The Apostle John explains that Christ “came unto his own but his own received him not.” Paul explains why the Jews rejected the Messiah and how their rejection brought blessing to all nations as prophesied by Isaiah and Simeon. Unbelief blinded the nation of Israel from seeing the Lord’s Christ, specifically His purpose of coming to suffer. Only the righteousness of faith, a faith in the gospel (the incarnation, suffering, and glory) of the Messiah is salvation found.
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Romans 9:30-33
Simeon, in his prophecy, goes on to reveal that Mary herself would be pierced through with sorrows as the Christ-child would one day be offered as a sacrifice for sin. Simeon understood that the suffering of the Messiah was part of God’s plan. He understood this truth because the Spirit revealed it to him as he stirred up his mind by way of remembrance, being mindful of what the prophets foretold. Like the prophets of old, Simeon was, “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (I Peter 1:11).
If the fall of them be the riches of the world
The rising again in Simeon’s prophecy is a reference to the regathering of the nation of Israel and their salvation at the end of the age which will introduce the eternal reign of Christ on the throne of David. This is also a common theme in prophetic Scripture. As we will discover later, the scattering and regathering of Israel to the land was a part of the blessing/curse dynamic in the Torah, which Simeon calls the “fall and rising again of many in Israel.”
The Greek word translated rising again is anastasis which simply means to change position or to rise to a standing position. When referring to Israel, it is a reference to the restoration of the nation, the promise of the rebirth, and the regathering of the Jewish people. Here Simeon is following the prophetic thread of Ezekiel 37:
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Ezekiel 37:10-12
The Hebrew word translated stood up in this text is equivalent to our Greek word anastasis. I believe it is this prophecy that Simeon had in mind when speaking to Mary and Joseph. It is a reference to the blessings of the New Covenant that will one day restore Israel: “And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:13-14).
Paul expounds on the prophetic teaching of the falling and rising of Israel in Romans 11. The story of Israel’s unbelief is integral to the gospel narrative. Intertwining the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Apostle Paul masterfully reveals the amazing plan of God to bless all nations through Christ, using the fall (unbelief) of Israel: “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day” (Romans 11:7-8).
Paul is explaining that God is not finished using Israel. The blessing they were looking for in the reign of the Messiah was rejected by the majority of the Jewish people. Paul says, “Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for.” Israel was seeking for the blessed hope of the coming of the Messiah.
Some would argue that because they rejected Jesus, God has cursed them. Paul asks the question, “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid” (Romans 11:1). He continues expounding on the answer of whether God is finished with Israel as a nation:
For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Romans 11:1-5
In the eternal plan of God, Christ, the eternal Word, would be made flesh and live among us. He would come unto His own, the nation of Israel. His own people would not recognize Him, being blinded by unbelief. Trusting their own righteousness blinded them to the need for a suffering Messiah. “Why would we need One who would suffer vicariously (in our place) if we are doing the work of righteousness ourselves?”
Because of their blindness to their need for a perfect, atoning sacrifice, they were blinded to the divine nature of the Messiah. They did not recognize the incarnation, that the Word Who was with God and Who was God became flesh and was tabernacling among them. They refused to see their inability to make themselves righteous before God through the law and, consequently, they were unable to comprehend the divinity of the Messiah.
But hasn’t the “wrath come upon them to the uttermost” according to I Thessalonians 2:16? Many would have you believe that this verse means that the Jews are a curse and blight on the world. This is not what Paul is saying. The wrath of God came upon the Jewish people “unto the uttermost” when, through their rejection of the Messiah and active resistance to the early church, they were dispersed among the nations in A.D. 70. The wrath to the uttermost to which Paul is referring is part of a cycle of blessing, rejection, dispersion, repentance, and restoration spoken of in Deuteronomy. This cycle of faith/unbelief determines whether they possess the promised land or not.
In our next lesson, we will dig further into the truth that one cannot understand the divinity of Jesus until he accepts the necessity of a suffering Messiah who must become the sacrifice for sins.