They could not believe; it is said of Joseph's brethren, that they could not speak peaceably to him, Genesis 37:4; and Christ said to the Jews, "How can ye believe, who receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?" John 5:44. The two things were incompatible. They must cease from the one in order to do the other. So here; as they would continue to love and cherish their sins, they could not, continuing this course, embrace the Messiah. The two things could not coexist. This was the reason why they should have renounced the one, and performed the other. But they would not do it. The prophecy of Isaiah showed that it was certain they would not. Isaiah 6:9-10.

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Old Testament