Bible Insights | CafeLogos.org
The Jews claim that the Messiah has not yet come, refuting the Christians' assertion that Jesus is the Messiah. Their main objection to Jesus being the Messiah is that He did not usher in the prophesied time of peace (Isaiah 11:6-9).
The Two Days of Messiah
The prophet Daniel shows that an Anointed One (Messiah) is killed before the destruction of Jerusalem which happened in 70AD (Daniel 9:26). After that his prophecy gives an accurate history of everything that happens up to the judgment. There is no other messiah appearing, or a time of world peace. The judgment that Daniel shows correlates with the Judgment in Ezekiel 34.
In Zechariah 14, we see the Messiah coming supernaturally, landing with His feet on the Mount of Olives. From that point on He rules and the time of peace is fulfilled. However, in order for this person to be the Messiah, he still would have to fulfill all the prophecies that Jesus has fulfilled, including being born in Bethlehem,(Micah 5:2) ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9), be killed before the destruction of Jerusalem (Daniel 9:26), and die for the sin's of Isaiah's people (Isaiah 53:8). He would also have to be a supernatural being because the Messiah is to reign forever.
The Jewish scholars recognized that according to the prophecies Messiah must come, suffer and be killed. They also saw that He rules and reigns. To solve this puzzle they concocted this explanation; there has to be two messiahs, one that is killed and one that reigns; however this explanation ignores all the scriptures that show there is only one Messiah. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: (Job 19:25). (The Redeemer is also referred to as God- Psalm 19:14).
Jesus also said that He would come again supernaturally (Matthew 24:29,30). Going back to Daniel’s prophecy, the Messiah is killed before Jerusalem is destroyed. There is no time of peace until His return in Zechariah 14, as Daniel’s prophecy does not record a time of peace before that event. Therefore, if Jesus had brought in a time of peace when He came the first time as the Jews expected, then it would have proven He was not the Messiah, because that does not happen until after the judgment as the scriptures show.
Therefore, Jesus has to be the Messiah, who will bring in the time of peace after the judgment when He returns just as He prophesied in Matthew 24, sitting in the exact location of His second coming as described in Zechariah 14.
In the Jewish prayer book, “Sidur,” which was used up to the eighties in both orthodox and conservative synagogues, one of the prayers mentions the “two days of the Messiah."- “May it be Thy will, O lord our God and the God of our fathers, that we should keep Thy commandments in this world and that we should earn, live, see and inherit the good part and blessing in the two days of the Messiah and in the coming eternal life.”
There are some who claim that the “two days,” in the prayer represent the two thousand years that some Jews believe that messiah will reign. The fact still remains that Jesus died on one day (Isaiah 53), and will return in one day, (Zechariah 14). We cannot rule out that the two days in the prayer is not a prophetic foreshadow of the two days that represent Jesus’ death and second coming; and
we cannot inherit, “the good part and blessing,” if we do not accept Jesus as the Messiah.
Jesus fulfilled over two hundred messianic prophecies. M.B. Bleecker was an engineer who invented the ram jet engine and the helicopter prototype. He was also a Christian who calculated the odds of one man fulfilling just eight of those prophecies in a life time. The odds of Jesus fulfilling just eight of them in His lifetime are one in -100, 000, 000,000,000,000.
In view of Jesus’ accomplishments on earth; healing the bind, raising the dead and giving all the glory to God for everything He did, and having fulfilled all the prophecies concerning the Messiah’s earthly life: we can take Him at His word when He said that He was coming again, and thus He will fulfill the Messiah’s Two Days.
Copyright 2024 by H. D. Shively