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Pastor Lars Larson, PhD                                                                                        FBC Sermon #624
First Baptist Church, Leominster, MA                                                                    August 14, 2011
Words for children: Lord, Son, David                                                                     Text: Matthew 22:41-46

The Gospel of Matthew (88)
King David’s Lord

Our current progress through Matthew:

I.  Prologue (chs. 1, 2)
II.  The Kingdom Comes (chs. 3-7)
III.  The Works of the Kingdom (chs. 8-10)
IV.  The Nature of the Kingdom (chs. 11-13)
V.  The Authority of the Kingdom (chs. 14-18)
VI.  Kingdom Blessings and Kingdom Judgments (chs. 19-25)
       A.  From Galilee to Jerusalem (chs. 19, 20)
       B.  The King enters Jerusalem (chs. 21-23)
             1.  Triumphal Entry and Cleansing the Temple (21:1-22)
             2.  Parables of Resistance to the King (21:23-22:14)
             3.  Conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees (22:15-23:39)

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        In this section of Matthew’s Gospel we have been reading of our Lord’s conflict with the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem.  This was the last week of our Lord’s ministry, which would end in His arrest and trial, crucifixion and burial, and His resurrection on the following Sunday morning. 
        Our Lord had taken on all comers, who would attempt to discredit Him before the people and accuse Him before the Roman authorities.  Jesus spoke with and refuted the Pharisees and then the Sadducees.  He discredited the Herodians and the Jewish scribes.  And in the passage we are considering today, He completes His public teaching ministry to the crowds in Jerusalem, as He renders His opponents unable and unwilling to ask Him anything further.

       D.  The Lord’s final challenge to the Pharisees (Matt. 22:41-46)

        41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42saying, “What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?” 
        They said to Him, “The son of David.”
        43He 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’?

45If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his Son?”  46And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.

        The Pharisees had been stymied by the Lord in that all of their efforts to entrap Him had failed.  Now they were standing about, disappointed and defeated, as though they knew not what to do next.  The Lord addressed them.  He had answered their questions; now He would have them answer His.  We see through our Lord’s dealings with these men how our Lord would have us respond to “cavilers, quibblers, objectors.”(1)  He asked them the question, “What do you think about the Christ?”  This is the all important question that every human being should be asked and that every human being should be able to answer in truth.  “What do you think about the Christ?”  Although the Jewish leaders would ask Him questions about the civil government, the future state, and the relative importance of the commandments, He would ask them what they thought of the promised Christ, the Savior of mankind.

       The Lord Jesus had been on the defensive, answering the questions and challenges of His enemies.  But here we read that He went on the offensive.  And we read of a theme that has continually been the cause of their dissension-- the true meaning of the Scriptures and the identity of His person as the Son of God.

                1.  Our Lord’s question to the Pharisees (22:41-42)

       We read in verses 41f, “Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying,  ‘What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?’”  The Lord asks a question about the Old Testament teaching on the Messiah.  He asked them about their expectations regarding the promised Messiah. 

                2.  The answer of the Pharisees to the question (22:43)

       Verse 43 reads, “They said to Him, ‘The son of David.’”  The response of the Pharisees reflects the common understanding of the day, that is, the common understanding of the larger population of the Jewish people.  But there were smaller groups of Jews here and there that did not view the coming Messiah in terms of a descendant of King David.  Instead they desired and anticipated the coming of a Messiah that was a heavenly figure, not a descendant of an earthly king.  These two views of the nature of the coming Messiah seemed to be incompatible with one another.  But in the lord Jesus both these streams of Jewish Messianic expectation find their expression and fulfillment.
       The Scripture’s teaching of the promised Messiah to be the Son of David is attested to in many places.  Consider these prophecies:

2 Samuel 7:12f.  “When your (i.e. David’s) 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.  He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever.”

Psalm 89:3f, 34-37.  3“You have said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen One; I have sworn to David My servant: 4I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’”  34“I will not violate My covenant or alter the word that went forth from My lips.  35Once for all I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David.  36His offspring shall endure forever, His throne as long as the sun before Me.”

Amos 9:11-12.  “‘In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, 12that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,’ declares the LORD who does this.”

Micah 5:2.  “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah (i.e. the home town of King David), who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, 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.”

       But whereas the verses that speak of the Messiah as the Son of David are numerous in the Scriptures, the verses are few in number that speak of the promised Messiah as a heavenly figure, “like a Son of Man.”  The clearest example is:

Daniel 7:13f.  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.  14And 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.”

