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Matthew 22:41-46
41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,
42saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
43He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
44“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?
45If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
46And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

One of my favorite genres of leisure reading is science fiction. The books of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein lined my shelves when I was a kid. My earliest favorite is called A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I was fascinated by the concept of time travel when I was first exposed to this book in grade school. Now of course time travel is something I doubt we’ll ever actually be able to do. But whenever I read this passage in Matthew 22, I think about time travel. Bear in mind, this is NOT what Jesus was talking about when He mentions King David. But the concept He exposes the Pharisees and His disciples too borders on something that strange. He basically tells the Pharisees that He and King David were friends. King David called Him – Jesus – Lord. Verse 46 says, “and no one was able to answer Him a word . . .” Well, I’m sure of that. They walked away scratching their heads on that one for sure.

We have to be completely amazed along with those Pharisees that Jesus and David were contemporaries! Jesus is God, making Him one with the Great I Am – the pre-existent One. Jesus intimately knew of David’s life and was the One that David called Lord. And yet there he stands in the flesh talking with the Pharisees 1,000 years later! David writes prophetically of Jesus in Psalm 110, which Jesus quotes during this discussion.

Psalm 110
1The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.
4The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
5The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
7He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

Here, lest there be any doubt, Jesus claims without apology to be the One destined to sit on the throne of David forever. He is the great I Am – the Promised One. All prophecy is fulfilled in Him alone. It is an amazing image and goes way beyond anything we could ever think of in our “science fiction” writings. He is beyond fantastic.

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