Homilist Acts 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith… We have here — I. THE DESIGNATION OF HEAVEN — the kingdom of God. A kingdom has its king, its laws, its social relationships. It conveys the idea of locality and grandeur. It is both a place and a state. II. THE PARTICULAR CHARACTERISTIC OF HEAVEN. It is the kingdom of God. It will therefore be inconceivably great, inconceivably holy, inconceivably blessed and happy. III. THE DIFFICULTY OF ADMISSION. To get there we must pass through much tribulation. No man gained heaven without difficulty. He must be tried and purified as in a furnace. He must endure the assaults of Satan. He must overcome his natural evil nature. He must struggle with unbelief, persecution, pain. But he shall enter in and obtain joy and gladness, Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. |
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