^{Matthew 22:41-45}

⁴¹ Now 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.” ⁴³ He 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”’?

⁴⁵ If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” ⁴⁶ And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. ^[i]

The notion of fair play is deeply instilled in the American way of thinking. “Everyone should pay his fair share,” politicians say when they want to raise taxes. Children on the playground will often argue over whose turn it is. “It’s my turn. You’ve had the ball long enough. It’s not fair!”

In our text this morning it was Jesus’ turn now. Not that the Pharisees, Sadducees, or scribes wanted to be fair, of course. They were trying to trap him in his words. They had come with three sticky questions: “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (v. 17); “Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” (v. 28); and “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (v. 36).

They had trouble with these matters themselves, but Jesus answered their questions easily with words that settled each of these issues forever: (1) Yes, it is right to pay taxes, but it also necessary to pay God what we owe him; (2) yes, there is a resurrection, but it will transcend the physical relationships we know now; and (3) the law is summarized in these words: first, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and second, love your neighbor as yourself.

But now it was Jesus’ turn. Turning to the Pharisees, his most persistent interrogators and passionate enemies, Christ asked, “what do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They thought the answer was easy. Everyone knew Messiah would be a physical descendant of David. That was an easy slow pitch because many Old Testament texts taught that one of David’s natural descendants would reign on David’s throne forever.

But Jesus continues, “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’? ⁴⁵ If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

Jesus’ Words turned and apparently easy question to a profound and searching one. No father calls his son “Lord.” Sons are subservient to fathers therefore, if David called his natural, physical descendant (the Messiah) his “Lord,” it could only be because David is addressing someone greater than Himself. David was God’s chosen king of God’s chosen people. No one was greater than David except God. The Messiah would have to be divine, he would have to be God. However, the Pharisees expected a merely human messiah who would perform a military and political rescue of Israel from Rome.

GREATEST MESSIANIC PSALM

Jesus’ question to the Pharisees was based on Psalm 110:1. He was establishing a pattern for interpreting the Old Testament that his disciples would learn quickly. The disciples loved to quote this psalm. They used it so often that it became the psalm most quoted in the New Testament, and verse 1 became the verse most quoted. Psalm 110:1 is cited directly or alluded to indirectly at least twenty-seven times.^[ii] Verse 4 of Psalm 110, in which Jesus is called “a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek,” is referenced in Hebrews 5:6; 7:17, 21; 8:1; and 10:11-13 and is the dominating idea in those chapters.

Psalm 110 was so important to the New Testament writers and to the church because it is the greatest and clearest of the messianic psalms. There are not a large number of messianic psalms. We can include Psalm 2; 22; 45; 72, and 110. Most of these psalms contain only messianic elements while other parts of them are apparently about the earthly king reigning at the time.

By contrast, Psalm 110 is about a divine king exclusively, a king who has been placed at the right hand of God in heaven and who is presently engaged in extending his spiritual rule throughout the entire earth. Psalm 110 also teaches that this divine messianic figure is to be a priest, performing priestly functions, and that additionally he is to be a judge who, at the end of time, will pronounce final judgment on the nations and peoples of this earth.

It is one of the fullest the most detailed prophecies of the person and offices of Christ in the entire Old Testament. Many scholars contend that this psalm teaches the doctrines of the divine Trinity; the incarnation, sufferings, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Jesus Christ; the communion of saints; the last judgment; the remission of sins; and the life everlasting. It is a -psalm exclusively about the Lord Jesus Christ. David is not the subject of this song in any degree.

LORD SPEAKS TO LORD

What about Psalm 110:1? In Hebrew, which many of his opponents knew well, the first word of the verse is YHWH, rendered “Lord.” In our English translations, “Lord” is printed in all capital letters indicate that it is a reference to the covenant God of Israel. The second word translated “Lord” in English is “Adonai.” Adonai refers to an individual greater than the speaker. So here is a case of King David citing a word of God in which God tells another person, who is greater than David, to sit at his right hand until he makes his enemies a footstool for his feet. This person can only be a divine Messiah, who is Jesus Christ.

The argument depends on two assumptions. The first is that the psalm was written by David. Otherwise, it could be construed that an inferior member of the court flattered David by calling David “Adonai,” suggesting that he ruled by God’s special blessing. The second assumption is that David wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that what he said about this divine figure was true and was an actual prophecy of Jesus Christ. Jesus made both these assumptions when he spoke of “David, speaking by the Spirit.”

There are a number of self-described evangelical commentators who have adopted a more modern view, saying that this is simply addressed either to David or took one of the kings who followed him. They argue that much of this psalm is about earthly battles and conquests and that it must therefore refer to an earthly ruler. Additionally they claim it refers to a figure who is both king and priest, and, since this is an idea foreign to the Old Testament, this psalm must date not from the time of David or even for hundreds of years after David but from the time of the Maccabees, nearly 1000 years later.

None of those claims hold up. The problems with each claim are quite transparent. And it shouldn’t matter to us, because right here in Matthew, Jesus sets his seal upon the Davidic authorship of Psalm 110, even adding that David was speaking by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when he wrote it.

The heading of the psalm attributes it to David. This psalm uses such extravagant language that it is either a case of the most unbounded hyperbole or it’s about a figure actually greater than David, that is, a Messiah to come. And there is no reason why David, an inspired and insightful writer of other psalms as well, could not have foreseen and written about the Messiah’s dual paternity, being both his own descendant and the Son of God.

To ignore its authorship is to be at odds with the New Testament, which finds king David’s acknowledgment of his “Lord” highly significant. While others psalms also contain exalted language which points beyond the reigning king to the Messiah, here alone the king himself does homage to this Messiah. Jesus gave full weight to David’s authorship and David’s words, stressing the former twice by the expression “David himself” and by the comment that he was speaking “in the Holy Spirit” (Mark 12:36ff.).

