The church’s confession of sin can become a kind of resignation to the inevitability of sin, the constancy of the “not yet,” which requires, with a fated and regretful sigh, that we take up the sword again to restrain sin with sin. When the acknowledgement of our sin circles back to a tragic view of the world, our humility becomes demonic. A true understanding of eschatology requires neither tragic resignation to sin nor a triumphal declaration that the church is the realized eschaton. It requires a fully penitential “overaccepting” of human finitude and sinfulness by receiving the healing kingdom that God, through Christ and the Spirit, has planted right in the midst of our bloodstained history. The recognition of our sinfulness becomes not recognition of our tragic fate but a humble acknowledgement that we are not in charge of making history come out right by violent means. Our fate has been transformed into our destiny, which is to receive the kingdom of God in humility and thankfulness. The city of God is not the shape of our triumph, but of our repentance.