Why did the Jews reject the Messiah?

JohnB445 · Oct 23, 2018

The OT says the Messiah will be mocked and rejected by his people. God exists outside of time, so he already knows what will happen in the future. I don't think we can surprise God with something.

It doesn't sound right to say that they were predestined to reject him, but it seems like it is so.

Is it really that hard to find Jesus in the OT? 300 Prophecies were fulfilled, I haven't read through them I probably read only a few verses. But regardless I find it easy to believe in him, even the resurrection just as much as the death. It did take a few months however of searching for God to finally accept and believe in him.

tampasteve · Oct 23, 2018

Many did not reject Yeshua, many accepted him as the Messiah. Many accepted and then lost the faith when the believers were ejected from the synagogues. However, it cannot be overlooked that many of the prophesies that we see fulfilled are not understood as such by Judaism as messianic, some were but are no longer and some never were seen as such. Many Christians like to look at the OT and they can see "Jesus leaping off of every page" to quote a Jewish counter-missionary. Applying non-messianic texts to Jesus hurts the missionary cause when there are plenty of legitimate messianic prophesies we should focus on.

Further, some of the biggest parts are yet to be fulfilled, and this is what holds back many Jewish faithful from believing that the Messiah has come, and will come again. While it is easy for us to look back on the scripture and see a second coming, it is not so easy if one is proving just from the OT that the Messiah will come twice. This belief was never a widely accepted belief before Jesus, even if it was taught as a possibility in the 1st century. Add the typical Christian thought that once a Jewish person believes they must drop all of their culture and religious Traditions and that is a mix for a very difficult choice to make.

JohnB445 · Oct 23, 2018

tampasteve said:
\ Add the typical Christian thought that once a Jewish person believes they must drop all of their culture and religious Traditions and that is a mix for a very difficult choice to make.

I think that's a misunderstanding, I don't think early Christianity necessarily was the same as practiced today. Not saying that it is practiced wrong, but people are certainly free to keep their traditions, the Bible just says that the traditions and law are not what saves.

tampasteve · Oct 23, 2018

JohnB445 said:
I think that's a misunderstanding, I don't think early Christianity necessarily was the same as practiced today. Not saying that it is practiced wrong, but people are certainly free to keep their traditions, the Bible just says that the traditions and law are not what saves.

I agree, but many Christians do not.

AlexDTX · Oct 23, 2018

JohnB445 said:
The OT says the Messiah will be mocked and rejected by his people. God exists outside of time, so he already knows what will happen in the future. I don't think we can surprise God with something.

It doesn't sound right to say that they were predestined to reject him, but it seems like it is so.

Is it really that hard to find Jesus in the OT? 300 Prophecies were fulfilled, I haven't read through them I probably read only a few verses. But regardless I find it easy to believe in him, even the resurrection just as much as the death. It did take a few months however of searching for God to finally accept and believe in him.

Why do Gentiles reject the Messiah? Same reason, they want to justify themselves and continue sinning.

Phil 1:21 · Oct 23, 2018

Why did the Jews reject the Messiah?

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day." John 6:44

StevenMerten · Oct 23, 2018

JohnB445 said:
The OT says the Messiah will be mocked and rejected by his people. God exists outside of time, so he already knows what will happen in the future. I don't think we can surprise God with something.

Hello John,
Just because God exists outside of physical time does not necessarily mean He cannot be surprised at, free from the will of God, mankind's choices. I look at it as God holds the whole of physical universe, from before Creation, to beyond the end of time, in the Palm of His Hand. God is Omni-Present to the whole of physical time, which He brings into existence. However, there was a spiritual time, in God's Spiritual Realm, before God brought Creation into existence. Before God brought Creation into existence, God did not know what choices, free from the will of God, Adam, Abraham or the evil Pharisees would choose.

JohnB445 · Oct 23, 2018

I will add I always found it scary if God knew what our fate would be and if we were predestined to either go to heaven or hell before birth.

I believe and hope its the case that we set our own destiny instead of suffering a particular fate.

People being born into the world just to burn in hell in the end sounds silly.

