David’s Son, David’s Lord (Part 2 of 2)

The Old Testament King David referred to the coming Messiah as both his son and his Lord on the surface that sounds like a contradiction, but today on Truth for Life.

Alistair Begged teachers for Mark chapter 12 beginning in verse 35 and shows us that Jesus was both David's son and David's Lord is Jesus simply addressing the fact that they have a faulty view of things. When they say how can they say that the Christ is the son of David, is he saying how can they say that he's the Messiah on if you think about that from only surely not saying that, nor is see disagreeing with the scribes interpretation of the Messiah is coming from the line of David.

So when the world you do well.

The biblical question is also a theological question and when we get if you like to the theology to the logical die mentions of God's revelation of himself in the person of Jesus said in the wider framework of that in the Bible, then we are on our way to unraveling the mystery when Jesus asks how can they say that the Christ, the Messiah is the son of David. He is clearly not suggesting that the Messiah is not the son of David Wright what he is leading his listeners to is the conclusion that the Messiah is the son of David, but he is not just the son of David, that he is both Son of Man and he is son of God, and that's why he is able to take verse one of 710 and point out that in this passage the Messiah is referred to as David's Lord I'm not as David's son. So he says, how can they say that the Messiah is the site is the son of David, I'm just calling to you from the Bible and in the Bible. Here in Psalm 110 verse one. There is no reference to them being the son of David, and says that he is David's Lord, how can the great king of Israel speak of his son as his Lord was.

This is a dense one. This is a difficult one. This actually I think that's the dictionary definition of a rental because here you have two notions, both of which are actually true, but it is very very difficult to understand how they fit together. And so Jesus question must be considered in the light of all of the gospel and in the light of all of the gospel so that Mark whose writing his gospel recognizes that when the people, the readers, namely ourselves come to this little difficult session.

Here in verse 35 to 37 of chapter 12 and they're saying to themselves what what in the world is Jesus doing here, how does this work. How do we resolve this Mark assumes that we going to seek to resolve it, not by taking a microscope or and and and and fastening in on these verses to drive ourselves to distraction, but actually standing back from the verses far enough to put them in context context.

Well the context. For example of Peter's declaration in chapter 8 and verse 29 what happened there. You will remember, Jesus was asking who are people saying that I am who was the word on the street concerning these and they give them a variety of answers, and then he narrows it down and he says, but who do you fellas say that I have requested you think I have and that's when Peter says you are the Christ, while you're the Messiah will now that has has landed right there in chapter 9 of the gospel of Mark is right in the gospel so expensive when we come to chapter 12, we will neglect while reducing in the previous chapter, and he also went is basically going to read the whole thing and so we will be able to get, for example, to chapter 14 and verse 61 and 62, where Jesus is before the Council there asking them questions. Have you no answer remained silent. He made no answer and then the high priest asked him are you the Christ the son of the blessed and Jesus said I am. I am okay so here we are in chapter 12. With this enigma. This enigmatic encounter. This rhetorical question Jesus now gives the classic question a tough one immunizing him tough questions he answer them all is that I will question for you fellas, you know your Bibles you believe the Bible you believe the Bible is inspired on you. You know that that the Messiah comes from the house of David, let me answer your question and could be recalled, the son of David, when in actual fact, he is David's Lord is an opportunity and I hope you picked it up already to remind ourselves of one of the basic principles of biblical interpretation, and that is that we are that we interpret the obscure. In light of the clear.

We interpret the partial in light of the more complete reference is like when you're eating a meal and you get to do a piece of the meal is a bit of a nuisance or you are you having fish and you find a bone and and and you can either focus on that for the rest of the meal or you can put it in this area played any of the rest of the meal come back to it later on one drive you completely nuts and everybody around you. The other way and just get on and and and and be a respectable citizen.

So when you come to this driver so completely nuts, or I can leave it over to the sign sale get this figured out later on. The reason I'm here is to try and increase the capacity for that taken place to save you a little bit of trouble, and to point this out to you so that you are learning to interpret the New Testament in light of the foundation, and in light of all the lines that are pointing forward into the New Testament and that you're learning then to understand the Old Testament in relationship to the New Testament and in light of its fulfillment in Jesus.

If you go far enough back is like on Google Earth. You know, if you will fight if you will find if I go you just get followed by to see their you can see Patty born wrote about point but you you know that it probably won't know it is apparently on the earth because I can.

