Day 111

Joshua 22:21‐23:16; Luke 20:27‐47; Psalm 89:14‐37; Proverbs 13:17‐19

Resurrection Rejoicing – Don’t Miss the Point!

After disarming the Sadducee’s riddle on the resurrection using an example of family that had experienced more tragedy than most any family could bear, Jesus challenges them with one of His own: the Messiah is meant to be a descendant (“son”) of David; yet, in Psalm 110, David refers to the Messiah as his “Lord.” Given that a son shows deference to a father, and not a father to a son, how can the Messiah be both son of David and Lord over him? This is more than a riddle designed to stump His challengers. Here Jesus implicitly affirms His identity. He not only does this once but twice, in fact. For one, in referencing Psalm 110:1, both He and His audience would be aware of the rest of the Psalm, “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’… You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek… The Lord is at your right hand … he will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.”

For the other, if the Messiah is both descendant of, and Lord over, then He cannot be a mere mortal. Of course, Jesus’ opponents would miss much of this, and could not have accepted it had they grasped it. But we, like the disciples in Acts 2, live after the resurrection and its confirmation of Jesus’ claims. On the day of Pentecost, Peter (and Luke) quotes Psalm 110:1 again, explicating the meaning of this text: “God has raised this Jesus to life… Exalted to the right hand of God… Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:32-36). We not only solve the riddle; we also join the disciples and the heavenly host in worship of the exalted Lord.

Lord, may we praise you today as the risen Savior of the world. In all that goes on around us among this fallen reality, may we exalt you as Lord over all. To God be all glory, honor, and power. AMEN!

Devotion adapted and edited from cbcgb.org for the purposes of publication.  Copyright –Public Domain