Deeper Reflection
IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES, THE CHURCHES OF GOD IN Judea suffered persecution from their fellow-Jews, who “killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets”, and opposed the proclamation of the Gospel (vv.14-15). These Jewish opponents pursued Paul from Thessalonica to Berea (Acts 17:5-10), and from Berea to Athens (Acts 17:10, 13-15). At this point of salvation history, only a minority of the Jews became followers of Jesus the Messiah. And even today, “secularism is becoming the unifying factor in Jewish identity…today the majority of the Jews worldwide identify themselves as secular rather than religious”³².God had “come down” to “meet” Israel to reveal Himself personally to them (Exo 19:9-10, 16-20), having chosen them to be His channel of redemptive blessings to the world (Gen 12:1-3; 26:3-5; 28:13-14). But sadly, Israel had a long history of covenant unfaithfulness and “shedding the blood of the prophets” (Matt 23:29-33). Can one really reject God blatantly in the face of divine personal revelation, which is unmistakably true and real? God’s faithful miraculous daily provision of “bread from heaven” can end up with “We loathe this worthless food!” (Neh 9:15; Num 21:5). The problem lies in the darkened, hardened human heart. Sometimes, we think that pre-believers received Christ because of our acts of love and unwittingly we take the credit. And note that “genuine coming to faith is never finally a matter of autonomous human decision”³³. Ultimately, it is “No one can come to Me unless it is granted by the Father” (Jn 6:64-65). This is the only hope for the darkened, hardened human heart.

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³² Salim J. Munayer & Lisa Loden, Through My Enemy’s Eyes: Envisioning Reconciliation in Israel-Palestine (Paternoster, 2013), 80 ³³ D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, (IVP, 1991), 302-303