The Son of David / Challenging Assumptions About the Messiah

Matthew 22:41-46 and Psalm 110: The Son of David and the Messiah’s Identity

So let's turn to Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22. Jesus has been responding in this chapter to a series of questions. His enemies keep coming at him first. It was the Pharisees then the Sadducees then a scribe asked him a question.

And all of this seems to be building up to the next chapter Matthew 23 where Jesus kind of unloads on all of them with a scathing rebuke. So that'll be fun for next next Sunday. But first before that Jesus has a question of his own.

So they're questioning him one question after another of course most of these are not really questions, right? They're trying to trap him in his words and all the rest. But now Jesus has a question of his own and this question will really challenge their assumptions about the Messiah.

Because here's the problem at this point. The Jewish leaders they greatly misunderstood who the Messiah was his person and also they misunderstood what he came To do so they all believed it would profess to believe in Jehovah God the God of Israel.

They have the scriptures, but they didn't have the correct interpretation of The scriptures they didn't really believe the scriptures how do we know that because Jesus is Confronting them here and He asked them a question, and they don't want to acknowledge.

What should be the obvious Answer so when it came to teachings about Christ who he was what he came to do. They just didn't get it or maybe they didn't want to get it, but here's why this message matters today.

It's still true many people have great Misunderstandings about who the Christ is and what he came to do so just as Jesus is Challenging them and challenging their assumptions about the Christ the Son of David.

Some people today, I think should challenge their Understandings or what really are? Misconceptions about him. So let's read Matthew 22 starting in verse 41. We'll read Matthew 22 41 through 45 Says while the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them saying what do you think about the Christ?

Whose son is he and they said to him the son of David and he said to them how then? Does David in the Spirit call him Lord? Saying and this is a quote from Psalm 110 one the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool Jesus says if David then calls him Lord How is he his son and no one was able to answer him a word?

Nor from that day on did anyone dare question him? Anymore, okay. So the first thing we need to understand is that when it comes to the term Messiah or Christ. These are synonyms right some Messiah and Christ.

They mean the same thing. So the Messiah is the Christ the chosen one God's anointed God's chosen king. The next thing we need to know here. Is that the term son of David or the title son of David? This is a messianic title.

So they all agreed. They all understood Jesus the disciples the Pharisees. Everyone understood that the Messiah was known as the son of David so the Messiah the Christ will be the son of David not David's literal son, but his Descendant in other words that's based on passages like 2nd Samuel 7 and others.

So the Messiah will be the descendant of King David. Okay, we got that straight good now the dilemma in this question here the dilemma Jesus poses is that David in any normal circumstance Would never call one of his descendants.

Lord.

So David is referring to his son his descendant as Lord and that is just something that no Jewish person would do. No Jewish Patriarch would do that because the older is the greater right the father would be greater than the son at least in their Relationship and David was the great king.

So, how is he calling his descendant way on down the line his Lord like that just didn't make sense to some people. So here's another thing we have to understand. You know, we live in a very different culture the rules we have in our society are totally different.

The way it is today is totally different than the way it was back then. They lived in a patriarchal society. Back then we still have this but it was more taken more seriously back then you respected your elders.

The fifth commandment to honor father and mother this was a big Deal and because of those things and other reasons. Yeah, a man would never refer to his younger descendant as His superior or as his Lord.

It just wouldn't it wouldn't happen and yet that's exactly what's happening with David in Psalm 110 verse 1 which Jesus is quoting here. So if you look at that verse that Jesus is referring to look at verse 44.

This is again a quote from Psalm 110 1 David is writing. He says the Lord said to my Lord the Son of David the Messiah. Sit on my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. So again, David is referring to his descendant as.

His.

Lord so this just isn't making sense. What's the obvious reason though? Why would David refer to his descendant the Messiah as his Lord? Because he is God in the flesh. He is so much superior to David.

It's not even funny He is God in the flesh that to the Messiah is but the Pharisees didn't believe that right? So that's why even if they thought that was the answer Jesus is driving that they're not going to admit that.

