The Gospel Of Matthew Chapter 22 Part 8 The Wisdom Of God Turns Away Falsehood

The scribes and Pharisees tried to entrap Jesus with His words by asking whether the Jewish people should pay taxes to Rome or not.

Jesus saw through their duplicity and commanded them to render unto Caesar what is due to Rome and to render unto God what He is due to receive.

Next, the Sadducees tried to entrap Jesus with a question about the resurrection and afterlife.

Jesus answered their question powerfully from the scriptures, showing that God is the God of the living.

Then, the Pharisees sent a lawyer/scribe to ask Jesus what was the greatest commandment in God's holy law.

Jesus gave a two part answer.

First we must love God as our highest priority in life and this summarizes the duty of the first four commandments.

Second, we are to love our neighbor (Others) as ourselves, and this summarizes our duty from the last six commandments.

This chapter concludes with Christ, the Son of God asking the  Pharisees a question.

Jesus did not ask a question  to entrap them, but rather He sought to lead them to truth so that they might be saved.

Matthew 22:41-42  While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42  Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 

Jesus used scripture to expose spiritual error by the leaders of the Jews.

Now it is Christ's turn to ask a question of the Pharisees.

Jesus did this to show them how ignorant they were of God's prophecies concerning Jesus Christ.

Like all sinners, the Pharisees needed to be humbled before God because of their ignorance.

Jesus was going to focus their attention on true doctrine regarding Messiah.

It is a most profound truth that Messiah is superior to King David, Israel's mightiest king.

Messiah was at the same time a descendant of King David yet was also David's LORD!

The Pharisees answered that Messiah (Christ) was the son of David.

Matthew 22:43-44  He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44  The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 

Their answer was true as far as saying that Messiah is the Son of King David, but Jesus led them to a greater truth that they must grapple with.

Jesus asked "How does David in the Spirit call him Lord?" 

If Messiah is merely a man, an offspring of King David, how is it possible that David, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, calls Messiah LORD?

2 Samuel 23:1-3  Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, 2  The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. 3  The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 

This text is one of many that tell us King David was anointed by God to be His sweet Psalmist for all Israel.

Verbal inspiration of the scriptures is made abundantly clear in this text. "The Spirit of the LORD spake by me and His word was in my tongue."

This is what Jesus referred to when He said that David spoke of Messiah "in spirit" as the Spirit of the LORD spoke through King David.

Verbal, plenary inspiration of the scriptures means that every word in the original Hebrew and Greek were given by God to mam without error.

Thus, we can do as Jesus said and "live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" because He preserved His Word for all generations.

Psalm 110:1-4  A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2  The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 3  Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. 4  The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. 

This is the Psalm cited by Jesus when He asked the Pharisees who they believed was the father of Christ the Messiah.

In this Psalm the Father (Jehovah) tells His Son (Jesus Christ) to be seated at His right hand until all His enemies are vanquished.

The apostle Paul made sure to teach us that this passage applies to Jesus Christ (See 1 Corinthians 15:23-27).

The LORD will send rod of His strength out of Zion (Jerusalem) which points to Jesus ruling all nations with a rod of iron (See Psalm 2:8-9; Revelation 2:26-27).

Also, King David prophesied of Messiah that He would be a priest in the order of Melchizedek and this clearly points to Jesus Christ (See Hebrews 5:1-10; 6:18-20; 7:1-28).

Matthew 22:43-44  He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44  The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 

The words "the LORD said unto my Lord" refer to "Jehovah" the heavenly Father, who said the same words when Christ ascended into heaven, after He had finished the great work of man's salvation (See 1 Corinthians 15:23-27).

When David said  "my Lord" he referred to God who made him, and to Messiah and Savior, who redeemed him. 

Therefore, Christ, the Messiah has the right as Creator and Savior to rule over him.

Matthew 22:45  If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? 

The Pharisees elevated their traditions higher that the the authority of God's Word and this led them to a wrong view of Messiah.

They expected Messiah would be a man, an actual king descended from the royal line of David.

They expected Messiah to be a mighty warrior and leader who would overthrow Roman rule and restore Israel's independence.

Therefore, they could not rightly answer Jesus question.

