Lets see.... no , Well shoot. Can someone show where the book of Arnold Fruchtenbaum is in the bible?
I would be cautious about is saying that Arnold Fruchtenbaum's formulation is itself the doctrine.
The doctrine must come from the passages.
The passages clearly teach Israel's present blindness, future repentance, future cleansing, and future salvation.
Whether Matthew 23:39 functions as the precise prophetic trigger for the Second Coming is an additional conclusion that must be demonstrated from the text itself.
Oh but Mr. Professor Sir, every humble hayseed no-account bible student like me understands PERFECTLY well that in fact when Christ Jesus is quoting Psalm 118, there is no doubt whatsoever that He is prophesying the FURTURE REPENTANCE and redemption of the Nation Israel.
And why do you speak about "the text itself" yet you cravenly dismiss the immediate context outright? Are you toying with us while withholding your vast archive of PhD knowledge?
Why are you abandoning us and refusing to answer to our pleas for enlightenment?
Why am I forced to intervene with my pathetic unscholarly trifles when we seek you vast swelling all-encompassing wisdom?
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Matthew 23:39 is one of the clearest texts indicating the future national repentance of Israel and her eventual reception of Jesus as Messiah and King.
Jesus says:
“For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
—Matthew 23:39
The direct quotation is from
Psalm 118:26:
“Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD.”
The key word is
“till”:
“Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say…”
Jesus does not say Jerusalem will never see Him again. He establishes a sequence:
rejection → absence → future acknowledgment → seeing Him again.
The people presently rejecting Him will someday say:
“Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
That is a future reversal of Israel’s present rejection.
Jesus is addressing Jerusalem
The immediate context leaves little doubt:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets…”
—Matthew 23:37
Then:
“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
—Matthew 23:38
Then:
“Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say…”
—Matthew 23:39
The subject does not suddenly change to Gentiles or the Church. Jesus is addressing
Jerusalem corporately as representative of Israel.
The sequence is therefore:
Israel rejects Messiah → judgment/desolation follows → Messiah withdraws → Israel later acknowledges Him → Messiah is seen again.
Psalm 118 itself predicts rejection followed by acceptance
Only a few verses before Psalm 118:26 we read:
“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”
—Psalm 118:22
Jesus explicitly applies this verse to Himself in Matthew 21:42.
Thus Psalm 118 contains the same progression:
the Stone is rejected → God exalts Him → the Coming One is blessed and received.
Then Psalm 118:26 declares:
“Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD.”
Jesus deliberately uses this Psalm to describe Israel’s future reception of Him.
Palm Sunday did not fulfill Matthew 23:39
At the Triumphal Entry the crowds had already cried:
“Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
—Matthew 21:9
Yet afterward Jesus still says:
“Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say…”
Therefore Matthew 23:39 cannot merely refer to Palm Sunday. That event had already happened.
The crowds acclaimed Him, but the national leadership rejected Him. Matthew 21–23 records that rejection culminating in Christ’s denunciation of Jerusalem.
Jesus therefore projects Psalm 118:26 into the
future, when Israel’s rejection will be reversed.
Zechariah foretells precisely this national repentance
Zechariah 12:10 says:
“I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him…”
Notice the elements:
Jerusalem → the One they pierced → divine grace → recognition → mourning.
Then:
“In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”
—Zechariah 13:1
This is national repentance and cleansing immediately preceding the LORD’s intervention.
Hosea gives the same pattern
Hosea 5:15 is remarkably parallel:
“I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”
Again:
withdrawal → UNTIL → acknowledgment → seeking Messiah.
Then Israel says:
“Come, and let us return unto the LORD…”
—Hosea 6:1
Compare this directly with Matthew 23:39:
“Ye shall not see me… till ye shall say…”
The pattern is virtually identical.
Zechariah 13–14 connects repentance with Messiah’s return
After Israel’s purification:
“They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.”
—Zechariah 13:9
Then Zechariah 14 says:
“Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations…”
and:
“His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives.”
—Zechariah 14:3–4
The prophetic order is:
Israel in distress → Israel calls upon God → Israel acknowledges Him → the LORD comes to deliver Jerusalem.
That fits Matthew 23:39 perfectly.
Romans 11 confirms Israel’s unbelief is temporary
Paul says:
“Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”
—Romans 11:25
Again we find the word
“until.”
Then:
“And so all Israel shall be saved.”
—Romans 11:26
Israel’s present unbelief is therefore neither total nor permanent.
Matthew 23:39 says essentially the same thing from another angle:
Israel presently rejects Messiah, but a future Israel will recognize Him.
The pronouns matter
Jesus says to Jerusalem:
“YE shall not see me… till YE shall say…”
The same corporate people who experience rejection and desolation are anticipated as someday confessing Messiah.
It makes little sense to read the passage:
Jerusalem rejects Him → Jerusalem is judged → somebody else later says Psalm 118:26.
The natural reading is:
Jerusalem rejects Him → Jerusalem is judged → Jerusalem eventually acknowledges Him.
What will Israel confess?
They will say:
“Blessed is HE THAT COMETH in the name of the LORD.”
The expression “the Coming One” is messianic.
John the Baptist asked:
“Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”
—Matthew 11:3
Thus Matthew 23:39 anticipates Israel recognizing Jesus as
the promised Coming One—the Messiah and Davidic King.
The prophetic sequence is therefore:
Christ comes to Israel
→ the Stone is rejected
→ Jerusalem is judged
→ Messiah withdraws
→ Israel enters future distress
→ Israel looks upon the One it pierced
→ Israel mourns and repents
→ Israel calls upon Him
→ “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the LORD”
→ Messiah returns and delivers Jerusalem.
Matthew 23:39 therefore strongly supports the future national restoration of Israel.
Jesus is effectively saying:
You have rejected Me as your Messiah and King, and your house will therefore be left desolate. But your rejection is not permanent. You will not see Me again until Jerusalem acknowledges the One it rejected and welcomes Him with the messianic words of Psalm 118:26: “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the LORD.”
The force of
“until,” the address to
Jerusalem, the messianic context of
Psalm 118, and the parallel prophecies of
Hosea 5–6, Zechariah 12–14, and Romans 11 all point to the same conclusion:
A future generation of national Israel will repent, recognize Jesus as Messiah, and receive Him as her returning King.