In the course of human events there are always plenty of things that are on the horizon of possibility but do not come about or that come about later. And there certainly is a dimension of still future realization of God’s rule. But the term eggiken—usually translated as “is at hand” or “has drawn nigh” in such passages as Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; Mark 1:15; and Luke 10:9, 11—is a verb form indicating a past and completed action. It is best translated simply “has come.”20
