Matthew 22

We're actually going to make it through the whole chapter, but let's read through the first 14 verses, which is the first parable. And then we'll open up in prayer from there.

I'm going to have you stop there. Let's pray. Father, as always, we come before You with humble hearts, desiring to learn, desiring to receive. And yet, Lord, at the same time, we know that we are in great need of all that You provide through your Holy Spirit. We just really pray that You would direct our hearts and tune our hearts to Your voice today. And I pray my Father that as we go through this chapter that You would be speaking to people about what's going on in their hearts, in their lives, in their homes, and marriages, and businesses. And Lord that You would bring all that is needed to each and every person.

And Father I pray then also You would give us the courage and grace and to walk out what we need to walk out, that we might be obedient children. We look to You for all of these things and pray this in the name of Jesus, amen. You might notice as we go through this parable that it really belongs to the previous chapter. Chapter 21 dealt with the whole issue of the rejection by the religious leaders of Jesus and in His role as Messiah and yet, and this, parable really continues to communicate that various idea. But it does it a little more from God's perspective, and that's what makes it interesting as far as parables go. I've always liked this parable, but I've always found it challenging. I have to tell you that. In fact, I think this is one of the most challenging parables to interpret. And the reason for that is that we have this tendency when we read through a parable, to try to line up everything we hear in it to something, or someone, or some event, or something like that. And there are times that that's great, but there are also times when that can get us into trouble, as it relates to really understanding the parable. As I've said to you many times. Parables are often simply trying to convey a very simple meaning. Many times it's just, it's very simple. And we're not really expected to figure out what all of the things in the parable stand for. And this is one. Now, I mean, there are some things that I think we can confidently line up. For example, I believe the King in this parable represents God. Okay. I think that's fairly easy. And then we've got the Son of the king, that would be Jesus. It's really when we get to this issue of the marriage feast itself, that things start to get a little bit dicey. And I think a lot of people, when they're reading through this, if they know their Bible fairly well, they would say, well, I think that lines up to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. That's probably what that refers to. Well, I thought that through for a long time and there are implications when you line up things in the parable with something, that's in real life, there are always implications. So if you say that this wedding feast in this parable is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which by the way is talked about in Revelation chapter 19, I believe it's 19. Then there are implications that go along with it. You got to decide, okay, who's the bride. Because there's when there's a wedding and a wedding feast, you always have a groom and you always have a bride. And then you have guests and you have to figure out who all those different people are in the pieces have to fit with the rest of the revelation of God's Word. But actually if you do that, it doesn't work it, the implications and it just doesn't work. I believe that this is one of those parables that is best to interpret simply. And the simple view of the wedding feast, as far as what the wedding feast represents is simply a picture of God's offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. And that this is all about, this is really in keeping with that same theme that we saw in chapter 21 where Jesus spoke of the rejection, His rejection by the Jewish people at large; particularly and especially, the Jewish religious leaders. Now, as we begin to look at this parable, we find out that there are really 3 different reactions to people hearing the Gospel, which is this invitation that is given to attend this wedding feast. I want you to look with me at first in verse 3. Where it says that the king “sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast,...” And I believe that's just a general call of salvation to understand, to embrace, and to accept what Jesus did on the cross. But you'll notice it says, “but they did not come.” In other words, these people received an invitation, but they didn't come. Why? They simply weren't interested. They didn't care. They were indifferent. This is one of the biggest mysteries to me, frankly. How some people can hear the Gospel and just go. Okay, whatever. And not feel like they need to do anything with it, or understand it, or embrace it. It's just, they're just, and it's not like they're against God. It's not like they're even against the Bible or going to church. If you know a person like this, they'll even sit quietly and politely while you read the Bible to them. But they just don't care. They just, they'll even tell you. I'm not interested, it's fine for you. You want to go to church and you believe what you believe. That's great. I'm just not interested. And there are a lot of people like this. If you've ever met somebody like that? I'm willing to bet some of you here today at one time were like that. There was a period in maybe in your life where you just weren't interested. It's like, God, I suppose there's a God I haven't never given it much thought, never read the Bible. I'm just not interested. A lot of people like that, but that's not everyone's response.

