The Lord at your right hand will strike earth's rulers in his wrath the nations he will judge, the slain will fill his path. In many lands he'll brush their kings, his wrath will be their dread. And from the wayside brook he'll Amen, we come now to our text for this morning, Mark chapter 12, verses 35 to 37. And notice the last words of verse 37, the great throng heard him gladly. And that reminds us that this is the end of a series of teachings. And then more teachings continue in verse 38. But these are certainly still at the temple. Religious leaders, Matthew tells us that this explicitly included the Pharisees. And now Jesus will ask a question. Let us hear from God's Word, Mark chapter 12, beginning at verse 35. And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself in the Holy Spirit declared, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son? And the great throng heard him gladly. So far the reading of God's holy word. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is no such thing as very unique or most unique. Unique is too strong of a word already. It means that something or someone is one of a kind. You cannot be very one-of-a-kind. You cannot be most one-of-a-kind. You are either one-of-a-kind or you are not one-of-a-kind. And so look up this word on a simple Google search, most overused words in writing, and the word unique will almost certainly be on the list. It is a word too often used, too often misused. because the strength of the word becomes meaningless when it is used in too many contexts. But if we use it rightly and if we reflect upon the strength of the word and we really are using it to speak about something or someone who is one of a kind, well, it can be an appropriate word to use. And that is what we have before us this morning. Although You may note if you are looking in the bulletins at the sermon theme that even our sermon theme is somewhat redundant. One cannot have two unique sons or three unique sons. There can only be one unique son. And so the word one isn't even really needed. in our theme. Our theme for this morning is that the Messiah is the one who is the unique son of David. There can only be one. There can only be one unique son of David. And so unlike any other son who sat on the throne in Jerusalem, the Messiah, the Anointed One, is one of a kind. He is unlike any other. And Jesus is teaching about this reality. Teaching about how David, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, already understood this and prophesied about this reality. So these are our three points together this morning. That the Messiah must be son of David. The Messiah must be Lord of David. The third point is, how can this be? How can these both be true at the same time? Well, first of all, that the Messiah, the anointed one, the one waited for, he must be son of David. And this is a question at the heart of the Old Testament. This is a question which the Old Testament books, again, attest to time and time again. There is the and the initial covenant which we read of in 2 Samuel chapter 7. In 2 Samuel chapter 7 where we read in verse 11 and then in verse 16 God makes the promise. He's speaking to David and he says from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel and I will give you rest from all your enemies and then moreover declared the Lord that I will make you a house and then he speaks about this house in verse 16 in your house the house of David and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me your throne shall be established forever and And then, so there are words many, many times in the Old Testament about this. We'll pick one clear passage from the Prophets, from Jeremiah 23, verses five and six. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king, and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely. This Messiah, this one, this one waited for, this one son of David waited for. And it was known, it was known that it must be son of David. That was so clearly stated in the Old Testament. And it was clearly understood. The crowds understood this and even knew, or at least to some degree, proclaimed that Jesus of Nazareth, descendant of David, both through Mary and through also the legal line of Joseph, and they thought this is the one. And so we saw when he comes into the city in Mark 11 verse 10, right? What is the triumphal entry? What is the cry there? Blessed is the coming of our father, David. Hosanna in the highest. And the Pharisees did not deny this. And we see that in the initial words of the question in Mark 12 verse 35. How can the scribe say that Christ is the son of David? They say that, they say that he is the son of David. This is true. The Christ is son of David. The crowds not only had some knowledge of this, but even saying to Jesus that this Jesus of Nazareth might be this son of David. The Jewish religious leaders understood that the Messiah was son of David, but of course are appalled by the idea that this Jesus of Nazareth might be the one. and in both cases there's a shared mistake that the Son of David is only or merely Son of David. Rarely do we see in the New Testament before the death of Christ, words that have some understanding that this is not just the son of David, but that this one, this savior, this Jesus