https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=7776
John 12:39-40 (NASB) “For this reason, they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart and be converted and I heal them.'”
Here are some interesting facts as we near the Rapture of the Bride of Christ-the Church.
- One of the most important themes throughout the Hebrew Bible is that the God of Israel promises to send the Messiah to Earth one day to redeem the Jewish people and rule Israel and the entire world. (Isaiah 9:6-7; Micah 5:2,4-5a; Daniel 9:24-26a). Christians around the world believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and that He is returning to Earth in the “last days”. Yet, almost half of all Israeli Jews have given up believing that the Messiah is real and coming in the future.
- Throughout the Hebrew Bible, the God of Israel repeatedly refers to the Jewish people as His “chosen people”. (I Kings 3:8; Psalms 33:12; Isaiah 43:20) The vast majority of “evangelical” Christians also believe this. Yet, as Israel celebrates the 75 Anniversary of the historic prophetic rebirth of their nation, less than two out of three Israeli Jews believe that Jews are the “chosen people” as the Bible describes.
We can see today how John 12:40 is so true. People refuse to believe and they have no faith. Jesus’ words ring out in our society, “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.” (John 5:43)
Painting With Words 