COULD IT BE?

    Have you ever wondered why Jesus was a threat to the religious people of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago?
    To be realistic, anybody could walk around town and say I'm the Son of God or I am the Messiah, couldn't they?  Why didn't they simply consider him to be a wild and crazy man, have him thrown in a dungeon and go on about their lives? 
     Jesus was the son of a poor family in Nazareth.  Joseph and Mary were not wealthy.  Joseph was a carpenter, he worked with his hands, and held no position of authority in Nazareth.  Jesus, like Joseph, was a a carpenter.  When Jesus left Nazareth, he no home, no job, no income, yet he was quite bothersome to the Jewish religious institution.
     When wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and said, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?, why did King Herod lose his mind and order a death decree for a two-year-old baby?  Was Jesus a threat to King Herod?
     After they crucified Jesus (and never believed that the Lord arose from death), why did the Jews stone Stephen to death for preaching about a man they had killed?
     In the book of Acts, why did the Jews take Paul to court seeking the death penalty for talking about Jesus, whom they had killed?
     Why did they kill the disciples and apostles of the Lord for talking about the man they had killed in Jerusalem?
     Why did Constantine the Great, emperor of the mighty Roman Empire, go to the expense to erect church buildings for Christians?  Have you ever heard of a state government doing that for Christians?  The Christians of Rome were not a threat to all-powerful Rome.  They were not wealthy people, they had no political agenda.  And why did the pagan priests change their robes and become priests in Christian churches?  They did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
     And after John Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin to English, why did Rome issue a death warrant and execute Rev. Wycliffe?  If the Romans did not believe in the Bible anyway, would the book be of any good to those that would read it?
     Does something seem strange about this story?
     Could it be that the religious crowd in Jerusalem did believe in their minds that Christ is the Son of God, but because they did not want to repent of their sin they crucified the Lord, thinking that that would end the whole affair of Jesus?
     Could it be that King Herod did believe in his mind that Jesus is the King of the Jews and therefore he tried to kill him in order not to repent of his sin?
     Could it be that the Jews who stoned Stephen and brought Paul to trial did believe in their minds that Jesus is the Son of God, and they did not want preaching of Jesus to continue because of the conviction that they were sinners?
     When people are confronted with sin, one attribute we can exhibit is anger.  We can experience anger because we do not like the accusation of being considered a sinner.  We think of ourselves as better than that, or that we are good people, that we go to church, that we have been baptized, and not needful of salvation, certainly not the born again way.  We do not want to submit to God in prayer and confess that we are sinners because we have our religion and our own way of getting to heaven.   Yet all of the people mentioned in this story were angry at Jesus as well as angry at the people for speaking about Him.  With anger, people have been killing Christ's messengers over the past 2000 years.  And when Antichrist arises on the earth, he will be angry.
     Could it be that all of those people did know and believe in their minds that Christ is the Messiah, but with their hearts they refused Him?  Why else were they so angry?  He had done them no harm.
     This is my view, but what do you think about this story?  Do you believe that Christ is the Messiah?