4. The eternal kingdom in glory: entered by all the redeemed, equally, by gift

From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions

"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34). Mark every word: it is inherited, not attained, inheritance is a birthright word; it was prepared before the foundation of the world, an election word; and it is addressed to all the sheep as one company, not a word about wings, tiers, or inner cities for the consecrated. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50), entrance is by resurrection transformation, God's act, the same act for every saint: "we shall all be changed" (15:51). The "abundant entrance" of 2 Peter 1:11, a favorite tier text, is, in context, the full-sailed assurance and honor with which a fruitful saint crosses the harbor bar, contrasted with the barren believer of verse 9 who arrives doubting and empty-handed, "saved; yet so as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:15): a difference in the manner of arrival, never in the destination or the citizenship.