Click here for a .pdf version that retains all of the original formatting. Easier to read.

Luke 20:39 - 44
Ch. 20:39 And some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” 40 For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything.

     41 And He said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is David’s son? 42 “For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
            ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
            “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,

     43 UNTIL I MAKE THINE ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR THY FEET.”’ 44 “David therefore calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his son?”

This is a most fascinating section of scripture.  We are at Wednesday, on the temple grounds at Jerusalem less than 2 days from Jesus crucifixion by the very people He is speaking with.

Actually you could argue, crucifixion is uniquely Roman, the jews didn't crucify their capitol punishment recipients, they were ordered by their scriptures to inflict capitol punishment by stoning.

But Jesus will be crucified in about 48 hours or less from the time of this teaching in the temple.  The jews will insist that the Romans do it, and we'll see in future studies that they will coerce the Romans to carry out this death that they want, or they will riot and by so doing, they will appeal to Ceasar in the most damaging way to the governor at Jerusalem.

Give these jews what the require.  Avoid riots at almost any cost.  So that's our time line.  And Jesus has been fielding questions by different factions of the ruling jewish interests in Jerusalem and therefore of all Israel.  

The romans could care less.  They aren't threatened by Jesus.  They find Him interesting since they basically hate the jews, they're probably enjoying the pain of the challenge and perceived threat He offers against the rulers they hate.

The jews are a pain in the roman's necks and Jesus is inflicting some pain on those guys, and for them perhaps, it's sort of fun to watch from the sidelines.  No real dog in the fight, but it's sort of fun to watch the fur fly.  They considered the conflict between Jesus and the ruling parties of the jews as religious questions that they could care less about.  

The leading men of Israel however are in a death struggle to retain political and religious power and influence over the people of Israel.  Jesus is a direct threat to them.

Ever since He came riding in on the colt of a donkey, the people have swooned toward this would be messiah.  They are captivated.  Mesmerized.  By His words.  By His powers.  The masses want Jesus to be their King.  But only according to their terms.  They are fickle and will turn on Him quickly if He doesn't start slaying Romans and setting up a jewish state free from Rome.

They want a promised messiah who will rise to power in Jerusalem and crush all of the nations, world wide.  And what is fascinating is that much of what they require from any messiah is contained within the Psalm that Jesus is going to quote to the rulers right here.  Buckle up.  We're going to take a look at a famously messianic Psalm that has caused the jews heartburn now ever since Jesus said what He said about that Psalm.

First let's consider Jesus in this moment.  He has answered every question by the rulers such that their collective mouths have been shut.  They are silenced by this opponent who crushes them every time they try to crush Him.  His words answer them with embarrasing defeat.  Every time they speak, they lose ground.

You have to give them some credit;

39 And some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.” 40 For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything.

They're jews after all.  They understand a spread sheet with columns for assets and liabilities.  They know when to cut their losses and get out.  And that's what they do.  Every encounter has left them bruised and bleeding and they're smart enough to shut up.  Put up or shut up.  Well, the put up is a disaster every time, so they wisely choose to shut up.

I can just see Jesus with a stare I never want to see, looking over these leaders of Israel with those eyes saying  .  .  .  anybody else?  Anybody else want to bring it?  And then the answer from the scribes.   “Teacher, You have spoken well.”

Verbal entrapment isn't going to get this job done.  We'll have to go to plan B.  Arrest Him in the dark cover of night with trumped up charges and get the job done before the people catch on to what's happening.

But meanwhile, even though they're finished, for now, Jesus isn't.  He says, I've got a question for you.  We're not done.  You like to talk about the scriptures ad infinitum ad nauseum, how about this one?

41 And He said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is David’s son?

At this juncture in order to get as complete a picture as possible, we want to bring in Mark and Matthews accounts.

Mark in the 12th chapter tells us of a concurrent discussion between some of the pharisee's and scribes regarding the law.  What is the pre-emminent law, the most important one.

