Why did Israel reject Jesus as the Messiah?
Israel rejected Jesus because they could not understand that He was the promised Messiah. They stumbled at His humble origin as a carpenter's son from Nazareth, and Nathanael questioned whether any good thing could come from Nazareth, despite miracles that validated who He was.
Les explains that John the Baptist introduced Christ and His earthly ministry exclusively to the Jew, with no mention of His death, burial, resurrection, or the power of the shed blood to forgive—only that they were to recognize who He was. Jesus performed miracles upon miracles to validate who He was, as a retired pastor in Les's class put it. Yet this was the whole problem with Israel's rejecting Him: they could not understand that He was the promised Messiah. A carpenter's son? Out of Nazareth? Nathanael even asked, 'Has any good thing ever come out of Nazareth?' Their failure to recognize His true identity despite the validating miracles led to their rejection.