Jesus lets us know that He is the entrance for us into a whole new lifestyle, there is another dimension available for us. Many of us are comfortable just having church, but Jesus in the doorway to the pasture. He is also saying that even though He is the way to another dimension there is a thief that is trying to keep you out of it. If we become satisfied with just being a church member the enemy will negotiate with us, he says just go to church do your dance, sing your song, and stay broke, stay depressed, and stay vexed, and stay sick. But Jesus want us to have life more abundantly. When Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit- what's blessed about being poor is that God gives us an equalizer giving us access the kingdom of heaven, it does not matter if you are currently in poverty the kingdom is that, which separates from the rest of the crowd. The kingdom the realm where God operates, rules and reigns. Jesus does not feel sorry for us because He left a dimension for us. So really we do not have any problems we just need to know how to access the kingdom. So if wondering how long the kingdom has been in existence? As long as there has been a King and the King is, was, and always has been, He is the Alpha and Omega. Before we had life there was a kingdom. No matter what the poverty the kingdom of God is the answer. The kingdom of God is God's answer for every inconsistency , and inadequacy in our lives. And God wants us to have that dimension. We became born again in order to see how to enter into the kingdom and find pasture having life and the more abundantly!