Jesus never gives up.  While it's true that the conflict has turned hostile, Jesus is still attuned to every heart present and He offers a lifeline to those who are still listening, those who aren't past hope.  

One of the scribes answers with the combination of the shema, you shall LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.  All of the law of God can be boiled down to that stew.

All of my energy directed to the love of God, that's the vertical law, and don't do anything to my neighbor that I wouldn't do to myself, that's the horizontal law.  And Jesus remarks,  You're not far from the kingdom of God.

If we could actually DO that.  If we weren't bankrupts with the full debt of the fall and the sin we were born into.  His theory is correct, but we can't pay the bill.  We are bankrupts to accomplish those two lofty goals.

Jesus takes what was just said and asks a question.  First, the shema.  You shall love the Lord your God.  Lord in that hebrew phrase is elohim, and it is plural.  Elohim means Lords, or rulers.  Plural Lords.  Plural rulers.  And when it further says your God, the word is YahWeh.  

The shema begins with 4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!  “Hear, O Israel! Yahweh (God by His name) is our Elohim (Lords again plural,)  Yahweh God again by His name a second time is one!  Plural Lords One God.  A plurality, Lords, who are One God.

And Jesus says, I've got a question for you, with that fresh in your minds.  Let's state it from Matthew's account.  Chapter 22;

     41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.”

Whose Son is the Christ?  Tell me what you think about the messiah.  Whose son is the messiah.  And the answer is instant.  Can't get this one wrong.  Easiest question ever.  Everybody knows that answer to this question.

The lepers who want to be healed cry out Son of David.  The blind men in Jericho cry out to Him, Son of David.  The demons cry out Son of God and He hushes them  Mt. 8 Lk. 4  The multitude cry out Hosanna's to the Son of David.  It's like holding up an orange and asking what color is this.  Two ways to get it right.  Impossible to get it wrong.  

But having concurred on all quarters in this impossible to get wrong question Jesus then says;  Correct, why then . . .    43 He said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying, 44 ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
            “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
            UNTIL I PUT THINE ENEMIES BENEATH THY FEET”’?  mt.22

42 “For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
            ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
            “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,

     43 UNTIL I MAKE THINE ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR THY FEET.”’

Yahweh saith to Adonai.  This is a conversation between plural Lords who the Shema tells us are One God.  This is God clearly having a conversation with . . . God.  How is that possible.

44 “David therefore calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his son?”

Here is the question as best I can explain what Jesus is putting out there for them to answer back.  God is having a conversation with God.  Plural God.  Yahweh speaking to Adonai.  

All Israel agrees in the interpretation of that Psalm of David.  Adonai in that Psalm is Messiah the prince.  Yahweh the Father speaking conversationally with Adonai, God the son.  Plural God who is One God having an inter-God conversation.

It's all over the Old Testament writings that way.  Clear back to creation.  God plural having conversation within the plurality of God who is one.  26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; Gen. 1:26

God having a conversation with God, and all Israel knows that Adonai in the conversation with Yahweh and Adonai, is the Messiah.  David calls Him, my Lord.  Yahweh said to my Adonai, sit at my right hand . . .

Messiah is David's Lord, but Messiah is David's son.  How is that possible.  How is it possible that Yahweh is One God but Yahweh has conversations with Elohim Adonai, Lords plural all throughout the old testament.  And how then further is that person, who is messiah, having constant conversation within Yahweh God and also David's son?

It's mind blowing.  Literally.  The men listening to what Jesus said were stunned speechless by what He just said, as we also should be which is why I'm struggling to find words to make you understand the full scope of what Jesus just unloaded on these scribes and pharisees and rulers and sanhedrin and chief priests and saducees.

Messiah is all of the above.  He transcends history.  He lives in eternity.  He is God of very God who collaborated with the Father and the Spirit in the Genesis account to create everything.  He sits at the right hand of God.  And He is David's son standing in the temple in front of their eyes.