In verse 5, we have another response where it says, He sent out his servants again. It says they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business.” Now, these are the folks that might have possibly been interested if they weren't already giving their attention elsewhere. And they are particularly geared toward work and making money and that's where their head’s at. That's what gets them out of their bed in the morning. Got to go to work, got to make money. In fact, they're a little bit surprised that you Christians spending all this time in church. Do you guys realize if you took all the hours that you spent in church for your entire life, do you know how much money you could have made during that time? I mean, think about it. Just add up all those work hours. Good grief. So that's the attitude of this crowd. They might otherwise come, but they've got things going on. Have you ever met somebody like that? You invite them to church, and they've got an excuse for every single Sunday. They've got something going on. Other things are more important. And then in verse 6, we have the final response here. It says here that, “…the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” So here's these guys sent out by the king to simply give an invitation for people to come to a wedding feast, and they are treated badly, and some of them are even put to death. Why? Well, we're not told here. It's just because these people were violently, I mean, obviously they were violently opposed to the Gospel. You've got the other people that, they don't, they wouldn't mind even sitting in a room where people are talking about God in the Bible, but these people can't put up with it. They cannot abide any talk about, I don't want to hear… You talk about God, I'm leaving. Have you ever had somebody say that you just, you bring up God or church or the Bible, and I just want you to know ahead of time, I'm out of here. Now, these are the people that have a violent response to the Gospel, and elsewhere in the Bible, we learn why that is. John tells us that the light has shone in, among mankind, and men hated the light because they loved the darkness. And they refused to come into the light for fear that their deeds would be exposed. (John 3:19) And that's really what's behind that violent response, even though they may not know it.

So you have these different reactions of people. Not interested, just indifferent, busy, I'm making money, right? Got to make hay while the sun shines. And then the people who are violently opposed to the Gospel. And it says in verse 7 that the consequences began to rain down on them. We're told, “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” And these are very strong words, I grant you. And they’re strong actions. And the connection we make to real life events is obviously judgment. God judging those who reject the offer of salvation through His Son. But we're told here that even after this response of and this consequence that came down upon these people's heads, that the king again sent out his servants. And this represents the heart of God even though people have been indifferent, or too busy, or violent, He still sends out His servants to these people. And He basically just tells them, just go out and get anybody. I don't care what they look like, what they smell like, just bring them in, and we'll just fill the banquet hall with who… And all the other people, they're like, yeah, sure, banquet is great. And they all come in, and the banquet hall is full, and everybody's celebrating. And we're told in this parable that eventually the king, as he's walking in the midst of his guests, he noticed that there's a man there who isn't wearing a wedding garment. And he confronts the man, “how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” And the man is speechless. And so he orders his attendants to throw the man out. And the language here, again, in verse 13, if you look with me is again, very severe. “… the king said, ‘Bind him hand and foot… cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” And we know that's a picture of hell, of utter separation from God. And it's not hard to figure that sort of a picture out. Here's the question we have to ask. What is the wedding garment and why was it so important? Because obviously the parable is just giving us pictures, it's giving us illustrations, but those pictures and illustrations, they apply to something that we need to understand and be aware of. So, what is the wedding garment? Well, this is really one of the easiest things of all in this whole parable to identify. Well, I suppose God and Jesus are the two easy— God the Father and Jesus, they're pretty easy too. But this wedding garment, this is, and this should have been very easy for those who were listening to this parable being taught because the Jews knew the Word, particularly the Pharisees. They knew the Word, they studied the Word. 700 years before Christ was born, God revealed what a wedding garment was all about. I'll show you here on the screen from the Book of Isaiah, which by the way was written 700 years before the birth of Christ. Isaiah writes and says,

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me (look at this) with the robe of righteousness, (there's what it's called) as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. And so, prophetically. Isaiah speaks of this as a robe of righteousness. And so now, we see what this is all about. But we have to ask ourselves, how do you get it? And why is it so important? Well, the apostle Paul explains in the Book of Romans. Let me show you this on the screen. From Romans chapter 3, he says,

…now the righteousness of God has been manifested (that word means it's been revealed, brought forth) apart from the law, (so it’s apart from keeping rules, being good) although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it (and we just read a passage from Isaiah where the prophet Isaiah bore witness to this very thing, he says) — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. And so, we now know that this wedding garment was this picture of the robe of righteousness that God gives. Paul explains how you get it. It's not by being good. It's by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. God literally puts this righteousness, which is, by the way, His righteousness, on you. He puts it on you. And so now you stand before God, righteous in His sight. Right? Why?

