Why Don’t Jews Believe?
It’s not for lack of abundant evidence, pointing to Jesus Christ, in the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament).
It is true, that most Jews in the world today do not believe in Jesus Christ.
It is equally true, however, that most non-Jews (Gentiles) in the world today do not believe in Jesus Christ either.
There is not, as some might believe, a greater proportion of disbelieving Jews to Gentiles. The Bible plainly teaches that “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:14). This refers to all people, throughout all ages, both Jews and Gentiles.
The reality is, since there are far less Jews than Gentiles worldwide (Jews are currently estimated at 15.2 million, which is a mere 0.2% of the 8.1 billion worldwide population), naturally, there are far less Jews that believe in Jesus Christ than their Gentile counterparts. This would make it appear as though Jews reject Jesus Christ in a greater proportion to Gentiles. But, the fact is, Gentiles rival Jews in their rejection, and always will.
I base this premise on the Bible, which teaches that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23); and “all” have gone astray and turned against God (Isaiah 53:6); and human nature is inherently sinful—“no one is righteous,” “no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:10-11); and “both Jews and Greeks [or, Gentiles] are under sin” (Romans 3:9).
But the question of why Jews reject Jesus Christ is not as straightforward. As I’ve just laid out, Jews and Gentiles share the same sinful nature, and both ultimately reject Jesus Christ with the same evil motives, because the world is filled with “people [who] loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). Both unbelieving Jews and Gentiles hate the light, which is Jesus Christ Himself. Both love to fulfill evil pleasures, hate the righteous Law of God, and have minds corrupted by sin that make them both unable and unwilling to believe. Both are deceived by Satan, who lies about God and distorts His Word.
But it is how God’s Word is distorted that differentiates the Jew from the Gentile. Jews, in particular, reject the words of Scripture as they relate to the Jewish Messiah. When Christ came to this world, His life, preaching, and miraculous signs testified that He was the long-expected, long-predicted King who would sit on the throne of David, and deliver His people Israel. But rather than being a triumphant political deliverer who would free the nation Israel from the occupation and oppression of its enemies (the Romans), Jesus was criticized, scorned, rejected, accused and tried as a criminal, beaten, and finally executed as an insurrectionist, because He preached of a kingdom not of this world, which enraged the Jews.
Why did this happen? Quite simply, the Jews had a very certain misunderstanding of what the Messiah would do. They had the Holy Scriptures, which they studied deeply, and imparted to their children, yet they completely missed what it clearly taught.
The Jews rightly understood that “a Redeemer will come to Zion,” but disregarded the second portion of this passage, which concludes with, “to those in Jacob who turn from transgression” (Isaiah 59:20).
The Jews were so fixated on their redemption, that they didn’t realize it was a redemption from sin. They mistakenly understood their Redeemer as merely one who would come to restore a physical kingdom to Israel—such as the one King David established centuries earlier—by overthrowing all those nations of the world which opposed them. But this was not the Messiah’s purpose; Scripture makes that perfectly clear.
If one is to accurately understand the Messiah who was to come, in the Jewish Scriptures—which Christians also believe (and refer to as the Old Testament)—one must go back to the very beginning, to the time of creation. When Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent in the garden, and sinned against God, God judged them all: God cursed the ground, by which Adam would toil and sweat to bring forth produce; God cursed childbirth, by which Eve would labor and suffer to bear children; and God cursed the serpent, whose head would one day be crushed by the woman’s “seed”—the very first reference to the Messiah recorded in Scripture.
This is of utter importance, if the Jew is to understand the Messiah. God Himself prophecied to humanity that a human would one day come to punish Satan (the serpent) for his evil rebellion against God and deceit toward humanity, by judging (crushing) him with eternal judgment. Adam and Eve then understood that a Redeemer would come to right the wrong that was caused by their sin, so that they could have hope that all was not lost—sin would lead to death, but there was still an opportunity to have life, through the Seed.
Therefore, at the very foundation of the Messiah is that of deliverance from sin. Adam, now a fallen creature, completely corrupted by sin, could place his hope in that promised Seed, and he would subsequently live a life in devotion to that hope. God would take the skins of animals to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve. Adam would then become a priest of God, who would offer blood sacrifices to Him, in anticipation of the Messiah who would become the ultimate blood sacrifice. Scripture teaches that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22).
That the Jews miss this important fact, is at the heart of why they don’t believe in Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are the writings of redemption—specifically, redemption from sin, death, and Satan. The Old Testament is nothing, if it is not the unfolding of redemption through the course of human history, beginning with Adam, then those who came after him who either anticipated or prefigured Christ: Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and Shem; then, the descendants of Shem, including Aram and Eber, and later, Abraham, the father of the Isaac, who was the father of Jacob, who would become the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, through whom the Messiah, who would descend from the tribe of Judah, would eventually come.
God would orchestrate the coming of the Messiah, through many human generations—even before there was a Jewish race. God would ensure that the people through whom the Messiah would come, were specially preserved throughout history—which is what we see chronicled in Genesis, then during the Exodus period, and then the periods of conquest, judges, kings, captivity, and restoration of Jerusalem—in order to bring the Messiah into the world. And the Messiah did finally appear, who fulfilled all the promises, prefigurations, and predictions, as reading the Jewish Scriptures through this lens would indisputably testify.
