The Bible, Israel, and Antisemitism: Part 3: The Rejection of Jesus
The Old Testament lays out a promise program regarding Israel and her land. Living in the land Israel has the opportunity to obey or disobey God’s law. Prolonged disobedience (God is very patient!) results in Israel being removed from the land and dispersed into the nations. But Israelite repentance can bring about a return to the land of Israel.
There is no indication that this cycle cannot be repeated throughout the course of history.
In 722 BC the ten northern tribes were dispersed throughout the Assyrian empire and appear to have lost their unique national identity through intermarriage.
The Jews (i.e. the southern kingdom of Judea) were exiled to Babylon in 586 BC but a significant portion returned and rebuilt their nation under Cyrus the Persian (called “the Messiah in Isaiah 45.1!). Thereafter the Jews fought hard to retain a national existence for 400 years, first against the Greeks and then the Romans. Jesus is born, ministers, is crucified (and rises from the dead) during the Roman period.
Though the common people accept Jesus as the Messiah, the national leaders of the Jewish state reject Him and choose instead to submit to the Romans (John 19.15). Both John the Baptist and Jesus condemn Judea’s leaders for refusing to repent and Jesus prophesies ominous consequences for their unbelief.
John the Baptist warns the Pharisees and Sadducees who investigate his baptism that descent from Abraham is meaningless (Matthew 3.7-12).
A Roman centurion asking Jesus to heal his servant demonstrates more faith than the Jews, and Jesus, marveling, predicts that Gentiles will enter the kingdom “while the sons of the kingdom (i.e. the Jews) will be thrown out” (Matthew 8.11-12), i.e. lose their place in the kingdom because of unbelief.
In the last week of His life, these promises and prophecies intensify. Jesus enters the Temple and overturns the moneychangers’ tables and drives out animals being sold for sacrifice and quotes Jeremiah’s famous Temple sermon (Jeremiah 7) which warned of God’s willingness to destroy His own Temple if His people continue in disobedience (e.g. Matthew 21.12-13).
In three parables Jesus condemns the Jews for rejecting both John the Baptist and His teaching (Matthew 21.28-32), telling them that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits (Matthew 21.43) and that God, angry with them for rejecting the gospel call, will “send his troops and destroy those murderers and burn their city (Matthew 22.7), and in their place the kingdom will be peopled by those invited in from the highways and by-ways.
In Matthew 23 Jesus condemns the empty formalistic religion of the Pharisees and goes on to predict the destruction of Jerusalem for its unbelief – twice (Matthew 23.37-39 and Matthew 24.1-2ff; Luke 21.20-24)!
Everything Jesus predicted came to pass. Rome crushed Jerusalem and tore down the Temple in AD 70. Sixty-five years later, Emperor Hadrian crushed a final Jewish revolt (the last Jewish guerillas committed suicide at Masada), Romanized Jerusalem, and banned Jews from entering Jerusalem on pain of death. This was the end of the state of Israel.
But what did all of this mean for the future of national Israel and her place in the land promised to the patriarchs? Did the rejection of Jesus by Judea’s national leaders lead to a divine rejection of national Israel?
More in the next blog…
There is no indication that this cycle cannot be repeated throughout the course of history.
In 722 BC the ten northern tribes were dispersed throughout the Assyrian empire and appear to have lost their unique national identity through intermarriage.
The Jews (i.e. the southern kingdom of Judea) were exiled to Babylon in 586 BC but a significant portion returned and rebuilt their nation under Cyrus the Persian (called “the Messiah in Isaiah 45.1!). Thereafter the Jews fought hard to retain a national existence for 400 years, first against the Greeks and then the Romans. Jesus is born, ministers, is crucified (and rises from the dead) during the Roman period.
Though the common people accept Jesus as the Messiah, the national leaders of the Jewish state reject Him and choose instead to submit to the Romans (John 19.15). Both John the Baptist and Jesus condemn Judea’s leaders for refusing to repent and Jesus prophesies ominous consequences for their unbelief.
John the Baptist warns the Pharisees and Sadducees who investigate his baptism that descent from Abraham is meaningless (Matthew 3.7-12).
A Roman centurion asking Jesus to heal his servant demonstrates more faith than the Jews, and Jesus, marveling, predicts that Gentiles will enter the kingdom “while the sons of the kingdom (i.e. the Jews) will be thrown out” (Matthew 8.11-12), i.e. lose their place in the kingdom because of unbelief.
In the last week of His life, these promises and prophecies intensify. Jesus enters the Temple and overturns the moneychangers’ tables and drives out animals being sold for sacrifice and quotes Jeremiah’s famous Temple sermon (Jeremiah 7) which warned of God’s willingness to destroy His own Temple if His people continue in disobedience (e.g. Matthew 21.12-13).
In three parables Jesus condemns the Jews for rejecting both John the Baptist and His teaching (Matthew 21.28-32), telling them that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits (Matthew 21.43) and that God, angry with them for rejecting the gospel call, will “send his troops and destroy those murderers and burn their city (Matthew 22.7), and in their place the kingdom will be peopled by those invited in from the highways and by-ways.
In Matthew 23 Jesus condemns the empty formalistic religion of the Pharisees and goes on to predict the destruction of Jerusalem for its unbelief – twice (Matthew 23.37-39 and Matthew 24.1-2ff; Luke 21.20-24)!
Everything Jesus predicted came to pass. Rome crushed Jerusalem and tore down the Temple in AD 70. Sixty-five years later, Emperor Hadrian crushed a final Jewish revolt (the last Jewish guerillas committed suicide at Masada), Romanized Jerusalem, and banned Jews from entering Jerusalem on pain of death. This was the end of the state of Israel.
But what did all of this mean for the future of national Israel and her place in the land promised to the patriarchs? Did the rejection of Jesus by Judea’s national leaders lead to a divine rejection of national Israel?
More in the next blog…