He put God at the center and head of Creation. He knew that the ages of man since Eden has been working to the one end, the final day when God alone would be King in the earth, when the kingdom of God would be established on earth as surely as His will is done in heaven by the angels. It was therefore right and fitting that in Jesus the Righteous One, in whom was no rebellion against the will of God, life should be manifest instead of death. It was for this reason that although His obedience brought Him to death on the cross yet on the third day He arose to immortality and everlasting joy. God's own purpose and grace . . .
All history is shaped to that end.
Thus while Jesus is now in heaven the purpose of God is forging ahead both in shaping history to the moment of Christ's second coming and in preparing a people ready for that day. Watching and being ready is how Jesus put it. Live now as though they truly believed in the personal return of Christ and really wanted the thousand years' kingdom to come. But even the thousand years' kingdom will come to an end. Not every mortal man who lives then will live forever.