not 'worthy', this lines up with the two references already

listed from 1 and 2 Thessalonians.  The man who had not on a

wedding garment is cast into the same realm of outer darkness

that was the lot of those children of the kingdom who did not

make the grade (Matt. 22:1 -14 and 8:12).

The last parable of this series likens the kingdom of heaven to

ten virgins, five of whom were wise, and who entered into the

wedding feast, and five unwatchful virgins who forfeited a place

thereat (Matt. 25:1 -13).

Here is a Continuous and Consistent testimony to the truth that Entry into

the kingdom of heaven is of the nature of an award.  This ranges, therefore,

with the character of the Millennial kingdom, where it is the overcomer who

'lives and reigns with Christ' not the average believer.  We cannot shut our

eyes to this evidence, but must believe that in all callings there is a

'sphere of reigning' which is not the right of a believer as such but of the

believer who suffers, endures, overcomes or who conforms to the revealed

conditions that are found in the Gospels, the epistles or the Revelation.  We

do not believe, as some, that the 'kingdom' of the epistles of Paul is all

one and the same as the 'kingdom' of either the Gospel of Matthew or the

Revelation, but we do believe that in each sphere of blessing, whether on the

earth, in the Heavenly City or far above all heavens, there is an added

reward, crown, prize and recognition of faithfulness which is associated with

'reigning' as well as with 'living' and that this is the testimony of most of

the references we have considered.  The reader should not rest satisfied with

this survey, but patiently consider every passage, together with context.

The parables of Matthew 13 are in a class by themselves.  They are parables

of 'The Mysteries' of the kingdom of heaven and any attempt to lift these

parables out of their inspired context and ignore their 'mystery' must

ultimately end in disaster.

Where we find the apostle preaching 'The kingdom of God' as he

does in the Acts, it is but another way of saying that salvation is being

proclaimed.  In Acts 28:28, 'the salvation of God' that was 'sent' to the

Gentiles, is 'the kingdom of God' (Acts 28:31) which Paul was 'sent' to

preach during the two years of his imprisonment, and which constitutes the

dispensation of the Mystery in the subsequent Prison Epistles.

After we have passed in review, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of

God, the kingdom of the Son of His love, the kingdom of Christ and of God,

and the heavenly kingdom, we come at last to the blessed statement, 'For He

must reign (basileuo), till He hath put all enemies under His feet', and this

leads to the final phase of the kingdom (basileia) of which all the phases

mentioned above are necessary steps, but steps only to this great goal of the

God spake by the prophets 'in divers manners', sometimes in

straightforward prediction, sometimes in type and symbol, sometimes by an

ecstatic song.  The song of Hannah the mother of Samuel comes to mind as also

the Magnificat of the Virgin Mary.  Genesis 49 is a forecast of some of the

outstanding things that shall befall Israel in the last days (Gen. 49:1), and

it was uttered by Jacob just before he died.  In like manner Moses, at the

end of his eventful life, pronounced a series of blessings on the tribes of