David’s True Son

The Lord Jesus was speaking of himself. Acts 4:11 says, “This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.” The entire building of God’s kingdom is built on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we fall on that stone (by rejecting him) or that stone falls on us (in condemnation), then we will be “broken to pieces” or it “will shatter” us (v. 18). If we reject Jesus Christ when he offers himself to us in the gospel, we break ourselves. If his condemnation falls on us, it crushes us.

My non-Christian friend, the point of what I am saying is that Jesus Christ is essential. There’s no way to build your life without him. There’s no way to enter God’s vineyard without him. You must not stumble or fall on this stone. You cannot survive if the stone falls on you. The only safe way to live is to stand on the stone. To build on it. To make it the foundation of your life. You do that by believing the gospel and following Jesus as your Lord with all authority over you.

Church, this cornerstone is the foundation of our entire existence. Without Christ as the chief cornerstone, there is no building. We are “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:20-21).

Luke 20:19-26

The religious authorities fail in their effort to question Jesus’s authority. They fail so miserably that Jesus says the vineyard will be taken away from them unless they acknowledge him as the chief cornerstone.

“Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on him that very hour, because they knew he had told this parable against them” (v. 19). Well, duh. Wherever did they get that idea? But once again, their plots are held up because “they feared the people” (v. 19). It’s striking how often cowardice and murder can be in the same religious heart.

Because they’re afraid, they recruit some spies (v. 20). These spies “pretended to be righteous,” but they were looking for ways they “could catch him in what he said.”

Since their religious authority has been destroyed, they now look to use government authority to silence the Lord Jesus Christ. So we move from religious court to the secular court.

They use flattery in verse 21. They’re trying to butter up the Lord. Satan’s agents will often make their appeal to our pride. Then they come with their trap question in verse 22: “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” By asking this question they hoped to discredit the Lord with the people because the people all hated the Roman oppression through taxes. If that didn’t work, they hoped they could get the Lord into serious trouble with the Roman government, because not paying taxes would be considered treason.

But the Lord sees right through them (v. 23). He knows when we’re playing games and trying to rig the system like a Cleveland ref.

We don’t have time here to discuss all the implications of Jesus’s response for our understanding of government authority, but we should say at least two things:

The higher authority—the highest authority—is God’s authority. Taxes belong to Caesar; hearts and souls belong to God. God can demand of us things that Caesar could never rightfully demand. For example, the Lord can demand that we worship him. Caesar could not rightly do so. We know this intuitively, don’t we? That’s why in verse 26 they simply were amazed at his answer and shut up.

Luke 20:27-44

Now in verse 1, the conservative religious leaders approached Jesus to question his authority. They failed. So in verse 27 the liberal religious leaders take their turn. The Sadducees were a group of Jewish people who “say there is no resurrection” (v. 27). The Sadducees are the opposition party to the Pharisees. They argue with each other all the time, but they are united against Jesus. They don’t care who has authority as long as it’s one of them.

So they come along to test the Lord as well. The Pharisees tried to question Jesus on the grounds of religious authority and civil authority. The Sadducees decide to challenge Jesus on the ground of scriptural authority. They try to make the Scriptures and Jesus look ridiculous by putting together an absurd scenario (vv. 28-33).

When they say, “Moses wrote for us” (v. 28), they’re referring to the first five books of the Bible. They’re referring to Scripture. The scenario that they use builds on a law called the “kinsman-redeemer” or “levirate marriage” law. That law required just what they outlined. They are undermining one part of Scripture (the resurrection) by twisting another part of it (the kinsman-redeemer law). It’s a challenge to the authority, clarity, necessity, and inspiration of the Scriptures. Our Lord responds with three basic points.

First, he tells them that they don’t understand the differences between “this age” and “that age” (vv. 34-35), between earth and heaven. There are tremendous differences between what happens on earth and what happens in heaven. There are tremendous differences in our very existence. In heaven or the resurrection or “that age,” there is no marriage. Marriage is an earthly reality, not a heavenly one. Incidentally, this is why sanctified singleness is ultimately better than discontented marriage. When we tear ourselves up about marrying, we’re crushing this temporary life over a temporary relationship.

The reason marriage does not exist in heaven is because we are transformed in heaven. We cannot die anymore. We who believe “are like angels and are children of God” (v. 36). We are finally fit to live with our true Husband, who is Christ.

