JESUS IS GOD'S MESSIAH

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Jesus was continually being bombarded with questions, mostly to trip Him up. But in this paragraph Jesus poses a question of His own. And it's a whopper!

Then Jesus said to them, "Why is it said that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: "'The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' David calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?"

Do you get the question? Jesus is asking, "How can the Messiah be the Son of David and yet David's Lord, too?" "Why do people say that the Christ (the Messiah) is the Son of David? In the book of Psalms (Psalm 110), David himself says: 'The Lord (that is, God) said to my (David's) Lord (Christ or Messiah): Sit by me at my right side, and I will make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' David calls the Messiah 'Lord.' But the Messiah is also the son of David. David is clearly referring to the Messiah as his superior, as his Lord. Here the Messiah is worthy of the allegiance of his own ancestor, David. Jesus asks the scribes, "How can both these things be true?" All the people listened intently to Jesus.

What's interesting is that the term, "the Son of David", was a direct reference to the Messiah. David was viewed as Israel's greatest king and the Messiah was to restore David's kingdom to its original glory.

I think Jesus has raised this question, because He knows the Jewish leaders don't understand the nature of who the Messiah is and what He must do. They don't get it that the Messiah was before and above their beloved David. David knew it and said it in Psalm 110, but this was not the prevalent understanding of the day.

I am reminded of the first chapter of John where he says, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." This is the confounding thought for many today. People have the hardest time getting it. Jesus was not born into the world and became deified over a process of time. He was in the beginning. He was with God in the beginning. And, He was God.

Jesus did not experience the process of deification. Jesus experienced the process of incarnation. Jesus is the God-Man. He is God who took on flesh that He might reveal God to us in a way that we could understand and relate to Him. There is a statement I heard recently that seems to say the essence of what's being said here, "JESUS IS GOD HERE; GOD IS JESUS EVERYWHERE."