Matt.21:41-44 – But He said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”’
Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and so how is He his son?”
This was the end of all the questions that were coming from the religious leaders, rather than trapping Jesus with their arguments they found themselves trapped by their own misunderstanding of the scriptures. Their preconceived ideas of what the Messiah would be like was causing them to trip up, the One they had waited on for all of their lives was right there and their blindness keep them from seeing Him. The argument Jesus made was simple but quite disturbing, David referred to the Father as God as well as the Messiah as being God in one sentence. There was no way for their religious bias to allow them to see what the scriptures actually meant. Jesus was the cornerstone and they were tripping over it. Here is how the Reformed Expository Commentary describes this passage.
“The identity of the first “LORD” is obvious. Most English translations print his title in small capital letters to show that it refers to God himself. David is using the name Yahweh—the special divine name that belongs only to God. So the person speaking in this verse is the Lord God Almighty.
But to whom is he speaking? The identity of the second “Lord” is somewhat less obvious, but it is perfectly clear nonetheless. This time David uses a different name for “Lord”—the name Adonai. This is a general term that can be used for any kind of lord, but here it refers specifically to the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. This is clear from the rest of the psalm, which declares that this “Lord” will rule over the kingdom of God. So David is repeating a dialogue between God Almighty and the coming Christ. He is saying something like this: “The Lord God says to my Lord the Messiah, sit on my throne to rule the universe.””
Jesus is quoting from Ps.110 in this passage, this verse became the most quoted by the apostles in the years to come. It was describing the Messiah seated at the right hand of God, this would be the heavenly ministry of Jesus. The Apostles often referred to this verse describing Jesus as the One who had ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father. Nothing could be more offensive to a religious mind.
