The Kingdom

The Lord has shown me what He's doing.  A large part of the plan for us here is to prepare for Eternal Life in the world to come, as we know, but what I never realized is that God Himself is preparing His Kingdom.  He is in the process of choosing his rulers and captains, as well as those who do the work.

The Kingdom of Heaven is not just a mass of people shouting praises to God forever and ever.  It is organized.  There is work to do.  Nothing is arbitrary or left to chance; everything is planned.  In order to carry-out the work there must be order, which requires organization.  It's not a democracy, a theocracy, or even a republic -- it's a kingdom.  There are those who rule, dictating the work that is to be done and who is to accomplish it.  There are kings, or the governing bodies chosen by God: 

Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.  (Abraham 3:22-23)

The Children of God are divided into families, or tribes.  Then there are those who are captains, as Moses organized Israel: "So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes."  (Deuteronomy 1:15)

The organization doesn't begin after this life, it started before we even came to Earth, as the Lord instructed Abraham.  It continues here on the Earth as we make choices who we are going to follow.  We are tested and tried to see what we are made of.  Though we may be "among the noble and great ones" before we came to Earth, and called to be rulers by God, we may not be chosen for that work in the life to come if we aren't faithful to Him. 

"There are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?  Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson --That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.  (D&C 121:34-36)

The Kingdom of God was put on the Earth to prepare for the Kingdom of Heaven.  What we have is just a training ground.  Each comes to Earth to choose his place in the Kingdom of Heaven.  The decisions we make every day -- what we eat, wear, say, do and think -- in short, every single little choice we make determines the nature of our continued existence.  There are no insignificant choices.

This is the test.  We are tested until we fail, at which point we have chosen our place in the hierarchy of Eternity.  If we are selfish and disobedient we will be "worker bees" who are told what to do at all times.  Those who are obedient, but not "valiant" become the captains over fifties and hundreds.  However, those who are valiant and pass all tests as Abraham become gods.  These are rulers and creators.  King David, a man after God's own heart, failed the test of Abraham and lost his kingdom.  He may be, however, a captain in the kingdom of another.  Joseph and Emma Smith, as well as many of the saints in this dispensation passed the test of Abraham and will be heirs to his legacy.

In the middle of all this is the Anointed One, even Jesus Christ.  The test cannot even be carried out without Him passing His test of mortality.  The most succinct definition of His Gospel is found in the Book of Mormon: "Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you -- that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.  And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil -- And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.  (3 Nephi 27:13-15)  This scripture says it all.

Your works -- everything you say, do, and even think -- is judged by His standard.  Did you "come into the world to do the will of the Father?"  Did you follow Christ in all things, passing your tests as He did?  What He did allows us to repent and try again, but at some point there is no more repentance, you have reached your level of obedience, and this will determine your place in the hierarchy of the Kingdom of Heaven.