Second, the Lord tells them they don’t understand the Bible’s teaching about the resurrection. The Lord quotes the same author they quoted: Moses. He reminds them of one of the passages that every Jewish person would accept as true and wonderful: the burning bush. It’s in that passage where God speaks to Moses and for the first time in the Bible states his name: Yahweh. He calls himself “the I AM,” the always existing One (Exod 3:14). That’s God’s name. In the giving of his name, God mentions Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the patriarchs or fathers of the Jewish nation.

The Lord Jesus reads the Bible so closely and carefully! No Jewish person would deny that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived with God. The present tense nature of the verse required belief in the resurrection. Who could deny it? That’s why the Sadducees say, “Good answer. Good answer.” Verse 40: “They no longer dared to ask him anything.” The Lord shuts them up, too.

Third, the Lord reveals the deep truth about David’s true Son. He’s already shut the Sadducees up. Now he’s going to shut them down. They’re done with their questions; now the Lord has one of his own: “How can you say that the Christ is the son of David?” (v. 41). I imagine they looked puzzled at first. Everyone knew God promised David a son who would rule on David’s throne forever. That was Judaism 101. That son would be the Christ, or the Messiah, who would bring God’s kingdom and gather all of Israel. Of course the Christ is David’s son.

Then the Lord, still reading his Bible so carefully, quotes Psalm 110:1 and says, “For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, ‘The Lord declared to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”’” (v. 42). Jesus helps them understand that King David eavesdropped on a divine conversation. The first Lord is the Father—Yahweh. He spoke to the second Lord, the Son—Adonai—and told him to sit in the place of honor at his right hand. It’s a glimpse into the divine relationship and the Trinity of persons in the Godhead. David calls them both “Lord.” If David calls the Christ “Lord,” then how could David be greater? How could David be a father in that sense? How could the Christ be David’s son in that sense?

He couldn’t be. The Christ, David’s true Son, is also God’s Son. He rules far above all powers. He sits at the Father’s right hand, and all his enemies will be placed under his feet. You cannot trivialize the Lord’s authority by playing Bible trivia, by trying to make the Bible look absurd. He is high above all!

When we come to the Bible, do we fail to approach it with a sense of the authority it has? Is it a book of curiosities and debatable doctrines? Or does it appear to us a book of power and control because it comes from the mouth of God?

Before we “use the Bible,” we must submit to the Bible. We must recognize its authority in our lives because it comes from God. When we get to know Jesus, we find out that the Lord really does honor the prophets—from John the Baptist (v. 4) all the way back to Moses (v. 37). Because he honors the prophets, the Lord also honors the Scriptures that come through them. Did you notice how often the Lord quoted Scripture (vv. 17-18,37-38,41-44)?

Jesus believes the Bible is true and trustworthy. He believes the Bible reveals what heaven and God are like. He does not trust another authority apart from the Bible. We will never know Jesus well until we know our Bible well and approach it the way he did.

Luke 20:45-47

The Lord Jesus’s authority cannot be questioned. It cannot be refused. It cannot be trumped—there is no higher authority. His authority cannot be trivialized or undermined. Finally, it cannot be avoided.

Many people live as if Jesus did not exist. Even among those who know his name and know about his gospel, some act as if that has nothing to do with them. Many live as if they will never have to respond to the Lord’s authority.

They could not be more wrong. Luke 20 began with Jesus preaching the good news, the gospel. It ends with Jesus preaching the bad news. The good news does not appear good until a person really reckons with the bad news. The scribes put on religious shows. They want to look holy. But they’re pretending—even when they pray. The scribes along with all religious hypocrites in positions of religious authority “receive harsher judgment” (v. 47). In other words, the hottest parts of hell are reserved for hypocritical religious leaders. The false minister will not escape the searing authority of God’s judgment. They cannot avoid it.

Though the leaders receive “harsher judgment,” there remains a condemnation for everyone who lives in sin and ignores Jesus as Lord. One day you too will come before his throne on the day of judgment. If you have bowed before his authority and followed him in faith, you will not be condemned. You will not be put to shame. You will enter his kingdom and know the power of his resurrection. But if you have stiffened your neck and hardened your heart, you will hear the final verdict: “guilty.” You will hear God the Judge sentence you to condemnation in hell. There will be no escape.

The only escape is the gospel. Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins so we would not have to serve the sentence in hell. He rose from the grave to defeat death and to bring us righteousness through faith in him. All who trust him live free with God as they were meant to. Today, trust him.