Notice in this passage that there is no identification of this Messiah as a Son of David, in fact, even his humanity is not clearly attested in this passage.  The description is that the one coming to the throne of God in heaven to receive a kingdom is “like a Son of Man.”  He appears to be like a man.

        As a side note, give your attention to where this Son of Man comes to receive His kingdom. This passage is often interpreted by our classical dispensational friends as taking place at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, at which time, they claim, Jesus becomes King over the millenium that is about to commence. But this verse describes the Son of Man approaching God the Father in heaven, and there from Him receives a kingdom. It is not speaking of the Second Coming of Christ at all; rather, Daniel 7:13f is a prophecy that was fulfilled when the once crucified and then risen Savior entered heaven upon His ascension. It was then that "all authority and heaven and earth" was granted Him (cf. Matt. 28:18). Jesus became Lord then and has been ruling throughout history over all, heaven and earth, as the enthroned God/Man. I would also argue this is the event described in Revelation 5 when the Lamb who had been slain comes and takes from the hand of God the seven-sealed scroll and commences to rule, bringing to pass God's decrees in the earth. Interestingly, most dispensationalists also project into the future the fulfillment of Revelation 5 to the Second Coming of Christ.

        Now, these two different views of the coming Messiah, a Davidic Son and a Son of Man figure, were the differing opinions of two major streams of Judaism.  One of these was influenced largely by the classical prophetic witness recorded in the Old Testament which dated from the days of David (1000 BC) to about the days of Ezra (5th c. BC)(2).  The other view of the Messiah was promoted by those who were influenced largely by apocalyptic spokesmen who arose from about the time of the Babylonian Exile through the early Christian era (6th c. BC through the 1st c AD).  These two beliefs existed side-by-side, sometimes one side gaining ascendancy and at other times the other viewpoint came into preeminence.
        The Bible contains books and portions of books that may be classified as either prophetic or apocalyptic literature.  The prophetic literature would include the prophets of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and many of the “minor” prophets.  Apocalyptic literature is to be found in the books of Daniel, parts of Isaiah and parts of Ezekiel(2), Joel 2 and 3, and the last six chapters of Zechariah.  In the New Testament the apocalyptic sections include Matthew 24, Mark 13, 2 Thessalonians 2, and the Revelation.
        Apocalyptic literature has certain characteristics that distinguish it from prophetic literature.  What are the differences between apocalyptic and prophetic literature?  We might identify some of these:

        (1)  Where as prophecy contains aspects of both immanent matters (i.e. earthly events, from an earthly perspective) and transcendent matters (i.e. heavenly scenes, God’s perspective); apocalyptic is exclusively transcendent.

        (2)  Prophecy tends to concern itself with the nearer or foreseen future; apocalyptic concerns itself with events above history or in the remote history at the end of time.

        (3)  Prophecy is primarily national in its focus (i.e. the land and nation of Israel).  Apocalyptic is universal in scope (i.e. the whole world, even the entire cosmos).

        (4)  Prophecy is characterized by monism; that is, a straightforward message of the righteous will of God is presented.  Apocalyptic is dualistic; that is, there is a distinct and continual contrast between matters of good and evil, darkness and light, God and Satan.

        (5)  Prophecy was more “optimistic” about this world.  The world is evil, but God will intervene and bring restoration; revival was possible.  Apocalyptic is “pessimistic” about this world.  The world is too far gone to be salvaged.  God’s remedy is to judge and destroy the world.  There must be a creation of a new heavens and earth.

        (6)  Prophecy uses “plain” language to communicate the message.  Apocalyptic is filled with symbolic language and numbers, descriptions of unnatural animals and humans. 

        (7)  In prophecy the Messiah is presented as a human king, a son of David, who will come and restore an earthly kingdom.  Apocalyptic depicts one “like” a son of man, a heavenly Messiah who will come to the earth, resurrect His own, and judge the world, punishing evil.

        The Jews in Jerusalem were of the Jewish prophetic heritage.  They were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, the promised son of David.  In contrast to them if you would have asked this question that Jesus posed to the Pharisees to a gathering of Jewish Essenes, they may have given a different response.  They may not have answered that they believed the Christ was to be the Son of David.  Rather, they were waiting the appearing of one like a Son of Man whom would come from heaven and bring an end to history and usher in a new heavens and new earth.  Consider the words of the Jewish apocalypse entitled 2 Baruch, which may be dated to have been written in the early 2nd c. AD:

“And it will happen after these things when the time of the appearance of the Anointed One (i.e. the Christ) has been fulfilled and he returns in glory, that then all who sleep in hope of him will rise.  And it will happen at that time that those treasuries will be opened in which the number of the souls of the righteous were kept, and they will go out and the multitudes of the souls will appear together, in one assemblage, of one mind.  And the first ones will enjoy themselves and the last ones will not be sad.  For they know that the time has come of which it is said that it is the end of times.  But the souls of the wicked will the more waste away when they shall see all these things.  For they know that their torment has come and that their petitions have arrived.”(3)

Now this passage is of course not inspired Scripture, but it does reflect common understanding of some in the Jewish community regarding the coming Messiah.

