Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19970323.htm

MATTHEW: JESUS AS ISRAEL'S MESSIAH AND HIS MESSIANIC KINGDOM
Part XI. The Crisis Of The Messiah's Offer Of The Kingdom
G. Understanding That Christ's Claim To Full DEITY As Israel's MESSIAH Is Biblical
(Matthew 22:41-46)
  1. Introduction
    1. A number of cults accept the idea that Jesus of Nazareth was a messiah or prophet of some kind, but NOT also God-come-in-the-flesh. (Gary L. Wall, "A Catalogue of Cults", Moody Monthly, July/August 1979)
    2. The Jews of Jesus day also accepted the coming of the Messiah and a Kingdom, but denied that this one would be God. After all, the Jewish shema or central confession of faith from Deuteronomy 6:4 stated: "Here, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord."
    3. Since people today wonder how Deuteronomy 6:4 can state that there is only one God, and yet have Jesus claim to be God with the Father in John 10:30, we review Matthew 22:41-46 where Jesus answered this concern for the Pharisees as follows:
  2. Understanding That Christ's Claim To Full DEITY As Israel's MESSIAH Is Biblical, Mtt. 22:41-46.
    1. From Mark's account, we know that when the conservative Pharisees came asking Jesus what the greatest commandment was, Jesus began by stating Judaism's central confession of faith, the shema, Mk. 12:28-29.
    2. However, He went beyond just Deuteronomy 6:4 to quote Deuteronomy 6:5, that one needed to love the Lord His God with all of his being.
    3. In fact, Jesus went further to quote Leviticus 19:18, that man needed to love his neighbor as himself, and to say that the entire Mosaic writings of the Pentateuch and the Old Testament prophets hung on these two commands, Mtt. 22:39, 40.
    4. The reason behind this question and Jesus' response was the effort on the part of the Pharisees to get Jesus cornered into having to deny claims that He was God:
      1. The question by the Pharisees as to the greatest commandment was a test to trip Jesus up, Mtt. 22:35.
      2. As Jews, the conservative Pharisees knew full well the central thrust of Judaism was the Deut. 6:4's shema that Israel's Lord was ONE God: they obviously wanted Jesus to deny it openly in favor of His previous claim to be God with the Father in calling Himself the Son of God (cf. John 5:18), and thus discredit Him before other Jew s for denying the famous Jewish confession of faith!
    5. Jesus' answer showed a powerful argument for the belief of multiple persons in the single Godhead, the basis of our Trinitarian belief that there are three persons in the single Godhead:
      1. Jesus simply answered the question, quoting the famous shema of Deuteronomy 6:4, Mk. 12:28.
      2. However, He went on to quote Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 about loving God and man to expose by the Pharisee's loveless effort to try and trick Jesus into a capital offense of heresy rather than trying to hear Him out as to how He claimed to be God in spite of the shema! (Mtt. 22:37-40)
      3. Having rebuked the Pharisees, and having supported the shema's claim that God is ONE, Jesus used Old Testament documentation to show that there are several PERSONS within the Godhead's essence:
        1. While the Pharisees were still gathered together, Jesus followed up His confession of faith in the Jewish shema by asking a question about Psalm 110:1, Mtt. 22:41:
        2. He asked them whose son was the Messiah, and they replied, "The son of David," Mtt. 22:42.
        3. If so, Jesus asked, why did David in Ps. 110:1 via the Spirit's inspiration called his son, the Messiah Adonai, a term used elsewhere only of GOD, Mtt. 22:43-44. (Bib. Know. Com., N.T., p. 73)!
        4. In other words, Jesus revealed that the Messiah was both David's physical son and also His God, implying the incarnation of God as the Messiah, and a plurality of persons in the divine essence!
      4. This totally stumped the Pharisees, and they dared never ask Him any more questions, Mtt. 22:46.
Lesson: We must not fear that Christianity is a man-made religion because it teaches the difficult Trinitarian doctrine that three Persons exist in one Godhead. INDEED, the Hebrew Old Testament ALONE documents at least two divine persons i n Ps. 110:1, and the same Hebrew Old Testament in the Deuteronomy 6:4 shema also says there is only one God. The doctrine of the Trinity did not originate as an invention of Church History; rather, it is part of the pre-Christian, Old Testament rec ord.