Does Luke 13:35 refer to the Jews when they will realize that Jesus is the Messiah?
YES, it does! Let’s read Luke 13:34-35, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD’” (NKJV).
Jesus spoke these words to the Jews when it became obvious that they, as a whole, were rejecting Him. The apostle John tells us, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). The prophet Isaiah had predicted this rejection in Isaiah 53:3, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Their hatred for Christ was soon to be manifested by their turning Him over to Pontius Pilate to be crucified (Matthew 27:1-2). They were no different that their ancestors who had killed the prophets who testified of Christ. Yet though they hated Christ, He loved them and wanted to gather them together to protect them and bless them, yet THEY WERE NOT WILLING! How sad! How tragic!
In verse 35 we have the results of their rejection of their true Messiah. Because they rejected Him; He would leave them and their house (their temple and the whole city of Jerusalem) would be left DESOLATE (abandoned). Jesus explained this act of judgment against the city in more detail in Luke 21:20 & 24 where He said, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its DESOLATION is near…And they will fall by the sword ,and BE LED AWAY CAPTIVE INTO ALL NATIONS. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” The invasion and destruction of Jerusalem took place in 70 A.D. when the Roman armies, under General Titus, besieged the city and eventually razed it to the ground. Those who survived were taken captive and dispersed throughout the world. Their “house” was truly abandoned for centuries and in many respects it is still “left desolate” for even though many Jews have returned to the Land of Palestine they still don’t have a Temple or a Priesthood, and they still don’t recognize Jesus as their true Messiah.
But the day is coming when a faithful remnant of the Jewish nation will repent and believe on Jesus Christ as their Messiah. This will occur in the coming “Great Tribulation” (see Matthew 24:15-22) when God will judge Israel and the whole world for their rejection of Him. This “time of trouble” (see Daniel 12:1) is called the “time of Jacob’s trouble” in Jeremiah 30:7. Yet this tribulation will be used of God to humble many Jews and they will repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. They will then anticipate His return to Jerusalem and a newly built temple as we see in Malachi 3:1, “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says the LORD of hosts.” They will also lay hold of the promise in Malachi 4:1-3, “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch. But TO YOU WHO FEAR MY NAME the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the LORD of hosts.” They will know that Jesus Christ, their true Messiah, is coming as the “Sun of Righteousness” to usher in “the Day of the Lord.” At that time, He will DESTROY THEIR ENEMIES (see Zechariah 12:1-9 and Revelation 19:11-21) and HEAL THEM (see Zechariah 12:10-14; Isaiah 53:5 and Jeremiah 31:31-37). It is in THAT DAY where the godly remnant will SEE JESUS and Psalm 118:26 will be fulfilled, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.” (DO) (490.3)