Christ "constitutes the center of the eschatological world"

"From thinking of the eschatological state as future, the Christian mind is led to conceive of it as actually present but situated in a higher sphere. The horizontal, dramatic way of thinking gives place in part to a process of thought moving in a perpendicular direction and distinguishing not so much between before and after, but rather between higher and lower…the content of this higher world to which the Christian belongs…is in part a product of the his­torical redemptive process. The completion of Christ’s work and His return in glorified state to the heavenly sphere have...given this sphere its final character, and as such it now exists alongside of this present lower world…

"The higher world was there from the beginning; it had a stable, original content before it was affected by the appearance of the Messiah. Both these elements are recognized in the later Pauline teaching. The sec­ond one, that of the original existence of the main content of the heavenly life, finds expression in this, that Paul in the later epistles speaks of the eschatological world not as having been produced or created but as having been revealed. The Christ Himself, who constitutes its center, shows in His life this twofold aspect in which it may be viewed. He belongs to it ever since it existed. His coming was an apokalypsis, a manifestation of its con­tent. As a heavenly Being He abode upon the earth. But His resurrection and return to it likewise contributed to its perfecting. Thus it derives its being from the first and second creation alike." -- Geerhardus Vos, "Hebrews, The Epistle of the Diatheke", Shorter Writings p. 197