Nope, that is not what Jesus said. He said one could not see the kingdom unless one was born again. The whole point of Jesus ministry was to teach us how to live here and now. Unfortunately, many pass over that, focusing instead on where they will end up when they die. Salvation is not the finish line. It is the starting line. It is all about process and relationship here and now. It is about dying to self, renewing the mind, and becoming a new creation in right-standing with the Father. It is about the restoration of what God originally established in the Garden.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
John 3:17
Jesus came to save the world that God originally created, giving dominion to us. God is not a micro-manager. He does not go back on His word. Man forfeited dominion over to satan in the Garden. Christ came so that we could get it back.
Do you believe Christians will establish The Kingdom on earth and then Christ returns? I ask because I believe the Eastern Orthodox have a similar belief and call it Christendom.