Christ of Nazareth is something more than that. And even in the cry at the triumphal, right? The coming kingdom of our father David. In other words, this is a son of David who's equal with our father David. There was very little understanding that there was something more, something beyond. We perhaps say Simeon and Anna in the temple when he was a babe. We can say John the Baptist, but there are very few, very few. So the tendency is to stop there. And this brings us now to our second point, where we'll spend a little more time. Because Jesus is saying, look, you get this. This is clearly proclaimed in the Old Testament, that the Messiah, the anointed one, is son of David. And the crowds know this. They sing about this. You know this. Psalm 110, which Jesus will quote from, we're coming into our second point now, was understood as being messianic and Jesus is now going to give the challenge. He's asked the rhetorical question about that which there is some kind of agreement, at least, across all the across all the bands, whether it's the leaders, whether it's the crowds, Jesus himself, Jesus never denies that the Christ must be son of David, but the Christ is not merely son of David. And that brings us to verse 36. That's what Jesus is seeking to show here from a Psalm, which is understood as being messianic. He says, okay, the Messiah, the anointed one is son of David. Look with me. Hear from the Psalms. Hear from the Holy Spirit-inspired Psalms. David wrote himself in the Holy Spirit. These are not merely human words. They are words that the Holy Spirit inspired. These are divine words. And look, David declared The Lord said to my Lord, how can this be? You see, the Messiah must not only be son of David, the Messiah must be Lord of David. David calls him Lord. think a little bit about that word Lord. If we turn back to Psalm 110 verse 1, we see these words, and we would see the first Lord is in all caps. The Lord, all caps, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, said to my Lord, lowercase lord. In the Greek translation, which Jesus would have been familiar with, they would translate it with the same Greek word And so it's the same Greek in the Greek Old Testament. It's the same two words here. So there's a distinction in the Hebrew which does not exist in the Greek. But it's not an essential difference. The word Lord in all caps, that's always explicitly tied to God. That's always a divine title. It's the very name of God. It's the covenant name, Lord in all caps. But Lord in lower caps, it can be used to refer to God. It's a word which is not as specific, but it's a word which speaks about authority. And so we can think of it this way. tenants, vineyard owners, kings, they all have only one capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Yahweh, Lord. But if we think about Lord in the lowercase, with the lowercase letters, well, a vineyard owner can be described as Lord of his tenants. A king can be described as lord of vineyard owners and tenants. But who can be described as lord of a king? Who can be described as lord of a king? An angel, perhaps? or God. Maybe if a king is subjected to another king, a more powerful king, it's the only way it could ever be used to describe the Lord of an earthly king, but that doesn't apply to David. David was never the vassal of any other king. He was king over the United Kingdom. He was king over almost every inch of the promised land. Solomon finished the last few inches. Who is Lord of David? You see, both Lords have to be something more than anyone upon the earth. It has to be some kind of angelic power or divine power. There's another proof to that as well, and this one is, I think, more readily understood in cultures where there is respect for the elderly. And that is that the ancestor is always superior to the descendant. The ancestor is always superior to the descendant. We don't have different forms of address for the elderly, but in some cultures they do. You can't even use the same words to address the elderly. There's this respect, there's this understanding that the ancestor is superior to the descendant. I even heard recently, right, so the American Major League Baseball is not playing, but there is one baseball league in the world playing, that's the Korean Baseball League, and so I'm reading a couple articles, what's different about this league. Well, in that league, if you're a young pitcher and you throw an inside pitch at an older batter, you have to bow to him. I'm sorry, I almost hit you. You're an older man than I am. That's just an example of how culturally we don't really get this, the ancestor is always superior to the descendant rule, but it's true. It's true. It's true in scripture. It's true in the cultures of scripture. It's still true in many cultures today. And so when we combine these two ideas that who can be lord of a king? Who can be lord of King David, king over the United Kingdom? Who can be lord over his ancestor? Who can be a descendant who is lord over his ancestor? This doesn't make sense. How can this be? According to the current model of understanding, King David, which the Jewish religious leaders have, and many of the Jews themselves hold to, even the disciples show that they have this misconception. This