What happens when there are two radically different spiritual paradigms? God had told His people that He would make a new covenant with the house of Israel (Jer 31:31). Instead of an outward religion, God said, ‘I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’ (31:33). The foundation of this new covenant is Jesus Christ, who came to the Jews saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand’ (Mark 1:15). But the Jewish leaders wanted to hold on to their legalistic traditions.