Luke 20:41-44 (3)
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-Well, we’re finally moving forward...
...in our verse-by-verse...
...exposition of Luke’s Gospel.
We’ve come to Verse 41 this morning.
And, as always...
...I would encourage you to...
Turn there in your own Bibles...
And follow along.
-In the last section...
...we saw the Sadducees...
...putting something of a riddle before our Lord...
...trying to lead him into a theological trap.
That —of course—as always...
Failed miserably...
Actually backfired on them...
Leaving them confounded and ashamed.
-Well, in today’s section...
It is Our Lord...
...who is setting forth a riddle from the O.T.
And with it, once again...
...He leaves His adversaries speechless .
But... it shouldn’t do that to us.
For us, this riddle ought to be...
...a glorious reminder...
...of the accuracy and necessity...
Of some of our most foundational Christian beliefs.
The answer to this riddle...
Makes obvious (to any objective reader)...
The necessity of the NT Canon.
The necessity of the doctrine of the Trinity
The reality of the hypostatic union:
(Jesus is fully God AND fully man)
And in those...
The truth/necessity of the entire Christian Faith.
-If you can’t tell...
I think this is a MARVELOUS text!
Let’s read it together...
Then we’ll pray.
Luke 20, beginning in Verse 41.
This is the Word of the Lord:
41 But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son?
42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
43 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
44 David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
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Pray
-Let’s jump back up to Verse 39...
So we can better understand...
...the scene that's before us.
Remember that, after Jesus had...
...outmaneuvered the Sadducees...
...over the doctrine the resurrection...
Luke had told us:
39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question.
Verse 41
41 But he said to them...
So, Jesus is now...
...going on the offensive.
Matthew and Mark give us...
...a few more contextual details:
Mark reminds us:
35 And as Jesus taught in the temple...
(Remember that it’s still the middle of Passion Week)
And Matthew specifies:
41 ...while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,
(Remember that the Scribes...
...were mostly from this same group)
So, it’s in the hearing of...
...all the worshippers at the Temple...
But, addressed specifically to...
The Pharisees.
Okay, here’s the riddle:
41 ...he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son?
So, first of all, remember that — the Christ”. . .
...is a gentile way of referring to...
The Jewish “Messiah”
(God’s Anointed Eschatological King)
Now, that may not seem...
...like much of riddle at first...
...because the Old Testament was pretty clear...
...about the coming of a Messiah...
...and His earthly lineage.
All the way back in Genesis 49...
...the origins of the Messiah...
...began to take a definitive shape:
Jacob prophesied...
(Not to Reuben—the firstborn)
(Not to Joseph—the most powerful)
But to Judah (A younger son of Leah):
8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you...
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Clearly, this implied...
...that the Messiah...
Would come through the tribe of Judah.
Now, we all know how it went down:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar...
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of David the king...
And there we are...
...with Judah having the scepter...
...just like Jacob prophesied.
Now, we all know...
...that David was Israel’s most...
...victorious and faithful king.
And God told him:
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.
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That appeared, at first...
...to have been fulfilled in Solomon.
(His kingdom was spectacular)
But within just a few centuries...
The Kingdom of Israel...
...had been divided...
...and eventually both groups...
...were given over to the hand of foreigners...
...because of their rebellion to God.
But… God sent prophets to them...
...during that time...
Calling them to repent...
And giving them promises...
...of a future restoration of a penitent people...
...and assuring them...
...of the certainty of the fulfillment...
...of the promises He had made to their forefathers.
And the fulfillment of those promises...
All centered around...
(You guessed it)
...the Offspring of David.
Let me remind you of a few:
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...
17 “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,
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...
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord...
4 ...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...
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.
10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
That was the Messiah.
God’s Anointed Servant.
The King who would...
...win the ultimate victory for God’s people.
And everyone knew...
...where he would come from.
(Or so they thought!)
(They only knew half the story)
(But more on that in a second)
-First, look at the way Matthew...
...sets up the encounter from our text:
42 . . . “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
The answer to that is obvious, isn’t it?
They said to him, “The son of David.”
And they were, of course...
...absolutely correct in that response...
As far as it went!
Here’s what I mean:
The O.T. also set forth...
...ANOTHER provenance/origin for the Messiah!
2 But you, O Bethlehem . . . from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
Do you see the duality in that?
He’s going to come from Bethlehem (David’s City)
He’s going to come from before David existed!
Furthermore, consider this:
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
That’s much more than an earthly king.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
(There’s the promise to David!)
There was great mystery...
...surrounding the Messiah.
