“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’” (Mt 22:41-42)
The dialogue between Yeshua and the Pharisees about the identity of the Messiah, gives us a glimpse into the mystery of the divine nature of the Messiah.
Yeshua’s question at first seemed to be on a level unworthy of a discussion between those who know the Scriptures. The answer from the Pharisees was very short and direct. “They said to him, ‘The son of David.’” (v. 42) Then came the surprise from the Master.
“He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’”? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?’ And no one was able to answer him a word.” (Mt 22:43-46)
Yeshua’s comment made the learned Pharisees speechless. They could not deny the truth of the Scriptures. Yet, they could not give any explanation to Yeshua’s question: “If David calls the Messiah Lord, how is he his son?”
That Messiah is the Son of David is certainly very clear from the Scriptures. The angel Gabriel promised his mother Miriam that she would conceive in her womb and give birth to a son, and said: “the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.” (Lk 1:32) Likewise, Paul wrote: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.” (2 Ti 2:8) So certainly, the Messiah is the Son of David.
But He is more than the Son of David. Yeshua Himself said: “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” (Rev 22:16) The Messiah is not just the descendant of David. He is also the root of David. He even told the leaders in Jerusalem: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (Jn 8:58) This makes Messiah eternal like God and that is the reason David called him “my Lord” even though He also is his son.
The Gospel of Matthew begins: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac.” (Mt 1:1-2) The Messiah is not only the son of David, but is also called the son of Abraham. Paul tells us that Isaac is a picture of Messiah and that Isaac was born in a supernatural way through the power of a divine promise. In a similar way Messiah is the Word of God that became flesh.
The church kept the revelation of the divine nature of the Messiah, but eventually neglected his human identity as a Jew descended from David. None of the church confessions of faith contains one word about Jeshua’s human identity as a Jew. It is important to realize that the Messiah is both the Son of God as well as the Son of David. He is both divine as well as a human. As the late Bible teacher Derek Prince said: “The truth is that there is a Jew seated today at the right hand of God.”
And He is soon coming back as a Jew. The last words of Yeshua recorded in the Scriptures are: “’I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’ … He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’” (Rev 22:16,20)
The good news that John heard from the angel was: “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” (Rev 5:5) The Messiah is both from the tribe of Judah as well as being the Root of David.