doesn't make sense. This doesn't make sense. Who is king of King David? Who is a king of kings? who sits at the right hand of God? To sit at someone's right hand is to be filled with their righteousness. Psalm 48 speaks of that. Psalm 48 verse 10. As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth, your right hand is filled with righteousness. Who can that be? Psalm 80 verse 17, let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself. To be at the right hand of God is to have righteousness, is to have authority. authority, which in the in the one verse from this psalm, which Jesus quotes that that scene right sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your footstool. This is one who has authority from a divine courtroom. A divine throne room. How can this be? There is even more which Psalm 110 is saying. It's a shorter psalm, only seven verses. Do you remember the references that there must be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek? That's the prophecy of Psalm 110. That comes a few verses after this verse which Jesus is quoting here. That would be known. That would be understood. It's almost as if Jesus is saying, here I am, I'm still in the temple. You've asked me these questions in the temple. Now I'm gonna ask you, I'm gonna ask you something about the son of David that you do not understand. And yes, that's a son of David who also has a priestly authority. He's a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He's all these things. He's all these things. He must be Lord of David. He must be greater than David. And that brings us then to our third point. Question which we've already started to ask, how can this be? Or as Jesus says it in verse 37, David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son? How is the descendant of this ancestor? How is he Lord? How is he greater than him? How is one greater than King David? How can this be? Notice, people of God, the religious leaders, again, Matthew tells us this, includes the Pharisees, they're not able to answer this question, but this isn't just a gotcha game, right? Jesus has been asked these questions and they're trying to trap him, right? 12 verse 13, they came, they tried to trap him in his talk. That was the purpose of the questions to Jesus, was to trap Him, was to leave Him unable to answer, which of course they're not able to do. Jesus perfectly answers all their questions. But this isn't just a gotcha. Jesus isn't just saying, well, look, you asked all these questions, sometimes silly questions, and that's what he tells the Sadducees, right? Like, this is just not even a question that should be asked. You're asking these questions for the purpose of trapping me, and I can answer them. Jesus is not just doing a gotcha. He's asking about weighty things. In other words, the scribes are not able to answer this question. But the purpose of Jesus is not just to say, look, I can answer your questions and you can't answer mine. No, Jesus is going to matters which are at the heart of salvation. Because if the Messiah was not greater than David, then there's no salvation. This is not a gotcha question. This is a look and see those things which are most essential and important question. And he is exposing their earthly mindedness, their kingdom of earth focus. The current scribal position cannot answer this question. Only a new covenant in the blood of Christ and a kingdom which is His, which is not of this world can answer this question. And of course Jesus does not answer it right here and now, but we understand that these last chapters of the book of Mark pack a very short amount of time into a large amount of pages. Sometimes we read Luke 1 and Luke 2 and we're reading two chapters and we're zooming through years and years of Jesus' life. Mark 11 to the end is days. It's days. Jesus doesn't answer the question here because he is days away from answering it in his actions before all, plainly. So for now, he lets the question linger, but he has proved his point. He has proved his point. This can only be if there is a unique son of David. This can only be if there is a son of David who is more than a man. It's the only way this can be. This can only be answered with one who is son of David, who is real man, but also one with divine authority. One who sits on a divine eternal throne. This can only be if there is one who is both true man and true God, who is both son of David and Lord of David. Acts chapter two. It's one of the places this song comes up again. What does the Apostle Peter say in Acts chapter two, verse 34? David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. You see, the Apostle speaks about one who sits on a heavenly throne. Or what about the objection that, well, you could be, remember that word, Lord, that's not in all caps, that doesn't necessarily have to refer to a divine being. It could be an angel, could be an angel. Well, Hebrews answers that objection. There is a whole series of answers as to why Jesus Christ is not an angel but is greater than the angels. And the last in that series of answers comes in Hebrews 1 verse 13, where we say, and to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." You see, the angels are not raised in victory. They are not the ultimate captain of victory