to be too satisfied with the word 'salvation' as a full, or even the main, description of the Christian blessing, and to speak too little of the new Birth into the Royal Family of God. It is the intention of God, having at the end of this Age cast Satan and his angels into Hades, to choose out of His Own Royal Family those who shall succeed where Angels failed. But such lofty positions can only safely be given where it has obviously been deserved in the eyes of all onlookers. It has therefore been laid down by the Lord God that His Family shall in this life prove their merit and ability and trustworthiness in the eyes of all beholders, so that there shall be no thoughts of favouritism, no question of unworthiness, and no fear of another débâcle. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of Life".

Here then is the explanation of the otherwise inexplicable trials that beset the Christian pathway. The Royal Family can only hold its position when in the eyes of all beholders it forces their confidence and admiration. This is especially true of Angelic Beholders. They too have fought Satan and his angels (Daniel 10:13, 20, 21), but they have come down from the presence of God in the third Heaven to fight those who have already been cast down into the first! They have never known the severity of the conflict which Christians have with Satan, who have never seen the Almighty, as the Angels have, but only heard of Him in His Word! It is because of their triumph that the Royal Family shall be deemed fit to govern the universe and even Angels (1 Corinthians 6:2, 3). It is therefore possible for a member of the Royal Family to be disinherited and be "saved, yet so as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and Matthew 25:14-30). But it is also possible for him to "sit with Me in My Throne" (Revelation 3:21).