They Just Didn’t Get It
If you know your Bible well, stop and think for a moment about the following question: The first time Jesus came, how many people really got it that He was (is) the Messiah/Christ?
I can’t tell you the exact amount but I would still say “Not enough,” because the more who understood, the more who would embrace Jesus. Anyhow, let us take a look at what the Bible shows us about those who got it, those who didn’t get it, and those who later struggled with it. Hopefully I won’t miss too many people.
Simeon and Anna come to mind as those who got it, we find them in Luke:
“25: And, behold, there was a
man in
26: And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not
see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27: And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents
brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28: Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart
in peace, according to thy word:
30: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31: Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32: A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
33: And Joseph and his mother marvelled at
those things which were spoken of him.
34: And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this
child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign
which shall be spoken against;
35: (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the
thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
36: And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser:
she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her
virginity;
37: And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which
departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings
and prayers night and day.
38: And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord,
and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in
That’s a good start, although
both of them probably died soon after, given the great age that is talked
about. Anna was arguably over 100 if she
was a widow for 84 years, that’s pretty amazing!
We have some shepherds who were told by an angel about Jesus’ birth. Can’t be sure they totally got it, but they certainly went to see:
“8: And there were in the same
country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by
night.
9: And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the
Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10: And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11: For unto you is born this day in the city
of
12: And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall
find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
host praising God, and saying,
14: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men.
15: And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into
heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem,
and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto
us.
16: And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe
lying in a manger.
17: And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which
was told them concerning this child.
18: And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told
them by the shepherds.” Luke 2:8-18 KJV
Another that seemed to get it was a man who was crucified next to Jesus. It’s arguable how much he realized, but his simple request speaks volumes:
“39: And one of the malefactors
which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be
Christ, save thyself and us.
40: But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost
not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
41: And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:
but this man hath done nothing amiss.
42: And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
43: And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To
day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43 KJV
This was a bad dude, but he understood even as many others mocked Jesus while He hung on the cross.
Another highly unlikely person was the woman at the well, a Samaritan of all things!
“5: Then cometh he to a city of
6: Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his
journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
7: There cometh a woman of
“25: The woman saith unto him, I
know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ:
when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26: Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
27: And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled
that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
28: The woman then left her waterpot, and went
her way into the city, and saith to the men,
29: Come, see a man, which told me all things
that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
30: Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.” John 4:25-30 KJV
“40: So when the Samaritans were
come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode
there two days.
41: And many more believed because of his own word;
42: And said unto the woman, Now we believe,
not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this
is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” John
4:40-42 KJV
I only grabbed the essentials of this story because it’s pretty long. Not only this woman, but many of the town understood that Jesus is the Christ. The problem was that these were Samaritans, from what I know they were outcasts and considered inferior to the Jews.
Peter’s brother Andrew, a fisherman:
“40: One of the two which heard
John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother.
41: He first findeth his own brother Simon,
and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” John
1:40-41 KJV
Martha understood:
“24: Martha saith unto him, I
know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25: Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live:
26: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27: She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which should come into the world.” John 11:24-27 KJV
We also have the man born blind, who Jesus healed:
“35: Jesus heard that they had
cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost
thou believe on the Son of God?
36: He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that
I might believe on him?
37: And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
38: And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.” John 9:35-38
KJV
Why did these people understand? It’s quite the interesting mix, isn’t it? It is true that some of them had to have it explained to them, such as the man born blind, but they did believe.
Just to be funny I will point out that some demons got it:
“And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.” Luke 4:41 KJV
Those who didn’t get it make a long list in terms of sheer numbers. Just about everyone who should have gotten it is on this list.
The religious leaders, A.K.A. the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees? Forget it. I’m not even going to bother citing scripture about them because there is such a huge amount of it. Anyone who gets the phrase “Woe to the…” is not on the list of people who got it (see Matthew 23 and Luke 11 for some good examples). You would think that the leaders who knew the scriptures inside and out would have been able to figure it out. Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies to the letter that 2000 years later we might scratch our heads in amazement at their blindness. But He didn’t fit their theology, or they were too caught up with themselves, or both, or something.
The multitudes of common people make this list, which is why it is the largest in number. It’s not that they didn’t think Jesus was someone special, for they did! They flocked to Him to see and receive healings, hear teaching, and things like that. Some believed of course, but what they said about Him in general tells us that they couldn’t make that final connection:
“27: And Jesus went out, and his
disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his
disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I
am?
28: And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and
others, One of the prophets.” Mark 8:27-28 KJV
“Elias” is meaning Elijah the prophet, just in case you didn’t make that connection. Some supposed that he had come back – after all he never died. So while impressed, they didn’t understand that Jesus is the Christ.
Some of Jesus’ friends thought he was crazy at one point, and it’s up for debate whether this includes his family or not depends on your definition of “brethren”:
“And when his friends heard of it, they
went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.” Mark
“For neither did his brethren believe in him.” John 7:5 KJV
The biggest indictment comes from a couple verses at the beginning of John, which pretty much sums up the matter:
“10: He was in the world, and
the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11: He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” John
That’s rough, but it’s a concept you need to get firmly into your mind. His own can miss it.
