As I have said earlier in the other posts, we dun read from the
OT alone, but from the entire bible. Not just the Christians, but
also the Jews read about the coming of the messiah in their
scriptures. The difference is just whether he had come or
not.
For Christians, we believed Jesus was the Messiah. He not only
fulfilled the prophecies said by the OT prophets, but he himself
confirm his divinity by saying "I AM". I think the strongest point
to show that he is the messiah is his resurrection. No other
messiah-wannabe had risen from the dead after being persecuted.
Jesus is the only one who have proved his identity with both his
words and deeds.
I have discussed with my frens with why the Jews refused to
acknowledge Christ. One of the reasons we can come out with is:
firstly for the Jews, the law had become the most important thing
in their life. It governed what their relationship with GOD should
be. They were already so entrenched in their way of life. It was
not easy to change their mindset. But what my opinion is: they may
have missed the point. The law in itself is only a creation,
GOD/Christ was the creator. Self righteous is not GOD's
righteousness.
Secondly, the concept of an earthly messiah coming towage wars on
Israel's enemy was already deeply entrenched. Many jews were hoping
for their messiah to come to end their oppression by the Romans.
They weren't ready to accept an messiah who claimed :"my kingdom is
not of this world" "give what is due to caeser, and what is due to
GOD" etc. Their concept of a messiah is more of a warrior king than
an atoning one who chose humiliation on the cross.
I believed what Jesus did was revoltionary. He turned the social
institution upside down. He chose humanity over rigidness in
dispensation of the law.
When people sinned, the immediate reaction was to stone them to
death. But Jesus receive them with a forgiving heart "let he who
has not sinned cast the first stone". No jew will ever touch anyone
who is unclean nor let them touch, but Jesus healed them by
allowing them to do so. Jesus did not say "blessed are the self
righteous who keeped GOD's laws". He said:"Blessed are the
poor...the desperate...the oppressed....for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven". These pple in those time would never be accepted in
society. But the Lord Jesus gave them hope and light in a world
filled with darkness. What Jesus had was GOD's righteousness, not
self-righteousness in observing the law.
No 'self-respecting' jew will say "I AM" claiming that he is GOD
himself. To the Jews this was the ultimate blasphemy when Jesus
claimed that he is GOD. He had to go. He even talked about bringing
down the temple in three days. No one has also prayed to GOD like
what Jesus did, calling GOD 'father'. I do not think any respected
rabbi will wash the feet of their followers, humbling himself
infront of his servants. But Jesus did all these. He must be either
GOD, or just a mad man. For me, what he did for the people reaffirm
my faith that he is GOD.
I believe these ideas were too much for the Jews, who have
developed a myopic view of their own. They could not accept this
kind of messiah and thus rejected him. His death on the cross
confirmed their doubts that he was an imposter/blasphemer.
Probably this was GOD's plans also, I dunno. While rejected by the
jews, Jesus asked his apostles to spread the good news. Salvation
was given to the Gentiles, thus making the world a house of prayers
of all nations. This showed that GOD's love is universal. He wanted
to share his love with anyone who believed in him.