Why don’t Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah?

If Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, why don’t Jews accept Him?

Good question. 

But the word of God answers that one. 

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” Romans 11:25

In part…

Who are the elect?

We don’t often fight over truth.  We fight over miscontruth. 

Miscontruth happens when words are misconstrued. 

Construe: to analyze the arrangement and connection of words; to construct (to build):

Mis- : badly

Miscontruth: a bad analysis of, or a badly analyzed- arrangement and connection of words

Anything we build on a foundation other than the gospel of Jesus Christ…

Israel and the Second Coming

There are two ways to enter heaven…

Both of them are through Jesus.  And both are in the plan of salvation.

“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Matt 10:32-33

Confess - homologeō: to say the same thing as another; to agree, to concede; not to deny

Deny - arneomai: not to accept, to reject, to refuse something offered

I was interested to find that a “way” can be more than just a path, but it can also be a plan.

In the record of heaven the Father has placed His signature, His seal, on clear commitments, covenants, and promise that have been made.  One was to Israel.  That He would be their God and they would be His people… forever.  He promised that Israel would be redeemed.

God’s plans are so much higher than ours.  His ways are so much greater than ours.  We could never understand them.  But that is okay…  He promised us peace that passes understanding.

In His infinite wisdom He laid a plan for all nations to be blessed, for all people – Gentile or Jew – to be saved AND that plan worked in unison with His plan for Israel.  For Israel to play the role He intended, for them to be here for His Return, for all of us who were not born into Israel in the flesh to become part of that family… He had to be rejected.  He had to be despised.  He had to be offered up.  And as God’s people, as His priests, the offering would only be accepted at their hands.  You see, God did not accept the offerings of other nations.  He did not accept the offerings that the priests of other gods would make.  He only accepted offerings from Israel, and the Passover Lamb had to be offered up by a High Priest.

Israel was expecting a conquering King.  They weren’t looking for a Suffering Servant.  They wanted their physical enemy defeated.  They weren’t thinking that the enemy the Anointed One, the Messiah would conquer would be death, and unseat the ruler of this dark age, that liar the devil.   They were the elder brother acting as though they were entitled to the whole house.  And they still our.

We, the Church, represent those who have accepted Christ.  We confess Him.

But Israel will get another chance.  It will not matter to Jesus when He comes again that they have not accepted Him yet, only that they haven’t denied Him when he returns.   You see, they will be here.  They will witness the Church having been removed.  They will see the antichrist come to power.  They will be tempted to accept him as their messiah when he comes in and does establish peace.  And that is why the scripture says that “even some of the elect” will be deceived.  “Elect” and “Chosen” are the same.  The “Elect”, the chosen people of God, Israel will once again be faced with the choice of who to take as their King; a man or God Himself.

“Those who come out of” the great tribulation will be those who did not deny Christ, who did not take the mark of the beast.  They waited for His coming.  They saw the imposter and would not confess him as their king.

To accept the antichrist would be to deny Jesus.  But to deny the antichrist, when he is revealed… can that be to not deny Jesus?

I firmly hold that prior to the rapture of the Church – the whole body of those who confess Christ and believe in Him, those who do not deny Him if asked to – can accept the blood of the Jesus as their own, as blood must be given, and be saved.

I also hold that after the rapture of the Church those who remain, since the wedding has already occurred, will no longer be able to accept Christ as we have.  The Holy Spirit having been removed from the earth, the serpent being let loose… those who remain will either accept the antichrist or deny him.  The only reason to deny the antichrist would be that you were waiting for the Messiah. 

Remember, blood must be shed… Israel knows this.  It represents the entire economy of the temple.  Sacrifice for sin.  Those who will not take the mark of the beast will give their lives because of it.  Their blood will be spilled.  And this is why we see them beneath the altar in Revelation.  “Coming out” of the great tribulation does not me “getting through” it means that they are that those who are a “result of’ the great tribulation.  These are those who did not deny that God is God and that His Messiah would be Israel’s king.

And those who are not Jews, not of Israel, during the great tribulation can join with Israel, just as we were able to be grafted in to the children of Abraham through faith, they will be able to be grafted in through sacrifice. 

Joseph’s brothers’ hearts were hardened against him and they betrayed him… yet, when he revealed himself to them the second time they came to Egypt, they rejoiced.

And so when Jesus reveals Himself to Israel, whose hearts had been hardened, “the second time” they will again rejoice.

What is the importance in all of this as we seek to be effective in our following Christ?  When we witness to our Jewish brothers, speak of when Christ will come again.  Assure them that the promise to Israel is still intact, that they are still the Chosen People.  We may be the called… but they ARE the chosen.  (“many are called, but few are chosen”)  Share the signs of the times with them so that they will not be among the “elect” that are deceived.

SDG

ISRAEL – the elder son

“Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to [his] father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” Luke 15:25-31

We are very familiar with the parable of the prodigal son.  We relate to it.  We all seem to experience a time in the far country.  A time when we ask of our Father and He gives, and then we, like the prodigal… waste what He has given us.  We praise God that through Jesus Christ we are found, and that our Father sees us from afar off and comes running to us, placing a robe on our backs and a ring on our fingers, calling us sons of God.  And we should.

But what of the elder son? 

Is it not Israel?  Is it not the son of the promise who continually “strives with God?”  Is Israel not the nation that can say, “Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I… thy commandment?” While we can apply this to those within the Church who never seemed to stray from the faith, we have to remember that Jesus was talking to the Jews and He was among Israel.  We must remember that what we know as the Church was not yet born.  So we must cast off the theology of the past that would separate our elder brother from us. 

We must realize that if Israel is not God’s chosen nation, then the God we serve is a liar.  But we know that “God does not lie” and that He is “true”, and that every man is a liar.   We also know who the “father of lies” is.

Israel was chosen, we are called.  And it is because we are called, as Abraham was, that we too are the sons of Abraham; sons of the promise, by faith.  For God called Abraham out of his family and his country, but He chose Israel (Jacob).  He declared them God’s chosen people. 

Israel IS the elder son.  Everything the Father has is at their disposal, if only they would receive.  His covenant with them is intact.  It is an everlasting covenant.  Throughout the scriptures He refers to them as a “stiff necked people.” And they still stand outside the feast, the feast of the Lamb, and wonder why the blessing has come to the Church.  And they still strive with God (the meaning of the name Israel).  And they, many of them, still resent us.  It is sibling rivalry as old as the hills.  But He is still our Father, and He is still their Father.

And their Father, our Father, still hears them… He still intreats them.  He still begs that they would come in and receive the Lamb that was slain for them.  Yet they still, many of them, say that He hasn’t.  They say that He “never gavest me a kid (lamb)” to make merry. 

And what is His response to His elder son?  “Thou are ever with me, all that I have is thine.”  He still loves them.  He still has a plan for them.  Israel must remain until the second coming of our Lord.

Please pray for our Jewish brothers.  Many can respond to His invitation and be saved.  But many will only receive Him when He comes again.  Either way, we must bless Israel and pray for them.  Pray that they are not deceived by the antichrist when he comes, giving them the peace that many of them long to experience.  Pray that they find again the book of law and in it the truths of the Messiah.  And pray that they look for His coming.  Many of them do.  Many believe the Messiah will come.  They just do not believe that He has come already.

They stand outside the feast and say, “thou never gavest me a kid (lamb).”

SDG