A recent survey of Israeli Jews found that only 16% have a favorable view of Jesus, 36% are not interested, and 25% have no opinion (“What Do Israelis Think of Jesus?” Israel Today, Nov. 11, 2022). Nearly 30% of religious Jews said a Jew who believes in Jesus is not a Jew, and 44% of Israelis do not believe in a Messiah. Meno Kalisher, a Messianic Christian pastor, said, “The overall 16% that are positive [about Jesus] are mainly secular, and they measure Jesus from a social and moral standpoint--not a theological one. When they measured him that way, their conclusion is that he was a great guy, a great Jew. The 36% that are ‘not interested’ shows the nation’s general state regarding spiritual issues.” Jesus wept over unbelieving Jerusalem and prophesied:
“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Luke 13:35).
The first part of this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter when Rome destroyed the second temple, razed Jerusalem, and renamed Israel Syria Palaestina. The second part of the prophecy awaits fulfillment when a remnant of Israel will repent and receive the crucified Jesus as the Christ. This is described in Zechariah 12:10-14:
“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves” (Zechariah 12:10-14).
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