Why is Jesus Being The Son of David Important?
- Brett Tannon Malott
- Apr 11, 2017
- 3 min read
There are many answers to this question, but in regards to The Passion Week, Jesus as the Son of David demonstrates what His role as the Messiah is to be. Most Israelites and especially the religious leadership during Jesus’ time expected a political messiah, i.e. one who will deliver them from Roman oppression. Throughout the Gospels and especially during The Passion Week, Jesus spent much energy demonstrating and teaching that He is the true messiah and that His role during His First Advent (First Coming) was first and foremost for spiritual healing and salvation. Jesus’ miraculous healings were to point people towards the fact that He is The Son of David which means also The Son of God, which He directly claims in Luke 22:70.
On Tuesday in the Passion Week, Jesus spent most of the day with His Disciples in the Temple teaching while also being interrogated in a derogatory manner by the religious leaders (Pharisees, Sadducees, Sanhedrin, and Scribes). After Jesus patiently endured their attempts to trick Him into stating a fallacy or something that would negate Him from being the Messiah, he poses them a question.
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asks them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” Matthew 22:42 (cf. Mark 12:35; Luke 20:41).
After the religious leaders answer Jesus’ question, by claiming, “He is the Son of David.” Jesus directs them to one of the most famous messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Mark 12:36 highlights this for us by quoting Psalm 110:1, 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.”’ Also confer Matthew 22:42 and Luke 20:42-43.
Before being able to discuss Jesus as The Son of David, two Hebrew words must be highlighted. In Psalm 110:1, we see LORD (all caps) and Lord (only first letter capitalized). The reason this is done is that LORD is the Hebrew word יְהֹוָה which is the proper name for God- Jehovah/ Yahweh. The second use of Lord is אָדוֹן Adon(i) which is master, king, or messiah.
What we see is, David … declared … The Lord (the God of Israel) said to my Lord (the Messiah) sit at my right hand. The Lord (Messiah) is given the place of honor. Since David calls the Messiah his Lord, how is he his son? (That is, how can Jesus be only David’s son?). The Messiah is, in fact, greater than his father David, and thus David calls him Lord. David would never call an earthly descendant Lord. The Pharisees would have recognized this psalm of David as a divinely inspired messianic prophecy. In the psalm, David said that the coming Messiah (David’s “son”) will not be just a special human descended from David; He will be David’s Lord. Because the Pharisees acknowledged the messianic import of the psalm, they did not dare to ask Jesus any more questions.
Application for Today: We look to Jesus first and foremost for spiritual salvation, healing, and deliverance. By raising himself from the grave, Jesus demonstrates His power over both the spiritual and physical. Hence, Jesus still heals today just as He did during His first coming. But, we must not forget that His miraculous healings then and now are in the will of God and for God’s glory!
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