The coming of Jesus marked an inaugurated eschatology that pointed to his second coming. This is so because Jesus brought the kingdom, bound the strongman, and through the preaching of the gospel is fulfilling the reality of the kingdom. This understanding is crucial to missional living.

The popular understanding that "latter-days" refers only to the end of the world needs radical adjustment. Beale demonstrates how “inaugurated eschatology” sheds light on a Christian understanding of the end times. The theological idea of the relation of the indicative to the imperative in the New Testament is used to enhance such an understanding.