        When the Pharisees stood and saw and heard Jesus speak to them regarding the promised Christ, none of them was aware of this fact: Jesus was combining in His own person both the prophetic and apocalyptic expectations of the coming Messiah.

                3.  Jesus’ response to their answer (22:43-45)

43He 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’?

45If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his Son?” 

        Our Lord posed a question to the Pharisees.  He based His question upon Psalm 110:1.  If the Messiah is to be a descendant of King David (which our Lord does not deny), why did David, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit, call the Messiah, “Lord”, if He was to be his son?  The implication is that every father is superior to his son, so David would never call his son or descendant “Lord”, for that would mean that David was subordinate in stature and importance to his son, which would be impossibility in the Jewish mind. 
        Several important points may be made regarding our Lord’s use of this verse.  First, our Lord is affirming the divine inspiration of the Scriptures.  Although the Lord identified David as the author of this psalm, He described him as having written “in the Spirit.”  Although David wrote the psalm, the Holy Spirit superintended the work, so that the psalm was inspired of God and is therefore authoritative for teaching about the things of God.  Paul said it this way:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16)

And Peter wrote of the process of inspiration itself:

19And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.  21For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:19-21)

        Second, our Lord describes the three Persons of the Blessed Holy Trinity in His use of this Scripture.  He identified the role of the Holy Spirit working through David (Matt. 22:43).  He then identifies God the Father from Psalm 110:1 when David wrote, “The Lord said.”  And so, this first use of “Lord” is a reference to the Father.  Then David said, “The Lord (the Father) said to my Lord (the Son) (Psa. 110:1; Matt. 22:44).
        Third, the Lord Jesus declared His own deity as taught from the Hebrew Scriptures.  How could King David refer to his Son as Lord?  Because His Son was not only his physical descendant, but He is also the eternal Son of God.
        Fourth, the Lord Jesus anticipated His own resurrection and ascension to His Father’s throne by quoting this statement from Psalm 110.  The Father extends a directive to His Son to be enthroned over His kingdom.  This event occurred upon our Lord’s ascension into heaven after His resurrection from the dead.  When Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where He sat down on the throne of God, He began His heavenly rule over heaven and earth, and He has been ruling there ever since.  What is He doing?  He is saving His people, bringing all the enemies of God, including our former selves, into subjection to the Father.

        There is no recorded answer by the Pharisees.  They could not answer Jesus’ question.  It is probably something they had never considered.  If they could have known the answer to His question, they would have understood that the Man who stood before them was the promised Messiah, being both the promised Son of David, and also the Lord from heaven. 
        Two results occurred due to this question of our Lord posed to these men.  First, they were puzzled.  Verse 46a reads, “And no one was able to answer Him a word.”  It was either due to their ignorance they could not answer Him or perhaps it was due to their obstinacy that they refused.  However, Matthew Henry was right when he wrote:

“What those Rabbies [sic] could not then answer, blessed be God, the plainest Christian that is led into understanding of the Gospel of Christ, can now account for; that Christ, as God, was David’s Lord; and Christ, as Man, was David’s son.”(4)

        Not only were these Jewish leaders puzzled, but they were silenced.  Verse 46b reads, “nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.”  The public teaching ministry had come to its conclusion with the silencing of all opposition.  They still did not agree or submit to His teaching, but they no longer could or would object to His teaching publicly.  They had no ability to justly, intellectually, or biblically, counter what our Lord taught.  They were silenced.

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       There are several conclusions and lessons that we may draw from our passage.

            1.  “What think ye of Christ?” remains the most important question that can be presented to a fellow human being. 