Because they were living really in unbelief. All right, let's go through these verses. But hopefully that gives you an idea at least of what's going on and we'll explain more and then hopefully explain why this Matters to you this morning, but let's go through these verses.

Matthew 22 starting in verse 41 Says while the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them saying what do you think about? The Messiah the Christ whose son is he and they say to him the son of David.

All right.

So again, this was established. The title son of David is a title for the Messiah. And we all know that Jesus Was one of David's descendants. Have you ever read through the genealogies in the beginning of Matthew or in the beginning of Luke?

Jesus and his mother Mary they were descendants of King David. Even Joseph Jesus's stepfather was a descendant of David the Great King. Now this is another thing people some I think most of you probably understand this.

Maybe not everybody because it's it's one of those things. You don't really think about but what's what's the full name for Jesus? What's his full name?

Jesus.

Yeah, well, I mean that would be technically. I don't mean to be too technical but that's like a title right. Lord is a title. And Christ is a title and I know you know this but like Christ is not his last name, right?

So Jesus is his first name. Christ is not his last name. Christ is a title. Because technically the leaders of Israel don't believe that Jesus is the Christ. They don't believe he's the Messiah. So technically the name of Jesus would be Jesus of Nazareth that that would be his full name.

Back then so Christ the point is Christ or Messiah. That is a title which is why sometimes in the Bible you see him referred to as Christ Jesus. So it's just saying that he is The son of David he is the Christ so that being true.

This really isn't something that the Pharisees and the leaders of Israel are acknowledging. They don't believe that Jesus is the son of David. So that's another problem, but Jesus asked them What do you think about the Christ whose son is he.

They said the son of David. Look at verse 43. Jesus said to them. Here's the question. How then does David in the Spirit? Call him Lord saying the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your.

Footstool.

So here the Messiah is called Lord now. Did you notice that it's Lord is in capital L? Lowercase ORD right so like I said, this is a quote from Psalm 110. So let's turn there Psalm 110, but we actually see this Title Lord rendered in two different ways so It's Lord all capitals and then it's Lord with lowercase ORD and that's going to make a difference.

All right, so you're turning to Psalm 110 the book of Psalm or Psalms is right in the middle of your Bible if you just flip back a little ways. But again the question if David calls the Christ his Lord How is he his son or if the Messiah is the son of David How is he his Lord like the two just didn't line up?

Now when we hear the term Lord you what will you tell me? What do you think of when someone uses the term Lord? Yeah, we think of Lord is in God. Do you call anyone is there anyone in your life you refer to as Lord?

You see Christians don't do this Today and it's probably a good thing back in Bible times. Actually people were referred to as Lords, I mean you might think of England a century or two ago and you had Lords right and you had Dukes and Lords.

Today, we just are not familiar with this. We don't use this term, but actually Lord as in Lowercase or D. This might not refer to God. It can refer to God. It often does refer to God, but it doesn't necessarily Refer to God.

Okay, look at Psalm 110 verse 1 David writes the Lord said to my Lord you see the differences with all capital letters and then lowercase Or D. Okay, so if you take notes, this is a good time to take notes.

Just to keep this all straight. The first use of this term Lord in all capital letters This is the name of God Jehovah or what people some people say today Yahweh. So when you see Lord in all capital letters that is absolutely referring to the Lord God Jehovah the God of Israel, okay.

And yet when you see the next use of the Lord With lowercase or D that is the term Adon or Adonai. Which can be rendered as master. It could even be a sign of respect like calling someone, sir. Okay, you already said you don't call it.

There's no one in your personal life who you call Lord, which is again Probably a good thing. Do you call anyone sir? Do you ever use that term? Like if you're in the presence of a very important person you might call them sir or something like that.

Well, that's how lowercase or D Lord can work. Incidentally, you remember in the book of Genesis 18 verse 12 Peter brings this up later that Sarah gave the The great woman of faith in the Old Testament Sarah.

