What has a mouth, but cannot eat. Moves, but has no legs. Has a bank, but no money?
A river
“Without it, I am dead. If I am not it, then then I am behind. What am I?”
Ahead!
“Can a man legally marry his widow’s sister in the state of California?”
If his wife’s a widow, the guy is dead!
“Mike is a butcher. He is 5’09” tall. What does he weigh?”
Meat.
In many ways, what we’re looking at today is a brain teaser about the Messiah which is pointed out by the Messiah
Title: A Messianic Brain Teaser
There were a lot of aspects of prophesy that confused Old Testament saints.
There were a lot of different opinions on what the Messiah/Savior would be and what He would do.
There was so much said about Him that contradict people’s expectations, that some even assumed there’d be more than one.
This morning, we learn about Jesus wrapping up His debates with the religious leaders in the temple.
And He closes it with a question that is sort of a brain teaser.
The purpose of His questioning them is to open their hearts and minds to the significance of who Jesus is as the Messiah.
Jesus stumps the Pharisees on multiple levels as He closes His Q&A with the religious leaders.
* 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.
There’s a lot of people that do ancestry research these days.
It’s really the only way to find out if you were destined to be weird long before you were born.
Will Rogers’ take on ancestors is that their only people in your life “who never try to tell you what to do."
I guess you can say your ancestors truly lead by example.
I think it’s a good thing to understand where you come from.
I get a little sad when I think of mine.
My ancestors survived wars, famine, and disease, and here I am, complaining when the Wi-Fi is slow.
In the first century, a person was to revere their ancestors as their sort of hig-water mark
To be a descendant of King David would mean a person might be destined for greatness.
Because it meant they had a really excellent high water mark.
What hammers home in our passage this morning is that Jesus is the descendant of David - Son of David.
But He’s far more than the Son of David.
He’s King David’s Lord – infinitely exceeding King David’s status.
From our knowledge of who Jesus is, these verses should challenge us once again to -
1. LET JESUS HAVE HIS RIGHTFUL THRONE. (41-42)
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?”
Jesus has responded to a number of the questions challenging His knowledge/teachings.
He now returns with His own question since He’s got the Pharisees in one place.
He also has the crowd poised to hear the debate continue.
And next week, we’ll see Jesus give His “closing argument to the crowd, presenting the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
It may seem like an academic exercise or an opportunity for constructive debate.
But Jesus is actually moving the discussion to the most important subject - The identity of the Messiah?
The question focuses on the house that the Messiah is born into – or who’s throne the Messiah would sit upon.
This would draw out where they believe the Messiah gets his authority from.
It’s like He’s asking, “What would give the Messiah the right to be Israel’s king?”
They said to him, “The son of David.”
Answering this question is an easy layup.
David was Israel’s most beloved and called by God a man after God’s own heart.
There was much anticipation that God would fulfil His promise of the Messiah taking the throne of King David.
David Himself was promised this in
* 2 Samuel 7:12–14a 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.
Plenty of passages foretold the Messiah’s continuation of David’s throne.
=>The Psalmist references God’s promise in -
* Psalm 89:3–4 3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: 4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’”
Even as Israel rebelled against God, He reminded them of His promise to send a final, delivering King.
* Jeremiah 23:5 5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
In Matthew’s Gospel, this title has recently been used to address Jesus
* Matthew 21:9 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
And it was a common way for Jesus’ followers to refer to Him throughout Matthew’s gospel.
* Matthew 9:27 27 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”
* Matthew 12:23 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”
* Matthew 15:22 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”
* Matthew 20:30–30 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
So, when the Pharisees to admit that the Messiah would be the descendent of David, they were admitting that Jesus was being proclaimed as the Messiah when He was refered to as the Son of David.
The legend of the Sword in the Stone is one that has caught the imagination of books and film.
The legend has it that only the descendant of the late King of Britain would be able to remove the sword, Excalibur from an anvil
As with most myths, there’s several different accounts of how Arthur was revealed to be the son of the late king of Britain.
Most of the accounts include young Arthur looking for a sword for his master and pulling it without much trouble.
This was after many noble knights had tried to pull it with no success.
This act by Arthur revealed that he was actually the rightful heir or the throne of Britain.
We must recognize that Jesus is the rightful heir to the throne of God.
This man that walked the earth as we do, is reigning as the eternal king, and will one day return to assert His authority
The likelihood that Jesus could fulfill 8 Prophecies = 1/1017
Recognizing that Jesus sits on His rightful throne, I want to also challenge you to -
2. LET JESUS HAVE THE REINS OF YOUR LIFE. (43-45)
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?”
