Jesus was Rejected By His Own People, The Jews

The life and ministry of Jesus Christ were well documented and prophesied in the Old Testament. Various books of the Old Testament give indisputable information on the first coming of the Messiah, beginning from the book of Genesis right through to the book of Malachi. Prophet Isaiah in particular provides an excellent account of the first coming of the Messiah. He begins with the birth of the Messiah (Is. 7:14) and continues right through with the suffering that the Messiah would bear in His first coming (Is. 53).

The Jews were overwhelmed by the idea of the coming of the Messiah. They knew that “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever” (Is. 9:6-7). This prophecy occupied the minds of the Jews to the extent that they could not differentiate the first coming from the second coming of the Messiah. What Isaiah said in Is. 9:6-7 would certainly be fulfilled by the Messiah, but would not be a hundred percent so in His first coming. The Jews did not have any idea of the Messiah coming in two great periods. What they knew was that Christ would come as a King to bring victory and liberty to the nation of Israel. But the Jews made a great mistake on this issue, for they did not realize that the Messiah would come first in the form of a servant. He was a suffering servant.

The prophet Isaiah in his writings in Is. 53:3 said, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as if were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” The Jews could not understand or accept this verse. Whatever reason these may be, prophet Isaiah prophesied the suffering of the Messiah in His first coming.

This prophecy was fulfilled during the life of Christ. When He came to this world to bring victory of salvation, He was despised, mocked and rejected by His people. The Jews were supposed to know this truth beforehand, for they had been chosen by God to be the nation from which the Messiah would come. But the Jews could not see the real function of the Messiah in His first coming. They were blinded by their sins. John the apostle recorded that when Jesus Christ came unto His own, they reject Him (John 1:11). Calvin rightly said, “Christ therefore first offered Himself to them as if they were His own household and belonged to His kingdom in their own right.” Nevertheless the Jews could not see the light and rejected their Saviour.” As Keil added, "The nation, which acknowledges with penitence how shamefully it has mistaken its own Saviour, laments that it has put no faith in the tidings of the lofty and glorious calling of the servant of God. . . . The heathen receives with tidings of things which had never been heard of before; whereas Israel has to lament that it put no faith in the tidings which it had heard long, long before, not only with reference to the person and work of the servant of God, but with regard to His lowly origin and glorious end."

Thus, when the Jews nailed the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, it was the final proof of their rejection of Him to be their Saviour. He was despised during His ministry and the last hours of His life on the cross. Nonetheless, Isaiah the prophet had prophesied the things that would be undergone by the Messiah before His death in His first coming.