I have often wondered what would have happened if the Jews had truly and officially accepted Jesus as Messiah; if the Lord’s reception on Palm Sunday had permeated the entire nation of Israel. Based on your broad knowledge and understanding of what Scripture reveals, can you speculate what would have been the course of history in the past 2,000 years?
Had the Jews accepted Jesus as their Messiah on that first Palm Sunday, they would have allowed Him to die for their sins as the Scriptures foretold and God’s Law required. We know that the Old Testament remedy for sin was only temporary until the Messiah came to provide the permanent remedy. Therefore, their rejection didn’t cause His death, it merely rendered His death meaningless to them.
Upon His resurrection three days later they would have hailed Him as their eternal King and together they would have set about expelling the Romans.
In the process Daniel’s 70th week would have been fulfilled and a new Temple would have been built, as prophesied in Ezekiel 40-43. They would have received the New Covenant with joy and begun exporting it into the nations. Soon salvation would have come to the gentiles and the whole world would have accepted the Lord as their King. Those nations who resisted would have been defeated. The curse would have been lifted with everything restored to the condition it was in when Adam was created.
The 2,000 year Church Age would never have happened because the history of man would have gone from the Old Testament directly into the Kingdom Age, or Millennium, as we call it. By now the Kingdom Age would have ended and eternity would have begun.
But because they didn’t accept Him, the clock on Daniel’s prophecy paused seven years short of its scheduled duration, a pause which continues to this day. During that time the Church has come into existence, and you and I have been privileged to be part of God’s greatest demonstration of the incomparable riches of His grace.