Because you put your faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Bottom line, right? That's how righteousness is obtained. Now, but the fact that this man in this parable sought to be a part of this wedding celebration, unclothed, not meaning that he didn't have clothes on, but meaning that he didn't, he refused to wear the garment that had been offered to him, is also representative of people who simply want to, or believe that, they should be able to gain acceptance into heaven by their own righteousness. And there are lots of people who believe that. I mean, I've said this many times, you go out and just start polling people on the street and if you find somebody who believes in heaven, and then you ask them, how do you get there, they're most likely going to say, well, I hope that when I stand before God one day, He looks at what I, my life, and He sees that the good outweighs the bad. That's a person who is trusting in their own righteousness. In other words, they believe that their good deeds are going to be sufficient to gain them acceptance into heaven. And that's a very common belief. It's very common today. And frankly, it was very common, in Jesus's day too. It was a very common attitude among the Jews. Paul wrote about this attitude in chapter 10, verse 3. Up on the screen when he said,

…seeking to (it, he's speaking of the Jews here speaking or seeking rather to) establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Why? Because they were trying to establish their own by being good, by keeping the law, or at least their interpretation of the law. And we're going to try to do this and we're going to, we're going to be able to keep the law and be good people and then God is going to accept us. The problem is God had also told them in the Book of Isaiah that their most righteous acts are as filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) The best they could put on is still filthy in God's sight. Right? But they refuse to believe that. It's interesting that Paul himself used to be that way. Before he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he was a Pharisee. He was a guy who thought, I can do this thing, I can keep the law. I can be good enough, I can I know the rules, I can keep the rules, right. And he had confidence in all the things that he believed were in his, that were in his favor, I guess. Paul just thought through his life and he thought, I'm a son of Abraham, right? My parents raised me the way I was supposed to be raised as a Hebrew. I did all the things, circumcised on the eighth day. And I did this and I did, and I punched all the buttons, and filled all the boxes. And he believed that was how he was going to get to heaven. But he got to a place in his life where he realized, oh, I guess it's not enough. It never was enough and nobody ever could fulfill that kind of righteousness. And so he wrote about it to the Philippians. Let me, this is great. Look at this on the screen. He says, you know what?

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, (he goes) I have more: (yeah) circumcised on the eighth day, (check) of the people of Israel, (check) of the tribe of Benjamin, (check) a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, (hey man, I was) a Pharisee; as to zeal, (oh yeah, I was zealous alright) a persecutor of (I persecuted) the church; as to righteousness under the law, (I was) blameless. (but look what he goes on to say)

Indeed, I count everything as loss (now) because of the surpassing worth of (just) knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (and here it is) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— Guys, that's how we're saved. That's how we're saved. You can't be good enough. Stop trying to be good enough to get to heaven. You can't do it. It's only by depending on the righteousness that comes through faith. You put your faith in Jesus, He does the rest. He clothes you with that wedding garment that we know now is the robe of righteousness. And He looks at you and He says, that one is mine. And they are righteous in My sight. Praise God. Oh, this is some of the best news you're going to get this week. I'm telling you right now. And then Jesus makes this final statement in verse 14. He says, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” And this is really a fascinating statement. We tend to look at this verse and view it outside of its context but I want you to view this verse in light of the parable that Jesus just told about people rejecting, people being invited, and some saying, whatever. Some going off to their business, some becoming violently opposed. He says, “many are called.” You look at this parable and you ask yourself, how many were called? Everybody, the king called everybody, right? And, we have these different responses. Indifference, busyness, violent opposition. All those people obviously missed out, but they were called. They were called. He drew, this is the heart of God to call everyone. There's this belief today, I don't know if some of you have ever gotten into it. But there's this belief that the only people that come to faith in Jesus Christ are the ones whom God predetermined, He chose. And so He chose some people, but so other people, He didn't choose. And so they never really had a chance in the first place. But my Bible says, God is not willing that any be lost, but that all would come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) And this parable shows that the invitation went out to all of them, even the people that didn't begin to deserve that invitation. That's you and me, by the way. And it went out to everyone. But ultimately, the ones who were chosen were the ones who responded to the invitation. So the question that I think aptly fits this parable is one that is recorded in the Book of Hebrews. I'm going to put it on the screen from Hebrews chapter 2, verse 3, it says,

That, boy, isn't that a question? Mercy. How should we escape if we reject, or neglect, or push away such a great salvation? Let's keep reading. Verse 15, “Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words.” They thought they could catch him saying something. That they could accuse him either to the Jews or to the Romans. “16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, (the fans of Herod) saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.” That’s called buttering your bread on both sides. And so they say, “7 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” And by the way, that word, lawful is interesting. They're not asking if it's lawful under Rome, which was, of course, the government that had now dominated them. The word, lawful here is more, is it lawful in God's eyes? Alright? So they're asking Him, what do you think? Does God want us to pay taxes? Now here's the deal, you need to know what's going on here. I know you don't love paying taxes I'm, well, I'm fairly sure of that. But it was a different situation for the Jews in Israel because you see, they were paying money to their oppressors. They were paying money to a foreign government that had conquered them, and was now dominating them, and making life miserable for them. And so you see the Jews despised paying taxes, okay? So, this is fairly easy, and there was a lot, there were a lot of people in the Jewish community at this time that they felt that paying taxes to the Romans was immoral. Okay. So they figure, okay let's go ask Him this question. Does God want us to pay taxes to Rome? Cause we figure whatever He says, we've got Him. If Jesus says yeah, you need to, you should pay taxes to Rome. Well, that's easy. We'll just go to the Jews and say, he's a friend of Rome. He thinks God wants you to pay taxes to those murderers. Well, Jesus' popularity would've plummeted in the polls overnight, and the Jews knew that.

