2. The spiritual kingdom: God's reign in the regenerate, present now

From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions

This is the kingdom Jesus announced as arrived: "the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15); "the kingdom of God cometh not with observation... the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21); "my kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36); "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17). Entrance into this kingdom is by birth, not by climbing: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3), regeneration does not qualify a man to enter later; it opens his eyes to a kingdom already present and puts him in it. Hence Paul writes to ordinary, imperfect Colossian believers in the past tense: God "hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Colossians 1:13). Every regenerate person is already a translated citizen. There is no waiting list, no probation, and no tier.

This is also the register of Hebrews 12:22, "ye are come unto mount Sion", present tense, to persecuted, stumbling, ordinary saints. Zion in its gospel sense is where every believer already stands. The attainment system takes a present possession of all the saints and converts it into a future prize for its clergy; the tense of the verb alone refutes the doctrine. Likewise "we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved" (Hebrews 12:28), receiving, not earning.