StevenMerten · Oct 23, 2018

The term 'Pharisee' means 'the separated'. The reason the Pharisees, who lead the Jews into rejecting Jesus, rejected Jesus, was because Jesus did preach that they were the ones separated out for heaven. In fact, Jesus preached that the Pharisees, because of their self-exaltation, were the ones going to hell, lest they repent. This is why the Pharisees rejected and murdered, Jesus. The Pharisees led the whole House of Judah to reject Jesus.

There are many Christians out there today who, exalt themselves, and separate themselves out as in possession of heaven, above other Christians. This is the same sin as the Pharisees, 'The Separated', who murdered Jesus.

Matthew 21:43
Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit. (The one who falls on this stone will be dashed to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.)"
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

John 5:39
"Search the Scriptures in which you think you have eternal life--they also testify on my behalf. Yet you are unwilling to come to me to possess that life. It is not that I accept human praise-- it is simply that I know you, and you do not have the love of God in your hearts."

Acts 23:8
(The Sadducees, of course, maintain that there is no resurrection and that there are neither angles nor spirits, while the Pharisees believe in all these things.)(LUK 14:14)(2TI 2:18)(1CO 10:1)

Matthew 22 The Wedding Banquet
Jesus again in reply spoke to them in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. He said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen." Then the Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap him in speech.

Revelation 19:6
Then I heard something like the sound of a great multitude or the sound of rushing water or mighty peals of thunder, as they said: "Alleluia! The Lord has established his reign, (our) God, the almighty. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding day of the Lamb has come, his bride has made herself ready. She was allowed to wear a bright, clean linen garment." (The linen represents the righteous deeds of the holy ones.)

straykat · Oct 23, 2018

I think Stephen got to the root of it, in his diatribe before they stoned him.

And when Jesus said they were of their father, the devil, he wasn't speaking in metaphor. Nor is John joking when he said synagogue of Satan.

As for prophecies and such, Jews forgot about the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, and only focused on a warlike Son of David. They forgot that the Messiah came in two forms: Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David. Israel is a united Kingdom, and so is it's Messiah. It is not merely Judah.

And what do we know of Joseph? He was beat up and rejected by his brothers, and instead lead the Gentiles and took them out of famine.

StevenMerten · Oct 23, 2018

JohnB445 said:
I will add I always found it scary if God knew what our fate would be and if we were predestined to either go to heaven or hell before birth.

I believe and hope its the case that we set our own destiny instead of suffering a particular fate.

People being born into the world just to burn in hell in the end sounds silly.

Genesis 2:16
The LORD God gave man this order: "You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die."

Deuteronomy 30:19
"I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him."

Matthew 7:12
" . . . treat others the way you would have them treat you: this sums up the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is clear, and many choose to travel it. But how narrow is the gate that leads to life, how rough the road, and how few there are who find it!"

Deuteronomy 30:15 The Choice before Israel.
"Here then, I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy."

Sirach 15:11 Man's Free Will.
Say not: "It was God's doing that I fell away"; for what he hates he does not do. Say not: "It was he who set me astray"; for he has no need of wicked man.Abominable wickedness the LORD hates, he does not let it befall those who fear him. When God, in the beginning, created man, he made him subject to his own free choice. If you choose you can keep the commandments; it is loyalty to do his will. There are set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him.

Amos 5:14
Seek good and not evil, that you may live; Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts, be with you as you claim!

Deuteronomy 11:26 A Blessing and a Curse.
"I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today; a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, but turn aside from the way I ordain for you today, to follow other gods, whom you have not known."

2 Kings 18:32
". . . until I come to take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and wine, of bread and orchards, of olives, oil and fruit syrup. Choose life, not death."

NAB HEB 12:14 Penalties of Disobedience.
Strive for peace with all men, and for that holiness without which no one can see the Lord. See to it that no man falls away from the grace of God; that no bitter root springs up through which many may become defiled; that there be among you no fornicator or godless person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a meal. You know that afterward he wanted to inherit his father's blessing, but he was rejected because he had no opportunity to alter his choice, even though he sought the blessing with tears.(ISA 1:19 PRO 18:21)

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Why did the Jews reject the Messiah?

JohnB445

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tampasteve

Pray for peace in Israel

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JohnB445

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tampasteve

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AlexDTX

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Phil 1:21

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StevenMerten

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JohnB445

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StevenMerten

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straykat

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StevenMerten

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