The New Testament part of the chart depicts history as composed of two ages ("this age and the age to come"), which are represented by the two parallel lines. This age begins at creation and ends with the second coming of Jesus. The age to come (and here's the amazing part) begins with the first coming of Christ while this age is still going on. Thus the two ages overlap, which means that we Christians have a foot in both ages. This is what is meant by saying that as New Testament Christians we live in the already/not yet: the age to come (call it 'the kingdom of God,' 'eternal life,' etc.) has already been inaugurated by Christ's first coming, but it will only be consummated by Christ's second coming. At the first coming of Christ, the age to come entered its first days, while this age entered its last days (Heb. 1:1-2; 1 Cor. 10:11; 2 Pet. 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Acts 2:17; 2 Tim. 3:1; Jude 18). In the mean time, we continue to live in this present evil age, though Christ has delivered us from its dominion (Gal. 1:4, Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Rom. 12:1-2). And we wait for his glorious appearing, which will bring this present evil age to an end (Matt. 13:39, 40, 49; 24:3; 28:20; Titus 2:13).
(The framework seen in this chart has become the standard consensus among evangelical New Testament scholars. For books that explain it, a good place to start would be:
The End Times Made Simple, Sam Waldron, http://www.amazon.com/End-Times-Made-Simple-Everybody/dp/1879737507/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322943109&sr=1-1
The Kingdom of Christ, Russell Moore http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Christ-New-Evangelical-Perspective/dp/1581346271/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322942945&sr=1-1)
(p.s. In order to make the print readable, I have blown the chart up to a ridiculous size.)
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