The where all the people could hear, He said to His disciples,

Luke 20:45

Jesus had compassion on the multitudes. He attempted to guide the Jewish people to the truth. He did truly desire their repentance, though He knew what would happen.

Heavenly Father, thank You for going on with Your plan in spite of us! You are good regardless of what we do. Your mercy, grace, and love are Your own. We cannot fathom Your character, it is wonderful to us. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

David therefore calls Him ‘Lord’, how then is He his Son?

Luke 20:44

The logic here is airtight. The Jewish elites had no idea how to answer such a question. It seemed to them to be an irreconcilable conundrum. And, indeed it is if one refuses to accept the fact of the virgin birth. The Christ would have to be both human and Divine simultaneously, and the virgin birth is the means by which that was possible.

We might be tempted to think that the truth of the hypostatic union was altogether hidden and the Jews were justified in largely missing it. But such is not the case. There is a plethora of evidence for it in the Old Testament, not just the passage from Psalms that Jesus presents here. To miss it requires that one be resistant to the idea.

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving to us Your Truth in spite of our tendencies towards unbelief. You are merciful and Your faithfulness cannot be overemphasized. We praise Your Wisdom, the Christ. He has made our lives abundant and free. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

‘Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’

Luke 20:43

This verse is short but loaded with meaning. The ‘until’ here should not be taken to mean that after this footstool business the Lord will be somehow demoted. The point is that there is a process by which all the enemies of the Lord will come to naught. And, God the Son sits on the right hand of the Father, the place of honor, as this process takes place.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your mercy and Your grace. Thank You for reminding us of how You work in our lives each and every day. Your wisdom is something we look to constantly. We search through the pages of Your word and apply ourselves diligently to study, because we know Your words are of inestimable value. We praise You for Your loving kindness and for Your truth! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray and praise You, Amen.

Even David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, Sit at my right side,’

Luke 20:42

Jesus is here quoting Psalm 110:1. The ‘LORD’ refers to the I AM, the proper Name of Almighty God. The ‘Lord’ is Adonai, meaning Lord or Master. This is a perfect example of the reality of God the Father and God the Son in the Old Testament. Jesus is setting up for the Jewish leaders one of His most profound attempts to get the truth across to them.

Heavenly Father, You are the One Who we adore! You in Your Trinity are amazing and wonderful beyond description. I stand in awe daily of Your mighty power and perfect truth. Thank You for Your love and goodness! I cannot thank You enough for Your leading. I will look always to Your way for me. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray and praise You, Amen.

Then He said to them, ‘How do they maintain that the Christ is the Son of David?’

Luke 20:41

Jesus is preparing to delve more deeply into the doctrine of the hypostatic union than the Jewish leaders were prepared to bear. Jesus is not here challenging the idea that the Christ is the son of David. He is challenging the means by which the Jewish religious elite could make sense of that truth.

Heavenly Father, thank You for guiding our lives! It is a joy and a privilege to be able to seek Your will and Your face in connection with our daily activities. It is a wonder to be able to turn through the pages of Your Word and see things that help us in our daily lives, as well as our lifelong choices and aspirations. You are merciful, loving, kind, and good to us. We praise you for your great wisdom, power, justice, and faithfulness! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray and praise You, Amen.

But they no longer dared to ask Him anything.

Luke 20:40

Jesus was too hot to handle. Interactions with Him were dangerous games for the ruling elite. His intellect, insight, and authority were enough to keep them up at night. They could not afford to rock the boat with the Romans, and any popular uprising could make waves. Their attempts to question Him had been calculated risks. But at this point, the risk had clearly become too great.

Heavenly Father, our earthly wisdom is so limited! We think we know and understand so much, and yet we are still incredibly limited. Without Your Word and Your world to guide us, we are so primitive and evil. Thank You for making Your truth available, and for keeping us humble. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray and praise You, Amen.

And the Scribes responded, saying, ‘Teacher, what you said was good.’

Luke 20:39

The Scribes were experts on the law, and like the Pharisees they did not agree with the Sadducees about the afterlife or spiritual things. Some of them may have truly been impressed by the words of Christ. But they likely made this compliment primarily as a barb against the Sadducees who were present.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the good teaching of Christ. The Word is our constant companion. In the pages of the Bible we find comfort, healing, and power. I praise You for the Truth and Your plan to reveal it to us. You are wise beyond all others and we can always trust Your faithfulness. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

He is not God of the dead, but of the living. To Him they are all alive.

Luke 20:38

Jesus teaches this to His disciples on several occasions. For example He refers to some, who had died, as sleeping. Physical death is not meant to be considered an end in the theology of Christ.

Life comes from God and is determined by God. This is what is meant by ‘to Him they are all alive’ in this verse. To us they are dead. But to Him they are very much alive.

Heavenly Father, thank You for life! We are surrounded by a society full of death and decay. But You are at work for life in every moment. You teach us truth and love and grace and show us the Way to life. Jesus is the Life! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

But that the dead rise, even Moses reveals in the bush passage, as he quotes the Lord, ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

Luke 20:37

Jesus is directly quoting from Exodus 3:6. In that verse, Moses records how the Lord identified Himself to Moses. All three patriarchs had of course been long since dead by the time that the Lord was speaking to Moses in the bush. And yet the Lord Himself refers to them as if they are still alive.

Indeed, Jesus could have quoted many Old Testament passages to affirm this truth. Job for example confirmed the resurrection. But for the Sadducees, the reference to Moses would be particularly impactful.

Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us Your truth beyond the pale smudge of death. We live so burdened by death, and held down by it. But it is a consequence of a temporary condition. May we live to look beyond the stain of sin to the glorious future in Your love! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Nor can they die any longer, for they are like angels, and are the sons of God, sons of the resurrection.

Luke 20:36

Saints are not angels. But just like angels, the saints will not die after the resurrection to glorified bodies. This makes sense because death was not originally a part of our world. Saints living in the world today are children of God spiritually. But at the resurrection, they become children of God physically.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word and our access to it. Your mercy to us is made obvious by Your sharing of Your Word. You have commanded us to take it to everyone, everywhere. That shows Your great love. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.