Sometimes it is asked, “If the Jews had accepted Christ as their Messiah, would the earthly kingdom have been established then?” And others ask, “If the Jews had accepted Christ as their Messiah would Jesus still had to go to the cross to die for their sins?” These are all “hypothetical questions” that may be interesting to contemplate, but they ignore some very plain scriptures which clearly teach us that the Jews would never have accepted Christ. God knew they would reject Him before time even began and based on that rejection, He designed several plans “according to the good pleasure of His will.” Let’s examine 3 of His plans and they will answer the questions above.

1) The PLAN OF SALVATION. In 1^st Peter 1:18-20 we read, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was FOREORDAINED BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, but was manifest in these last times for you.” Here we learn that God, who knew that Adam would sin in the garden of Eden and plunge the whole world into sin, designed a plan where He would send His only begotten Son into the world to become a true Man in order to take man’s place on the cross as the Lamb of God (see 1^st John 4:9-10; John 1:29). He would suffer the wrath of God for man’s sins (1 Corinthians 15:3 and 1^st Peter 3:18). He would then lay down His life in death and allow His blood to be shed to redeem sinners (John 19:28-30, 33-34; 1 John 1:7 and Revelation 5:8-10). This answers the last question I posed, for even if the Jews had accepted Christ as their Messiah, Jesus still had to go to the cross to die for their sins.

2) The PLAN FOR THE KINGDOM. After Jesus died, those who had believed on Him were depressed, for they had believed He would set up the kingdom and now He laid in a grave, seemingly defeated. In Luke chapter 24 we learn that after His resurrection Jesus joined himself to two of these believers and He asked them why they were sad (verse 17). They answered Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have you not known the things which happened there in these days” (verse 18)? They went to tell Him that Jesus of Nazareth had been “condemned to death, and crucified” and “we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (19-21). Jesus then said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (verses 25-27). In short, Jesus revealed to them (through the scriptures) that there could BE NO KINGDOM OF GLORY WITHOUT THE CROSS. He could “not redeem Israel” until He “redeemed them from their sins!” He went from book to book throughout the Old Testament proving that He must take man’s place in death and judgment (like we saw in PLAN #1) before He could establish His kingdom here on earth. If He didn’t die on the cross for them, they wouldn’t be redeemed and there would BE NO ROYAL SUBJECTS TO RULE OVER IN HIS KINGDOM. Again, God knew Israel would reject Him and have Him crucified, and God used that occasion to judge His Son in man’s place so He could offer all men salvation (please read Isaiah chapter 53).

3) The PLAN FOR THE GENTILES. The Jews are God’s “earthly people” who are destined to reign with Christ in His Millennial Kingdom on earth and Gentiles will be blessed through the Jews at that time (see Psalm 2:1-9; Psalm 72; Isaiah 2:1-4; 11:1-13; 42:1-4; 60:1-61:6; 65:18-25). That is the FUTURE HOPE for the Gentiles Yet before the kingdom begins, God is even now calling Gentiles to salvation and together with Jews who believe on the Lord Jesus He is making them a part of His “heavenly people,” the church (see Acts 15:6-14; Ephesians 2:11-22; 3:1-11). This is the PRESENT HOPE for the Gentiles. You had mentioned that it seemed like the Jews’ rejection of Christ “really helped in bringing hope for the Gentiles.” You are right and Romans 11:11 confirms this. “I say then, have they (the Jews) stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But THROUGH THEIR FALL, to provoke them to jealously, SALVATION HAS COME TO THE GENTILES.” God’s “present PLAN FOR THE GENTILES is seen here.” But after the church is complete (and the Rapture takes place…see 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), God will resume His dealings with Israel and eventually return to earth to save them from their enemies and save them from their sins. We see this in Romans 11:25-27, “for I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel UNTIL THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES HAS COME IN. AND SO ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”  (DO)  (591.1)