He says to them, How then does David in Spirit call him Lord, saying,
After all their efforts to condemn Jesus, the Pharisees now face a question from Him, drawn from a psalm they agreed spoke of the Messiah. It turns on three words — "in the Spirit" — and on one puzzle: how could David call his own descendant his Lord?
Jesus brought no new evidence against them. He used what they already believed.
These men knew this Psalm and held that it spoke of the Messiah. Yet they would not acknowledge their Messiah... So the very truth that belonged to their own religious creed condemned them and shut their mouths. They were unhappy, miserable, and had turned away from God. After all their efforts to condemn the Lord of glory, they stood silent — condemned, but still not subdued.
Jesus does not treat Psalm 110 as David's own opinion. Two things point the same way here: the Lord's own word, and plain reason.
The Lord stated it as fact: the Holy Spirit guided David as he wrote the Psalms... We have the Lord's testimony, and we have the testimony of common sense too. What did those words mean to David as an ordinary human being? Nothing at all. But if they are inspired, the statement is a perfectly ordinary one.
This was not a one-off. It was Jesus' settled way of handling the Psalms.
The Lord recognizes David as an inspired prophet in this very verse, and He quotes the Psalms as prophecy again and again.
Jesus never denied being David's descendant. The point of His question was that "Son of David" is true but not the whole account of Him.
They could not understand, and would not believe, that Jesus was the Lord spoken of in Psalm 110:1. The truth lay in the incarnation of the Son of God, who was God's Anointed One... Jesus was David's Lord, and that affirms His deity. He was also a Son of David, and that shows His true humanity. Notice that Jesus never hinted that He was not from David's line. He knew He was. The question He put to the Pharisees was a test, and they failed it.
This question did not die with the Pharisees. One writer traces the same failure through every age.
This is the turning point of unbelief at all times, now as then. It is the constant theme of the Holy Spirit's testimony, and man's usual stumbling block. Man is never so foolish as when he wants to be wisest. He either tries to work out the mystery of Christ's Person by his own cleverness — a mystery no mind can reach — or he denies that there is any mystery in it at all.
The psalm settles more than who Christ is. It also says where He was going. Just before they rejected Him, Jesus pointed them to a throne.
He asks the Pharisees to fit two titles together: Son of David, and the Lord — the title David himself gave Him. He ties this to the ascension of this same Christ, to sit at God's right hand until God has made all His enemies His footstool... In fact, to understand that Psalm would have been to understand all God's ways with His Son — and that at the very time they were going to reject Him.
The Pharisees had no answer. Faith has one — not an explanation, but belief in both halves of the mystery.
Jesus is David's Lord and David's Son. And this is the great test for every man, for no man has a right to the name of Christian who denies either one or the other... They were dumb and had no answer to this great mystery. It is a mystery to us also, for we cannot explain it. But what we cannot explain we can believe.
- Inspired — David spoke "in the Spirit." So Psalm 110 carries God's authority, not a king's guesswork.
- Prophetic — the words meant nothing in David's own lifetime. That is the mark of prophecy, and Jesus read the Psalms that way.
- Impossible — the leaders held both truths in their own Scriptures. They could not join them, and their own creed shut their mouths.
- Incarnate — the answer stood in front of them. In His humanity He is David's descendant; in His deity, David's Lord.
- Enthroned — the psalm they could not explain named what came next. The Messiah they rejected sits at God's right hand until His enemies become His footstool.
The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand until I put thine enemies under thy feet?
The Lord has just silenced every group that came to trap Him. Now He asks His own question, drawn from a psalm of David: how can one man be both David's descendant and David's Master?
The first "Lord" in the quoted line is not the same word as the second. One writer explains what the capital letters in older Bibles mean, and how the two titles fit together.
In the opening words of this psalm, the first "LORD" is printed in capital letters. When it is printed that way, it usually means Jehovah. So we may read the verse as, "Jehovah said to my Lord" — that is, Jehovah said to Christ… How could Jesus be both David's Son and David's Lord? The answer is simple enough. As David's Lord, He was the Creator of David, for God created all things by His Son. But as born of Mary, who was of the house and family of David, He was David's Son.
Another writer counts the speakers in that line.
In the King James Version, the name LORD in capitals stands for God's personal name, Jehovah, and "my Lord" means my Master. So there are two Persons. The God of Israel addressed the Messianic King "Sit at my right hand".
The Pharisees had said the Christ is David's son. The Lord does not deny it.
He was David's son — most true. But was this truth the whole truth? How was He both David's Son and David's Lord? It was the key to all Scripture — the way, the truth, the life — the explanation of His position, and the only hope for theirs. But they had nothing to say.
Another writer weighs what any answer would have cost them.
He turns on them with a question that goes to the bottom of the whole dispute: the question of His Person, of the true glory of Christ. Was He only David's Son? Why then did David, speaking by the Spirit, call Him "Lord"?… No answer was possible that did not admit His higher nature.
The verse names a seat at God's right hand. One writer explains what that place stands for.
The "right hand" speaks of authority, power, and eminence. According to Exodus 15:6, the power to rescue and to subdue belongs to the right hand… Acts 2:32-36 hails His exaltation. It shows God's approval of Him, and at the same time it reverses man's judgment.
At the very time they were about to reject Him, the Lord tells His enemies where He is going and how long He will stay.
He asks the Pharisees to square the title Son of David with the title Lord, which David himself gave Him. And He does it in connection with the ascension of this same Christ, to sit at the right hand of God until God had made all His enemies His footstool… To understand that Psalm would have been to understand all the ways of God with His Son at the very time they were going to reject Him.
The verse reads "until I put your enemies under your feet"; older translations read "until I make your enemies your footstool." One writer weighs who does the work here.
The Holy Spirit points straight to the last clause of this verse. In Hebrews 10:13 He speaks of the ascended Messiah as now "waiting until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet." The power that will do this is the same power that raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory. It does not say "until they are made," but "until I make."
The word "until" opens a gap in time, and we are living in it. One writer marks what is not happening in it.
This is the time when He is sitting there — doing nothing for Israel, though He is their great High Priest within… This is not the time when He is making His enemies His footstool. He is gathering the joint-heirs while He sits on the throne of God.
Another writer names what kind of day this is.
Jehovah acknowledges Him as Lord and places Him at His right hand — but it is "until…" Something lies ahead of Him. The seat He is to take is very high, yet it is only for a time, until what lies ahead comes. The day of His poverty is over. The day of His patience has begun.
- Two speakers. Jehovah speaks to another Person and calls Him Lord. David's own words prove the Messiah is more than a descendant.
- One question. Was He only David's Son? No answer works unless it admits His higher nature.
- The seat. The right hand is the place of authority and power. Christ seated there is God's approval of Him, and it reverses man's judgment.
- The promise. The words are not "until they are made" but "until I make." The same power that raised Him will put every enemy under His feet.
- The waiting. We live inside the word "until." His day of poverty is over, His day of patience has begun. He gathers joint-heirs while He waits.