Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign
[00:00:04] Speaker B: M welcome to Hope for Today, a weekly Bible teaching program that will bring you hope for every day.
It is good to be with you and use this time together to open God's Word and learn from it. Today's passage from Mark is one of the good ones.
The last few lessons Jesus was being questioned by the Jewish leaders. Now he responds to them with his own question.
It is worth your time to think about his question and what he is saying about Himself.
For me, it didn't click the first time I read it.
Our lesson is titled who is Jesus? And we will look at three verses from Mark 12. Please listen carefully as J Mark helps us understand what Jesus means with his question.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: In the final week of Jesus earthly life, the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees and the scribes had all taken their turn trying to draw him into a debate that would enable them to find some fault in him.
Each one of those groups failed miserably.
Jesus victory was not just resounding, it was a demonstration of his divine authority and power.
And now he is going to put the final exclamation point on it.
Jesus turned from being the one who was questioned to being the questioner.
He subjected these men to his profound theological questions.
And so I invite you to turn with me to our text. It's very brief. It's just three verses in Mark, chapter 12, verses 35 to 37.
Listen as I read.
Then Jesus answered and said while he taught in the temple. How is it that the scribes say that Christ is the Son of David?
For David himself said by the Holy Spirit, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
Therefore David himself calls him Lord. How is he then His Son?
And the common people heard him gladly.
In the text we're looking at today, Jesus poses profound questions that serve to illuminate his identity in our minds. They engage us in a thought provoking exploration.
His first question is how is Christ David's Son?
Now, the common belief of the day was that Messiah would be a man of unparalleled influence and power.
He would free the nation from Roman rule and he would fulfill the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The Jewish people viewed the Messiah as the Savior of the nation, but not the Savior of individual souls.
They did not and still do not believe that Messiah would be God in human flesh.
That claim that Jesus made ultimately led to his death.
And so Jesus first question is, how is it that the scribes say that Christ is the Son of David. This understanding was common among Israel's scholars, its theologians and its rabbis.
The coming Messiah would be a, uh, descendant of David.
Most people in Jesus audience were familiar with the many Old Testament texts that taught this truth.
This connection is crucial because it fulfills the prophecy of a Messiah. From the line of David in Matthew's account of the Magi, or sometimes we call them the wise men. They came to Herod wondering where they could find the king of the Jews. They had seen his star in the east and they had traveled a long way to worship him. Herod didn't know the answer to their question.
So he gathered all the scribes and the chief priests and he asked them where this king would be born.
And this is what they said in Bethlehem of Judea. For thus it is written by the prophet. But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are not the least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.
They were quoting Micah chapter 5 and verse 2.
And in Luke's record of Jesus birth he tells us Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into, into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David.
Further, the Gospel writers record the shouts of the people during Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem in the final week of his earthly Hosanna to the son of David. Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest Hosanna means save. Now just these few examples clearly show how the people not only understood but also proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, the son of David.
If we look back through the pages of the Old Testament, we can learn about David's reign, which the Jews considered to be the golden age of Israel.
He was Israel's most illustrious king.
He extended the nation's boundaries from Dan to Beersheba. He was the most significant military genius in Israel's history.
He hm, was also a shepherd, a poet and a brilliant administrator.
After David had conquered all his enemies and lived in peace, he expressed his desire to build a temple, a dwelling place for God and Nathan. The prophet said to him, do all that is in your heart because the Lord is with you.
But later that night, the Lord came to Nathan and gave him a different message for David. He said, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you. We know now that was Solomon who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.
And your house and kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.
The sovereign God Yahweh promised David a forever king on his forever throne.
After David's reign, we know Solomon enlarged the kingdom farther. But after his death, the kingdom was divided. And from that time on, people longed for the golden years under David.
God promised them that the house of David would be restored and the monarchy promised to David would last forever.
And so, generation after generation, the Jewish people eagerly anticipated the coming Messiah, the son of David, one of David's descendants. It fostered a sense of hope and expectation in the darkest of times, since everyone understood that Christ would be a descendant of David. Why did Jesus ask this question?
He did it to highlight the difficulty in reconciling the answer to the first question with the answer to his next question.
And that question is, how is Christ David's Lord?