Jesus asks a question that is based on what all Hebrew scholars accepted as fact – King David was speaking of the Messiah
This is the Messiah that would be his descendent
Psalm 110:1 holds a statement that David spoke in the Spirit, meaning that he spoke prophetically.
He writes about God’s proclamation to the coming Messiah regarding His reign over the earth.
The Lord said to my Lord or “God says to the Messiah.”
So, Jesus is pointing out that David is referencing the Messiah as “my lord.”
My Lord was a well-accepted name for God – not Jehovah but Adonai
And this is true even though the Messiah is also the son of / descendant of David.
How is that the Messiah could be the Son of David/ the physical descendent of David?
And how could He also be the Lord of David (understood to be divine in nature?)
As a man, He’s the descendent of David.
As God He’s David’s Lord.
The answer is that the Messiah would be the God-Man & be all that He needed to be in order to be the Redeemer of mankind.
I believe that Jesus is hammering home to the Pharisees and the crowd that the Messiah is more than the descendant of David who is the rightful heir of David’s throne.
Jesus (as the Messiah/Christ) is not just the Son of David.
He’s the Son of God.
This is how Paul describes Him in -
* Romans 1:3–4 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,
This is why we’re told in 1 John 4 that we should test the spirit of any who claims to be from God.
The test is whether that spirit agrees that Jesus Christ (the Son of God) came in the flesh.
Another amazing idea that’s dealt with in Psalm 110:1 and that Jesus quotes here is the role of the Messiah
The Christ would ascend, exalted to the privileged position in heaven, waiting to rule the world from earth.
There’s Old Testament prophesies regarding the Messiah/Redeemer like.
* Psalm 8:6 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,
There’s also plenty of New Testament acknowledgments of Jesus’ exalted position as the Messiah.
The Apostles proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah at Pentecost, using the same verse that Jesus quotes.
* Acts 2:33–35 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’
Colossians speaks of our where our focus should be here on earth while Jesus’ reigns.
* Colossians 3:1 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God
One of the many places where Hebrews mentions Jesus’ exalted position describes Him gloriously
* Hebrews 1:3 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
And Hebrews also challenges us as to where our focus should be
* Hebrews 12:2 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
1 Corinthians 15 speaks of Jesus as reigning & waiting for the same event of dominance.
* 1 Corinthians 15:25 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
At one point in the revelation that God gives to the Apostle John, he sees a scene of the throne of God.
Here’s what we’re told in -
* Revelation 4:8–11 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
In all of the billions of inhabitants of heaven, these 24 elders will represent the best of the best.
Yet they will throw their crowns before God’s throne saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Crowns represent royal power, majesty, and honor.
They represent what these 24 would have been awarded.
But before the throne of God they will look for whatever is most valuable that they might use it to honor God with.
We should be willing to live this way now.
We should be willing and actively giving the reins/control and direction of our lives over to Jesus as an offering of worship…
Along with letting Jesus sit on His throne and having the reins in your life, I encourage you to -
3. LET JESUS HAVE THE FINAL WORD IN YOUR LIFE. (46)
46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
None of the religious leaders would dare to ask him any more questions.
The term for dare means that they weren’t brave enough or have the courage.
Why? Because Jesus had turned all their traps and arguments against them.
They were afraid of losing any more ground as teachers.
In literature like this, when the characters are descried as having such respect for the teacher, the reader is expected to respond in the same way.
What Jesus does here is He drops the mic.
A mic drop happens when someone makes such a statement that they’re kind of daring someone to follow.
He drops the mic with authority.
the strength of the mic drop is confirmed when no one dares to pick it up.
Sadly, the next time we see the Pharisees is when they’re plotting together to kill Jesus.
Where do you give God the opportunity to speak into your life?
When in your day do you stop and let God speak without you being distracted by other things?
When God speaks, are you accustomed to having the last word?
Or when He convicts you or lays out what He’s deserving of in your life, do you make excuses?
Does it sound like, “I’d love my spouse as I should if they were more loveable”?
? – Or “I’d obey my parents if they were a little more reasonable”?
God has spoken in His Word.
What should happen is that we read/hear it and we say, “OK Lord. In Your power. Let’s do this!”
We’ve come to the close of Jesus’ back and forth with the religious leaders on the temple grounds.
Today, we’ve seen Jesus silence them with a Messianic brain teaser.
Next, we’ll see the judge deliver His judgment.
And it’s not going to be pretty
