Here is my second post—out of eight—on a description of  the third heaven.

Notice, we are not saying that God’s kingdom and throne are in heaven; rather, that heaven is His kingdom and heaven is His throne. Yes, all of heaven is God’s kingdom, and He rules from heaven in His sovereignty and on His throne over all.

In several verses in Matthew’s gospel Jesus talked about heaven as the “kingdom of heaven.” In Matthew 4:17, Jesus, when He began to preach, He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Again, in Matthew 5:3, He said, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

As for God’s throne, it says in Isaiah 66:1, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.’” Quite a vivid scene wouldn’t you say? Just as heaven is boundless and eternal, so is His kingdom and His throne.

But though His throne encompasses all of heaven, it seems also that He may choose any specific place to demonstrate and pronounce His sovereignty. This is shone to us in Revelation 4 and 5, where John saw into heaven marvelous things concerning heaven’s throne room and the worship that went on there. Some may say that this scene is only symbolic in order to teach us about heaven. Yet, there is no reason to think that God may not choose to place any number of these real worship events at any time and place throughout heaven. Why not?

Now the most important part is regarding who may enter the kingdom of heaven? We will look at a few verses to get the answer. In Revelation 3:21, it tells us clearly, “He who overcomes, I will grant to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Wow! Not only will we be invited into His kingdom, we also will be granted the opportunity to reign with Him if we are overcomers. What does that mean? Here are some verses in Matthew’s gospel to answer that question.

In Matthew 5:20 we are told that we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless our righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees—which means that we must not be hypocrites as they were, but to be genuine in our faith.

Again, in Matthew 7:21, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” Here Jesus, similarly, tells us that our religious words (‘Lord, Lord’) will not give us entrance into His kingdom; rather, we must demonstrate that we are true believers by doing His will.

Jesus also tells us that there are levels (or ranks) in His kingdom. In Matthew 5:19 He said (in the NLT), “So if you break the smallest commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Therefore, I take this to mean that in our life now, how we regard and practice His word will make a difference in how we are ranked in heaven—whether we are of the least in heaven or the greatest.

And Jesus, in another illustration (from Matthew 18:1-5) teaches us that the greatest is the one who humbles himself as a child. Hence, those who are humble now will be greatest in heaven.