When Jesus began His ministry, He instructed His listeners to repent. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 4:17

Why did He command us* to repent? Because the kingdom of heaven was and is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is His. Jesus is its King. Where the king is, the subjects of His kingdom submit to His authority.**

So, how are we to enter the kingdom? Jesus speaking unto Nicodemus, one of the Jewish religious leaders; Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3

How are we to be born again? Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. I Peter 1:23

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:11-13

To repent means to change one’s mind.

Will you?

…let the word of Christ dwell (take up its life) in you richly…

*When Jesus instructed His listeners to repent in the Gospels, He was preaching to Israel. After Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection, the apostle Peter preaching at Pentecost also commanded ”the house of Israel” to repent (Acts 2:36-39). Peter repeats the Lord’s desire for individual souls in his second epistle: The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. II Peter 3:9

**Messiah Jesus to Israel: Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you – Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? John 5:45-47