Whose Son Is Christ?
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 20. We’ve been looking at some questions that people ask Jesus. Tonight, Jesus is the one posing the question to his audience. Stand with me as we read Luke 20:41-44.
This is the Word of God, and if you will let it, it will change your life.
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?”
Pray
Some things just do not go together:
Two medicines that counteract each other - some medicines require extra care because combinations can be deadly.
A poor man giving investment advice - if your financial advisor is broke, you probably need a new financial advisor!
A happy Momma and a dirty house.
Some things just do not go together. They exclude each other just by their very nature. These contradictions sometimes bring us to make choices. Is this one medicine worth not having the other? Should I clean the dishes or mop the floors first?
Sometimes two things look like contradictions, but aren’t. They are paradoxes - they seem to exclude each other but are both true. Paradoxes provide a great learning tool - they force us to think about the way things relate.
Jesus challenges his audience in the Temple with a paradox - one from Scripture nonetheless:
41 But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son?
He’s speaking of the OT theme that the Messiah (Hebrew; Greek word is “Christ”) is a descendant of David. Numerous passages either elude to this, or outright state it. There are so many passages, in fact, that Jesus merely refers to this without quoting a particular passage.
This was a well known truth in Judaism - the Messiah was to be a descendant of David. But Jesus asks “How can this be?” Why? Because of the paradox:
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.” ’
He quotes Psalm 110:
A Psalm of David.
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.
This is certainly a royal psalm, but it is also Messianic.
Verse 1 - The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand”
Verse 3 - the people offering themselves “in holy garments”
Verse 4 - “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”
Verse 5 - The Lord (not LORD) is at your right hand”
Verse 6 - he executes “judgment among the nations”
All of these refer not merely to a king, but to a Divine King. This Psalm is Messianic.
The Paradox itself is revealed in verse 44:
44 David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”
How can the exalted Lord be the son of David?