upon blind imitation. It is due to this that wars and battles prevail;
from this cause hatred and animosity arise continually among mankind.
Through failure to investigate reality the Jews rejected Jesus Christ.
They were expecting His coming; by day and night they mourned and
lamented, saying, "O God! Hasten Thou the day of the advent of Christ,"
expressing most intense longing for the Messiah; but when Christ appeared,
they denied and rejected Him, treated Him with arrogant contempt,
sentenced Him to death and finally crucified Him. Why did this happen?
Because they were blindly following imitations, believing that which had
descended to them as a heritage from their fathers and ancestors,
tenaciously holding to it and refusing to investigate the reality of
Christ. Therefore, they were deprived of the bounties of Christ, whereas
if they had forsaken imitations and investigated the reality of the
Messiah, they would have surely been guided to believing in Him. Instead
of this they said, "We have heard from our fathers and have read in the
Old Testament that Christ must come from an unknown place; now we find
that this one has come from Nazareth." Steeped in the literal
interpretation and imitating the beliefs of fathers and ancestors, they
failed to understand the fact that although the body of Jesus came from
Nazareth, the reality of the Christ came from the unknown place of the
divine Kingdom. They also said that the scepter of Christ would be of
iron--that is to say, He should wield a sword. When Christ appeared, He did
possess a sword; but it was the sword of His tongue with which He
separated the false from the true. But the Jews were blind to the
spiritual significance and symbolism of the prophetic words. They also
expected that the Messiah would sit upon the throne of David, whereas
Christ had neither throne nor semblance of sovereignty; nay, rather, He
was a poor man, apparently abject and vanquished; therefore, how could He
be the veritable Christ? This was one of their most insistent objections
based upon ancestral interpretation and teaching. In reality, Christ was
glorified with an eternal sovereignty and everlasting dominion--spiritual
and not temporal. His throne and Kingdom were established in human hearts,
where He reigns with power and authority without end. Notwithstanding the
fulfillment of all the prophetic signs in Christ, the Jews denied Him and
entered the period of their deprivation because of th