What does it mean that His own did not receive Him (John 1:11)?

It was into the world His hands had made that Jesus came, but the men of this world, His creatures, did not know Him. In coming, He came specially to Israel, for He had special rights there, both in His house and His kingdom, but “His own received Him not.” Israel, more enlightened than the Gentiles, having the oracles of God, and standing in relation to God as His people, had no place in their hearts or in their schemes for the One who had come into the world to make His Father known.

The coming into the world of the incarnate Word, the Son of God, fully revealed man’s dreadful state as a ruined creature, for “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (verse 10). Israel were His own people, and the throne and kingdom of Israel were His, but when He came to the things that were His own, His own people received Him not. With the world at large it was ignorance of God, but with Israel it was wilful rejection of God and His Son. The refusal of the Son of God made plain that there was nothing in human nature to be recovered, it was irretrievably ruined.

Israel had been specially favoured, for they had the oracles of God, and God had made them a peculiar people, and separated them from the nations, giving them many tokens of His favour. They had grievously failed, and God had sold them into captivity, but in His mercy had brought back a remnant to receive the Messiah He had promised to send them. When Jesus came as their Messiah, with all the signs belonging to Messiah, Israel did not receive Him (John 1:11). They did not want God’s Christ, they wanted a man after their own heart, one who would carry out their will, not God’s will.

John's gospel records the world's rejection of the Lord much earlier than the other gospels. In Chapter 1 we read "He was in the world and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own (what belonged to Him), and His own (people) received Him not." The Gentile world, albeit wise in their own estimation (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:21; 1 Corinthians 2:6-8) were totally ignorant as to who was here; whilst His earthly people, who from the Scriptures should have recognized the One in their midst, completely rejected Him. This attitude of the world is unchanged, and we, as those who through grace love the Lord Jesus, do well to squarely face up to the truth of it. The first word "own" in John 1:11 might be rendered "own home" and in fact is so translated in John 19:27. Refused His rightful place amongst His own people — He yet had an abode to which He would invite the two disciples who asked "Master, where dwellest Thou?" His home was ever in the bosom of the Father's love.

And so the Lord Jesus shows here that it is not first bread, but first suffering. Hence therefore He expounds a grand truth of His person, and what He had come to do, in contrast with Jewish thoughts — that it was not to reign as they expected, although His was the title and He was really the King of that people. But then His own would not have Him — "his own received him not." His own received Him not, because they were sinners, and after all it was impossible that He could reign over a realm of sin and of sinners. Thus one can see the perfect suitability of it that so it should be, but nevertheless God allowed it to come out as a matter of human responsibility. They would not have Him, not that He would not have them, but that they would not have Him, and it turns out after all that there was a moral unsuitability — total unsuitability — between such a king and such a people.

But the Jews? They were no better; they were even guiltier. "He came to His own things, and His own people received Him not." They had the law and the prophets, and John the Baptist to prepare His way. But their will was engaged against Him. They would have relished a Messiah to put down the Romans and to set Israel at the head of all the nations. This will be when He comes again in power and glory. But He with God made it the first work to save sinners. What would be the worth of His kingdom if sin were not first atoned for? A lowly, gracious, holy, and suffering Messiah was hateful to their proud hearts, because He was infinitely better and higher than they had conceived, and they themselves immeasurably worse.

He also was the light, coming into and shining in this dark world. But there was two-fold rejection: 'the world knew him not' and Israel, His own people, 'received him not' (verses 10.11).

The world did not know Him. Pilate said, "What is truth?" when He who was "the truth" was standing before him. "His own received him not." The Jews were those who said, "Away with him, away with him."

When coming into His own creation, His own did not receive Him, that is, of course, His own people, Israel. But Gentiles were the same: they too saw no beauty in Him, and were as guilty of His rejection and crucifixion as were Jews. Yet there were some happy exceptions, some who received Him, their hearts of course being prepared by God; and to those were given the right to become children of God. “Sons” is not the proper word here, but “children,” for it speaks of the actual filial relationship of those born into God's family. While John constantly speaks of Christ as “Son of God,” yet he speaks of believers always as “children,” not “sons.” Notice too that receiving Christ is synonymous with believing on His name. The context here manifestly implies reality in the belief. John 2:23 uses a similar expression, but the vital reality was evidently lacking, for it was miracles that attracted those people, not the person of the Son of God.

The first chapter of John's gospel opens with that magnificent reference to the glory of His eternal Person as He, the eternal "Logos," the Creator, comes into this world. He came to His own interests, and His own people received Him not. He was unknown to the world, but He was also refused and rejected by His earthly people. "But," says the Scripture, "as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to be children of God, to those that believe on His name." The word "received" is a word of great import. It does not refer to a mental reception of the truth, important as that may be; the word indicates receiving something to hold, tenaciously and permanently. The very word is used in relation to the Pharisees and Sadducees in Mark 7, where it says "they received to hold the traditions of men." That which proceeds from the minds of men — denigrating the Person and glory of Christ — held tenaciously today, and I am praying as I speak that if there are any in danger of being held by such traditions; receiving them to hold, only to find the end of them to be destruction, that God may turn your hearts and minds to Christ, that you might find in Him the answer to all your difficulties and problems.