The Son of David, according to this Psalm, is the God of David, dwelling with Yahweh, at His right hand, eternally, and He is speaking to them this day.  That blows our minds, and it blew theirs.  Jaw dropping unfathomable truth.

We've gone from the Saducess's who don't even believe in another realm, life after this life, to a Messiah who is living in eternity past present future, with God the Father and the Spirit of God, conversationally plurally, yet one God, and also the Son of David, and these ubelievers are having this conversation with  . . Him.

They knew He was a son of David.  They knew He was in the Davidic lineage, even though those who hated Him most were calling Him a bastard child and every kind of lurid thing.  They knew.  Their records were all intact.  Everything could be traced.  

The multitude recognized Him as Son of David, even if they hadn't completely thought through what He dropped on them this day, that David's Son, the Messiah, is a person in the pluralistic One God.

Let's take some time to just barely touch the surface of all this is in Psalms 110.  There is amazing Messianic truth in that Psalm.  Things we need to know that pertain to Jesus who speaks to these men this day.

I'm going to read it from the newly released Legacy Standard Bible;  Psalms 110

Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”

 Yahweh will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Have dominion in the midst of Your enemies.”

 Your people will offer themselves freely in the day of Your power; In the splendor of holiness, from the womb of the dawn, The dew of Your youthfulness will be Yours.

Yahweh has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

 The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His anger.

 He will render justice among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will crush the head that is over the wide earth.

 He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head.

This is so incredibly rich we could spend an entire morning in here easily, but I just want to high grade some of the best ore for this time this morning.

And what I want to do first is take the word footstool and follow it throughout the Bible.  If we understand that word, the whole Psalm makes good sense.  

Psalms 99:5    Exalt Yahweh our God And worship at the footstool of His feet;  Holy is He.

Yahweh is Holy, we are not.  Therefore we are to worship Yahweh our God.  What is our position in worshipping Holy God.  We worship in the place of submission.  Under His feet.

The footstool is the place of absolute humility and submission.  Remember Gen. 3:15.  He will bruise your heal but you will crush his head.  True of the offspring of the woman against the serpent.  The serpent is underneath the heel that crushes the head.  

We'll see that again in vs. 6.  The footstool is the place of submissive humility for those who worship, and the place of crushing for those who refuse to worship.  

Psalms 132:7 is the same again;

Psa. 132:7  Let us come into His dwelling place;  Let us worship at the footstool of His feet.  Humble worship of an all-powerful Lord.  The footstool being the place of submission for the worshippers.

In the sermon on the mount Jesus acknowledges this relationship of humility to omnipotence.  In Matthew 5 Jesus says;  

34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.   Mt. 5:34,35

We throw around heaven and earth so cheaply these days.  Oh, good heavens.  What on earth ARE you doing.  We use the terminology mindlessly and the words have no value.

Heaven is God's throne.  Earth is His footstool.  The picture is complete.  God is enthroned in the heavens, out of our view, we would die if we beheld His glory, He is enthroned beyond the universes, behind the firmament that we can't even measure.

Earth is like nothing to Him.  A footstool.  Underneath His feet in humility.  You say, is it?  Looks to me like earth is in rebellion.  Bunch of angry little men shouting about what they're going to do and throwing dust in the air.   God laughs at them.

Look at vs. 5b, 6 in Psalms 110  He will crush kings in the day of His anger.
 He will render justice among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will crush the head that is over the wide earth.

Who is the head that is over the wide earth?  Satan.  Satan.  Ruler of this world.  Chief of the rebellion of this world.  This world is God's footstool.  And the head that is over the wide earth is about to be crushed.

Again the picture goes all the way back to Genesis 3:15    
       And I will put enmity
            Between you and the woman,
            And between your seed and her seed;
            He shall bruise you on the head,
            And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The imagery is consistent.  Satan is under the heel of the seed of the woman.  The same position as being a footstool.  Under His feet to be crushed.

