Perhaps I am incorrect, but I think the present overemphasis on grace has so clouded the scriptural concepts of degrees of reward and degrees of punishment that we have lumped all mankind into two neat packages: we spend eternity in Paradise in the spirit realm or we are confined in the Lake of Fire with Satan and his angels.

There certainly is a real Heaven and there certainly is a real Hell. There is no question about these two realities. But the New Testament writings do not focus on residence in Heaven or Hell but on inheriting or not inheriting the Kingdom of God. And Jesus told us that there are greatest and least in the Kingdom, implying that there also are those who are neither greatest nor least. Your behavior during your lifetime on the earth will determine your role and status in the Kingdom of God.

Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19—NIV)

There are thirty, sixty, and one hundredfold among those who bear permanent fruit. And then Isaiah tells us that the bruised reed will not be broken and the smoking flax not quenched.

In addition to this we have the members of the nations of the saved, who are not part of Israel, the elect, the Church, but nevertheless sit under their vine and fig tree on the new earth.

It appears to me that God is calling today for His highest and best, His rulers, His royal priesthood. They are the sons of God, the heirs of everything. They are drilled, trained, and tested all the day long, just as would be true of the heirs of any monarchy, the candidates for any outstanding position in any enterprise.

But then you have those in the Kingdom who do not have a calling as high as this.

I hope what I am saying here is true. Because if every churchgoer will be ruling in the Kingdom of God, and every person who never heard the Gospel will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, then we are going to have a lot of self-centered, rebellious "believers" enthroned as kings in the Kingdom, and the Lake of Fire will contain most of the people born on the earth.

One of the main keys to inheriting the Kingdom is the exercise of eternal patience and long-suffering. Such perseverance is the fruit of the Spirit of God and grows in each believer who takes up his or her cross and follows the Lord.

Our exhortation to all who read our words is this: Never quit! Never, never, never quit!

I have noticed during 53 years as a sincere Christian that those who make a success of this most wonderful, perilous way of life are the individuals who keep on keeping on, not the most talented, the most intelligent, the ones who seem to have the most potential, but those who just keep on going forward. If they stumble and fall they get back up on their feet, take their forgiveness and their knocks, and keep on pushing on.

We all can't be some great person in the Kingdom but we can keep on going ahead, patiently enduring suffering and not getting out of hand when some joy or success comes our way.

All of us—every one of us—can keep on keeping on.

Let's do it!

To be continued.