Mark 12:35-37 - Homilies By A.f. Muir

Great David's greater Son,

I. UNSPIRITUAL INTERPRETERS OF SCRIPTURE ARE INVOLVED IN INCONSISTENCY AND SELF - CONTRADICTION ,

1 . In the present instance they proved to be so with respect to the most important truths. It is only the spiritual mind that can harmonize the apparent discrepancies of revelation ( 1 Corinthians 2:14 ; cf. Hebrews 5:12 , seq.).

2 . This results in their cure loss and injury ( 1 Peter 3:16 ). They failed to recognize the Messiah when he did come, because of their false conceptions of what he was.

II. THE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH IS SEEK FROM PROPHETIC SCRIPTURE TO BE MORE THAN ROYAL — TO BE , IN FACT , DIVINE . The hundred and tenth psalm is rightly called "a psalm of David." Merely to apply it to David is to destroy its Messianic character. "The psalm is not only quoted by our Lord as Messianic in the passages already referred to (viz. this and Matthew 22:1-46 : 41-46); it is more frequently cited by the New Testament writers than any other single portion of the ancient Scriptures. (Comp., besides these passages in the Gospels, Acts 2:34 , Acts 2:35 ; 1 Corinthians 15:25 ; Hebrews 1:13 ; Hebrews 5:6 ; Hebrews 7:17 , Hebrews 7:21 ; Hebrews 10:13 .) In later Jewish writings, in the Talmud and the rabbis, nearly every verse of the psalm is quoted as referring to the Messiah" (Perowne). The majority of ancient Jewish intereters apply the psalm to the Messiah. If, then, it is David's own composition, and is Messianic, the language used with respect to the Royal One who is to come is only to be explained as involving divinity: "Jehovah said to my Lord."

III. IN APPLYING THE PSALM TO HIMSELF , CHRIST SUGGESTED THE TRUE SOLUTION OF THE APPARENT CONTRADICTION . The psalm is deliberately and by implication adopted by Christ. He testifies to the Divine inspiration of its author. His own person and work are the key to its meaning. As he was Son of David on the human side, so was he David's Lord by virtue of his Divine Sonship.—M.