Many focus on John 1:11.
“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” KJV
Here is a better translation of the Greek.
“He came into His own land, and the men of the country received Him not.” CNT
So today churches teach that the Judeans, the Greek word translated Jew, all rejected Christ. Christ failed in His mission and had to come up with a plan B. Many times it is helpful to read the next verse.
John 1:12 “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”.
Again, a better translation from the Greek.
John 1:12 “But as many who received Him, He gave to them the authority which the children of God are to attain, to those believing in His Name”. CNT
So not all rejected Christ. Looking closely in John and Acts thousands became Christians. Reading through the first several chapters of John, we are told that many believed Christ. The scripture calls “those who heard Him gladly” and those who argued with Christ Judeans, as in country. It is obvious here that there are two different kinds of Judeans. The scripture shows us just that in John 5, 8 and 10.
There are no examples of discourse between Christ and “those who heard Him gladly”. There are several examples of those who sought to kill Christ, the leaders of the Judeans. This group was the Pharisees and Saducees.
The first instance is in John five there is a different type of Judean that Christ talked to. Healing a man during God’s Sabbath is not a sin. Healing a man during the Pharisees sabbath was against their rules. After healing a man on the Sabbath leaders confronted Christ. Christ went into a long discourse that ended with Christ saying
John 5:38-47 “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”
The next instance is in John 8. Christ was speaking to the Judeans who believed. Then those who confronted Christ felt the need to justify themselves.
John 8:33 “They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?”
Christ finished His thought and then responded to them in verse 37-44.
“I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
Those were some pretty strong words for the Judean leaders. Notice that they claimed to be the seed of Abraham. Christ acknowledged that, but said they did not count as children of Abraham. Christ defined the word children in Matthew 15 and here in John 8.
Matthew 15:24-26 “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.”
Scripture also defines “sheep” as Israel in many places. See Jeremiah 50:17 and Matthew 10:6. In John 8, Christ shows that the children are children of Isaac through Jacob. The children of Esau are these leaders who argued with Christ as they were “never in bondage to any man”.
This was their admission that they were not Israelites. Christ called them children of the devil. Because of this they could not understand Christ nor could they hear His word. John 8:43. Esau is Edom, Genesis 36.
Christ had another run in with the leaders in John 10. Here Christ told them they were not His sheep (Israel).
John 10:25-30 “Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”
So the Judean leaders, Pharisees, were Edomites. Where are they today?
“Edom is in modern Jewry”, The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1925 edition, Vol. 5, p. 41.
God had plenty to say about Esau’s descendants. They can not be saved. They will have perpetual war with God and God’s people.
The term Gentile is a Latin word that just means Nation. It does not mean “non-Jew”. If one lets the context determine the who of the Nations, then the Gospel’s and the book of Acts is the story of Israel becoming Christians. Israel, God’s sheep, did not reject Christ.
John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”
John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”.