God speaks in Isaiah 66.  Listen to Him;
     1 Thus says the LORD,
            “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool.
            Where then is a house you could build for Me?
            And where is a place that I may rest?

     2 “For My hand made all these things,
            Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD.
            “But to this one I will look,
            To him who is humble and contrite of spirit,
       and who trembles at My word.

Now then with that background around the word footstool, listen again to the messianic Psalm that Jesus quoted;

Yahweh says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”

Yahweh says to Adonai, messiah, sit here in the heavens, at my right hand, until I put every enemy, every rebellious soul, under your feet.  The whole earth is subject to Him.  The whole earth will bow down before His feet.  This is God the Father speaking to God the Son.

 Yahweh will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Have dominion in the midst of Your enemies.”

God stretches forth the sceptor of His Messiah, from Zion, Jerusalem and gives Him dominion over every enemy.  All rebellers.

 Your people will offer themselves freely in the day of Your power; In the splendor of holiness, from the womb of the dawn, The dew of Your youthfulness will be Yours.

The glory is shared with who.  Those who belong to Adonai.  His people.  The jews will realize all of their promises.  They will freely offer themselves to Messiah at this time.  Plus His other brethren, also His people, will share in this splendor of holiness.

There is splendor for those who have been made holy.  Those who are not in rebellion.  Those who have worshipped at His footstool.  For them, shared splendor.  

Yahweh has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”

What is the priesthood of Melchizedek?  3 things not realized with worldly temporary priests.  He is eternal priest.  He lives forever.  And He is both priest and king.  Two offices that were never combined in Israel.  Adonai is priest and king, forever.

But for those who hate Him, who have rebelled against Him;

 The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His anger.

Psalm 2 pictures the raging of the nations, against the Lord's messiah.  The whole earth rages to stop God from deposing Satan who they love, sin that they love.  The whole world hates God and rages against God's messiah.

God will crush the rebellion.  He will crush the kings who lead the earthly rebellion against Him and His Messiah.

 He will render justice among the nations, He will fill them with corpses,

This is literal folks.  The whole earth, the whole raging rebellion against God and against His Christ will become corpses.  The nations of the earth filled up with corpses.  Death is the justice due.  When the footstool rages against the feet . . ??

He will crush the head that is over the wide earth.

The corpses picture dead men.  This image pictures crushed Satan.   

And when the conflagraation is over.  Peace.  Peace on earth.  Peace at last, peace at last, as the poets dreamed in futility for.  Finally it comes;

 He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head.

The earth under the reign of God's Messiah will be a pastoral place.  Rest.  Peace.  What a song.

How can David's son be David's Lord.  How can Messiah be co-equal in the person of the one God who is plural.  

Jesus is giving these men who hate Him ample reason to murder Him.  He has just claimed to be David's son who is Co-Equal with Yahweh, Messiah is a person of the plural Godhead, who is One God.

Does that make your brain hurt?  What matter?  It's not a problem for our God.  WE don't have to understand it.  We have a God who does.  

What is important for us is to belong to Him.  We want to be the worshippers at the footstool, not the enemies who become corpses, who are crushed with Satan who is deposed.

We go all the way back to Eden, to a conversation between God and Satan for our answers this morning.  The seed of the woman will crush the Serpent's head.  The serpent gets one good lick in though.  He bruises the heel that crushes the head.  Jesus is hours away from that bruise, death on a cross.

But it's only a bruise.  It isn't final defeat.  Because Jesus will come out of the grave on the third day, alive forever more.  We worship Him.  And we wait for the day when He will return and crush Satan's head.  We long for that day.

This book, from beginning to end, is the story of that battle, and of the redemption He offers us as a result of the bruise on His heal.  He conquered death.  He arose from the dead.  He offers us His righteousness.  He died in our place.  Satan thought he had a great victory when he killed Jesus on that cross.  But what satan did was open the flood gates of redemption for God's chosen elect.