In the Bible, the kingdom of God is mentioned at least seventy times! In Mark’s gospel, he discusses what God’s kingdom is like as he quotes Jesus.
Jesus makes it clear that God’s kingdom is vastly different from any kingdom we would construct in this world.
The following are some quotes from the Bible regarding God’s kingdom:
Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Jesus directs us in how we should set our priorities. God created us to glorify Him. He should be the One we revolve our life around. In contrast, the world tells us that we should be the center of our own lives. God’s way leads to fulfillment, satisfaction, and to our eternal existence with Jesus. The world’s way leads to emptiness, dissatisfaction, and to eternal separation from God.
Matthew 19:24: “And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus makes it clear that not everyone will enter the kingdom of God. Our perspective toward the world’s riches make a difference. When we are centered on Jesus, the stuff of this world loses its allure. God’s people are no longer deceived by the lie that materialism leads to contentment because we have found contentment in Jesus.
Mark 1:14: “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”Jesus commands people to enter God’s kingdom through repentance. Repentance of sin is key to coming to faith in Christ. In order to know what sin is, we must thoroughly read and study the Bible. This way God’s Spirit can help us understand what sin is, identify our sin, and lead us to repent. Repentance means we behave in a new manner that honors God.
The world does not view sin the same way God sees it. When we refuse to repent of our sin, it leads to eternal separation from God, not from God’s kingdom. This is why Jesus commands us to repent.
Accepting that we are sinners, in need of Jesus’s salvation for the forgiveness of our sins, is basic to the gospel. Until we acknowledge that we need Jesus in order to turn from an ungodly lifestyle, we remain separated from God.
Jesus, as the Savior of the world, offers us the opportunity to repent of our sins – now and until we die. Repentance facilitates our ability to believe in Jesus as the One who secured our eternal life. He willingly took on Himself the penalty for our sins. Jesus shouldered the responsibility, and therefore the wrath of God, so that He could offer eternal life to all who will believe in His work on the cross.
Mark 9:47: “And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—” Sin is so serious that Jesus gave vivid word pictures of how radical we should be in routing sin out of our lives.
When people discover they have cancer in their bodies, they want it out of their body. Most people go to great lengths to make sure that happens. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and post-treatments are energetically administered in order to eradicate cancer from someone’s body.
I believe God wants us to be even more purposeful in routing sin out of our lives because sin is the worst form of cancer that exists. God’s kingdom people desire to sin less. We will not be sinless until we go into eternity, but God enables us, with His Spirit’s power, to sin less.
Cancer kills. Sin kills. Sin deters the work of us entering God’s kingdom.
Consider these words from the Bible:
1 John 2:1-2 : “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1 John 3:7-8: “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
Sin has created a world that is filled with ungodliness. Ungodliness is leading people further and further away from Jesus. Those who belong to God’s kingdom want to identify, confess, and repent of their sin.
How often do you ask God to show you the sin in your life that needs to be eradicated? When God reveals your sin – lies, selfishness, envy, greed, sexual immorality, slander, pride, or any other sin – what is your response? Do you ultimately look to Him to lead you in repentance? If so, how has that experience benefitted your life spiritually and perhaps even in worldly relationships? If you refuse to repent, where do you think it will ultimately lead?
I would enjoy the opportunity to discuss sin, repentance, the Kingdom of God, and the gospel of Christ with you. Please contact me at: ButGodCares@gmail.com.
Living for Jesus, Donna
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Note: If the verses for Bible references do not appear when you hover over them, go directly to the website, and they should appear for you. Also, please remember to look at the full context of the verses by reading the complete passage.
Copyright 2026 Donna Shappy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other – without the prior permission of the author.