Even if the Jews accepted Christ, wouldn’t the Romans have killed Jesus anyway?
Question:
I found What If the Jews had Accepted Jesus interesting.
Please help me understand why you argue that Jesus would not have died on the cross if he had not been rejected by the Jews. The Romans certainly did not accept him and they, not the Jews, had the authority to execute criminals. Is this the only reason that you reject the idea that the millennial kingdom would have been established immediately if Christ had not been rejected? I think that this is why the gap between the 69th and 70th of Daniel is so vague because God could have accommodated either outcome. Are there any other prophecies that would fail if the Jews accepted Jesus and the Romans still killed him and the gap preceding the 70th week were numbered in days rather than millennia?
Answer:
While the Romans executed Christ, they would not have initiated his death on their own. Remember that Pilate argued several times that Jesus was innocent. "And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all" " (John 18:38). It was because of the pressure from the Jews that Pilate gave in to the crucifixion as a way of preventing a riot. Without the Jews arresting Jesus and bringing him before Pilate, the Roman government would continue to have ignored Jesus.
Jesus' kingdom was established. The claim that the Jews' rejection of Christ changed God's plans is provably false. Men have never been able to alter what God decides to do. See An Overview of Premillennial Theories. Jesus stated clearly that his kingdom was not an earthly kingdom. "Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here" " (John 18:36). Jesus' kingdom was not delayed. It was established, just as God said it would be. "And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power" " (Mark 9:1). The kingdom is here; it is the church. See: The Church is the Kingdom
There is no gap in Daniel's Seventy Weeks. The reason premillennialists claim a gap is because the prophecy as written doesn't fit their claims. See Daniel's Seventy Weeks.
Yes, there are several prophecies that said that Jesus had to be rejected by his own people. For example:
- "He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him" (Isaiah 53:3).
- "But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!" " (Psalms 22:6-8).
- "Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother's children; Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards" (Psalms 69:7-12).
After Jesus' death, the disciples were puzzling over why Jesus was killed. "Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:25-27). Notice that Jesus said that all that happened, including his death, was prophesied in the Old Testament. The rejection of Jesus by the Jews was according to God's plan. "Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" " (Luke 24:44-47).
