Jesus completes his public ministry in this passage. From this point on, he will speak with the disciples and before judges, but his preaching ministry has ended. Remarkably, almost none of the Jews have followed after their own Messiah. They had seen the miracles he did and they had heard his words. They had all of the information that they needed to understand that he was the long-awaited Messiah. Yet, the nation prepared to receive Jesus rejected him.
Jesus wants his disciples to understand that the Jew’s rejection of their Messiah is not a failure in God’s plan for the world, even though it might seem to be a failure at first glance. Time and time again, Israel has failed to listen to the prophets that have been sent to it, and their present disbelieve is simultaneously their own decision and also God’s judgment upon them.
Jesus concludes his public ministry with one, last appeal to believe. He has seen that they are more worried about what men will think of them than they are about the things of God, and so he warns them that the words that they were hearing him speak that day would be evidence used against them in the final judgment.
