Q. How do you answer a person when they say the Yeshua could not be the Messiah because the Bible does not say there will be two comings?

A. This is a common objection from people who do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, but to say the Scriptures are silent about this is not exactly accurate and reveals a severe lack of knowledge. Here is how I answer that question. The material in Scriptures and the Jewish writings on this subject is overwhelming. In Psalm 40.7 it says that the Scriptures point to the Messiah. If a doctrine is true you will find it there. The Scriptures not only point to his family, birthplace and personality but it also details his work of redemption. Daniel tells us that the Messiah will come when the fourth kingdom is ruling and he will establish his kingdom and that would be approximately 400 years after the return of the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity. The people were in high expectation of the coming of the Messiah in the first century (Lk 3.15-16) and by the time Jon the Baptist comes along the anticipation was at an all-time high. This anticipation fueled many writings called apocalyptic literature and interpretations. This started about 100 years before the birth of Yeshua and continued for some time after his death. These interpretations were called “midrashim” and they tied together obvious and obscure messianic passages into an eschatological picture concerning the coming of the Messiah. It was here they saw a problem. On one hand there are passages that spoke of Messiah coming as a conquering king and other passages as a humble, suffering servant who would die for the people. The idea of a conquering king who would destroy Israel’s enemies was very popular, especially when the Jewish people were under the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and finally Roman occupation. The idea that Messiah would come and crush these enemies and establish peace was very encouraging. But the suffering servant who would die was the counter-point to all this. The Scriptures are very clear about this. The answer they came up with was that the there would be two Messiahs, one to suffer and the other to conquer. They were given names like Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David. John the Baptist posed a question to Yeshua about this very question .Many well-meaning teachers have said John was doubting when he asked Yeshua if he was the one or should they expect another (Mt.11.3). He was not questioning whether or not Yeshua was the Messiah because he knew he was (Jn 1.19-36). He was asking a specific eschatological question about whether Yeshua would fulfill all the prophecies himself or whether the idea of two Messiahs was accurate. Yeshua answered John with Scriptures pertaining to both Messiah Ben Joseph and Messiah Ben David. Rather than send two Messiahs God was going to send Yeshua to fulfill all the messianic prophecies in two separate appearances. So, the objection by some that the Scriptures do not teach two comings of the Messiah is not accurate and can’t be supported very well if you use the Scriptures themselves. Yeshua came the first time as the suffering servant, the Messiah Ben Joseph figure and he will come again as the Messiah Ben David, the conquering king very soon. So, the answer to this objection would be that the Scriptures clearly teach that the Messiah will have two separate and distinct comings to fulfill all the messianic prophecies and this is also testified to by Jewish Targumim and Midrashim written approximately 100 years before and 100 years after the birth of Yeshua.