Now you might be wondering what I meant when I spoke of people who got it but also struggled. The names that are going to be mentioned might not be what you are expecting. Let’s start with John the Baptist.
“For he shall be great in the sight of
the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled
with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.” Luke
Good place to start, the man was filled even before birth, quite the blessing since the Holy Spirit was not yet given in a general sense. When he was baptizing, he definitely realized who Jesus was:
“13: Then cometh Jesus from
14: But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and
comest thou to me?
15: And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer
it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Then he suffered him.” Matthew 3:13-15 KJV
This was one of the greatest men of God recorded in the scriptures; Jesus had good things to say about John in other places. Where then did he struggle? When he was in prison, that’s when, for he actually sent to Jesus to find out if he was really the Christ:
“2: Now when John had heard in
the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3: And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another?
4: Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
5: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the
gospel preached to them.
6: And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” Matthew
11:2-6 KJV
Most interesting, is it not? We would have thought that John’s belief was unshakable, yet even he needed some extra confirmation at one point. If you’ve ever started to wonder if Christianity is for real I guess you’ve got good company, so you can take some comfort in that. Even so, Jesus left the warning about being offended so we must be careful.
Peter is the one who gets credit for calling Jesus the Christ, and this is a true thing. However when it came to the suffering that Jesus was going to have to go through, he hit a wall, and it’s only a few verses later:
“15: He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16: And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17: And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18: And I say also unto thee, That thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.
19: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
20: Then charged he his disciples that they
should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
21: From that time forth began Jesus to shew
unto his disciples, how that he must go unto
22: Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
23: But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou
art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the
things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Matthew 16:15-23 KJV
We can give him some slack though, as a fisherman it’s hard for us to expect him to know the scriptures all that well about what Jesus was going to have to go through.
Some who became disciples decided not to follow Jesus any more after He said something that didn’t make much sense. Since they were considered disciples rather than just multitudes we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they had at least some understanding:
“60: Many therefore of his
disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an
hard saying; who can hear it?
61: When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he
said unto them, Doth this offend you?
62: What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was
before?
63: It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life.
64: But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
65: And he said, Therefore said I unto you,
that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
66: From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more
with him.” John 6:60-66 KJV
We do see some mixed thoughts from some of the crowd, although there is a lot of doubt there as well:
“26: But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the
rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
27: Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no
man knoweth whence he is.” John 7:26-27 KJV
“And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?” John 7:31
“41: Others said, This is the Christ. But some said,
Shall Christ come out of
42: Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of
David, and out of the town of
43: So there was a division among the people because of him.” John
7:41-43 KJV
Right after one of the miracles of feeding many people a bunch of people were prepared to make Jesus a king:
“14: Then those men, when they
had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of
a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
15: When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by
force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”
John 6:14-15 KJV
They didn’t seem to be around supporting Him when the crowds cried “Crucify,” however.
It all makes an interesting blend of people. Most often it was those who you would least expect that really made the connection, many who were comparatively uneducated. Those who by normal reasoning would understand instead were dead set against Him.
The Price
Believing that Jesus was Christ had a price, as did not believing. Those who did believe had the threat of becoming outcasts:
“These words spake his parents, because
they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did
confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.” John
The man born blind was indeed cast out (even though his parents evaded it):
“They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And
they cast him out.” John
Being thrown out of their equivalent of the church was kind of a big deal, don’t you think?
I did skip one set, amongst the leaders. Here’s why they were quiet about it:
“42: Nevertheless among the
chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did
not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
43: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” John
12:42-43 KJV
Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimathaea are the only two leaders
I’ve found who were named that were willing to follow at least somewhat. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night (see the
beginning of John 3) and Joseph was a secret disciple (see John
The leaders who refused to believe
paid a high price as well. Jesus said
things to them that are downright disturbing, including that they were children
of Hell (Matthew
What of the multitudes? Had all the leaders embraced Jesus I imagine that a whole lot of them would have followed suit. Again, their price for confessing Christ was to be put out of the synagogue because of the leaders, so probably many who did believe weren’t too vocal about it, although that is officially a guess. Many were vocal about the miracles that were done for them, but did they understand that He was the Christ?
Do We Get It?
I said all that to get the concept into your mind, so when we fast forward to today we can draw some conclusions about where we stand. Remember that the religious leaders had the Old Testament to work from, they had all the prophecies about the first coming, yet they botched it. This also wasn’t the heathen nations who didn’t know about God, it was the people who God had chosen; hence “His own received Him not”. With that kind of track record, how much accuracy should we expect of our church leaders as they tell us what is happening and what is going to happen regarding Christ’s second coming?
Might make you think twice about trusting them.
However, since many have huge churches and huge ministries, a lot of people obviously do trust them.
I could repeat these two verses over and over (okay, I do), it only strengthens the position:
“3: For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap
to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be
turned unto fables.” Second Timothy 4:3-4 KJV
Using history as our guide, plus this prophecy, we can quickly draw the conclusion that the majority won’t get it this time either. This begs a couple questions:
How many
church leaders openly preach against a Pre-Trib Rapture? Can you think of any here in
If they did would they be generally accepted or would it cause them to pay a steep price here on Earth?
On this
concept alone the Pre-Trib Rapture can be put in great doubt.