She referred to her husband Abraham as what? Lord now was she saying my husband is God now. That's not what she was saying she had great reverence or respect for her husband and She referred to him as Lord and I know most women today are like I'm not quite at that place where I'm ready to do that but Back then the term Lord was used in that way.

So it doesn't necessarily Refer to God but capital LOR D does refer to God. Alright, I think you get the point but it's important to know that to understand what's being said here in Psalm 110 Verse 1 so let's read it with that in mind the Lord as in God said to my Lord the master Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

Does that maybe clear up the statement a little bit? The Lord God said to my master Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. You still have the same problem. David is referring to his younger descendant as his master and again in Jewish culture That just wasn't done unless you can say the Messiah is so much greater than David the only way that would be true is if he is more than just a Great man, and we believe that the point Jesus is making is that the Messiah will be The Lord like the Messiah will be God in human flesh.

But again, they don't believe that look at verse 2. Let's just read Psalm 110. Just read the whole chapter. I think it's important to do that. It's it's very short. So we'll start over verse 1 the Lord said to my Lord sit on my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion rule in the midst of your enemies. He's speaking to the Messiah in the future. The Messiah will rule in the midst of his enemies. Verse 3 your people shall be Volunteers in the day of your power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning.

You have the dew of your youth. Verse 4. The Lord has sworn And will not relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek now if you've been following our Wednesday night study in Genesis, you know who Melchizedek is.

But we see here that the Messiah is not just going to be a great king. He's also going to be what? He's gonna be a priest and he's gonna be a priest forever now, that's another little hint of The deity of the Messiah the Son of David because he's gonna essentially live forever as a priest.

So pretty clear on the deity of Christ I believe look at verse 5 the Lord is at your right hand. That's a place of honor and authority. He shall execute Kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the nations.

He shall Fill the places with what? Dead bodies you say well this took a sharp turn to the right here. He shall judge among the nations. He shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall execute the heads of many countries.

He shall drink by the brook by the wayside. Therefore. He shall lift up his head now I said, you know part of what Jesus is doing. He is challenging the people's assumption about who the Christ is. Well, I think this challenges people's assumption about who the Christ is.

People think of Jesus as the gentle Savior. Jesus meek and mild and He was that to a degree Jesus is patient kind. He came he was gentle. He laid down his life for sinners, right? But there's this other side of the story that's really speaking about his future coming his second advent.

Where when he comes he will judge the nations and hey, the place is gonna be filled with dead bodies. He's like, well, that's not the Jesus. I worship. I'll see we want to make sure we're not worshiping like a One-dimensional Christ like I've concocted in my own mind all these things in the Bible that I like about Jesus.

That's my Jesus the nice Jesus the Jesus who does the things I want him to do. But you know what? There's there's more to the story isn't there? See this is actually the Christ the Jews were looking for they wanted the Christ to be a Revolutionary figure they wanted him to be a military man to take the throne to kill the Romans to you know.

Get rid of Caesar. That's who they wanted. They didn't want the gentle Compassionate Savior they didn't want that part see people today. They don't want the other part. Well, here's the thing Jesus is Both and we just need to challenge our assumptions their challenge their assumptions are being challenged here.

So again this passage all of that to say this in Psalm 110 this refers to the Messiah as the conquering King and this is really what Israel was looking for the king who would take the throne and defeat all of The enemies of Israel and when it became clear to them that Jesus wasn't going to do that.

Because that's not why Jesus came the first time when he comes again. Yes, because you can read the book of Revelation and the Battle of Armageddon and the end times and that stuff does happen. But when they realized so go back to Matthew 22.

But when they realized that Jesus wasn't going to lead a revolution against Rome. The people turned on him the leaders they already rejected him and They wanted nothing to do with Jesus who came to be a savior.

From sin today. We want the Savior from sin. But again, a lot of people are uncomfortable with the other part. Okay. So like I said that should clear up when we understand the different uses of the term Lord the Lord said to my Lord God Jehovah said to my master remember who's speaking King David.

So David is speaking when the Lord God says to my master sit at my right hand. Okay, that's what's happening that clears it up that tells us that the Christ is who? The Christ is God in the flesh. He will be a king forever.