       They (i.e. the Jewish leaders) had put questions to Him, one after another, out of the law; but He comes and puts a question to them upon the promise.  Many are so full of the law, they forget Christ, as if their duties would save them without His merit and grace.  It concerns each of us seriously to ask ourselves, What think ye of Christ?  Some think not of Him at all, He is not in all, not in any, of their thoughts; some think of Him meanly (with little understanding or regard), and some think hardly, of Him; but to them that believe He is precious; and how precious then are the thoughts of Him!(5)

            2.  Knowledge and acceptance of the true person of Christ is essential to true salvation. 

        There are many non-essential teaching of Scripture.  Now we are not saying that there are unimportant teachings, for all of them come to us with the authority of God upon them.   But not all teachings are essential to salvation.  A believer can have a lot of error and still be a true Christian.  But there are some things that are essential; this is one of them.  If a person has faith in “Jesus”, but the Jesus in whom he has his faith and hope of salvation, is not the Jesus described and depicted in God’s Word, he is no Christian.  As Paul warned the Corinthians of their fault for accepting those who taught them “another Jesus”:

“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” (2 Cor. 11:4 ESV)

Belief in the Blessed holy Trinity is essential to the faith of those who have salvation.  For example, John wrote of this essential:

“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 1:9).(6)

And the Lord Jesus on one occasion said,

“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

        This is an important matter keep in remembrance.  We are in an election cycle in which one of the Republican candidates is Mormon, Mitt Romney.  In an effort to qualify him in the eyes of many voters, there is an effort to show him as a “Christian” rather than the member of a cult.  Now he may make a fine president, but he is no Christian.  Mormonism does not believe or hold to the biblical essentials of the doctrine of Christ.  They believe that Jesus is not the eternal blessed Son of the Father, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.  They teach that Jesus is a creature, who came into existence through the sexual union of a god and goddess.  Mormonism teaches that “Christians”, that is, mormon “Christians” will one day be a god like Jesus, and continue to procreate through eternity, bearing other gods and goddesses that will rule over their universes.  Mormonism is a cult, begun by Joseph Smith, a heretic.  Please do not misunderstand.  We rejoice and celebrate that people in our land are free to believe and practice what they believe is true.  But they have no right nor do we have any duty to accept or celebrate what they teach.  It is heresy, and unless a mormon repents of his heresy of the “Jesus Christ” they have substituted in the place of the real Jesus, they will die in their sins.
       I could say similar things about the very popular Glen Beck.  He has become very outspoken in the past several years about the need to recover our spiritual roots if this nation is to survive.  He is being accepted by many evangelicals as if he were one of us.  Although we may be very much in agreement with his politics, his spirituality is faulty, his theology is heretical.  He is literally an example of the metaphor that our Lord used: he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  People think they are more spiritual, more blessed of God, in God’s favor, because they stand and support his teachings.  He is not a Christian, he is a mormon.

            3.  The Lord is in the business of silencing His critics and those who refuse to believe on Him.

        These Pharisees were silenced.  Again, verse 46b reads, “nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.”  God will eventually silence all objectors to Him and His rule over this world and the world to come.  Some are very argumentative people.  They always have to have the last word.  No one will ultimately have the last word with the Lord.  All will be silenced.  Regarding true believers, their objections are silenced in this life.  God does this through His law and particularly through the preaching of His law.

“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” (Rom. 3:19)

        This is how He brings us to salvation.  When He initially comes to us with the Gospel, we have all kinds of excuses and objections with which we resist His teachings and His claims upon us, but through His law He dismantles our resistant attitudes and arguments.  He causes us to see the folly of our former ways of thinking and behaving.  He causes us to become humble as we recognize our need to be instructed by Him.
        Actually church elders are to be in the business of silencing critics and objectors of the Gospel.  We read of this in Titus 1, in which the Apostle Paul instructed young Titus:

       5This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you-- 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.  7For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach.  He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.  9He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.  10For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.  11They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.” (Tit. 1:5-11)

        I believe that on the Day of Judgment, the Lord will silence all those unbelievers whom He will consign to everlasting punishment.  Although it is not stated so, it seems likely from the account we have of the final judgment:

11Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them.  12And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.  13The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.  14Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  15And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:11-15)

       There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, but there will be no just challenge.  All who are damned will recognize, I believe, that they received their just due for living and dying without the Lord Jesus, even as they are sent into everlasting ruin and torment.

            4.  Let each of us now be silent with regard to objections to the Lord’s will and teaching that we might be harboring, and submit wholly to Him and His Word to direct our lives.

        All resistance to Him is futile.  We read in Psalm 2 that fallen man does not naturally want Him to rule over their lives.  But God will have His way; His Son has and does rule.  The psalmist reasons about the folly of all those who resist:

1Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
2The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3“Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

4He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6“Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.”

7“I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

10Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. (Psalm 2:1-12)

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Footnotes