Why did Jesus preach the Kingdom of God and not Religion? by Urban Kingdom

Why did Jesus preach the Kingdom of God and not Religion?

God’s General will is summarized by the coming of his Kingdom and its expansion from heaven to earth it means his authority and rulership in the life of all human beings through the salvation of their souls in Jesus Christ and the impartation of the Holy Spirit into their lives.

Man was created to live under Gods rulership and his authority but because of sin he put himself under another ruling kingdom called the kingdom of the devil (Lucifer) or the kingdom of darkness. This fact reveals to us why Jerusalem was shaken with the good news of the birth of the baby king Jesus Christ from Nazareth. If Jesus came as a prophet as some people think and preached only love, mercy, humility, holiness and all other kind of virtues he will never be a threat for the Sanhedrin and Pilate or erodes and the devil.

Jesus good news was “repent because the kingdom of God is at hand” this means that Jesus came to establish a new rulership, a new government, a new kingdom which is not ruled by the devil. By this message Jesus was announcing the beginning of a great competition between the two kingdoms. Only in this context we can understand the big anger of erodes and his government pushed by the devil and his kingdom when they heard about the birth of the baby king.

Jesus didn’t preach about a religion because he knows that the relationship between God and man can never be restored by good deeds while Satan is ruling human life that’s why it was necessary that he goes through the agony of the cross of Calvary to redeem human kind by transferring them from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God that’s why we say in confidence that Jesus is the only way to heaven and we pray in faith “may your kingdom come”.

This makes clear that the most important thing in this life is not to have a religion and to attend the religious places or activities but to enter to the kingdom of God which is found on the righteousness of God and his justification by faith and not on our self-righteousness and good works. I believe this is the main difference between real Christianity and religion.

Jesus didn’t only preach about the kingdom of God but he also manifested its presence by the miraculous works that he performed and when he was accused by the religious authorities he said that if he performed these miracles by the finger of God it meant that the kingdom of God had arrived… 

Jesus was the way in which God the father established his rulership on earth that’s why after his death and resurrection Jesus declared his kingship by saying to the disciples “all authority in heaven and earth was given to me” it means he was waiting to fulfill and to accomplish all the conditions for us to enter the kingdom of God and to be delivered from the devil.

Many people think that if they accept Christ they will have to move from a religion to another which is not true because Christ never meant to establish a religion but a kingdom moreover people can adopt Christianity and go to church and make a lot of religious activities but this doesn’t mean that they entered to the kingdom. So what are the things that can make us enter to the kingdom of God?

In order to enter God’s kingdom:

• We need to repent from sin: to confess our sins and repent from them in order to enter Gods Kingdom otherwise whatever we do we will never qualify for it.
• We need to believe in Christ, in his death in our place and also in his resurrection.
• We need to be born again from the spirit (the Holy Spirit) and from the water (the word of God).
• We need to accept the truth like children it means with trust and faith without arguing or doubting.

God wanted to establish his kingdom on earth and not only good virtues as some people may think because somebody is ruling in his place and in spite of his great power and his legal right as a creator he didn’t like to do it by force that is why he had to come to earth as a human being and get fulfill his will through Love and righteousness by taking the wage and penalty for sin which is death.

By the work of the cross God didn’t restore authority and power only for himself but he also gave it back to man that’s why Christians have authority over the devil, to cast him out of people and also on nature to control it for his good.

Jesus said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15).