Revelation 11:15 says, "And the seventh angel trumpeted; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever." Verse 18 says, "And the nations became angry, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give the reward to Your slaves the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Your name, to the small and to the great." This verse clearly shows us that when the Lord becomes King and the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, that is the time for giving the reward to the saints, to the small and to the great. In other words, the time of the kingdom is the time of reward. Whenever the kingdom comes, the reward will come also.

There is a further point. The reward is the obtaining of the crown and the obtaining of the throne. Once a Western missionary told me, "If I cannot have the crown, at least I can have the kingdom." You can ask King Edward of England, if he loses his crown, will he still have the kingdom? What is a crown? It is not merely a hat beaten with gold and studded with diamonds. That kind of crown can be gained with a little money. What is a crown? A crown represents position in the kingdom. It also represents glory in the kingdom. If a crown is only a physical thing, it does not mean much. If one has money, he can make a golden one. If he does not have money, he can make a brass one or an iron one. Even if one is very poor, he can still make a crown out of cloth. In the future, it will not be a matter of one crown being bigger than the other in size, or one crown having more diamonds than the other. A crown stands for something. When one loses the crown, he loses the thing that the crown represents. We have to see that the crown is the symbol of the kingdom.

What is the throne? The Bible shows us that the twelve apostles will sit on twelve thrones. The crown is a reward for the overcomers, and the throne is also a reward for the overcomers. Hence, the throne is also a symbol of the kingdom. It represents position in the kingdom, authority in the kingdom, and glory in the kingdom. There is no such thing as losing the crown but still having the kingdom. Similarly, one cannot lose the throne but still have the kingdom. If one loses the throne, he will lose the kingdom. Similarly, if one loses the crown, he will lose the kingdom. The throne and the crown are not significant in themselves; they are there simply to represent the kingdom. In other words, the reward is the kingdom. The Bible clearly shows us that the reward is simply the kingdom.