Peter preached on this text on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:34-36). Peter’s conclusion is as valid today as it was then, or when David pinned the verse 1000 years before Peter preached it:

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. … 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.”^[iii]

MESSIAH’S POSITION

Psalm 110:1 also speaks of Messiah’s position at the right hand of God in heaven and of his lordship over all things in heaven and on earth. Jesus did not elaborate on this part of the verse because his question had been enough to silence them already. But the rest of the verse as well as the entirety of the psalm was not lost upon them.

Verse 1 is an oracle, a direct and specific word from God which announces that Messiah was to reign over all things from heaven. We are familiar with that concept because we recite the apostles creed as part of our worship. It tells us that Messiah ascended into heaven and is seated on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

What does it mean to sit at God’s right hand? In the ancient world, to sit at a person’s right hand meant occupying a place of honor. A seat at the right hand of the host was a place of honor at a dinner. But to sit at a King’s right hand was more than mere honor. It was to share in his rule. It signified participation in the royal dignity and power, like a son ruling with his father. That is what Jesus has done since his resurrection and ascension.

Paul wrote to the congregation at Philippi:

⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ^[iv]

What a huge gap there is between God’s evaluation of his beloved Son and the scorn people had for Jesus when he was on earth, including the scorn of these very outwardly religious Pharisees. When he was on earth, Jesus was despised and rejected, harassed and hated. At last he was unjustly arrested, tried, and cruelly executed. But God reversed that situation, because he raised him from the dead and received him into heaven and granted him the place of rulership at his right hand, promising to subdue all of his enemies.

Christ is at the right hand of the father today, ruling over all things in heaven and on earth. This is God’s doing, so it is not up to us whether Jesus will be Lord or not. Jesus is Lord, and God has made him such. We can fight that lordship and be broken by it (the verse says that Christ’s enemies will be made his footstool) or we can submit to his rule in humble obedience with praise and joy.

Many people prefer to think of Jesus as a baby in a manger. It’s a sentimental picture best reserved for Christmas. Others picture him hanging on a cross. That too is a sentimental picture, although sentimentality of a pious sort. But Jesus is not in a manger today. That has passed. He is not hanging on a cross. That also has passed. He came once to die and after that to ascend to heaven to share in the fullness of God’s power and great glory.

When Steven, the first martyr, saw his vision of the exalted Christ, Jesus was standing at the right hand of God to receive him into heaven (Acts 7:55). When John had his vision of Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, it was of one who was God himself. The apostle was so overcome by Christ’s heavenly splendor that he fell down as if he were dead (Revelation 1:17). We need to recover this understanding of who Jesus is and where he is now. If we do, we will worship him better and with greater reverence.

Anyone who has caught a glimpse of the heavenly splendor and sovereign might of Christ would do well to imitate the Saints of past ages. It is only appropriate to worship him with deep reverence. You may pour out great love in recognition of your relationship with him. You are his and he is yours. But he is not your pal. He is your Lord and master. You are but servant and disciple. He is infinitely above you in the scale of being. His throne holds sway over you for your present life and for assigning your eternal reward. He is a king to be honored, confessed, obeyed and worshipped.

Such humble gestures of adoration are the fruit of the gospel at work in you. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”^[v]

GOD WITH US

Matthew ends this section by telling 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.” They were silenced, but they were neither convicted nor convinced. These men did not accept Christ’s teaching, and they eventually had him killed on the charge of blasphemy. But another Pharisee later came to accept what they did not accept and expressed it in classic language. He was the Apostle Paul, blinded and enslaved by Christ on the road to Damascus, who wrote at the beginning of his letter to the Romans about a gospel “² which [God] 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.” ^[vi]

That is a mature New Testament statement of the points Jesus made in his confrontation with the Pharisees. It contains a contrast between the two natures of the historical earthly Jesus. The first is his human nature. The word translated “flesh” is not simply limited to body parts as it is in English. It means the entire person. This nature is contrasted with Christ’s divine nature, which is described as “the Spirit of holiness.” That is not an intended reference to the person and work of the Holy Spirit, but to Christ’s own spiritual or divine nature, which is holy. In other words, the first important thing about this section is it’s clear recognition of both the human and divine natures of Jesus.

Then, the apostle Paul adds a contrast between “descendant of David” and “Son of God.” This relates to the earlier distinction because Jesus’ Davidic descent is linked to his human nature (he was born as a human being into David’s family tree) while “Son of God” is linked to his divine nature.

The most important point is the contrast between the word was and declared in Romans 1:4 (and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead). Was is actually the word “that came,” and it means Jesus took on the form of existence that he had not had previously. Before his birth to Mary, at what we call the beginning of the Christian era, Jesus was and had always been God. That is why the other verb that refers to his Godhead is “declared.”

Jesus was declared to be God, but he became man at that particular past point in history by means of the incarnation. In the short compass of just 28 Greek words (41 in English, vv. 3-4), Paul gave a Christology that unfolds in complete terms what Jesus taught in the question he asked the Pharisees. Jesus is a divine Messiah and Savior. He is both man and God.

Jesus Christ is the very essence of Christianity. He is the Lord, and because he is, you ought to turn from all known sin and follow him. You may dispute his claims. Millions do. But if his claims are true, if Jesus is who he claims to be, there is no reasonable or right option open to you other than your complete allegiance to him.

As the Apostle Paul taught:

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. ^[vii]

^[i] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 22:41–46.

^[ii] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 482.

^[iii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 2:36–39.

^[iv] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Php 2:9–11.

^[v] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 10:9.

^[vi] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 1:2–4.

^[vii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Col 1:15–20.