I find it so difficult to understand that the Jewish religious groups could not tell when Jesus was born, and didn’t recognize His triumphant entry in to Jerusalem (even though Daniel told them To The Day when it would occur), and they had the prophecies that they had been studying and memorizing for hundreds of years. Then Jesus came back and was seen at least 11 times by over 500 people. So my question is, did God put a spiritual blindness on the Jewish people so they would not recognize the Messiah even when presented with irrefutable facts? If so, was this spiritual blindness so that the Church would have a chance too?
On the first Palm Sunday, Jesus said that because the Jews didn’t officially recognize the time of God’s coming to them, it would henceforth be hidden from their eyes (Luke 19:41-44). And in Romans 11:25 Paul said Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in. This meant the door of salvation had been opened directly to the Gentiles.