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At the same time their practice is better than their theory, for in practical life they do, rather
inconsistently, recognize the authority of Jesus Christ.
2. THE KINGDOM OVER WHICH IT EXTENDS.
This kingdom has the following characteristics:
a. It is grounded in the work of redemption.
The regnum gratiae did not originate in the
creative work of God but, as the name itself indicates, in His redeeming grace. No one is a
citizen of this kingdom in virtue of his humanity. Only the redeemed have that honour and
privilege. Christ paid the ransom for those that are His, and by His Spirit applies to them the
merits of His perfect sacrifice. Consequently, they now belong to Him and recognize Him as
their Lord and King.
b. It is a spiritual Kingdom.
In the Old Testament dispensation this kingdom was adumbrated in
the theocratic kingdom of Israel. Even in the old dispensation the reality of this kingdom was
found only in the inner life of believers. The national kingdom of Israel, in which God was King,
Lawgiver, and Judge, and the earthly king was only the vicegerent of Jehovah, appointed to
represent the King, to carry out His will, and to execute His judgments, was only a symbol, and a
shadow and type of that glorious reality, especially as it was destined to appear in the days of
the New Testament. With the coming of the new dispensation all the Old Testament shadows
passed away, and among them also the theocratic kingdom. Out of the womb of Israel the
spiritual reality of the kingdom came forth and assumed an existence independent of the Old
Testament theocracy. Hence the spiritual character of the kingdom stands forth far more
clearly in the New Testament than it does in the Old. The regnum gratiae of Christ is identical
with what the New Testament calls the kingdom of God or of heaven. Christ is its mediatorial
King. Premillenarians mistakenly teach that the terms “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of
heaven,” as they are used in the Gospels, refer to two different realities, namely, to the
universal kingdom of God and the future mediatorial kingdom of Christ. It is perfectly evident,
as some of their own leaders feel constrained to admit, that the two terms are used
interchangeably in the Gospels. This appears from the fact that, while Matthew and Luke often
report the same statements of Jesus, the former represents Him as using the term “kingdom of
heaven,” and the latter substitutes for it the term “kingdom of God,” compare Matt. 13 with
Mark 4; Luke 8:1-10, and many other passages. The spiritual nature of the kingdom is brought
out in several ways. Negatively, it is clearly indicated that the kingdom is not an external and
natural kingdom of the Jews, Matt. 8:11,12; 21:43; Luke 17:21; John 18:36. Positively, we are
taught that it can be entered only by regeneration, John 3:3,5; that it is like a seed cast into the
earth, Mark 4:26-29, like a mustard seed, Mark 4:30, and like a leaven, Matt. 13:33. It is in the
hearts of people, Luke 17:21, “is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” Rom.
14:17, and is not of this world, but a kingdom of the truth, John 18:36,37. The citizens of the