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kingdom are described as the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure
in heart, and those that hunger and thirst for righteousness. The spiritual nature of the
Kingdom should be stressed over against all those who deny the present reality of the
mediatorial kingdom of God and hold that it will take the form of a re-established theocracy at
the return of Jesus Christ.
In connection with the present day tendency to regard the kingdom of God simply as a new
social condition, an ethical kingdom of ends, to be established by human endeavors, such as
education, legal enactments, and social reforms, it is well to bear in mind that the term
“kingdom of God” is not always used in the same sense. Fundamentally, the term denotes an
abstract rather than a concrete idea, namely, the rule of God established and acknowledged in
the hearts of sinners. If this is clearly understood, the futility of all human efforts and of all
mere externals is at once apparent. By no mere human endeavors can the rule of God be
established in the heart of a single man, nor can any man be brought to a recognition of that
rule. In the measure in which God establishes His rule in the hearts of sinners, He creates for
Himself a realm in which He rules and in which He dispenses the greatest privileges and the
choicest blessings. And, again, in the proportion in which man responds to the rule of God and
obeys the laws of the kingdom, a new condition of things will naturally result. In fact, if all those
who are now citizens of the Kingdom would actually obey its laws in every domain of life, the
world would be so different that it would hardly be recognized. In view of all that has been said,
it causes no surprise that the term “kingdom of God” is used in various senses in Scripture, as,
for instance, to denote the kingship of God or of the Messiah, Matt. 6:10; the realm over which
this rule extends and the condition of things to which it gives rise, Matt. 7:21; 19:23,24; 8:12;
the totality of the blessings and privileges that flow from the reign of God or of the Messiah,
Matt. 13:44, 45; and the condition of things that marks the triumphant culmination of the reign
of God in Christ, Matt. 22:2-14; Luke 14:16-24; 13:29.
c. It is a kingdom that is both present and future.
It is on the one hand a present, ever
developing, spiritual reality in the hearts and lives of men, and as such exercises influence in a
constantly widening sphere. Jesus and the apostles clearly refer to the kingdom as already
present in their time, Matt. 12:28; Luke 17:21; Col. 1:13. This must be maintained over against
the great majority of present day Premillenarians. On the other hand it is also a future hope, an
eschatological reality; in fact, the eschatological aspect of the kingdom is the more prominent
of the two, Matt. 7:21,22; 19:23; 22:2-14; 25:1-13,34; Luke 22:29, 30; I Cor. 6:9; 15:50; Gal.
5:21; Eph. 5:5; I Thess. 2:12; II Tim. 4:18; Heb. 12:28; II Pet. 1:11. Essentially the future kingdom
will consist, like that of the present, in the rule of God established and acknowledged in the
hearts of men. But at the glorious coming of Jesus Christ this establishment and
acknowledgment will be perfected, the hidden forces of the kingdom will stand revealed, and