "God is governing the world with righteousness and the peoples with truth."