Jesus Christ did not do things in secret, where no one could check his claims and actions against the testimony of Scripture.
The Old Testament had promised a king to come from David’s line (2 Samuel 7:1–29), a child to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:1–2), a special privilege to be afforded to the land of Galilee (Isaiah 9:1–21). There were further promises, that with the coming of the Messiah the blind would see and the lame would walk (Isaiah 35:5–6). In all these things, Jesus’ life and ministry matched perfectly with the promised expectations.
The correspondence between promises and Jesus’ life becomes even clearer when we move to the end of John’s Gospel. There he was hanging on a cross, despised and rejected, the Servant of the Lord who bears the iniquity of many. He was silent like a sheep before its shearers, he was cut off from the land of the living and buried in a grave with the rich (see Isaiah 53:1–12).
Despite all this evidence, his own people did not receive him. Israelites who were raised on Scripture and sang the psalms just like we do today, followed the example of their forefathers who rejected prophet after prophet. They did not receive their king when he came to them.
All this prompts us to ask, If the evidence was so compelling, if Jesus did not come in disguise, if he performed all these miracles and his life lived up to Old Testament expectations, why did so many refuse to believe in him?
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.