How To Enter The Kingdom of Heaven?

There are many preachings and teachings about the Kingdom of God, but not much is said about how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Welcome Students of the Word. It’s a privilege from the Lord to be able to do this Bible study and I want to thank you for joining.

Today, I’m going on a different trajectory. From this day forward, my focus will be on teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God.

That was Jesus’s entire Focus for his ministry and I’ve decided to adopt it too.

Today specifically we are going to look at how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Later on, I’ll look at different aspects of it but I’m starting with this for a reason. Entering the kingdom of heaven.

If you prefer to watch the video Bible Study of this lesson, click the link!

Why Many Believers Miss How To Enter The Kingdom of Heaven!

More than two thousand years after the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, many of his Believers are still grappling with the basics of entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mainly because some of them have strayed from the teachings of Jesus Christ and others are ignorant of the teachings of Jesus Christ concerning entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

But Jesus explains how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven to his disciples. So we’re gonna learn from his teaching to them how we today can enter into the kingdom.

Today, I shall declare what is the Kingdom of Heaven and show how Believers in Jesus Christ can enter into it.

Jesus Tells His Disciples How To Enter The Kingdom of Heaven!

Let me introduce myself to those who are new to this channel. I am Leroy Daley of Blogging About The Word. On that website and on this channel I teach Christians how to better understand their Bible.

I utilize the Word to explicate the Word for a word must be on word, word on word precept upon precept, here a little there a little.

What Is A Kingdom?

And today I wanna explain to you what is the Kingdom of Heaven. To ensure that we are all on the same page I will define a kingdom and the Kingdom of Heaven.

“A kingdom is the governing influence of a king over his territory impacting it with his personal will, purpose, and intent producing a culture, values, morals, and lifestyle that is reflecting the king’s desire and nature for his citizens.”
Dr Miles Munroe

I think this is the best definition of a kingdom that I have seen. It’s complete. It covers all the main points about a kingdom.

What Is The Kingdom of Heaven?

Therefore, using this definition as a basis, I could say that the Kingdom of Heaven is the governing influence of the Lord over the Earth impacting it with His personal will, purpose, and intent producing a culture, values, morals, and lifestyle that is reflecting the Lord’s desire and nature for His people.

That adequately describes the Kingdom of Heaven. Even though I like this definition from Dr. Miles Munroe, I will not venture so far as to say that the Kingdom of Heaven is a country.

I do not teach things that I cannot find in the Scripture. I must be able to find it in the Bible at least twice because it must be line upon line.

You must have a witness. Scripture must witness to scripture.

It Is Not A Country For These Reasons!

And no place in the Scriptures have I found where the Bible refers to the Kingdom of Heaven as a country or a place, so I cannot teach that.

It’s not a place because we cannot visit it. Neither could we see it. But we could experience the power of it. This is important and that leads us towards the Kingdom of God.

Thus, when the Bible says thy kingdom come this is what it means that we have experienced the power of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus says the identical thing. Listen as he explained to some religious folks. He says,

“But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God is come unto you.”
Matthew 12:28

So, if we demonstrate the power of the Kingdom of Heaven, then the kingdom has come to the person who has had that experience.

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Spiritual!

So the Kingdom of Heaven is not a country. It’s not a physical place because we cannot visit it. We cannot see it but we can feel the effects and the impact of its power.

The Kingdom of Heaven is not from Earth but it operates in the Earth or it operates on the Earth. Thus, the Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of God.

The unseen operating in the Earth, the seen, through the representatives of God or the representatives of Heaven.

And this is important because if you are not sent by God you’re not a representative and you are not in the Kingdom.

This is why everybody is not of the Kingdom nor do they display the qualities of the Kingdom. It’s a hard thing to say but it’s the truth.

The people who are representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven, manifest the power of the Kingdom of God in the earth.

They show it. They display it. And I say display it by healing people sick people; blind people, and raising the dead, and healing lepers. These are things that people who are in the kingdom do to testify of the power of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus never said that the Kingdom of Heaven is a country or a place. When Pilate asked him, are you a king?

