Children of God
Today’s passage: Matthew 22:41–46, Mark 12:35–37, and Luke 20:41–44
Focus verse: No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22:46)
Having deftly deflected all three of their ploys, Jesus now has a question for his detractors. “Considering the Messiah,” he asks, “whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they answer (see Matthew 1:6–16).
Then Jesus quotes one of David’s psalms: “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet’” (Psalm 110:1).
“If David calls him Lord,” Jesus asks, “how can he be his son?”
How indeed? No one has an answer and from that moment on, they don’t harass him with any more questions to trap him.
Jesus’s response from Psalms has always confounded me. This is because the passage repeats the word Lord.
Yes, the first says the Lord, and the second says my Lord, implying a distinction. And knowing the dictionary says Lord can mean either God or Jesus helps a little, but not enough.
Those who know Hebrew tell me that two different Hebrew words appear in this passage, with them both translated as Lord. Therefore, the source of my confusion is not the holy text but the English language.
Though most versions of the Bible use Lord twice in this passage, not all do.
Some replace the first Lord with Yahweh (LEB, NOG, and WEB), Jehovah (DARBY and YLT), Adoni (OJB and TLV), or Eternal (VOICE).
Others replace the second Lord with Messiah (TLB) or Master (ICB).
What helps me the most, however, is the Amplified Bible, which reads, “The Lord (Father) says to my Lord (the Messiah, His Son) . . .”
From all this, we see Jesus as the Son of God and the son of David, that is, David’s descendant. Jesus is also the son of Mary and Joseph.
But there’s more.
We’re part of God’s family too. At least we are when we follow Jesus. As followers of the Christ, his Father adopts us into his family as sons and daughters (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:4–5, and Ephesians 1:4–6).
This makes us children of God. We are part of his family. We are his children.
This makes us heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17), poised to receive our inheritance from him (Colossians 1:12 and 1 Peter 1:3–4).
Adoption is one explanation of how we become part of God’s family. Another is marriage.
In Revelation we read that we—who are collectively Jesus’s church—will one day marry him. In this, we picture Jesus as the groom and the church is his pure, spotless bride (Revelation 19:6–9).
In considering this, push aside the thought of a sexual union and replace the image with a spiritual intimacy. When we marry the Lamb, we marry into the family and become a child of God.
Jesus is the son of God and we—as his church—are children of God, through both adoption and marriage.
Questions:
- How well do we do at considering ourselves a child of God?
- What is our reaction at the thought of being married to Jesus?
Prayer: Thank you, Father God, that we are your sons and daughters, children of the king.
[This devotional is taken from the Day 14 reading in The Passion of Jesus.]
Discover more about celebrating Jesus and his passion to save us in devotional The Passion of Jesus. It is part of the Holiday Celebration Devotionals Series.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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