Jews and Jesus Christ

Though the rabbis emphasize that their ancestors made the right choice to reject Jesus Christ as the Jewish Messiah, the Jews actually fulfilled an ancient prophecy by spurning Christ.

What prophecy foretold that the Jews would reject their Messiah? Here's what the prophet Isaiah wrote over 700 years before Christ appeared on earth: "He (Messiah) was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3)

But haven't the Jews been looking for the Messiah for several millennia? Indeed they have. But they've been looking for the wrong one. They've been looking for a messiah fashioned in their own imaginations rather than the true Messiah promised by God through His prophets.

Thus, when Christ appeared in ancient Israel 2,000 years ago, the Jews weren't looking for Him. And Christ possessed none of the attributes that the Jews were seeking in the Messiah.

For starters, Christ was a very ordinary looking man. Even John the Baptist had to admit that he failed to recognize Jesus when He appeared: "I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the (Holy) Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." (John 1:33-34)

Christ's ordinary appearance also fulfilled Isaiah's prophetic writings: "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." (Isaiah 53:2)

Why did the Jews reject Christ? Actually, not all of them did. In fact, many of the Jews embraced Christ as their Messiah early on until a relentless smear campaign conducted by their corrupt religious leaders finally convinced them to give up on Christ.

Why did their religious leaders despise Christ? Because He was a threat to their authority. Christ not only confounded them with His knowledge of the Mosaic Law, but He also performed incredible miracles such as sighting the blind, restoring hearing to the deaf and even raising the dead.

None of the rabbis possessed that sort of power and they were extremely jealous of Christ because of that. Christ's miracles alone convinced many Jews that He was their Messiah.

But Israel's religious leaders finally succeeded when they were able to bribe Judas Iscariot into handing Christ over to them so they could send Him on to the Romans for crucifixion on trumped up charges.

The rabbis thought that they were through with Christ. By betraying Christ into the hands of the Romans, they believed that they had finally rid themselves of their biggest nemesis.

Instead, by selling out Christ, the rabbis fulfilled another prophecy recorded by Isaiah: "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5)

With that sort of prophetic evidence--and that's just a mere portion of it--no thinking and objective person should be looking for another Messiah. They should be able to conclude without a doubt that Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah.

And indeed He is. However, when culture and tradition trump historical evidence, then folks are either too afraid to examine the evidence for fear of discovering that they've been following a lie, or they simply don't care because the approval of men is more important to them than the approval of God.

In Part II: A counterfeit religious system called Rabbinic Judaism.