John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
We don't need to wait; we can understand and know Christ and the Father NOW. We are already in the kingdom of God. By understanding Christ and who the Father is, we will also recognize that we are eternal....THAT is what it means for Christ to give us eternal life. It is the understanding of who we are and that we ARE eternal....and as eternal beings, we also have eternal life. It isn't something we achieve AFTER we leave mortality.
All you have to do is give up what the world has taught you about the Kingdom of God....give up everything religion ever taught. That is the only way you are going to be able to believe what Christ taught. Little children are already a part of the kingdom of heaven:
Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Why? Because they are unspotted by the world. When they are first born, they haven't been taught anything that the mortal world wants to teach them. Every new experience is perceived according to unhampered, preconceived notions. Thus, they can use their own 100% unspotted free will to interpret their experiences. By the time they are around eight years old, the world has spotted them to the extent that they are no longer able to experience the mortal world without now applying the world's dictates about what and how they should act and react to their experiences; they have even been taught what to believe. They can no longer believe what they used to believe about new experiences they had as infants. Once they have been taught to believe in what the world believes, they will continue to seek after what the mortal world teaches them; and they will perceive their new experiences according to what they have been taught by others. They look to sources outside of themselves to interpret mortal experiences, rather than being able to experience them according to their own self. They can no longer experience new things and act or react to them according to their own unspotted free will. They relinquish their unspotted free will in order to experience life according to what other's have taught them....their free will is now hampered; it is spotted.
Religion is one of the biggest thieves of unspotted free will. Religion robs children of the ability to choose to believe in their own experiences without outside influence. Religion teaches fear and guilt in powers that can control their destiny...especially their destiny after physical death. As such, religion has the power to control the minds of all who are taught to believe in it. Religion, in particular, turns everything upside down in this mortal world, compared to how things really are outside of mortality:
Isaiah 29: 16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
James speaks of keeping ourselves unspotted from the world; even as he addresses "pure religion":
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Here is the regular KJV:
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Joseph clarifies it here:
JST Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, Lo, there! For, behold, the kingdom of God has already come unto you.
If you choose to continue to believe in the Christ who is taught by Christianity, you simply will not be able to know Christ and the Father. Your belief in what the world has taught you about Christ will prevent you from seeing and hearing; because you prefer to see and hear through the religious beliefs you have been taught. Little children aren't hampered by what the world has taught them; but those who cling to religion have their minds controlled by what religion teaches. If you want to be able to understand and know Christ, and the Father, you have to give up what the world has taught; and merely believe what Christ taught! It can be very frightening because religion teaches you to fear God; even though the Lord spoke through Isaiah telling us that fear of God is taught by the precepts of men....sigh... You may say that you believe in Christ; but if your beliefs are still centered around fear, then you don't know Christ...and as such, you cannot know the Father. You may say that because you believe in Christ, you no longer fear God....but if you are not willing to believe something which religion does NOT teach, then guess what? You still fear God...by virtue of being afraid to believe anything outside of what religion has taught you.
You can enter the kingdom of God right now if you would be willing to give up what the world has taught about Christ and the kingdom of God. Just BELIEVE what Christ taught. He isn't going to make you believe either way; but He HAS provided the way for you to be able to enter the kingdom of God right now. You can know right now who Christ really is, and who the Father is; you can immediately recognize that you have eternal life (and no one has the ability to take eternal life away from you; we are already eternal).