A Question Of Sonship.

A QUESTION OF SONSHIP.

Mark 12:35-37.

After answering all the questions of His interlocutors, Jesus took over the agenda (Mark 12:35). There are times when we need to stop speaking, stop questioning, and start listening to what God is saying in His Word.

Jesus was willing to challenge his challengers within the presuppositions of their pompous religiosity. Jesus astonished them with a question arising out of their own Scriptures. “How is that the scribes say that Messiah is the Son of David?” (Mark 12:35).

“For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, ‘The LORD said to my Lord’” (Mark 12:36; cf. Psalm 110:1). This statement itself is Trinitarian, and also gives a glimpse into the mechanics of Biblical inspiration: David, by the Spirit, was able to listen in to the counsels of Eternity.

The first thing that strikes us about Psalm 110 is the superscription: ‘A Psalm of David.’ The Davidic authorship of this Psalm was taken for granted by all parties in the days of Jesus and the Apostles.

Jesus goes so far as to say that David spoke these words “by the Holy Ghost” (Mark 12:36) – thus establishing His own authoritative authentication of both the Davidic and the Divine authorship of Psalm 110.

The Psalm begins, ‘The LORD said to my Lord’ – literally, ‘YHWH said to my Lord’ (Psalm 110:1). This suggests another Lord over King David (the human author of these words), apart from YHWH Himself.

The Apostle Peter, being filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, re-emphasised the Davidic authorship of this Psalm, and identified David’s Lord with the risen Lord Jesus (Acts 2:34-36).

The words quoted by the LORD to Lord Jesus (Psalm 110:1) were also quoted in Hebrews 1:13. The author of Hebrews had already emphasised the seating of ‘the Son’ at the right hand of ‘the Majesty on high’ (Hebrews 1:2-3). This is where Jesus has been since His ascension into heaven (cf. Daniel 7:13-14).

How - in what sense - is Messiah David’s son? (Mark 12:37).

In Revelation 22:16, the risen Lord Jesus said, ‘I am the root and the offspring of David.’

First, he said, ‘I AM’ - which is the name of God.

Second, as God, He is ‘the root’ - which signifies the source. Jesus had already been recognised as ‘the Root of David’ in Revelation 5:5.

Third, literally, ‘the offspring’ - or ‘descendant’ - which acknowledged His incarnation, and more specifically His birth into the family of David. Jesus is the Branch that grows out of the root of Jesse (cf. Isaiah 11:1).

In keeping with this metaphor, He is both the ‘root’ and the ‘offshoot’ - ‘the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last’ (cf. Revelation 22:13).

Jesus showed up the inadequacies of His interlocutors’ perceptions. More than David’s son, He is also David’s Lord (Mark 12:36-37).

The common people heard Jesus gladly - implying that His questioners did not. What is our own response to Jesus? Do we stand in a personal relationship with Him?