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Finally, we have Jesus' own clear and positive declaration of His understanding of His mission. "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" .
As against this explicit statement of His position, the two ambiguous references to some future preaching of His Gospel "for a witness unto all nations," or that it "must first be published among all nations," can have no weight .
The evidence establishes beyond a doubt that the characterization of Jesus by Paul and others who had never heard or seen Him, as an evangel to the Gentiles and a redeemer of mankind, was not only not authorized by Jesus, but was explicitly repudiated by Him. His only mission, as He conceived it, was to bring back the Jews to the true, simple worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
That Jesus failed in this mission must be admitted. At first the people flocked in multitudes to listen to His preaching. This was due in part to their expectation of a coming Messiah and, no doubt, in part to the effect of John's work. But what the Jews expected was an earthly kingdom and a ruler who would give them victory over the heathen. They had no interest whatever in a spiritual kingdom. Their disappointment was bitter when they found that Jesus promised them only a kingdom in heaven. Nor were they affected by such miracles as healing the sick, making the blind to see, the lame to walk, etc. The miracles they demanded were those of the Old Testament, when the Lord of Hosts visited His overwhelming wrath upon the armies of their enemies.
His neighbors of Galilee were the first to fall away from Jesus, and apparently He felt this defection deeply . Even His own brothers did not believe in Him .
This opposition to Him spread , and gradually deepened into active animosity, so that He was on occasions driven out of different places, or was in danger of stoning or death .
Finally the end came at Jerusalem, when His personal adherents had apparently dwindled down to a few besides His apostles. Jerusalem had always shown Him little favor, but, at this time of the Passover, it was filled with Jews from all parts of their country. Yet, when Pilate offered to release Him to the people, there was none to ask for His freedom. At the very last, even all His disciples fled from Him .
Some small bands or sects of Jewish followers survived His death, but their numbers constantly diminished, and all of them disappeared within a few centuries after His death. From that time to this the Jews have consistently, and practically unanimously, rejected Jesus' teachings and His claims to be their Messiah.
JESUS' FAST IN THE WILDERNESS
Matthew, Mark and Luke say that Jesus, after His baptism by John, was "led up," or driven "of the Spirit" into the wilderness, staying there forty days fasting and being "tempted of the devil" . Mark says that this was "immediately" after the baptism, and condenses the event into two verses. Matthew and Luke give in detail the temptations of the devil. Matthew and Mark mention that Jesus was ministered to by angels. Luke adds at the end that the devil departed from Him "for a season."
John directly contradicts this story of Matthew, Mark and Luke. He gives Jesus' movements specifically for three days after His baptism. On the first day He calls two of His apostles, Andrew and his brother Simon Peter . On the second day He calls Philip, and here occurs the interview with Nathaniel , which appears only in this Gospel. On the third day Jesus, instead of fasting in the wilderness, attends a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, and performs what John says was His first miracle--the turning of water into wine .
"After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brethren and His disciples; and they continued there not many days" . "And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" .
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