In answer to his question, Jesus poses a complex problem.
Jesus said, David himself said by the Holy Spirit.
Now we know David was the musician and the literary giant of antiquity. And yet when Jesus quoted from Psalm 110, he said that David wrote what he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The 110th Psalm is the New Testament's most frequently quoted Old Testament passage.
It's only seven verses long, but it's alluded to or cited 33 times.
That tells me the New Testament writers understood the importance of this text in understanding the person and the work of Jesus.
David said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
That means the Messiah must be more than an extraordinary human being because David referred to him as Lord.
God revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush as Yahweh in Exodus chapter 3.
Yahweh is God's name, not his title.
The supreme title given to God, translated as Lord, is Adonai, which means the one who is absolutely sovereign.
So in Psalm 8 we read, O Yahweh, our sovereign, how excellent is your name in all the earth.
The rendering with the first capitalized letter is given as Adonai.
And so we could paraphrase this. Jehovah said, to my Adonai, or sovereign, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
And so we must ask, who is David's Adonai? Who is David's sovereign, his Lord?
In Psalm 110, God is conversing with himself, he speaks to somebody else identified in Psalm 110 as David's Lord. And so Jesus asked these scholars, what do you think of this text? What is the Holy Spirit saying?
What m is it that the Lord said to David's Lord? Sit at my right hand.
Now, to sit at my right hand means be seated in the highest place of authority in the universe, according to my delegation.
This elevation to the Father's right hand symbolizes that Jesus is co equal with the Father in rank and authority. It also affirms his Deity.
And this is the missing part of the Jewish concept of the Messiah. The fact that Messiah is entirely man and yet fully God is not something you can understand with your mind alone. You have to embrace it by faith.
This Messiah, who was prophesied to come, would finish his work in the world and then be exalted into heaven and enthroned at the right hand of God.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate and was crucified.
He died and was buried.
He was resurrected and ascended into heaven, where he now sits on the right hand of God.
Further, God said to his Son, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your foot rest.
We are currently in this time of until Paul confirms this total subjugation of Jesus enemies. In 1 Corinthians 15:24, 26, he wrote, Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule, authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
So Jesus will ultimately triumph over all other powers.
The author of the Book of Hebrews places great significance on the supremacy of Jesus.
He wrote in Hebrews 1:13.
But to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool?
However, if David called the Messiah Lord, how could the Messiah be his son?
The Messiah will be the Son of David. But in Jewish categories, the Son is always subordinate to his Father. He's always below his Father.
So you would expect that as marvelous as the Messiah might be, if he was David's son, he could not be greater than David.
But David himself, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, calls his son his Lord.
Jesus is not simply David's son. He is David's sovereign. He is David's Adonai. He is David's king, before whom even David must bow.
And because of that, David himself calls him Lord.
Our, uh, text ends with a detail that is only noted by Mark.
The common people heard him gladly.
The embrace of Jesus by the ordinary people made the religious leaders angry.
The Sanhedrin had begun the formal attack that morning to destroy Jesus influence. But it had failed because now the crowds had drawn closer to him than ever before.
What do you say about Jesus? Who is He?
Who is he to you?
Have you accepted him as Savior and Lord?
Either you will confess him now voluntarily, or you will confess him at the judgment involuntarily.
The choice is yours.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: Again, I was amazed by the Bible. This book is simply incredible. Thanks, J. Mark, for sharing the teaching.
Jesus asked this question to help them see who he really is. May we be like the people and hear him gladly, not like the Jewish leaders who had rejected Jesus and nothing he said or did could change their minds, even when he clearly pointed out who he is. J. Mark's questions at the end were very fitting. A lesson like this must be personal.
Here are his questions again. What do you say about Jesus?
Who is he to you?
Have you accepted him as Savior and Lord?
We'd love to hear your thoughts or questions from this lesson. To contact us, please send an email. Our, uh, Email address is hopeheraldsofhope.org and our website is heraldsofhope.org thanks so much for joining us today. Remember when Jesus asked His disciples, who do men say that I am?
They discussed it. And then he asked them, but who do you say I am? Peter's answer is spot on. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. How about you? What is your answer to his question?
