More than a Man
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Text: Matthew 22:41-46
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?
45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Jesus is the son of David.
Jesus is the son of David.
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
They were not wrong; the Christ, or the Messiah, was indeed the son of David
“Son of David” simply refers to a male descendant of David who is eligible to be king.
“Messiah” means the “Anointed One.” This was a common term that Hebrew speakers used to refer to the King.
In Greek, the phrase “Anointed One” is “Christos,” which is where we get our word, “Christ.”
So, Christ and Messiah are the same thing; both are titles that mean “Anointed one,” or “King.” Christ is not Jesus’ last name, it’s his title—King. He is Jesus the Christ.
The Old Testament foretold of a future Messiah who would be descended from David.
The Old Testament foretold of a future Messiah who would be descended from David.
God had promised an eternal Davidic dynasty
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: 4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah
And, the problem was that by the time of the Major and Minor prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve), the spiritual situation in Israel and Judah had so deteriorated that the prophets were awaiting God’s judgment and the destruction of Jerusalem.
By the end of the OT, Israel was overrun by its enemies and the kings were deposed. So, the Davidic dynasty seemed to have come to an end.
But, the prophets knew that God never breaks his word, so they knew that one day God would raise up a new king from David’s line that would continue the Davidic dynasty.
So, the prophets foresaw a future time when God would restore the Kingdom of Israel and the Davidic dynasty, a time when David’s line would rise from the ashes, or to use the Biblical imagery, a shoot would sprout out of the stump of David’s dynasty:
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
This coming King was called the “Messiah,” in Hebrew, which as we already said, means “Anointed One.”
Or in Greek, the phrase “Anointed One” is “Christos,” which is where we get our word, “Christ.”
So, the point is that by the close of the OT and the open of the NT, the Jews really didn’t have a King. They had King Herod, but he wasn’t even really a Jew, let alone a descendant of David.
The Herods, for most Jews, were kind of like Prince John in the Disney Robin Hood movie—a pretender to the throne, someone they would happily see removed when the real king returned.
So, the Jews are eagerly awaiting this coming Messiah/Christ, because he’s the rightful heir to the throne of David.
Jesus accepts the title “son of David” in his ministry.
Jesus accepts the title “son of David” in his ministry.
“Son of David” means “descendant of David,” and is basically synonymous with Messiah/Christ.
When Jesus comes marching into Jerusalem—the capital city where King David’s palace had been—the crowds hail him as “son of David,” and Jesus doesn’t rebuke or correct them.
9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
His actions—riding into the capital on a donkey while crowds hailed him as the Son of David, flipping tables and pronouncing judgment upon the temple and the priests—were a claim to be the Messiah, the king.
So, the OT foretells of a coming Messiah, Jesus accepted that title for himself, and...
Matthew and the Gospel writers clearly portray Jesus as the “son of David.”
Matthew and the Gospel writers clearly portray Jesus as the “son of David.”
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Why does Matthew start off his gospel with a genealogy, a family tree? Because for Jesus to have a rightful claim to the throne—for him to be the Messiah—he has to be a descendant of David.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
So, Matthew shows that Jesus is, indeed, a legitimate heir to the throne. And Luke tells us that the angel who spoke to Mary told her point blank that her son would be the Messiah:
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
So, Jesus had to be a “son of David” in order to be the rightful Messiah.
Jesus was fully human.
Jesus was fully human.
He had to be human in order to satisfy the requirements of the Messiah. He had to be a descendant of David.
But, if he’s descended from David, then in Jewish thinking, he would be less-than David. The son is never greater than the father. Even if he was the Messiah, his dynasty would still bear the name of David, not him. It was the “Davidic Dynasty,” the “throne of David.”
But, that presented a problem, because there were OT prophecies that seemed to indicate that the Messiah would actually be greater than David.
And that’s why it’s so important that...
Jesus was more than a man.
Jesus was more than a man.
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?
45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
We’re going to have to break this down carefully to understand what Jesus is getting at.
Jesus here hits at a problem that had probably plagued careful Jewish scholars...
Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110, which was written by David himself.
Psalm 110 points to the coming Messiah.
Psalm 110 points to the coming Messiah.
We can see that this Psalm is Messianic—about the Messiah—because of all the imagery it uses about ruling:
1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!
