Welcome to the Kingdom
Dearly beloved, Jesus came to provide the entrance into the kingdom of God.
“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”
After John the Baptist was imprisoned, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Throughout the gospel records Jesus taught about the kingdom of God and he explained how to gain entrance into it.
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
The Lord taught Nicodemus that one must be born again, begotten from above if he was to see this kingdom and enter it. He said that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
He taught that God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
We learn that the holy spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. He was glorified after God raised him from the dead, forty days later he ascended into heaven, and God seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realm far above all.
Jesus was the way into the kingdom. He was the way, the truth and the life, and there was no entrance other than through believing in him; he was the door into the kingdom.
Jesus made access into the kingdom available by his work, by his accomplishments. He came to pour out his soul for the sins of others; he would take away the sins of the world as a ransom for many. He provided us access into the kingdom by his work.
Jesus called a little child to come to him and he set him in their midst. The child responded to his call and came to him. Jesus used the example of the child’s humility and obedience to come to him to teach his disciples about entering the kingdom. One must humble himself as the little child and obey the call of the Lord Jesus Christ if he is to enter the kingdom. “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”
“Who [God our Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [transferred] us into the kingdom of His dear [beloved] Son”. Rejoice forevermore, dearly beloved!
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU: BUT YOU ARE WASHED, BUT YOU ARE SANCTIFIED, BUT YOU ARE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.” Thank God for His wonderful grace and mercy toward us in the Lord Jesus; we will inherit the kingdom of God!
Listen to this, beloved: “For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Dearly beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ is the way, the strait gate, the only door into the kingdom of God.
When you confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead you shall be saved; you are born-again, born of the spirit, and gain entrance into the kingdom of God, and access to the Father by the spirit, and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm in Christ, and the hope of receiving the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ – to be glorified together with him, and eternal life, and new bodies, and much, much more.
The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory which shall be revealed in us! I thank God for His great grace and mercy, which He has shown us in Christ Jesus the Lord, and that in Christ He has considered us worthy of the kingdom of God, for which we also suffer.
Welcome to the kingdom, dearly beloved!