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Author: Stephen Weller
856 words, 5 minutes read time

Son of God and Son of David

Scripture: Matthew 22:41-43; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:42-43

With the previous lesson we finished the section about the greatest and second greatest commandment. With this lesson we will cover a short section about whose Son is the Messiah?

^{Mk 12:35} And as Jesus taught in the temple, ^{Mt 22:41} 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.”

It is still Tuesday and Jesus is still in the temple teaching. Since the Pharisees were gathered there, Jesus decides to ask them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” I don’t think they realize what is coming next and they answer, “The son of David.” That response enables Jesus to ask them a question that puts them on the spot.

^{Mk 12:35} He said [to them], “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, in the Holy Spirit, ^{Mt 22:43} calls him Lord, ^{Lk 20:42} [and it] says in the Book of Psalms, ⁴³ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ ^{Mk 12:37} David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?”

The common understanding at the time was that the Messiah would be a royal descendant of David. This is suggested in the Lord’s covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:12 – 15 ESV: 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. ¹⁴ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.” This clearly points to the coming of Jesus from the line of David after Solomon and others.

Jesus now points out to them that this one who is to come from the line of David existed before David. If David refers to him as Lord, then he must already exist. Jesus then quotes from Psalm 110:1 where we find the expression “The Lord says to my Lord.” “The Lord” is Yahweh or Father and is speaking to the Lord or God’s Son, Jesus. This one that David refers to as Lord already exists as the Son of God. The only way that David can call the Messiah Lord and yet be a future son is for the Son of God to come and take a body of flesh as Jesus.

The Lord (Father) says to my Lord (David’s Lord the Son of God), but this Lord is to come as a son of David (Jesus by virgin birth). Another way to look at this is from John 1:1 – 2, 14 ESV: ¹ “In the beginning was the Word (Son of God), and the Word was with God (Father), and the Word was God. ² He (Son of God) was in the beginning with God (Father). ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

^{Mt 22:46} And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. M^{k 12:37} And the great throng heard him gladly.

No one was able to respond to or was willing to answer the question Jesus asked about how David’s son could also be Lord. Answering that question would force them to accept Jesus as the son of David and as the Son of God. Even though Jesus, through his teaching and demonstrations of power, clearly indicated that he was the one spoken of in the Old Testament, they were not willing to accept him.

The Pharisees stand before Jesus condemned and will not ask any more questions. They will now put forth every effort to condemn Jesus, draw the crowds away from him to side with them and nail him to a cross. Little did they realize that God was using their evil ways to place Jesus on the cross to die to purchase our salvation.

Conclusion

What an amazing plan God worked out to provide our needed salvation. God needed to put everything in place to allow him to provide that salvation as a gift. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). That death must either be a sinless sacrifice or our life. No matter how hard we work, we cannot overcome death. Only Jesus was able to do that for us.