‘HOW IS HE THEN HIS SON?’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 20, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: October 20, 2021 from Luke 20:41-44

Theme: Jesus is both David’s Lord and David’s Son because He is God’s Son in human flesh.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Throughout Luke 20, we have read the stories of how the Lord Jesus was pressed with questions. Those who were asking the questions were experts at it. They were the religious leaders of the people: the chief priests, the elders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes. That is an impressive group—humanly speaking. They were a diverse group—each with their own particular agendas. But they were all united in one thing: They all opposed Jesus and wanted to get rid of Him.

This series of ‘temple confrontations’ came about because—after three-and-a-half years of teaching about Himself and performing miracles—He finally entered the temple in Jerusalem and threw out the money changers and the booths of those who sold doves. He had declared that His Father’s house was a house of prayer for all nations; but that they had turned it into a den of thieves. As the promised Messiah—the King of the Jews—He had a right to expect to be received honorably by those who were entrusted with the religious care of His people. But instead, they rejected Him … and would soon hand Him over to be crucified.

In each encounter He had with them, they failed in their attempts to turn the people against Him. Instead, the tables were turned around on them; and they were forced to come to terms with who He really was. In their last challenge against Him, we’re told that “they dared not question Him anymore”. And now that all of their questions were over, He had one final question for these experts of religion. We find it in Luke 20:41-44;

And He said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David? Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’

Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?” (Luke 20:41-44).

This wasn’t meant to just perplex these religious leaders, or to put an unanswerable riddle before them. It was meant to put them on the crossroads of decision. In facing this question, they had to come to terms with who He really was—and what, before God, their response to Him must be.

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This question of our Lord reminds me of something that happened many years ago—before I went into the ministry. I went with my pastor to a local radio station in Seattle. He was going to engage in a debate on-air with a pastor from another church in the area; and I drove him and accompanied him into the radio station. The other pastor—who my pastor was debating—was, quite honestly, a false teacher. He denied the Bible’s teaching about Jesus. The position that this false teacher took was that Jesus was ‘divine’; but that He was not ‘deity’. He said that Jesus was not ‘deity’ in the sense that He was the unique Son of God—as Christians had always taught; but rather that “He was ‘divine’ only in the sense that He possessed a kind of divinity that any of us might possess. It was quite a debate—and it resulted in a lot of live callers weighing in to state their point of view.

I have often thought of that debate. And I have often thought of how many people have embraced the idea about Jesus that the false teacher was declaring. Many people have suggested that Christians have been wrong throughout the centuries in speaking of Jesus as the unique Son of God—or for misrepresenting Him as if He had said that He was the Son of God. But as we look closely at this passage—and at the question that the Lord Jesus put to other ‘religious teachers’ in His day—we clearly see that the true deity of Jesus Christ is not a teaching that was later ‘imposed’ upon the Christian faith. It was something that Jesus clearly declared of Himself.

For just one example, think of the time when Jesus said to the religious leaders, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). The religious leaders who heard Him say that didn’t misunderstand what He meant by it. In fact, they understood it so well that they picked up stones in order to stone Him to death. He asked them,

“Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God” (vv. 32-33).

He didn’t then try to correct any mistaken interpretation on their part concerning the matter—as He certainly would have done if they were about to kill Him for a misunderstanding. Rather, He confirmed that they got it right—that He, indeed, was saying that He is the Son of God. And that’s what this remarkable last question of our Lord did for those who heard it. It forced them to come to terms with the reality of who He is … and even from the very Scriptures that they loved and revered.

It’s very important that this question—and the conclusion it leads to—came from the lips of none other than the Lord Jesus Himself.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; let’s first consider the question itself …

1. WHAT DID JESUS ASK? (v. 41).

After all the other questions were out of the way, we’re told in verse 41, “And He said to them, ‘How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David?’”

To whom is He directing this question? Who was the “them” in this story? In the last passage—in verses 27-40—our Lord’s words were directed to the Sadducees. They were the ones who were trying to trap Him with the question about the resurrection. But in Matthew’s telling of this morning’s story—in Matthew 22:41-42—we read that it was “while the Pharisees were gathered together” that He asked this question. And since He then goes on in the next passage to speak to the people about being on the alert against the hypocrisy of the Scribes, perhaps the Scribes were also a part of the group receiving this question. It’s interesting that in the next passage, we’re told that He spoke to His disciples while all the people were listening. So all three groups—Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes—were being put on the spot by His question—with all the people and His disciples listening in. It was a final question that took all His opponents in at once.

And what a remarkable question it was. The teachers of Israel all said that the promised Messiah—the Christ—would come from the biological and royal lineage of King David. He would be David’s Son. That was the promise of Scripture. In 2 Samuel 7:12, God made this glorious promise to King David:

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Samuel 7:12).

Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise. His genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 show us that He was the descendent of King David. Luke 3 speaks of His biological descendancy, and Matthew 1 speaks of His royal descendancy. When those who believed on Him cried out to Him for mercy, they often called out to Him as “Son of David”.