Psalm 110 doesn’t use the word “Messiah,” but it clearly intends it and all the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day believed it pointed to the Messiah, which is why Jesus picks this passage. This clearly points to a kingly figure exercising rule and authority over his enemies and v. 2 refers to the king’s scepter
So, it’s clearly about a future King of Israel, the Messiah. David clearly isn’t talking about himself in this passage, but about the Messiah. But what’s strange about this is that David, as the Head and originator of the Dynasty would always occupy a higher status or position than any of his successors.
If any King of Israel could have ever eclipsed David in prestige and honor, it would have been Solomon. Yet, even Solomon, for all his wealth and power, did not eclipse King David in status. David certainly wouldn’t have called his own son “Lord.” The father is always greater than the son.
The only way that it makes sense for the greatest King of Israel to call one of his successors “Lord” is if that future King occupied so much higher a position that he was essentially in another class entirely.
What’s even more puzzling in this Psalm is all the various things that David attributes to this future King:
David refers to Israel offering themselves and their service freely to this “Lord” (v. 3)
David describes this King, his “Lord,” as a conqueror, which is saying something quite extraordinary from the most successful conqueror-King Israel ever had (“until I make your enemies your footstool” v. 1, v. 5-6)
5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
And he describes him as a priest (v. 4).
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
So, this passage is about a Davidic King but no successor to David ever came close to living up to these grand prophecies. Solomon was the closest, but his rule ended up causing the Kingdom to split in two and led the country down the path of idolatry. So, this clearly had not been fulfilled in any of Israel’s kings thus far.
So, Jews widely recognized that this passage pointed forward to a future Davidic King, the Messiah.
Between the close of the OT and the beginning of the NT, the expectation of a coming Messiah grew stronger and stronger as God’s people languished under Gentile overlords.
So, they were expecting a Messiah, and everyone knew he had to be a descendent of David.
But Psalm 110 was a trouble passage for Jews who read their Bibles carefully, because it clearly pointed towards a future Messiah.
But Psalm 110 seemed to point to more than just a future Messiah...
Psalm 110 points to the divinity of the coming Messiah. Three Proofs:
Psalm 110 points to the divinity of the coming Messiah. Three Proofs:
I’m going to argue that the Old Testament points towards a divine Messiah, and contains the seeds of what later became the doctrine of the Trinity.
Proof 1: Psalm 110 pictures the Messiah in an exalted position at the right hand of God himself.
Proof 1: Psalm 110 pictures the Messiah in an exalted position at the right hand of God himself.
Again, remember that the individual being addressed in this Psalm is the Messiah:
1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
And verse 5 echoes the thought that the Messiah would be at the right hand of God:
5 The Lord [Messiah] is at your [God’s] right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
From my research, no human in Scripture is ever said to be seated at the right hand of God, aside from the Messiah.
The right hand of the King is the highest position of honor and authority in the kingdom.
The fact that the Messiah is said to be seated at the right hand of God implies that he is a co-regent, a co-king. He is reigning and exercising kingly authority in the kingdom.
That is something that is never said of any mere human in Scripture.
Proof 2: Psalm 110 pictures the Messiah as an eternal priest.
Proof 2: Psalm 110 pictures the Messiah as an eternal priest.
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
No merely human priest could serve as a priest forever.
Even Aaron and Melchizedek didn’t live forever nor serve as priests forever.
The only way an individual could serve as a priest forever is if they are an eternal, immortal being.
Proof 3: Psalm 110 uses divine names for the Messiah.
Proof 3: Psalm 110 uses divine names for the Messiah.
Almost all English translations render the names of God as simply, “Lord,” which makes this very difficult to see in your English translations
Yahweh — notoriously difficult to translate, but probably “I AM”
Adonay — “Lord, Master, God” (Divine name)
Adoniy — “lord, master”
1 And the Lord [YHWH] appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.
2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth
3 and said, “O Lord [Adonay], if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.
12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord [Adoniy] is old, shall I have pleasure?”
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 110
The form of the word “Lord” (Hb. ’Adonay) is reserved for the deity in the OT
The Lexham Bible Dictionary אָדוֹן (adon) and אֲדֹנָי (adonay)
The divine title אֲדֹנָי (adonay) is related to אָדוֹן (adon) and is used only of God (e.g.,
The crazy thing is that another word in Hebrew for God, the word that we actually translate “God”—Elohim—is also a plural form.