Furthermore, you had prophecies like:
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
MAHER-SHALAL-HASHBAZ?
Something greater?
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
That’s no ordinary man!
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. . .
That’s no ordinary King!
That’s no ordinary Kingdom!
-So...
Let’s read Jesus’ question again...
(Now with that backdrop)
...and see if we can...
...begin to better understand the mystery...
...that he’s alluding to in his riddle.
41 . . . “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son?
It’s already not as simple of a question...
...as it was when we first read it!
But... what he goes on to say...
...heightens the paradox even more:
-Look at Verse 42:
42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms...
Matthew and Mark say:
36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared...
That’s a good reminder to us...
...of what Peter said, in...
20 ...no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Here’s what he said:.
Back to Verse 42:
42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
43 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
(Matthew and Mark: “until I put your enemies under your feet”)
(i.e., subjugate them completely)
Now, the passage that Jesus is referencing...
...is the 110th Psalm...
And it’s CLEARLY Messianic...
(Talking about the Christ)
It’ll be worth our time...
...to read the whole thing:
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!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
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.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.
That’s the whole Psalm.
And again...
...it’s undeniably Messianic.
But the part...
...from which Jesus draws his riddle...
...is the very first sentence.
And we can only understand its significance FULLY...
If we consider the Original Hebrew:
1 The Lord...
Notice (in your Bibles)...
...the odd way that that’s written!
Large Capital L
Smaller Capitals O-R-D
Remember:
That signifies the covenant name of God...
...that we saw last week in Exodus 3.
What we usually pronounce today, as...
Yahweh!
Okay, let’s read on:
1 The Lord says to my Lord . . .
Notice that “Lord” there...
...is written normally.
Why?
Because it’s a completely different word...
...in the Original Hebrew.
Here, the word is “Adonai”
It isn’t a name at all.
It’s a descriptive title.
Here’s what it means:
Lexham Theological Wordbook אָדוֹן
(ʾādôn)
Okay then, we need to notice...
...one more thing in verse 1:
The LSB captures the essence well:
Remember, that this is...
...King David speaking...
From his heart
Moved by the Holy Spirit
1 Yahweh says to my Lord...
So, Yahweh’s proclamation that follows...
Is being made to King David’s MASTER!
To His Lord and Sovereign!
To His Superior!
To the only King greater than David!
To the Messiah!
And to David’s Master (The Messiah)...
...Yahweh affirms the promises...
...that had been made...
...about David’s SON!
1 Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”
2 Yahweh will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Have dominion in the midst of Your enemies.”
3 Your people will offer themselves freely in the day of Your power; In the splendor of holiness...
Are we starting to see the paradox more clearly?
Jesus states it plainly in Verse 44:
44 David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
Even today...
We don’t call our children and grandchildren...
MASTER!
Far less, in the Ancient Near Eastern world!
But Jesus is going beyond that...
(Beyond how taboo it would have been)
He’s saying:
45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
In other words:
“How would that even be possible?”
How can the Messiah:
Precede David...
Rule over David...
AND...
Come from David...
Follow after David?
How can both of those be true...
…of the same person?
NOW, we see the depth of the riddle.
NOW, we see the enormity of the paradox.
And Matthew tells us:
46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Why were they unable...
...to solve this riddle?
Because Jesus is its ONLY solution!
Because they rejected him...
...for who he really was.
-You see, all the mysteries of the Old Testament...
Were revealed through Jesus Christ!
You can’t understand it properly...
You can’t solve its MANY paradoxes...
Apart from Him!
Think about this:
A Walk with God: Luke 89. David’s Son and David’s Lord (Luke 20:41–44)
It is impossible to make any sense of this apart from the concept of the trinity and the concept of the incarnation,
(Both are distinctly CHRISTIAN doctrines!)
Brethren, the NT canon...
...resolves this paradox for us...
...with great clarity...
...and in great detail!
This is, in one sense...
...its central message!
(Psalm 110 is the most often referenced OT passage, btw)
Think about:
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.”
Think about:
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
Think about this one:
16 “I, Jesus . . . am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Guys, Jesus is the solution to the riddle.
Jesus:
The eternally existent Son of God
The incarnate offspring of King David.
Jesus… the Christ!
-Now, I want to...
...point out one more thing:
We’re not waiting on...
...Psalm 110 to be fulfilled!
It already has been!
Paul said:
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
There’s the Kingdom that the Messiah established!
It will have no end!
It will not be left to another!
We’ll finish with this:
(Peter’s sermon at Pentecost):
29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
The promise is for YOU too...
If you...
38 . . . “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins...
(elaborate)
Let’s pray