And we need to understand the nature of the question carefully. The question that the Lord Jesus put before the religious leaders was not meant to ask if He was the Son of David—because clearly He was. Rather, the question was in what manner this was so. How is He the Son of David? What is the nature of that Sonship? It’s really the most important question anyone could ever ask; because the answer has eternal consequences. It points to the incarnation of the Son of God.

Now; Jesus asked this question in such a way as to make the religious leaders go back and consider what the Scriptures themselves said about the Son of David. So let’s next consider …

2. WHAT DID DAVID SAY? (vv. 42-43).

In verses 42-43, our Lord quoted from the first verse of Psalm 110. He said, “Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’”

Now, the quote we have from the Lord is in the Greek language. But to appreciate what King David actually said, you need to know how it read in the ancient Hebrew language. In Greek, both of the words for “Lord” are the same. But in Hebrew, when David said, “The Lord said”, he used the word in Hebrew for the sacred name of God—Yahweh. It was the name that God used to identify Himself to Moses at the burning bush. When you read that word in most modern English translations, you find it written in all capital letters: LORD. But when David then went on to say “to my Lord”, he used a different Hebrew word—Adoni. That’s a word that is also used in reference to God; but the word itself would be translated as “Master”. So; it’s clear that David was talking about two different Persons. The phrase “The LORD said to my Lord” actually meant “Yahweh said to my Adoni”; or “The LORD said to my Lord”

Now; the Jewish people had always understood this to be a psalm about the Messiah. David wrote that the LORD God had said to the Messiah—prophetically, as it were—“Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The ‘right hand’ of God is the position of highest glory and honor. And to be someone’s ‘footstool’ was to be in the place of lowest defeat and dishonor. And so, David—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—was making a declaration about his own promised royal offspring. God would bring the Messiah—King David’s physical Descendent—to the place of highest honor until all of His enemies would be brought down to the place of lowest defeat. Every knee would bow to Him, and every tongue would confess Him as Lord.

But that, then, leads the Lord to ask …

3. WHAT IS THE DECISION THAT THIS QUESTIONS FORCES THE LISTENER TO? (v. 44).

Those religious leaders knew what King David had written. They knew how it read in the original language. And in verse 44, Jesus asks them, “Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”

What a great question! The Messiah is clearly the Son of David; and so, in a fatherly sense, David would ordinarily have a position over Him. A father is ordinarily always over a son. And yet, King David refers to his promised Son as his Adoni—his Lord. How can this be?

Did you know, by the way, that this same Old Testament verse—Psalm 110:1—is repeatedly quoted in the New Testament? And it’s always quoted by the New Testament writers in reference to Jesus Christ—and always, in some way, in connection with the glory that followed after Jesus’ resurrection. In Acts 2:34-36, for example—in his great sermon to his Jewish kinsmen after Pentecost—the apostle Peter said;

“For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:34-36).

The apostle Paul also quoted from this verse in 1 Corinthians 15:27. He said in reference to the Father’s glorification of His Son,

For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted (1 Corinthians 15:27).

The writer of the Book of Hebrews also quoted from it. In Hebrews 1:13—when writing about the superiority of Jesus over the angels—he wrote,

But to which of the angels has He ever said:

“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? (Hebrews 1:13).

The Father in heaven has only said this of Jesus! And in Hebrews 10:12-13, the writer wrote;

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool (Hebrews 10:12-13).

So; Jesus—who was born from the body of King David—has been exalted above the glory of King David. David called Him his Lord. And how could this be? It can only be by the fact that Jesus was what we were told He was at the very beginning of the Gospel of Luke. As the angel told Mary;

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

He is ‘the word become flesh’. He is the eternal Son of God who—in a point of time—took full human nature to Himself and became born into the human family as one of us, so that He could die on the cross for us and save us from our sins.

And in asking this question of the religious leaders, He was forcing them to come to terms with His identity. They needed to make the decision to accept His deity, or reject Him.

* * * * * * * * * * *

So then; our Lord’s remarkable question—at the end of the ‘temple confrontations’—is truly the greatest question there is. Our eternal destiny depends upon how we answer. It logically forces all people to the conclusion that He is both David’s Lord and David’s Son because He is God’s Son in human flesh—born in the lineage of David. And all people must come to terms with His identity as the Son of God … and respond to Him in humble faith.

Those religious leaders rejected Him as the Son of God in human flesh. They crucified Him—and He rose again in glory. As Dr. Harry Ironside put it;

If they had been able to answer that question intelligently, the whole truth of His Messiahship would have been settled. The answer is this: He is David’s Lord because He is the eternal God; He is David’s Son because He became Man, and He chose to come into this world as born of the daughter of David’s line, the blessed Virgin Mary. He is therefore both David’s Son and David’s Lord.₁

Let’s make sure that you and I receive Him—and believe on Him—for who He truly is!

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H. A. Ironside, Addresses on The Gospel of Luke (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1947), p. 611).