But they figured they also had Him. If he said no, you shouldn't pay taxes to Rome. Well, then they can just go to the Romans and say, He's preaching rebellion against the emperor. Right? We got Him either way. Yes, He's dead. No, He's dead. We got Him. Alright. Perfect. Here we go. Tell us then, do you think it's lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? And Jesus, aware of their malice, said, Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? “7 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” (and) 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.” Isn't that great? I just love it. I mean, it's just, it's a brilliant response. But there's more to it than you might think. He calls for a coin, and says, okay, whose picture's on this coin? It's Caesar. Great, must belong to Caesar then. Give it to him. You see, that coin had been imprinted with the image of Caesar. Do you understand, people, that you've also been imprinted with an image? The Bible tells you way back in the very first book of the Bible that God created you in His image, right? You have been literally created in the image of God. And so what Jesus is saying here, money, big deal, if it has Caesar's picture on it, give it to him. But you have God's image on you, you give yourself to God, right? That's what's really going on here. And they understood that, and they knew that Jesus had avoided their trap. And they were so amazed, all they could do was leave. And then we're told that, “23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, (Matthew wanted you to know that) and they asked him a question,” Now you I think most of you probably know the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees believed all of what we now have as our Old Testament. They believed in all of those 39 books of the Bible, although they counted them quite differently.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, only accepted the first 5 books of the Old Testament. What we call the Pentateuch. And so the rest of it, they rejected. And because they rejected whole, huge groups of the Word of God, it affected what they believed. They didn't believe in a resurrection as Matthew tells us here. They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in demons. They didn't believe in an afterlife. They thought that when you died, this is like your atheist neighbor. When you die, you just, you're gone. All right. It's like, well, they're dead, they're gone. That's what the Sadducees believed. So here, notice what Matthew is telling you in verse 23 that, that same day, the Sadducees who don't believe in a resurrection, came to ask Jesus about the resurrection, or at least something related to the resurrection. And you got to figure, they're up to something nefarious because who in the world would ask you a question about something you don't believe. Anyway, “saying, (in verse 24) “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ (and that is true) 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died.” First of all, you wonder what kind of a woman she was to go through 7 and I don't know if this is even true. It's like, she was quite a lady. But anyway, now listen to this. Verse 28. “In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.” In other words, they were all married to her. Now Jesus is going to answer their question. First He's going to, but He's going to make a statement here first. “29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” That's a great response. And I don't know if it's something you necessarily want to say to anybody. But, I'll tell you one thing, it sure applies. I mean, there's a lot of people who mock and criticize the Word of God, and the reason they do is because they don't know the Scriptures, nor do they know the power of God. And it's frankly a statement that is just very apt as it relates to what people know and don't know. But anyway, Jesus is going to go on and first He's going to answer the question about marriage, right? Marriage in heaven. Verse 30, He says, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage,…" Okay, people, did you hear that? I don't care what somebody told you when they came and rang your doorbell and talked to you about God. You don't, you're not married in heaven. When you die, and you give up that physical body that you're inhabiting right now, your marriage partner is then free to remarry. Right? They don't stay married to you. We're not married in heaven. Sorry. The Mormons got it wrong. Dead wrong. And so there, it's just, this is what Jesus is saying. In the resurrection, and He's basically saying, in heaven, people are not going to marry, nor are they given in marriage. Notice what He goes on to then say. He says, “but are like angels…” Now be careful here. Jesus is not saying you're going to be an angel. He's saying that, just as the angels don't marry, nor are they given in marriage, that's going to be the way it is for you, right? It doesn't mean you become an angel even though people love to say that at funerals. Good grief. I mean, I've done a lot of funerals. I've been to a few that I didn't have to officiate at, but, people love to say, oh, I guess God needed another angel. No, He didn't. He didn't need another angel. He's got plenty. Thank you. And people don't become angels. All Jesus is saying is, like angels, we will not marry in heaven, because angels don't marry. Verse 31. And now He's going to ask or answer their other issue about their unbelief in the resurrection and the fact that they believe people just die and cease to exist.

