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If David then calls [the Christ] Lord, how is He his Son?
Thursday Outline
᛭ INI ᛭
“Whose Son is the Christ?” Good question. It stumped the Pharisees. After today, “No one dared to ask Him questions anymore.” His battle and argument with the Pharisees has lasting implications. In fact, there are eternal and everlasting consequences from what Christ says. And so there’s something here for you and for me, too. IHS’ fight about who the Christ is—really, who IHS Christ—is a fight Christian are still having or should be having now! “Always ready to make a reasoned defense for the hope you have within you.” (1 Pet)
“Whose Son is the Christ?” Or more broadly: Who is Christ? Who’s IHS? And how do those questions fit with King David calling Christ “Lord”? Good questions! Let’s get some answers!
(2. Who Christ is.)
“Whose Son is the Christ?” IHS asks. The Pharisees answer: “David’s.” They’re right! It’s not the most complete answer, but it’s not fully incorrect either. Christ is a descendant of David. As inspired St. Paul says, “Remember IHS Christ risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my Gospel.” (2-Ti 2) According to His flesh, His human nature, Christ really a descendant, “a son” of David.
But Christ has Psalm 110 up his sleeve: “The LORD said to my Lord, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” IHS uses His final question to tell them something. When He says, “If David then calls Him Lord, how is He his Son?” He’s telling them that the Christ is far superior to David. Human dynasties fade over time, but not so with the Christ, because Christ is David’s Lord and God! As inspired St. Paul says, “From [the Israelites], according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” (Rom 9)
With these two answers in hand we can now fully confess who Christ is. Christ is David’s Son and David’s Lord at the same time! Christ isn’t just David’s Son. He isn’t just David’s Lord. He is both. And if He is David’s Lord, that tells us who Christ really is: CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER. That’s what our verse for the week this past week was telling us: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn 1)
CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER, and that’s why He’s David’s Lord. This means that at Genesis 1:0, before the Creation, Christ was there, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, too. CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER, and this is the true impact of what Christ Himself is saying today. And on this point we true Christians stand opposed on many sides.
It’s opposed by Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who claim to be Christian but aren’t. CHRIST being THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER, silences, or should silence, once and for all anyone who’d claim that Christians, Jews, and Muslims worship the same God. True Christians worship CHRIST as God. (It’s why we’re called CHRISTians.) After all, when Christ says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,” He means for us to do that with Him! We trust and worship and serve Christ who IS THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER. (Now you might be able to say that Jews and Muslims claim the same God but they worship Him incorrectly, which doesn’t help much. It breaks “the First and Great Commandment.”)
(Transition)
Now, CHRIST being THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER means something else for you. It not only has to do with how you interact with people in the world, confessing that CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER. There are lasting implications for you, EVERLASTING implications, because CHRIST IS YOUR EVERLASTING LORD.
(1. Who Christ is FOR YOU.)
CHRIST IS YOUR EVERLASTING LORD, and this doesn’t mean you make Him that. He IS that. There’s no making IHS Lord of your life. He already is that! He created you, and then He makes Himself your Lord. He claims you as His own. He brings you into His Kingdom. True Kings and Lords aren’t elected and chosen. (The story of Saul makes that clear…)
Anyway, CHRIST being YOUR EVERLASTING LORD is Good News for you! That Good News comes from what David calls the Christ. He calls Him “Lord”! “[That] little word ‘Lord’ means simply the same as ‘redeemer.’ It means the One who has brought us from Satan to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and who preserves us in the same.” (LC-II 31) The Second Article of the Creed “explain[s] and express[es] redemption: [who] accomplished [it]; how much it cost Him [to] win us and bring us under His dominion; He became man, was conceived and born without sin, from the Holy Spirit and from the virgin Mary, [to] overcome sin; He suffered, died, and was buried [to] make satisfaction for [you] and pay what [you] owe, not with silver or gold, but with His own precious blood; He rose again from the dead, swallowed up and devoured death, and finally ascended into heaven and [took charge of the universe] at the Father’s right hand. He did these things so that the devil and all powers must be subject to Him and lie at His feet until finally, at the Last Day, He will completely divide and separate us from the wicked world, the devil, death, [and] sin.” (LC-II 31) All this is summarized when Psalm 110 says: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
Even more simply put “[Christ] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our innocent verdict.” (Rom 4) He saved us from our sins of even how we emphasize the Law! Sure we break the Commandments daily and much, but look at what Christ says, today! Christ, quoting Himself from Deuteronomy 6, says “You shall love the Lord your God with all Your heart, soul, mind, and strength,” and then He says, “This is the first and great Commandment.” But do we treat it that way? Not really.
What does it look like when you keep that Commandment? Well, it’s the First Table of the Law: Commandments 1, 2, and 3. Have no other gods. Don’t misuse God’s name—pray! Cherish the Sabbath Day as holy—makes us of God’s Word and Sacraments. We think behavior with others is more important, and that is like the first, but we fail in emphasis along with what we actually end up doing!
Christ is YOUR EVERLASTING LORD. He is Lord at Calvary—IHS of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, David’s Son and Lord dead for your sins, but raised again on the Third Day! That is how He is your Lord, and He makes Himself your Lord, bringing you into His Kingdom, giving heavenly citizenship in the water and word of Holy Baptism. A citizenship received by faith in Him!
(Conclusion.)
And why wouldn’t you trust in Him? “He died for you and shed His blood for [you] on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.” (Christian-Question 9) Yes, you can “love [Him] with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” “It is meet and right so to do” because
IHS CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER AND YOUR EVERLASTING LORD.
Against a whole world of nay-sayers we boldly confess IHS CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER. Against a whole mountain of our sins and the whole world’s, too, we say that He is YOUR EVERLASTING LORD, Savior! For “He purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil … with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that [you] may be His own and live under Him in His Kingdom.”
How do you know that that’s who IHS is? How do you know that IHS CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL SON OF THE FATHER AND YOUR EVERLASTING LORD? “From the holy Gospel, from the words instituting the Sacrament, and by His body and blood given me as a pledge in the Sacrament.” (Christian-Question 11)
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