Christ's prayerful life and His feats of charity shed light on His preaching of the kingdom, explaining to us how the moral and eschatological conception of Him are inseparably linked sides of one and the same religious idea. The Kingdom of God was divine and spiritual for Christ

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a reality experienced by Him in His God-consciousness, a "life" infinitely more intense than any outer, sensual, carnal life. This is the "fire" that He came to bring down on the earth. It is clear that this kingdom is not built by men, but by God, Who gives it and is His active force. On the part of man, faith, prayer and ascesis of personal moral will are required for its assimilation. Faith is required not only of the disciples, of the bearers, of the preachers of the kingdom, of the workers of the work of God, but also of all, not only of the one who gives, but also of the one who receives: "Do you believe?" – this is the question of Christ addressed to those who seek help from him. "All things are possible to the believer" is the result of spiritual experience, of the consciousness of the spiritual life experienced, which appears both as a gift to man and as a task for him. Those words about faith moving mountains, which are so paradoxical to ordinary reason, are imprinted in the life of Christ and testify to the supreme intensity of this spiritual life and to the overwhelming consciousness of the nearness of God as an all-powerful and living God to His kingdom and power.

Let us sum up all the foregoing discussion about the "kingdom." The Kingdom of God in the Gospel preaching is understood as the indivisible dominion of the righteous and merciful Father, prepared from eternity in Himself and having to be realized on earth or "come" in power (ἐν δυνάμει) and glory. It is the highest goal of the world process, as the realization of the divine order, the realization of God or divine life on earth. It is the highest good that is given by God, but together it constitutes the goal and task of the human will, its only true and rational goal. It is "prepared" and "near," and its coming to earth, which is to change the image of "this world" and, as it were, to refine it into the "age of incorruption," is a universal event, dependent solely on the will of the Father and containing in itself the judgment of the whole world, a judgment from which only the "sons" and "heirs" of the kingdom will be saved. Salvation has already come now in the preaching of Christ, in the "word of peace" and the gospel, which is to reconcile people to God and show them His mercy: the "benevolence" of Christ shows that His word contains not only the subjective good, but also the good of salvation; belief

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which accepts this word, justifies it as life and as force, as active power. Salvation, as salvation from judgment, consists proximately in the very mystery of the kingdom, which has approached, but has not yet been revealed universally to condemn the world, and which is revealed inwardly only to those who can penetrate into it. Thus it is revealed in the gospel of Christ; it is sown in His word, but this word is the mighty word of God, which does not return idle to its source (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Whatever our subjective assessment of these ideas, whether we share them or not, we must at least recognize their historical reality. These are genuine Gospel concepts, which we must try to clarify with the objectivity that is only available to us, without putting anything of ourselves into them, and with full readiness to correct any involuntary error. According to these concepts, the kingdom of God, which comes in the Spirit, is to be manifested in power, and Christ is its herald or prophet, its royal bearer, anointed with the Spirit, and its priest. Here we pass from the concept of the kingdom to the idea of its center, Christ, and the basis of this idea is His personal self-consciousness, as it is revealed in His word.

The God-consciousness of Jesus Christ

(a) The Spirit Concept

The human God-consciousness of Jesus is real, not illusory or dreamy. God is not His dream, ideal, idea, or one of His thoughts in the periphery of His consciousness; it is the focus of His consciousness, His thoughts, words, and deeds. It "abides", "rests" in Him as a spiritual force. Therefore, the "knowledge of the Father," which He bequeathed to His disciples, is defined not as rational knowledge, but as the true "Spirit of the Father."