Q: Why didn't people believe in Jesus?
A: When Jesus came 2,000 years ago, most people did not believe in Him, even though they claimed to believe in God. The main reason was that they did not believe the prophecies of the Bible. Jesus taught that the Scriptures testified about Him, but the Jews of His time ignored these prophecies and trusted their own ideas instead. Even after the resurrection, Jesus had to explain the prophecies again so His disciples could clearly see that He fulfilled everything written about Christ.
The religious leaders believed in a version of God shaped by their own expectations. They expected a Messiah who looked impressive, powerful, and socially acceptable. But the Bible had already prophesied that Christ would come like a root out of dry ground.
“He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”
Instead of looking at prophecy, the Jews focused only on Jesus’ physical background, family, and lifestyle. Because of this, they stumbled, just as the prophet Isaiah warned.
“He will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”
Their lack of faith didn’t come from a lack of evidence—it came from ignoring God’s word. They trusted tradition, emotion, and appearance more than the Bible. As a result, they rejected the very Savior they claimed to wait for. Their example warns us today: we must examine the Scriptures carefully so we don’t repeat the same mistake. Christ can only be recognized through the prophecies of the Bible, not through physical expectations or human ideas.
According to Bible prophecy, God came to the earth in the flesh again in this age to restore the truth of life — the New Covenant. Schedule a Bible study with your nearest Church of God location to learn more about God who has come in the flesh and all the truth He reestablished.