Every single event, account, and detail presented in the Old Testament shouts of Jesus Christ. From the very first prediction of the woman’s Seed crushing the serpent’s head, to the story of righteous Abel (whose animal sacrifices were accepted by God) being murdered by his own brother, Cain (whose sacrifices, which were brought forth from the cursed ground, the work of his own hands, were rejected by God), just as wicked men murdered righteous Jesus; to the story of Noah, whose ark was a picture of Christ’s redemption, which saved Noah and his family from the floodwaters of judgment, who, having faith in the coming Messiah, obeyed the voice of God, to their salvation; to Abraham’s call to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mt. Moriah—which is Jerusalem itself, where Jesus was sacrificed for sins—only to be prevented by God, who would then provide a sacrificial lamb (a title of Christ), just as Abraham had predicted (Genesis 22:8); to the son of Israel, Joseph, who would become a ruler over his brothers who sought to kill him, yet forgave and reconciled them to himself; to Moses, who would deliver God’s people from Egypt, just as Jesus delivered His people from the dominion of sin and Satan; to the sacrificial system of the priests in the tabernacle, which was a never meant as a remedy for sins, but pointed forward to the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice which was given once for all; to Joshua, whose name is the Hebrew form of “Jesus,” who would lead God’s people into the promised land, just as Jesus will lead His people whom He redeemed from the power of sin into His glorious heavenly kingdom; to David, who would conquer all the enemies of Israel, just as Jesus conquered all His enemies and the enemies of His people: sin, death, and Satan, bringing peace and rest to Jerusalem; or to the many prophecies of the prophets, including Isaiah’s prediction of the suffering servant, who was pierced for transgressions, crushed for iniquities, and wounded for the healing of His people.
If one studies the Old Testament’s every reference to the Messiah, it is impossible to deny the uncanny similarities they bear with Jesus Christ. Indeed, the list is extensive, and time won’t permit our covering them all. And that is only the Old Testament testifying to itself. What about the New Testament, which testifies abundantly to the Old Testament, affirming its ample body of texts which speak of the Messiah, and then comparing those texts to the Person and works of Jesus Christ? The authors of the New Testament, all Jews themselves, were absolutely convinced that Jesus was the fulfillment of all that the Old Covenant had spoken concerning the Redeemer who was to come. So convinced, they risked, and eventually forfeited, their own lives. Many aspects of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, resurrection, and kingdom were foretold in the Old Testament, and revealed in the New. On the day of His crucifixion alone, numerous prophecies were fulfilled—things of which were completely beyond His control to accomplish, unless He was truly the Anointed One of God.
Why can’t unbelieving Jews today see what Jesus’ Jewish disciples saw two millennia prior? Certainly, the proof is plain for all to see in Scripture. The answer is: it is not an intellectual obstacle for them—it is completely spiritual. Just as it was presented earlier in this writing, all of humanity is fallen, all under the curse of sin, which leaves all unable to believe. Were it not for God intervening in the hearts of those who have believed, no person ever would. There may be many factors involved that cause unbelief, such as one’s unwillingness to give up sin. And even Jews are susceptible to such factors. Indeed, there are many Jews in the world who reject all religions, even their own Judaism, in favor of living in the secular world. Some are indifferent toward the idea of Jesus Christ being the Messiah; they don’t directly deny His Messiahship, as much as they simply reject His Lordship. That is, Jesus could very well be the Messiah, for all they care, but they will never submit themselves to Him as Lord over them. This is a universal condition. People of all nations reject Jesus as Lord. But for those Jews who are religious—who accept the Jewish Scriptures as the Word of God—the matter at hand is that they believe the Messiah will one day come, and Jesus isn’t he. I believe this not only includes the most devout Jews, but also those who are marginal in their Jewish faith, who might use their religion as a cover under which they hide from the authority of Jesus Christ, but have little to do with Judaism beyond that. Judaism, for them, is reduced to a mere excuse.
However, I believe, both devout and marginal Jews could come to faith, if they were only exposed to the compelling evidence for Jesus’ Messiahship in the Jewish Scriptures. I believe such evidence is able to convince all unbelievers, whether Jews or Gentiles. But it would not simply be the convincing of the mind, for it must first begin with the heart. Jeremiah the prophet rightly states, when God spoke through him, that
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Dear Jewish person: it is not the Christian, nor Christian Church, nor the New Testament, nor the Old Testament, nor especially Jesus Himself, that has lied to you—it is your own heart.
You don’t believe, because your heart has convinced you that Jesus Christ is not your Redeemer. You may have expected of Him to deliver the nation of Israel, but He has instead delivered His people Israel—that is, those who are Jews inwardly, not outwardly (Romans 2:28-29)—from their sins.
Again, this is substantiated by the Jewish Scriptures. It tells us that God will establish a new covenant, not like the one He made with Israel in the past, when He led them out of Egypt, which they broke. No, this new covenant God has made is with true Israel—those who are sons of Abraham by faith, not birth. His covenant will consist of writing His law on the hearts of His people (Jeremiah 31:31-33). This is the new birth that Jesus spoke of. This is the new heart, which you need—which will not deceive you, but will bear witness to the truth, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; the Redeemer of all who call upon Him by faith; the true Messiah.
When Jerusalem was laid waste, when her people were taken captive by a wicked nation, for worshiping other gods, the psalmist wrote of this, crying out to God:
Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake! (Psalm 79:8-9)
This is the condition of all who have rejected Christ and now seek mercy. They are humbled—“brought very low”—and plead with God to not hold their sins against them, but that He would have compassion on them, deliver them, and atone for their sins.
Let this be your cry, as well.
Receive your Messiah.