He will live forever. The Messiah is so much greater than David because he is David's Lord as then he is David's not just his master, but his God. All right. So what does all this mean for us today? Well Again we need to challenge our preconceived notions the people back then were having their assumptions challenged God the Father.

Saying to let's deal with this statement. So you're in Matthew 22, right this statement Verse 44 the Lord said to my Lord. Okay, we understand the God and master part. What about this next part sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.

What does that refer to? So who's speaking? God is speaking to who? Jesus. So God the Father is speaking to God the Son. Okay, Jesus sit at my right hand the right hand of power and authority. Sit on my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool see again this this is the Jesus that so many 21st century Christians are uncomfortable with they love the Jesus who's Kind and gentle and wants to help me and forgive me and that makes people comfortable.

But they're not comfortable with Jesus as the conquering King so what does it mean that God said to Jesus sit on my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool? Well, if you have ever who's read the book of Revelation front to back.

Okay, so maybe half the people here if if you've ever read that book something will jump out at you and that there's a lot of a lot of judgment a lot of destruction and Some people have this idea well, you know, that's sort of the way God was in the Old Testament.

There's a lot of fighting a lot of death and destruction in the Old Testament. But by the time you get to the New Testament God is more, you know, he's kind of chilled out a little bit. He's more Kind he's more God isn't that way anymore.

Is that true? Well, you know both are both are true. God is gentle and kind and God is also Fierce because if you read the book of Revelation in the end times Jesus, here's what this verse mean if I can just paraphrase Matthew 22 44 Jesus will remain in heaven at the right hand of God until All of his enemies are defeated.

That's what it means Being put under his feet. So Jesus is going to remain in heaven until all his enemies are Crushed and if you read the book of Revelation, what is it? It's God pouring down judgments upon the world crushing the enemies of Jesus again, there's somebody thinking well, I don't know that's that's not the God I worship or that's not the Jesus I worship.

Well, if that's true, then you don't worship the God of the Bible because again he's More than just one dimensional so Jesus will remain in heaven until all the enemies are put under his feet. Now right now we live in an age of grace.

It's not the mission of the church to go out and fight wars I mean we we fight spiritual battles, but right now We should work for peace and all of the rest. But the day is coming In the end times where yes, God will put all the enemies of Christ under his feet.

Just go to Zechariah 14 for a moment. Here's the other side of this and again all of this is to challenge some people's Assumptions or maybe preconceived notions about who the Christ is Zechariah 14. This is towards the end of the Old Testament.

What second to last book? Okay Zechariah chapter 14, this is basically telling us what Jesus is going to do when he does come back so he's seated at the right hand of God and When he comes back, this is what's going to happen.

I Zechariah 14 starting in verse 1 Says behold the day of the Lord is coming. Your spoil will be divided in your midst for I will gather all nations to battle against who or what?

Jerusalem.

Okay. Now you already sort of see this happening where? Israel and Jerusalem is sort of a pariah in the Middle East their neighbors Hate them and there's a lot of anti-semitism in the world today. Well in the end, there's just going to be more of that and all nations are going to gather against Jerusalem.

Look at verse 3 then it says then the Lord will go forth and do what? Fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle. So remember the Jews wanted the Christ to be the revolutionary figure the the great King the warrior King.

They wanted him to do that 2 ,000 years ago. That's not why he came. He came to die on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. So it's not like those verses were wrong. Those prophecies were wrong. That's all gonna happen, but it's gonna happen in our Future.

And then it says in verse 4 in that day when Christ does return in that day his feet will stand on The Mount of Olives and it goes on thus the Lord my God will come and all the Saints with you. And it goes on to say in verse 9 and the Lord shall be King over all the earth.

All right. Now, let's go back to Matthew 22. And we'll close. But again, this is exactly what you see in the book of Revelation Jesus his enemies are put under His feet and that's really what Psalm 110 is all about God saying to the Son of David.

Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. But the people they wanted it right then and right there and they wanted the enemy to be destroyed. They wanted it to be the Romans and God works in his own time in his own way.