I can buy from you if you if you come far off my friend. Why won't you see you see, the Lord Jesus Christ become followed by from RBC Christ because the whole Bible is about Jesus, all pointing forward to him all emerging from. That's why when we take our eyes off Jesus. We immediately lose her way around the Bible is absolutely imperative that we recognize the story of the Bible is the story of the bad news of the fact that we have decided in our arrogance to put ourselves where God deserves to be, so we want to run our own lives one the universe do we want to do.

As the story of man from the garden of Eden on thank you very much. I'm going to do my own way I like to be God. That's part of the story.

The other part of the story is an amazing story that God has come and put himself where we deserve to be on account of our sins we seek to take his throne he comes to take our cross so the mystery is solved the mystery is solved, and it is only solved in light of the incarnation that the answer to this question was Jesus never gets is that David son was David's Lord because he existed before David and he exists after the that in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the word was God and the question that Jesus is proposing here is not just to tickle people's fancy. Not to intrigue is not simply the kind of conundrum that you have your grandfather comes over and ask you what is black and white and red all over you sent around there until you figure he's he's talking about the newspaper that is a conundrum. This is not simply a conundrum. Because this question is absolutely vital. This question has to do with the identity of Jesus of Nazareth and what the Bible affirms is that David's Lord was the eternal son of God. David's Lord was the eternal son of God.

He comes from the house and lineage of David. Paul does this all the time. For example, two Timothy two don't turn to two Timothy 28 he says to Timothy. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David when he writes Romans. He starts off in the exact same way described himself as a servant of Christ and of the gospel which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. Go verse three Romans one concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, you see them. The amazing wonder of this amazing wonder of this can only be discovered when God opens our eyes to this truth.

Without that, there's nothing there. Charles Simeon used to use an illustration frog tells him he was in the vicar of holy Trinity in Cambridge for 54 years and use illustration of a sundial.

He lived a long time. I lived in the middle of the 19th century wasn't using illustrations from iPhones so that the sundial would be out in the churchyard arrived in the back garden and he said when the sundial exists on a cloudy day all that you have on the sundial's figures just figures, but if the clouds part. If the sun shines in the clouds part then the figures convey a message, and then the finger points and he said, and that is as it is when men and women turn to the Scriptures we turn to the Scriptures on a cloudy day. Our minds clouded by sin when it is indifference or active rebellion and as a result of that somebody tries to read the Bible to as our parents tell us you know you should read the Bible before you go to bed we try it. It just means absolutely nothing. A friend at work says you can come to a study go to the study and is it you're trying your level best to get remotely excited about the thing you can find a reason to do even break a sweat and relationship do you know why people are exclaiming all around. What's the problem you're dealing with it under the cloud, but if the sun parts the clouds and shines on the Scriptures and the finger points then you say I see now. That's why when Peter says you are the Christ. Jesus immediately said you know what you are really blessed Simon son of Jonah because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven, has disclose it to you see loved ones this morning. Here's the deal. We are so blind that we cannot even discover our blindness until he shows us our blindness is like when you're asleep someone puncturing wakes you up and you say to them it's a silly thing to say was I asleep but is not really silly because you know you were asleep during asleep going. I'm asleep knowing you were asleep when we cannot guard way could you see the same. This is perfectly logical. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures the same Holy Spirit who provided the words so that simultaneously without turning look into an atonement on our market due to time at the same Holy Spirit who inspired Mark is the same Holy Spirit who illumines the minds of the readers of Mark Sosa only we say through the clouds and mist of my indolence my ignorance my rebellion. Whatever it is, suddenly, I once was blind but now I see can ask is that happened or is the exercise of reading your Bible and listening to me and my colleagues teach the Bible is is is simply by looking at a sundial on a cloudy day figures that mean really nothing at all is the son broken through the clouds you you might be helped, as I am held by just getting up just it just getting up book of the Christmas carols and and and reading them and I'm thinking particularly of the, the, the work of my present famous Avenue favorite ladies writer of children's him Cecil Francis Alexander.

This will pass eventually move on from her, but for now I'm staying with her and and it occurred to me as I wrestled through this passage this week.

