John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

One of the twisted words that I hear often from many is the word “Kingdom” from Scripture. I’ll admit that before I was born again, I viewed the “Kingdom of God” as heaven, a place. Some even put walls up in this Kingdom with gatekeepers such as Peter.

However, if we study the Greek word for Kingdom, you might be surprised as to what this Kingdom is and where it is. The word is “basileia” pronounced “bas-il-i’-ah”. It is defined as royal power, dominion, kingship, authority, rule, sovereignty NOT to be confused with an actual worldly kingdom but rather the right or authority to rule over a kingdom.

So when you read and study Scripture, by taking the actual definition for “Kingdom” it might open up much understanding for you, I know it did for me! So when Jesus said those before they are born again cannot see the Kingdom, He was stating they cannot “see” meaning understand His Kingship, His dominion, His royal power, rather they will reject it.

Those not born-again are in rebellion to Jesus Christ’s rule, and some will even claim to be “Christians”. They’ll reject placing their faith alone in Him just as the Pharisees did by their legalism, Jesus pointed this out in Luke 17:²⁰ Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

Jesus was explaining that when one is born-again, the RULE, the DOMINION of God is within you because the indwelling Holy Spirit has come. So it is not literally viewing as seeing, it is a spiritual surrender to His royal power. So as I said in the past, where the King is, THERE IS THE KINGDOM! If you are born-again, you are a walking and talking and living Kingdom of God because God is dwelling in you! You are a humble subject now to the KING and His authority, His rule, His dominion.

Some claim to be in His Kingdom but have not surrendered their sins, they will not bow to Jesus and to Him alone as King. Rather they would like to add themselves or others as ruling equals. They view themselves as autonomous and equate themselves with Jesus Christ’s royal power. So they are living outside the Kingdom, outside the gates so to speak which are prevailing over them.