How could Messiah be Lord or God, and a son of King David at the same time?

1 Timothy 3:16  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

This is the great mystery of godliness, that God is manifest in the flesh. 

This God Man, Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life and was justified by the Spirit of God at His resurrection.

This God Man, Jesus Christ initiated preaching of His life changing gospel at Pentecost.

His gospel has been preached in all the world since that time, and multitudes of people have been and continue to be born again.

This God Man suffered for us, died for us, was buried for us and rose from the grave for us.

This God Man, Jesus Christ was then taken up into heaven in great glory and is now seated with His Father.

Many people and churches stumble over the question "Who is Jesus Christ?"

Many will accept a Jesus who was a good man and teacher of good ethics.

Many will accept a Jesus who did many good things for other people.

Many professing Christians will not accept a Jesus who is a perfect sinless man who suffered and died to pay for our sins.

Many professing Christians will deny that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh.

This truth became a stumbling block to Jewish religious leaders.

Matthew 22:46  And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions. 

By their silence the Pharisees acknowledged that the Psalm was written by King David under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and that Messiah is the subject of it.

They also knew from genealogy that both Joseph and Mary were descendants of King David, and that Jesus had a legitimate claim to the royal throne.

Had they understood the divinity of Messiah, they might have answered, that He was God, He was David's Lord, His maker, and His king.

They might have understood that as man, Christ the Messiah was David's son, and his root and offspring.

Through these truths Jesus meant to bring them to a point of confession or to put them to confusion and silence, which was the consequence.

They saw the dilemma of either acknowledging the deity of the Messiah, or confessing their ignorance. 

Therefore, they judged that their wisest course of action was to be silent.

Thus, Jesus put the four great sects of Jews to silence, in one day. 

The Herodians and Pharisees wanted to know whether they might lawfully pay tribute to Caesar or not and Jesus demolished their argument.

Sadducees wanted to know whose wife the woman would be of the seven brethren, in the resurrection.

Jesus exposed their ignorance of the Word and unbelief regarding resurrection and miracles and sent them away silent.

Then came a scribe or lawyer who knew the written law, and asked which was the great commandment in the law. 

This lawyer deserves to be mentioned here because he commended, what our Lord had said in answer to his question. 

He went away finding himself not far from the kingdom of God.

Finally, Jesus' question about Messiah being both King David's Son and his LORD at the same time, removed all grounds for future questioning by religious leaders who were clearly ignorant or hostile to the scriptures.

1 Corinthians 1:19-21  For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 

The apostle Paul was guided by the Holy Spirit to write these words after Christ's ascension and the birth of His church.

However, these words capture what was going on as these religious and political groups sought to entrap Jesus with His Words.

Instead, Jesus not only used scripture to entrap them, but also to expose unbelief and destroy their arguments.

Thus, the Pharisees who through their traditions thought they were wiser than God, came and were shown to be ignorant and in error.

Thus, the Herodians came to see if they could make Christ a criminal by using a question about paying taxes to Rome, and they were turned away with Jesus' answer.

Thus, the scribe came seeking to find out if Jesus properly understood the holy law of God and he went away well satisfied with Jesus' answer. 

God made the wisdom of this present evil world foolish then and still does to this day.

Isaiah 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3  And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4  But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Isaiah prophesied many times about Messiah's person, words and works.

Jesus was in the royal line of King David and from the stem of Jesse, David's father.

Christ is that Righteous Branch who sprung out of the roots of King David.

The Spirit of God rested upon Jesus, giving Him wisdom, understanding, knowledge of all things.

While Jesus ministered on earth, He cared for the poor, oppressed, widows and children. 

He rightly judged the wicked hypocrites who promoted their traditions above God's eternal truth.

Jesus spoke with all the authority and wisdom of God because He was and is God manifest in the flesh.

We must learn to answer people's questions with scripture not speculation.

We must learn to expose heresy and error with the Word of God.

We must learn to use the wisdom of God's truth to expose and disarm the schemes of His enemies.

But we must first know God through repentant faith in Jesus Christ, and then we must learn to know God more deeply, so that we can love and serve Him with all of our heart.

Bob