special bond between the Lord and his people and on the virtues of God revealing themselves in it. The thought of the justification of the sinner by faith is an equally important viewpoint for the whole history of revelation, as appears from the way in which Paul writes about it. All these things are also most closely connected with the coming of the kingdom, for the latter is concerned with the effectuation of God’s promises to his people. We shall see later on how closely related are the thought