But the main question, let's go back to Matthew 22 45 just kind of going back to that main question. If David then this is Jesus speaking to the religious leaders if David then calls the Messiah Lord.

How is he his son and it says no one was able to answer him a word. Nor from that day on did anyone dare question him. Anymore, so the reason why they can't answer they don't want to admit. What is the obvious answer?

That the Messiah the Son of David really is David's Lord and they definitely didn't want to admit that Jesus is He because if Jesus is Lord, what does that mean for the Pharisees?

Yeah.

They're out of business they're at a they're in big trouble because they've been plotting to kill him all along. But really they they wanted to do what they wanted to do. They had their own agenda. And if they acknowledge that Jesus is you know The Lord the King and even God in the flesh then they have to bow the knee to him and that's something they were unwilling To do and there's still people unwilling to do that maybe for different reasons.

So the answer to Jesus's question is simple David refers to the Messiah his descendant as Lord because the Messiah is Superior to David in every way. He is not just the Son of David. He is the Son of God.

So that's the main point of the story. But again the application for us is what? Spend the last 10 minutes on this. The main point is for Jesus to teach about his true identity all while exposing the unbelief of the religious leaders and their hard-heartedness.

And it really does set the stage for the next chapter. Let's just get a little preview of the next chapter. Okay? Let's let's look at Matthew 23 for a moment. Hopefully some of you will you know, you'll all come back next week.

Hopefully.

But this is what Jesus says to them. Remember they're questioning him trying to trap him in his words. He asked them a question. They refused to answer. And I don't know if this is the same day or what but Jesus is unloading on them.

Look at verse 2 or let's start in verse 1. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and his disciples saying the Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe that observe and do as in there.

You know that yes what they say a lot of what they say is true but however. Do not do according to their works for they say and do not do what do you call it when somebody says one thing? But they do another.

Yeah, and Jesus does call them hypocrites and he goes on to say that you know, they're the blind leading the blind. He calls them snakes and vipers and all the rest. Did these people have a correct understanding of who the Christ was?

Absolutely not, but here's here's the funny thing. There's a lot of churches that will not not Bible-believing churches like evangelical Bible-believing churches will preach from Matthew 23, but there's a lot of maybe the mainline denominations.

They will not preach from Matthew 23 where Jesus is calling people snakes and vipers and hypocrites. They won't preach from that. Why? Because that version of Jesus doesn't fit into their little box. Like their version of Jesus would never say something like that.

And again, this is the application for us. We can never put God in a box. We can never put Jesus in a box that he has to live up to everything that I you know, expect him to say and do so this is the application of this chapter to sort of test and Examine what we believe about the Christ the first thing if you don't believe that the Christ is the Son of God if you don't believe that Jesus is God in human flesh.

I'm just here to tell you you have the wrong idea about who Jesus is. That's the first and most important point. Jesus is the Son of God God in human flesh. There's so many people today. They say he was a good man a wise and moral teacher.

Yeah, but Jesus did claim to be the great I am he did claim to be God a man who Put it this way if if you knew somebody going back to someone, you know in your personal life. If you knew someone who claimed to be God, what would you think?

Yeah, this person is either you know.

Nuts.

They they really believe that they're God or they're just a liar. You know, there are people who lie and say they're divine and they're not. But here's the thing Jesus actually is this is the teaching of Scripture.

So that's the first point if there is anyone who does not believe in the deity of Christ. You need to challenge your preconceived notions about who Jesus is because the Bible absolutely does teach the deity of Christ.

If you've been following the series in Matthew, you've looked at all those arguments in those passages. What about the next thing some people have misconceptions about the Bible? What does Jesus say about David when David wrote Psalm 110.

What does Jesus say that David spoke what in the Spirit, right? So David spoke or wrote when he was in the Spirit in other words Jesus is saying that the scripture is from The Holy Spirit. Isn't this what the Bible says in 2nd Peter 2 20 and 21 knowing this first that no prophecy of scriptures of any private Interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by The Holy Spirit so this book a lot of preconceived notions.