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”
John 18:36

He is saying his kingdom is not of this world meaning it’s not from here. It’s not from Earth. Where is it from? Heaven of course. Thus, the kingdom of heaven is a system of government that is from heaven but operates on the Earth by representatives of the Kingdom of God. That is the kingdom of heaven.

I’m giving you two definitions but they’re all saying the same thing. If the Kingdom of Heaven were a country or a place then we could visit it. Yes, we could. Could you visit the Kingdom of Heaven? No!

You can’t!

But you could experience the power of that spiritual place. The next question is how do we enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

How does a Believer enter the kingdom of Heaven? First, everyone must satisfy certain conditions for entry. Jesus spoke about them.

4 Steps To Enter The Kingdom of Heaven

Here are four main ones that he talked about:

Righteousness

The will of God
Be converted as little children, and
Born Again.

Step 1 – Be Righteous

So let’s go to Saint Matthew 5 verse 20 for the first one, righteousness.

Jesus is speaking. He says:

“For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Matthew 5:20

So, for us to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven we must be righteous. But not just righteous, our righteousness or our right standing with God must exceed that of the religious people of our day.

So, the Lord requires righteousness before we can enter into the Kingdom of God. But notice that you don’t just become righteous.

There are certain other things which must happen first before we even get to be righteous.

Step 2 – Do The Will of Our Father

Secondly, we are gonna look at Saint Matthew 7 verse 21.

The next criterion we need to satisfy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is to do the will of our Father who is in Heaven.

And it says, and this is Jesus speaking again.

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 7:21

And note this will of the Lord is one will, single. One will. Yes! And how do we know the will of the Lord? We search His Word.

I’ll not go in-depth with the will here. But take note that first we must be righteous to enter the Kingdom of God and secondly the Lord is telling us that we need to do the will of the Lord.

Remember, he is not saying, pray about the will of the Lord. It’s something that we need to know. We need to know it in order to do it.

We aught not to pray about it and seek the will of the Lord as some teach. Because we need to know the will of the Lord and once you know the will of the Lord then you’re able to do.

I have thought about the will of the Lord before and I shall leave a link to that Bible study and in the description below this one

Watch that Bible study to know what’s the will of the Lord and how you can discern the will of the Lord.

Step 3 – Be Converted

The next point is that we should be converted and become like little children to enter into the Kingdom of God.

So, first, we need righteousness, second, we need to do the will of the Father and thirdly, we need to be converted from being adults to become like little children in order to enter into the Kkingdom of God.

Again, for this one we are gonna read Matthew 18 verse 3.

And again, Jesus is speaking “except he be converted” why do we need to be converted? Because we’re adults! Adults like to negotiate. They like to do their own thing.

But to enter into the kingdom of God we can’t do that. We have to be converted and become as little children. Having become as little children then you can enter the Kingdom of God.

How do we become as little children? Let’s go to Saint Mark 10. Mark says whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child he shall not enter therein.”

How Do Adults Become As Little Children?

So, this is the respect Matthew is talking about. We, the adults, need to be converted to become as little children in the sense that when we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom, we receive it like a little child would.

Children are impressionable. Little children, they believe everything that you tell them. Consequently, you’ll find that they believe Santa Claus exists.

Why, because their parents told them about Santa Claus and that Santa Claus comes at a certain time during the year.

So, they believe this as a little child, and sometimes even when they themselves become adults they still believe that Santa Claus exists.

Another thing too is that sometimes little children are too small to understand, and probably it’s not even appropriate to explain to them, how conception happens and how babies are formed and born.

Some parents sometimes make up stories to tell these little children. They tell them that the doctor brings the baby in his little black bag when he comes to the house.

Or some other scenario and they believe these things. And this is why children love stories.

It’s About How We Receive The Word of God!

Children are excited about stories. They believe them. That’s why Disney Land is so popular with children because children love the perspective that Disney portrays.

So, in reference to receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, when we receive this word concerning the gospel as little children then we can enter. You don’t debate it.

As long as you trust the integrity and the character of the speaker you should accept that word from that speaker. If you don’t, go search the Word of God to ensure that that Word lines up with the Word of God.

