For those of us who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, it has always been difficult to understand how anyone could miss seeing Him as the one promised to “save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Yet even today people often cannot see that He was indeed the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a savior.
The difficulty for the Jews of Jesus’ day seems to lie primarily in the fact that the Old Testament portrays the Savior in two differing ways. The first is that of a suffering servant, and the second is that of a coming king. What many Jews have failed to see is that these two pictures were of the same messiah, but referred to Christ’s first and second comings.
Jesus came to earth as a suffering servant, in order to give His life to reconcile us to His Father in heaven. And when He comes again, He will come as a conquering king. Yet the Jews were looking for both of these to happen during His first coming, and when Jesus didn’t establish an earthly kingdom, they failed to see Him as their messiah.
If we could put ourselves in their shoes for a moment, perhaps we could understand this better. The Jews of Jesus’ day were oppressed by the Roman Empire in their own land of Israel, and they were looking for a savior who would set up an earthly kingdom by defeating the Romans and ultimately kicking them out of the land given to them by God. When Jesus failed to do this, and was even nailed to a Roman cross by Roman soldiers, many rejected Him.
Yet it wasn’t as if Jesus was trying to keep the truth regarding His kingdom from the Jews. In fact, there is evidence that they asked Him about this very issue, because Luke recorded the following: “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is within you’” (Luke 17:20-21). And Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36).
“The kingdom of God is within” the hearts of those who have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, and have trusted in His death on the Cross for their sins. Yes, He will come again someday to set up an earthly kingdom, but until that earthly kingdom is established, He continues to rule in the hearts of His believers.
The fact that we know Jesus as the Messiah should not fill us with pride, but prompt us to pray for those whose eyes have thus far been blinded to the truth of the Gospel. Remember the words of Paul: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).