Common Objection #1

Objection: The Messiah is supposed to bring world peace. There are still plenty of wars. Since Jesus did not bring world peace, He cannot be the Messiah.

Answer: There are two facets of the Messiah. One facet concerns the "Reigning Messiah," and one facet concerns the "Suffering Messiah." Both facets have to be accounted for when we consider the concept of the Messiah. It is true that the "Reigning Messiah" will bring in a time of universal peace and prosperity. However, that is only half the picture. One-half of the description of the Messiah has been left out. The other half of the picture shows us a Messiah who suffered and died on behalf of Israel and all mankind. This is the facet of the Messiah that Jesus fulfilled during His First Coming. At the Second Coming, Jesus will fulfill the predictions that the Messiah will bring in world peace.

Our ancient Rabbis did not understand how these two, apparently contradictory, pictures about the Messiah harmonized. Their solution was the "Two Messiah Theory." They looked for two Messiahs to come. The first would be "Messiah ben Joseph" (Messiah son of Joseph), the Suffering Messiah. He would suffer and die during the wars of Gog and Magog. The second Messiah, Messiah ben David (Messiah son of David), would follow him. This would be the Kingly Messiah who would conquer Israel's enemies, rebuild the Temple, and bring in a time of universal peace. However, the New Testament provides us with a more elegant and straightforward harmony of the biblical material. Instead of two Messiahs, each coming once, there is one Messiah coming twice. Yeshua is the Suffering Messiah as well as the King Messiah.

Scripture texts to show the validity of this position would be Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Zechariah 12:10, and Psalm 22:16.

Someone cannot be true to the picture of the Messiah that is drawn in the Hebrew Scriptures if they leave out Messiah's sufferings. A good resource to have on hand is the book The Messiah Texts by Raphael Patai. Dr. Patai, an unbelieving Israeli, devotes an entire chapter to the concept of the "Suffering Messiah."

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