Luke also agrees with Mark. He says, “whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.” Luke 18 verse 7 so Luke agrees with Mark.

It’s about the reception of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. How do you receive it? Are you questioning the validity of it?

Are you questioning whether it is true or you are dismissing it and saying oh that’s not right. That is what this means that you accept and believe it like a little child.

Wholeheartedly you grab onto it and you latch onto the teaching of the Kingdom of God. Not just any teaching but the teaching about the true Kingdom of God.

Latch on to it as a little child and believe every word.

Step 4 – Be Born Again

Finally, Jesus says that one of the requirements for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven is to be born again. We are born naturally but when we are reborn spiritually then we can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We find this in John 3:5 and here again Jesus was speaking. He was talking to Nicodemus.

He said, verily, verily or truly, truly, I say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit, man here is a generic term for Humanity, not just male but male and female.

When he says man it means humanity. Except humanity be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

So, we must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Now, born of water means that water gives birth to us and this is water baptism by immersion in water.

Immerse a person in water not to sprinkle but to dunk the person in water. I did a video Bible Study on that and I’ll leave a link below this Bible study to that.

And born of the Spirit means that the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost gives birth to us. In other words, we receive him. We receive the Holy Ghost. We receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

This Is Not Entering Heaven

So, when we are born of water, when we are baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ and we have received the Holy Ghost then we are born again and enter into the Kingdom of God.

However, it’s crucial to our understanding of entry int the Kingdom of Heaven that we perceive that it’s not about entering into heaven.

So, when we talk about entering into the Kingdom of Heaven we’re not talking about entering into heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is from heaven but it operates on the Earth.

Additionally, we do not enter the kingdom of Heaven based on the teachings of religious or Christian organizations but on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

So, it doesn’t matter what other people are saying about how we enter in we must listen to Jesus if we want to enter into the kingdom because he has the truth.

His teachings are not religious. As a matter of fact, the teaching of Jesus Christ transcends religion and time.

Sometimes his teaching or even contradictory to religious teachings including many Christian teachings.

Summary of How To Enter The Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus Christ introduced the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. He brought it here; therefore, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven we must be righteous and our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the religious folks; we must be converted and become as little children in receiving the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven; next we must do the will of Our Father which is in heaven and finally we must be born again.

All these criteria we must fulfill to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. There are some other characteristics that we display having entered into the Kingdom of Heaven that I will talk about in subsequent Bible studies.

Why is it Important to Enter the kingdom of Heaven?

Here are three reasons. First, outside of it, outside the Kingdom of Heaven, we cannot enjoy any of its benefits.

Second, in it, in the Kingdom of Heaven, we have power with the King.

Third, we could only represent the King if we were from his kingdom. It applies even in natural kingdoms. We cannot represent the Queen because we are not from the British Kingdom.

So, let me conclude.

Conclusion

The Kingdom of Heaven is not necessarily a physical place for it is spiritual. To enter into it is to experience the benefits and power of the kingdom of God. To enter the kingdom of heaven

we must be righteous; we must be converted and become as little children in receiving the gospel and the teaching of the Kingdom; and then we must do the will of our Our Father which is in heaven and finally we must be born again.

These four criteria together ensure that we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. If any of these is missing we cannot enter and that is why many Christians in quotes are not in the kingdom because they miss one of these criteria.

Another important thing is, if we never enter the Kingdom of Heaven the Lord cannot send us. Yes, He will not send us if we are not in his kingdom.

This Is Essential For The King To Send You!

To accomplish any Kingdom assignment we must be in his kingdom. You must be a Kingdom Citizen to benefit from the kingdom and there is only one way to enter the kingdom and that is to obey Jesus Christ. Obey the teachings of Jesus Christ.

So, in closing, I want you to assess your Christian Life against these four criteria that I have listed above. How do you fear? Have you entered the Kingdom of Heaven? Are you in the Kingdom?

If not, follow these points above to enter into the kingdom. And I thank you for your time and I bless you in the mighty name of Jesus the blessings of our King are on you and if He wills I’ll see you in another Bible study. The Lord be on you and the Lord be with you have a good day.