Day 48: Jesus shows that the Messiah is greater than King David
In our culture today, people tend to think that new things are better than old things and the present is better than the past. Sadly, elderly people in our culture are often treated like they’re less important than young people, instead of having their wisdom respected. But in Jesus’ day, people thought the opposite. Parents and grandparents and ancestors were given more honor than young people. A son would be less honored than a father. We need to understand this if we’re going to get today’s passage!
Where was Jesus in verse 35 and what was He doing?
What question does Jesus ask in verse 35?
Who does Jesus say inspired David as he spoke (v. 36)?
The Holy Spirit of God inspired all the Bible authors as they wrote. Every word of the Bible is written by human beings, and every word is inspired by God. Jesus Himself makes this point about the Psalms, as He’s about to quote one of the psalms that was written by King David.
What words of David does Jesus quote in verse 36?
This is the beginning of Psalm 110. It’s the Old Testament text most frequently quoted in the New Testament! If you turn to Psalm 110:1 in your Bible, you’ll notice it says, “The LORD says to my Lord.” You’ll also notice that the first “LORD” is all in capital letters and you might wonder, “IS DAVID SHOUTING THAT WORD?” But the reason for the capital letters is that in the original Hebrew, David wrote the special name of God, which God gave to Moses when He spoke to him from a burning bush. Moses asked for God’s name, and God said, “I AM WHO I AM!” (Exodus 3:14). Jews believed God’s name was too sacred to be spoken aloud, so when they saw God’s name in the text, they would say the Hebrew for “Lord.” So, the first line of Psalm 110 means, “God said to my Lord.”
What does God tell David’s Lord to do (v. 36)?
Putting your enemies under your feet means to completely beat them! What question does Jesus then ask (v. 37)?
As we’ve seen, in Jewish culture, a father would be seen as more worthy of honor than a son. Even once a son was grown up, the expectation would be that he would look up to his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc. But Jesus points out that the Messiah is called the “son of David,” and yet David in Psalm 110 calls Him “my Lord.” When Jesus asks how David’s son can also be David’s Lord, it’s a bit like when He asked the rich man, “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone” (Mark 10:18). He isn’t saying that the Messiah isn’t both the son of David and His Lord. He’s pushing His audience to think about how shocking this is.
Psalm 110 talks about God’s King defeating all His enemies. What do you think the Jews of Jesus’ day were expecting the Messiah to defeat?
What has Jesus said He’s planning to do instead (hint: Mark 10:33–34)?
How is Jesus’ death and resurrection a much greater victory than just throwing the Romans out of Israel would have been?
How did the crowd react to Jesus’ teaching (v. 37)?
Praise God that He sent Jesus to be the King who won by losing and who beat His enemies by dying for them. Praise Him that one day Jesus will come back to earth as universal Lord of all. Pray for someone you love who doesn’t yet know Jesus, that he or she would see that Jesus is the rightful King before it’s too late.