Well, this book contains a lot of truth. This book contains, you know, some of it is the Word of God. Well, this book makes a claim that it is the Word of God. All scripture is Inspired by God. So some people maybe you have to have your preconceived notions about the Bible challenge.

According to Jesus again David wrote while in the Spirit, this is not just the words of David. It's the words of God the Holy Spirit. It's the Word of God. Why is that important? Because you cannot come to a saving relationship.

Or come into a saving relationship with God except from the Word of God. Romans 10 17 says faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the Word of God. People need to hear the truth about who Jesus is and that along with the working of the Holy Spirit.

That is what brings a person into that born-again experience that we talked about last week. You know, there's so many people today so many churches today where the pastor has gone through so-called Deconstruction who's heard this term deconstruction.

It's just a fancy new word for Apostasy where the pastor or whoever it is no longer believes the Bible. They don't think the Bible is true or it's not all true and so many pulpits like that today. It's just commonplace.

Well. They say well, you know, we can still believe in Jesus without believing everything in the Bible. Here's the thing. How do you know anything about Jesus? How do you know Jesus is the son of David?

The Bible, how do you know he's Jesus of Nazareth the Bible, how do you know he's the Son of God the Bible? Everything we know about Jesus is from the Bible. So some people need to have that Idea challenged of how they view the scripture as you know.

Below it's not all true or it's not all the Word of God. But finally just challenging you to rethink your assumptions about Christ. You know, here's the thing some most of you I think. The majority will just say the majority, you know, you've been going to church for a while.

You know who Jesus is, you know, you know the basics you think you have your idea in me even me I say well, I've been studying the Bible for all these years and I think I got Jesus all figured out right.

Do I have Jesus all figured out? No, I don't and neither do you. Nobody does. We need to believe those core teachings about his person and his work, but you know what nobody has it all Figured out so just as Jesus was challenging their preconceived notions.

We need to challenge what we think because you know what without question people in this room. Maybe me maybe you maybe all of us, you know, some of the things that we think. They're not not exactly right and are we humble enough when we're faced with that to admit it and then You know start believing the right thing but I think the great the greatest challenge of who Jesus is the Preconceived notions about who Jesus is people either want Jesus to be again that kind gentle merciful Savior or there's the Conquering King who's gonna you know defeat all his enemies.

People want one or the other. I think that's maybe boil it down to the biggest problem in the church today. And you know what? It's both. But I am glad he is a merciful Savior. Here's what Romans 2 for says says that it is the goodness of God that leads a person to repentance.

So we preach the merciful Saving Jesus why. Because that's what we need. We need God's forgiveness. We need to be saved, but we can't do it at the exclusion of him being that Conquering King who will come again someday just that last statement about Jesus being Lord, right?

The Lord said to my Lord now, I would argue that Lord God that applies to Jesus and Lord as in Master that applies to Jesus too. And I talked about it last week. If Jesus is Lord, what does that mean?

It means you you obey him as Lord. This is the one thing the Pharisees religious leaders were not willing to do. They were not willing to bend the knee to Jesus and you should just ask that question for yourself.

Am I willing to? Do what he says. Am I willing to bow the knee? To Christ and really reject this Common misconception that Jesus is so, you know sort of what I call the long-haired hippie Jesus. Who's just cool with whatever you want to do, you know.

The one who's just here to make your dreams come true whether he had short hair or long hair really isn't the real issue. But you know the Jesus who's just cool with everything and he's he's for everybody no matter what.

Well.

According to the scripture Jesus is Lord and every knee will bow right Philippians 2 Every knee will bow and those who refuse to bow Really, they end up like the Pharisees like the Sadducees. So just close with this we need to let this passage let some of the things said this morning.

Maybe if the Spirit has spoken to your heart let this Challenge all of us what we think we know about Jesus what we think we know about the Bible. Open the Bible for yourself. Read it. Look to the scripture look at what Jesus said all of what Jesus said and be willing to examine your own beliefs and be open and Allow the Lord to reveal himself to you.