Did Israel Reject Jesus?

The Bible is about the promised male child who would be born of a woman and crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15).

God chose that the child would come from Abraham and the nation of Israel for the purpose of being a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3; Romans 4).

The woman from Israel who gave birth to the child was Mary, and the child was Jesus.

The majority of Israel rejected Jesus (Matthew 26; John 19; Luke 23).

But not all of Israel rejected Jesus.

Below are Jewish people who did not reject Jesus.

Zachariah and Elizabeth

Mary and Joseph

Simeon and Anna

The Apostles

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus

Nicodemus

Joseph of Arimathea

The 120 in the upper room

The 500 who Jesus appeared to

Mark

Stephen

Apollos

Priscilla and Aquila

The two men on the Road to Emmaus and others who are not named in the Bible.

Then there were the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel who took the message of Jesus to the nations in the first-century, resulting in a number of believers too numerous to count (Revelation 7; 14).

Believers today are of the number too numerous to count.

What about those from Israel who rejected Jesus?

According to Jesus, they were of the offspring of their "father the devil." (John 8:44)

This meant they were the offspring of the devil who opposed the offspring of the woman in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15; John 8:44).

Those from Israel who rejected Jesus persecuted those from Israel who accepted Jesus.

Those from Israel who rejected Jesus and were of their father the devil were crushed from AD66-70 when the armies of the Roman empire destroyed the land, people, and cites of Israel...including Jerusalem and the temple.

Jesus foretold this crushing was coming (Matthew 23-24; Luke 19:41-44; Luke 21; Luke 23:26-30).

Revelation describes this crushing.

Paul mentioned this in Romans 16:20 when he said Satan (unbelieving Israel who was persecuting believing Israel) would soon be crushed (when the Roman armies destroyed unbelieving Israel).

Those in Israel who believed heeded the words of Jesus and left Judea and Jerusalem prior to the destruction.

Today, people from Israel and all nations are coming to faith in Jesus, though many from Israel and the nations continue to reject him.

If you found this blog helpful, you may enjoy Brad’s Books: Click Here