in this sense. They are the host, they are the army, but they are not the captain. This is a divine Lord. People of God, let us never undervalue or overlook the Old Testament. It is, all of God's word is inspired by the Holy Spirit and speaks of the only one who can take away sins. One who is true man, able to be a substitute on your behalf because you're a sinner. You and I, we're all sinners. And true God, able to bear the wrath of God against that sin as one who is without sin himself. This is abundantly clear in the New Testament which speak of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is abundantly clear in the Old Testament. Now it's not as easy to see You know, the great throng heard him gladly. Why did they hear him gladly? Well, it's speaking to, it's a summary of many of the teachings here, but it applies to these three verses as well. They hear him gladly because, yeah, how can that be? Right, here's one who is facing the difficult questions, and he hasn't even answered it explicitly yet, but he will. in His very actions in the coming days. Be glad to hear how the New Testament shows us what the Old Testament was always about. This is true of all of the Old Testament. This is especially true of the Psalms. J.C. Ryle said it this way, Christ's experience and sufferings at His first coming into the world, His future glory, and His final triumph at His second coming are the chief subjects of many a passage in that wonderful part of God's Word, the Psalms. It is a true saying that we should look for Christ quite as much as David in reading the Psalms. It's true, we must seek Christ. We must see Christ in the Old Testament, in the Psalms and in all of the Old Testament. He is the only Savior. So Jesus himself says in John chapter 5, you search the scriptures because you know that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. You see the throng, they heard him gladly. Sometimes it is hard to understand how scripture written across so many pages, across so many different centuries by so many different men has one author, the Holy Spirit. Jesus knows this. Jesus speaks about this plainly. David himself in the Holy Spirit declared. People of God know this. believe this, and believing this, and knowing this, go through the Old Testament and do not, as an illustration which has sometimes been given, do not, as you're reading the Old Testament, walk over the gold that is under your feet, not knowing that it's there. It is harder to see, even some chapters more than others, but it is there. All of Scripture testifies to this one, and this is the one in whom we must believe. This is, again, not a secondary question Jesus is asking. It's no mere trick or trifle. Jesus is directing the religious leaders to think about something essential, something which is clearly laid out in summary form in our confessions. Lord's Day 5, Lord's Day 6, page 205 and following in the Heidelberg Catechism, I'll read through portions, question and answers 12 through 17. According to God's righteous judgment, we deserve punishment, both now and in eternity. How then can we escape this punishment and return to God's favor? answer the claims of this justice must be paid in full. 13. Can we make this payment ourselves? Certainly not. We increase our debt every day. 14. Can any creature pay this debt for us? No. No mere creature can bear the weight of God's eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it. What kind of mediator, 15, should we then look for? One who is true and righteous man, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God. Question 18. then who is this mediator, true God, and at the same time a true and righteous man? Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, who was given to us for our complete deliverance and righteousness. One Savior. One Son of David. who is also Lord of David. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God, we give thanks how you have revealed truth which is not simple, not the easiest to understand, but so clearly revealed in your Word. Our Savior, our Savior Jesus Christ, who can answer all of the questions, who is the yes and amen, of all the promises in himself and in himself alone. May we always depend upon and only upon Jesus Christ. Amen. People of God, Rejoice, the Lord is King. Let's stand and sing all the stanzas together of number 281. Rejoice, the Lord is King. Give thanks and sing and triumph evermore Lift up your heart Lift up your voice Rejoice again I say Rejoice Jesus the Savior reigns the god of truth and love. When he had birthed our saints, he took his seat above. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say. Rejoice. Lift up your voice. He sits at God's right hand, till all his foes submit, and bow to his command, and fall beneath his feet. Lift up your voice, rejoice again, I say, rejoice. Rejoice in glorious hope, our Lord the God shall come, and take his servants up to their return. ♪ Lift up your voice rejoice again I say rejoice ♪ People of God, let us hear now the parting blessing of our God and following that, we'll close with the doxology 567. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. ♪ Praise God from whom all blessings flow ♪ Praise him above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. You. you