Of course, Hebrew speakers probably weren’t intended to articulate a doctrine of the Trinity when they used these respectful terms for God, but they spoke truer than they knew.
Why does all this matter? Because here in Psalm 110, we have one of the clearest expressions of the deity of the coming Messiah anywhere in the OT:
Walk through the verse with the congregation:
[YHWH] says to [David’s] [Adonay]: “Sit at [YHWH’s] right hand, until [YHWH] make[s] [Adonay’s] enemies [Adonay’s] footstool.”
5 The Lord [Adonay] is at your [YHWH’s] right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
So, let’s go back to Jesus’ question and see why the Pharisees were stumped:
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
As we’ve seen, that answer is correct, but it isn’t complete...
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
For the Messiah—himself a descendant of David—to be greater than David, for him to be seated at the right had of God and elevated in status as an eternal priest and worthy of the divine name being attributed to him, he had to be more than just a man.
But the Pharisees didn’t have a category for what Jesus was trying to show them, and even when Jesus was standing right in front of them, they refused to see the truth.
46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Jesus is the root and the shoot, the beginning and the end.
Jesus is the root and the shoot, the beginning and the end.
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
17 “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”
19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20 “Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time,
21 then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers.
22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”
God keeps his promises, even when they defy what we think is possible.
God keeps his promises, even when they defy what we think is possible.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root AND the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
When Zedekiah was taken into captivity and Jerusalem and the temple was burned and pillaged in the 500’s BC, it looked as if the line of Davidic kings was over.
It seemed as if God had given up on Israel and as if God had forgotten his promise to Israel.
And as Israel languished under not only evil foreign rulers but corrupt rulers within Israel, it seemed hopeless that God would provide the salvation that he had promised.
But God’s promises never fail.
And if you’re going through a hard time right now and it seems as though God has deserted you, just remember this: The same God who worked it out so that a descendant of David would also be his Lord will work all things together for good for those who love God.
Jesus deserves our highest praise and our lives.
Jesus deserves our highest praise and our lives.
The beauty of what God has done through Christ is astounding. This story that God has crafted spans thousands of years, many different countries and empires, cultures and languages, and yet it is cohesive.
In the Casting Crowns song, “The Word is Alive,” there’s an aside that sums it up well:
The bible was inscribed over a period of 2000 years in times of war and in days of peace, by kings, physicians, tax collectors, farmers, fishermen, singers and shepherds.
The marvel is that a library so perfectly cohesive could have been produced by such a diverse crowd over a period of time which stagers the imagination.
Jesus is it's grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God is its end.
—“The Word is Alive,” Casting Crowns
All of history has been pointing to him
When Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied 500-700 years beforehand that an ancestor and a descendant, a root and a shoot of David would reign as eternal priest and king over the line of Israel, they were pointing to Christ!
When David prophesied 1000 years beforehand that the coming Messiah would be his God and an eternal priestly king, he was pointing to Christ!
When Joseph, almost 2,000 years before Christ, was rejected by his brothers and betrayed and sold into slavery in Egypt, it pointed towards a day when the Christ would be rejected by his brothers, betrayed, and sold like a slave. When Joseph was falsely accused, it pointed to a day when Christ would be falsely accused. When Joseph’s blood-stained garments were brought to his father and he was said to have been devoured by wild animals, it pointed to a day when wolves in sheep’s clothing would devour and murder their shepherd. And when Joseph was finally recognized to have the wisdom and the favor of God Almighty resting upon him and was elevated to the highest position in the land at the right hand of the king of Egypt, it pointed to a day when Christ would be elevated to the right hand of God the Father.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
In Matthew 22:41-46, what question does Jesus pose to the Pharisees regarding the identity of the Christ?
How does Jesus' argument regarding David calling the Messiah 'Lord' challenge the understanding of his lineage?
How does Jesus’ argument from Psalm 110 demonstrate that the Messiah would be more than a mere man?
In what way do the Old Testament prophecies about David's line prepare the way for understanding who Jesus is?
Why is it important that Jesus is presented as both a human descendant of David and a divine king?
What role do you think the expectation of a Messiah played in the lives of the Jewish people before Christ?
How does understanding this shape the way you view your purpose in life? What does it mean for you personally to acknowledge Jesus as king in your life?
