Thus, when Jesus proclaimed that ‘The time is fulfilled! . . . God’s kingdom is arriving! Turn back, and believe the good news!’41 he wasn’t offering people four spiritual laws or a road to heavenly bliss. Rather, Jesus was saying that the prophetic promises about the end of exile, a new exodus, a new covenant, a new temple, Israel’s regathering and restoration, were at last coming true. God was coming and coming as king. The kingship of God was being manifested through the things Jesus himself was doing: his own mighty deeds, healings, exorcisms and even his death.42 The day was coming, and
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