How thankful I am for the fact and I've told you this 100 times for the fight. My parents exposed me to these truths. Even when I was wiggling maniac who nuisance the highest degree and if you have any perception of me that is anything other than that you do not know me if you think that I was sitting in church blissfully to say oh pastor, what a wonderful speaker of LRT no no no no you know me well enough to know that's not the case. But here's the mystery of it all. The light penetrated through that dark darkness and so okay this is once in Royal David's city. This is a lady writing a him so much. I will understand the doctrine of the incarnation, he came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all. Okay then she goes on to say, and our eyes at last shall see how you going to see somebody who existed over 2000 years ago in a backwater province of the Middle East and our eyes at last shall see him through his own redeeming love for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above as fabulous. She's able to encapsulate the mystery of the incarnation God contracted to a spine as Wesley put it incomprehensibly made man she takes all of the vastness of this and she makes it palatable, at least for the mind of a small boy or a small girl. I haven't really advanced any further than once in Royal David's city again to the end of my studies this week. I was really where I was in my eyes. At last, shall see him through his own redeeming love for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven about why is this so vital.

I'll tell you why so vital because it is not only a vital question a biblical question in a theological question, but it is it isn't a question that has eternity hanging on the identity of Jesus actually matters my wife is an hour away in Los Angeles from the funeral of our dear friend who always wanted me to be a Unitarian because he is a reform to and then all of all of our discussions question hinged on the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, either God has entered into a time in the person of Jesus of Nazareth to save and to redeem or the Bible is the record of a lie is a monumental fraud.

It is an elaborate hoax.

You are sensible people ask God to shine through the clouds of your investigation or your aggravation and turn all these valves and consonants and verbs and adjectives and pronouns and prepositions turn them into the finger that points right into the heart of your being and says you know what you are a sinner and this Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior that you need. But if he is not the person he claimed to be. He is no more capable of saving you than I so now were with CS Lewis. A man who was merely a man and said the things that Jesus said would either be a lunatic on the level of someone claiming to be a poached egg or he would be a madman or something worse so you can either spit at him and calling a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.

But do not come to him with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great moral teacher.

He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to difficultly success in listing to Truth for Life or the message from Alastair big called David's son David's Lord keep listening.

Alastair will conclude today's program with the closing comment followed by prayer in just a minute.

Now let me offer some context for today's study in Mark chapter 12 Alistair's message as part of a careful verse by verse study through Mark's gospel and while these daily programs are 25 minutes in length Truth for Life offers you complete access to every full-length sermon in the collection.

You can hear Alistair's complete messages by downloading the audio files from Truth for Life.org or it might be easiest to simply use our mobile app at Truth for Life. We carefully select resources that complement Alistair's teaching to give you an opportunity to grow deeper in your relationship with God deeper in your understanding of God's word and today I'm pleased to tell you about a classic book written by the late British theologian John Stott.

It's called the disciple and in this brief book John Stott helps us think through what it looks like to follow Jesus in our day. He encourages us to view ourselves as living between the now and the not yet meaning the time after Christ. But before his return during this time, we can become true disciples, genuine followers of Jesus Christ by addressing John Stott says four key areas. First, we have to learn to listen to God. Second, we have to learn to trust what we know and to be suspicious of things we feel. Third, Stott says we have to get in touch with God's will for our lives and forth we have to become ambassadors of God's love. Would love to send you a copy of this practical book. It's called the disciple and it's yours. When you give to support the Ministry of Truth for Life to make your request.

Click on the book image on the mobile app or go online to Truth for Life.org you can also call us at 888-588-7884 and now here's Alastair to wrap things up just a moment of silence as we respond to God's word leaving that when God's word is truly preach that God's voice is really hurt same to summarize enough to start reading your Bible a bit more thinking about things, cluelessness is not necessarily the best testimony for others of us get the sense that somehow or another. Jesus is pulling back the corner of the curtain where the mystery is revealed in the light shines in the darkness come then Lord, to us, we pray, meet with us, save us.

Keep us for less use as in this Advent season, both by good deeds and the proclaiming of good news to tell others of this fantastic story. I made a grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with all who believe. Today and forever more. As a follower of Jesus using discernment. How can we tell the difference between a Bible teacher who has integrity and someone who's merely masquerading a bubble team. Hope you can join us again tomorrow as Alastair challenges us to beware and be aware the Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life for the Learning is for Living