Excerpt from Marlena's book: Life Changing Testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter One

Palestine At The New Era

Jesus Christ is our Savior. He came to this earth to save our souls from certain death at the hands of the Adversary of the world. He came to cleanse this world of its sinfulness, to soothe and teach us in our pain and sadness and sorrows. He came to show us the fount of true joy and fulfillment. He came to teach us of his Heavenly Father who is also our Creator. Corollary to that lesson, Jesus taught brotherly love as an eternal principle of living, presenting the hearers of his Word with many examples from his private and public life. Jesus Christ gave the earth and all people on it an unprecedented opportunity…

Jesus appeared on earth at a time when there was favorable spiritual thinking. In prior centuries the Jews had been subject to Greek culture and language, which had spread over the Occident. The Jewish Diaspora (dispersion after the destruction of Israel and then Judah) saw many thousands of Jews adopt Greek ways or outwardly appear to embrace them under fear of death should their own ceremonies, held mainly in secret, be discovered.

In Jerusalem there was at the time internal accord and what seemed like prosperity in the Greco-Roman world, known as the Pax Romana.

The Greeks spread culture, language, and philosophy. The Romans built the roads and ruled in the Mediterranean and the Roman Empire spanned the borders of Britain, Mesopotamia and Egypt.2 Under no threats of war for a time, they kept a somewhat tolerant political rule. A great era of trade was opening up, not to be rivaled until the nineteenth century. Travel for Jews was common then and encouraged throughout the region—the gospels record Jesus’ journeys with his apostles as far north as Tyre in Syria.

The Pharisees and members of the Sanhedrin constituted the wealthy class. Other residents of Jerusalem lived in relative squalor. Jesus found himself with almost no middle class to preach to, but there was for a time equanimity between the Roman politicaland social systems while Jewish moral teachings were spreading throughout Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The Apostle Paul was an example of this, being a Roman citizen (See Acts 16:37) and preaching in Greek the gospel of a Hebrew Messiah. The impression is that this temporary tranquility was but a hiatus between wars, but it gave him the opportunity to establish his Church among them in that dispensation.