The Spirit is our relationship with the future kingdom. Therefore he is the guarantee, the sign, the anointing, the paraclete, the Spirit of the portion and the promise. In all these aspects the Spirit is not only directed at Christ and the salvation in him. He is much more directed at the eternal kingdom and its glory.3.27Of course the work of Christ is also directed at this kingdom, and this kingdom has received a firm foothold in this world because of his work. However we have already seen in chapter one that the work of Christ is a reaction to sin, death and guilt. Therefore Christ is related especially to guilt. In chapter two we saw that history is saved to the eschaton in as much as it is sanctified. But sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, therefore the Spirit has much more of a relation to creation than Christ does. We saw above how Van Ruler describes this relationship as means and (provisional) goal. From the structural differences between christology and pneumatology we can see why Van Ruler pleads for a relativelyautonomous pneumatology. Berkouwer simply misrepresents Van Ruler's plea when he states: ``Van Ruler rejects the viewpoint which considers the gift of the Spirit in connection with the Messiah.''3.28 The work of Jesus Christ is the continual background of the work of the Holy Spirit, and the outpouring of the Spirit is to be understood in the closest possible connection with the ascension. It is Christ who is present in the out-poured Spirit. But the point is that Christ is present in the mode of the Spirit. The Spirit `stamps' the present with the form of Christ. Christ is given form in the present, but this must be understood pneumatologically not christologically. We have already discussed this. Pneumatology is relatively autonomous because it cannot be derived from christology.
We will now move on to a discussion of the realization of the kingdom of God in the present as the kingdom of Christ (that is, in the mode of the Spirit).
The elevated Christ is present in all things. All things are filled with the meaning and power of his saving work. This is a spiritual reality - a reality in and through the Holy Spirit, or in other words a reality that exists in the mode of the Spirit. Salvation goes into existence and is given form in the flesh. Salvation is not a substance or a `something' that is added to our being. It is God himself in the special form of his revelation. Salvation is the unio mystica cum Christo. The Messiah, with the power and meaning of his saving work, goes into all reality - into the flesh - to reconcile guilt and to let existence stand up out of the destruction of sin, death and guilt.3.29 The kingdom that is grounded in the reconciling work of the Messiah on the cross is worked out in the present by the Holy Spirit. The salvation that Christ obtained for us is present now, but in the mode of the Spirit. In other words our salvation is concealed in the flesh. The Spirit really establishes the kingdom of God in the present but not as a repetition of the reality of the incarnation or as the eschatological kingdom of glory. The kingdom is established in the present in all its completeness but in a determined manner, in the modality of promise. The kingdom of God is provisionally established by the Spirit, but this is not an initial realization of the eschatological kingdom. It is the essential provisionality of the regnum Christi as the concealment of salvation in the flesh. There is not a ``confuse massa van realistische bevrijding, welke empirisch gekend wordt.''3.30 We do not partake in salvation in any obvious way. It must be appropriated and believed. Our salvation is hid with Christ in heaven, but we have the Holy Spirit in us and the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation. In the Spirit we participate in our salvation in the modality of promise.
We have seen that we must not think of our salvation too narrowly - we are not saved from history but together with history - all reality is saved. The Spirit is not concerned only with individuals but with created reality as such. ``De Geest heeft genoegzame breedte om alle gestalten en momenten in een alles-relativerende veelheid te omvatten. En de Geest is een ontologisch - kritisch aanwezig - en bezig-zijn in alle empirische realiteit, waarbij alle andere kritische gezichtspunten eenvoudig verbleken.''3.31 The mediation and appropriation of salvation, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, is just as multiform as the all-embracing presence of the Spirit. In the course of the apostolic Word new nations are incorporated into the covenant that was made with Israel by God and confirmed in the blood of Jesus. In this manner infants and states are included in salvation. It is illegitimate to say that only individuals partake in salvation by way of baptism. There is an endless variety of ways in which one partakes in salvation. For instance, in the manner of birth from christian parents and of the community in which one is born and brought up. The church, the corpus Christi, and the christianized culture, the corpus Christianum, are forms created by the Holy Spirit and media in the mediation of the eternal salvation in Christ. This mediation occurs in the manner of the individual. But just as much in the manner of the institutional, in the correctly structured life and in the church community with its institutions. In all these the concern is with actual, tangible historical realities which must be understood and lived in the manner of the Spirit. ``Nothing is left as only earthly human, worldly reality. Is everything in existence not grasped by the Spirit? And can someone who is truly grasped by the Spirit not experience everything else as grasped by the Spirit? All existence becomes holy and lovely.''3.32