the chosen people repeatedly strayed from those chosen laws—instead honoring the codes, customs, and gods of other nations—God allowed the destruction of ancient Israel. Through hundreds of years of exile and oppression, the Jewish people yearned for a return to this covenant relationship. It was Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter’s son raised in the Roman-occupied province of Galilee, who came to deliver the news: The old kingdom was gone for good. In its place, He promised something even better—a kingdom not of this world, and not just for Jews, but for everyone who accepts Jesus as their
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