Module 5 · Lesson 23
Which Messiah?
"What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?"
15 minutes
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"What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David." (Matthew 22:42)
- Learn what "Messiah" means and who else was called by it
- Follow the question Jesus asked, and the one He stopped to ask
- See what Peter and the high priest said
- Examine the strongest objection (that "Son of God" was a royal title)
- Look at what Jesus said about where He came from
Start with a question Someone says: "Jesus is the Messiah." What does the word Messiah tell us? What does it leave out?
What "Messiah" means Messiah is the Hebrew mashiach, "anointed." It was used of many people: A priest (Leviticus 4:3); a king, "the LORD's anointed" (1 Samuel 24:6); and even a Persian king, "his anointed, to Cyrus" (Isaiah 45:1). So saying someone is "anointed" doesn't, by itself, say anything unique. Solomon was an anointed son of David. What made this Messiah different?
The word comes from Daniel’s prophecy: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” (Daniel 9:24–26)
The question Jesus asked In Matthew 22, Jesus asked the Pharisees: "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David." (Matthew 22:42) He didn't ask what the Messiah would do, or what He would look like. He asked: whose son is He? The Pharisees gave the expected answer. Then Jesus said: "How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word." (Matthew 22:43–46) The Messiah is David's son, and also David's Lord, seated at the right hand of God. He is more than another king in David's line. The expected answer was true but incomplete.
The two parables in the same context Right before and after this exchange, Jesus told two stories: "But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him." (Matthew 21:37–38) "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son." (Matthew 22:2) Both are about a father and his son, whom the world rejects. These are the stories that surround the question "whose son is he?"
The tenants, in full: “Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?” (Matthew 21:33–40)
What Peter and the high priest said "Whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:15–16) Peter says both: the Christ and the Son of the living God. And at the trial: "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" (Mark 14:61) The high priest linked the two titles in one question. In both cases, "Christ" and "Son of God" are placed together. Paul does the same: "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Romans 1:3–4)
Matthew opens by calling Jesus “the son of David,” and Peter answers a larger question: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1) “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13–16)
A strong objection
"'Son of God' was a royal and messianic title in the Old Testament (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalm 2:7). Israel itself was called God's son (Exodus 4:22). So when Jesus used it, He may only have meant the Messiah-King. It says nothing about His origin."
It is true that “Son of God” was also a royal title. Israel was called "my son, even my firstborn" (Exodus 4:22), and the Jews said, "we have one Father, even God" (John 8:41). So if Jesus meant only what they meant, there would have been nothing to argue about. But they did argue, and they wanted to kill Him. What was different?
Jesus answered them: "If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me." (John 8:42) He uses three verbs: proceeded forth, came, and sent. The first two are about where He came from. Later: "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." (John 16:28) "They have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." (John 17:8) These are statements of origin.
Israel was called God’s son. But what does “proceeded forth” mean? The same idea of coming forth is used of a birth in Genesis: “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” (Isaiah 64:8) “And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.” (Genesis 15:4)
So what does the evidence say?
- Jesus' hearers understood His claim to Sonship as making Himself equal with God (John 5:18; 10:33). A purely royal title would not have drawn that response.
- Jesus spoke of coming from the Father.
- The high priest asked about "Christ, the Son of the Blessed" in one breath.
So the Sonship Jesus claimed includes origin and nature, not only office.
The Fact of the Messiah Negates the Metaphor If the Christ-ship or Messiah-ship of Jesus is based merely on His human birth or a functional title, then He is no different than the other anointed people. Solomon was an anointed son of David. But Jesus was the Christ. His anointing was based on a different sonship: a Divine sonship.
The fact that Jesus is the promised Messiah negates the idea that His Sonship is a metaphor. Either Jesus is the literal Son of God, the true Messiah possessing the nature of God, or He is not the Messiah at all. When God said “this is my beloved Son” and Jesus said “I am the Son of God,” God meant what He said and said what He meant! In simple human language, God was telling man that Jesus is His Son and He, God, is the Father of His Son whom He begat. There is no metaphor involved in this relationship.
The evidence in this lesson points to the second: He is the Son who came from the Father, and also David’s Lord.
- "Messiah" means "anointed" and was used of priests, kings and Cyrus.
- Jesus asked, "whose son is he?" and showed that David's son was also David's Lord.
- Peter, the high priest and Paul all pair "Christ" and "Son of God."
- Jesus spoke of coming from the Father (John 8:42; 16:28; 17:8).
- "Son of God" can be a royal title, but the Gospels show it also described origin and nature.
- What do I mean when I say "Jesus is the Messiah"?
- What do I think of the objection that "Son of God" is only a royal title? What would settle it for me?
- What does John 16:28 add?
Matthew 16:16
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Paul warned about "another Jesus." How do we know which Jesus Paul preached?