Why the Jews (who chose not to follow Jesus) did not believe he was the Messiah

Interestingly enough, books that people have been recommending to me lately have explained something I always wondered about: why didn't the Jews (the ones who chose not to follow Christ) believe that Christ was the Messiah? According to Eric Metaxas (Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (but were afraid to ask)), the Jews had believed the Messiah would overthrow the Romans and return them to their original Sovereignty during the throne of David. ... and (added by Jodi Piccoult, Change of Heart) the Messiah should be decidedly "HUMAN." The ancient prophecies say that the Messiah was not only to return the Jewish state to the throne of David, but that he would also raise up (resurrect) ALL the Dead (WHY ON EARTH he would WANT to do that is BEYOND my understanding right now -- Oye ve!) and usher in a time of great peace. The Christ, (a spiritual master who was not Jesus) took over the body of Jesus around age 12, and did NOT create a political/military revolt and oust the Romans ... and then he died, so that eliminated him from fulfilling the prophecy.
Ok, now I have a new level of understanding. So , THEN, my question becomes ... why did the Jews who chose to believe Jesus was the Messiah -- BELIEVE in him? I'm told this has everything to do with his resurrection. But the RESURRECTION was supposed to occur for ALL THE DEAD, according to the ancient prophecy. And if he didn't succeed in ousting the Romans or ushering in a time of Great Peace, WHY did people espouse his ways? I believe this has to do with the fact that he was attempting to reform the actual spiritual, mystical, inner transformative processes of Judaism, and THAT is what the people who ended up following him were after. (Feel free to comment, respond, add to the discussion, please, in the name of illumination.)

Re Spring Issue of Parabola 2011

Reading the Spring issue of Parabola Magazine has given me new inspiration and understanding.
Jonathan Omer-Man describes my personal relationship with suffering via a hasidic interpretation of
the Jews' slavery and Moses' role in the scenario. He says : in the initial stages of their slavery, the Jews' coping mechanism (and mine) was to buffer themselves against pain, they suffered a loss of identity (as I did) and fell intoa melancholic non-action. They accepted slavery as their fate. Omer-Man says they felt wretched and alone, hopeless. (Been there,done that, too.) Then, Moses was the deus ex machinae. In order to provoke a shift inside them, Moses provoked the Pharoah into worsening their condition so that they would not be static anymore. The pain became so excruciating that they were forced to make a choice: "We don't want to live this way any more." Thus began the Exodus! I don't know about you, but I LOVE Parabola Magazine - it just clarified things for me. I had never heard this interpretation before. All I have to do is make the "shift," get off my duff and move -- no more hiding, no more buffering--make the change! Thank you, Jonathan Omer-Man, for sharing this wisdom. I love you!