The Kingdom of Heaven

So what is the kingdom of heaven like? Jesus tells three parables in Matthew 25 that give pictures of the kingdom of heaven.

The first tells of ten virgins who are waiting for the wedding party, five are foolish and five are wise. The foolish virgins do not bring extra oil for their lamps, but the wise virgins have extra oil for their lamps. Prior to the arrival of the groom, the foolish virgins must leave to buy oil because none of the wise virgins will share their oil. The groom arrives, the wise virgins enter the wedding party and the foolish virgins do not enter.

The next parable tells of a man who went on a journey. Prior to leaving, he left sums of money in the hands of three of his slaves. The first slave had five times the money of the last; the second had twice the money of the last. The first two slaves doubled the man’s money, but the last did nothing with the money. When the man returns, the first two enter the man’s kingdom, the last slave is excluded.

The last parable tells of people who are allowed into the eternal kingdom because they had done good to others. The other people do not enter the eternal kingdom because they had not done the good to others.

What are the conclusions? One is that we are all on our own to get into the kingdom of heaven. The wise virgins did not receive blame for being selfish by not sharing their oil with the foolish virgins. The good slaves receive rewards for their work in doubling the man’s money. The last parable tells us of people entering the kingdom of heaven by the good thing they have done.

Another observation is the link of doing things (works) and entering the kingdom of heaven. It is clear from multiple passages that no one can work their way into heaven. It is a gift. So what is the point? It is clear the person who is really following Jesus will do the good things that qualified the good people in the last parable. Will the person who does not good get to heaven? No man can know this answer. If this person has accepted Jesus as their savior, they will get to heaven. The Bible says this person is a new creation. This new creation should show in the way the person acts. So is the person who does no good really on the way to heaven?

The final observation is the clear teaching of the Bible about every person having one of two destinations. One will be joyful and the other will be horrible. Each of these destinations is permanent. One is called heaven the other is called hell.

As the worker at the airline ticket counter asks, what is your final destination?