33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.” Why? Because Jesus used the present tense words to describe God's relationship to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were long since physically dead. They'd been dead for a long time. And yet, what did God say to the people of Israel? I am the God. Not, I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am the God. You know what that means? It means Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still alive. They're alive right now. All the people who have died previously are still alive, just their bodies expired.

And I got to tell you, when I do funerals for a believer, this is one of the things I love to say to the family. I love to remind them of this fact. Because they're sitting here and they're grieving, and rightly so. They're going to miss their loved one. But the last thing I want them to walk away thinking is that their loved one is just gone. And we use those words when we talk about a believer dying. Well, she's gone. Well, that's not really accurate. And I look, and usually the family's right here in the front row. And I look them right in the eye and I say, your loved one is more alive now than ever. And they are behold, whoever there, that person is beholding the face of their Redeemer, and they know a whole lot more than you do. And they wouldn't, they, if you gave them the chance to come back, they'd say, thanks, but no thanks. I'm happy where I am. And they are awaiting that day when they will be joined with a new resurrection body. People say this all the time they'll ask me, well, if the Bible says we're going to be raised one day. How can we be alive with the Lord? Listen, the only thing that gets raised is your body. Okay? You don't get raised in the resurrection, your body does. You immediately go into the presence of the Lord when you die. Right? To be absent from the body is what? To be present with the Lord. Right? (2 Corinthians 5:8) You know what the Bible say? Alright. So you're present with the Lord. Well then the resurrection happens and guess what? You just merge with your new body. But it's not like you wake up. Or that you were asleep, or you were gone. You were with the Lord enjoying His presence. Anyway, there you go. So, they're going to give another shot at it here.

By the way, a lawyer doesn't mean an attorney. It means an expert in the law. The Law of Moses. Okay. So this person is an expert and supposedly. And so, he says,

I don't know what they're think they're going to catch Him saying.

Isn't that an amazing statement? We've studied through the Old Testament several times here at Calvary Chapel over the years and I got to tell you, there's a lot of rules. I there's a lot of laws to keep straight and I'm not, I love simplifying things because I'm not too bright. And so when Jesus comes along and says, you know what, take all those laws and wrap them up with these two. I like that. Love the Lord your God with everything you've got and love your neighbor as yourself. There you did it. You just wrapped up the law and the prophets. It's all summed up in that. And it's like, I'm good with that. This was such a great answer, there's no response even given by the, in this version of the Gospel. Although in another version, this individual responded by saying, well said, and went home. Yeah, we're not catching Him today. “Now while the Pharisees (verse 41) were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ?” He's talking, He's asking them about the Messiah. Now they should know a lot about the Messiah. Their whole Bible has a lot of prophecies about Messiah in it. So He says, “Whose son is he?” They said to him, (well, it's easy, He’s) “The son of David.”” And you know what? They're right. They're right as far as what they're saying, because the prophecies did say that Messiah would come from the lineage of David. So they've got it right. The problem is they don't have it far enough. Right? He goes on in verse 43 says, “He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, (that means through the Holy Spirit, because David was a prophet) calls him Lord, saying, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?” And He's quoting Psalm 110 there, which by the way, is a Messianic Psalm, okay. And the Jews knew that. They knew that was a Messianic Psalm. They knew where that quotation was. And so He asked them, “45 If then David calls him Lord, how (then) is (can) he (be limited to being) his son?”” I added a couple of words there, but you see what is going on. That's the essence of what Jesus said. How is it that he is son? In other words, how is he only his son, because Jesus knew that, of course, what the prophecies had to say concerning Himself being in the lineage of David. But He's asking them, didn't David reveal through the Spirit that the Messiah would be the son of David and more than the son of David? Well, you see the Pharisees that hadn't ever appeared as a blip on their radar. They just stuck with the son of David part, and they never moved on to understand that the Messiah would be greater than just the son of David. And yet David himself knew and wrote about it, and that's why Jesus used this particular prophetic revelation to reveal to them, to encourage them to understand that the Messiah will be the son of David, which means He will be a man, but He will be more than that because David calls Him Lord. And this is something we see over and over in the Bible. And it just, it would have, I'm sure it would have boggled the minds of the, well I'm sure it did, it boggled the minds of the Pharisees to think about that. And it boggles people's minds today. It really does. It's a very common thing for me to, get the question, if Jesus is God, then why did He pray to God? And they ask that all the time. And my answer is because He was also a man. You see, yes, Jesus was God. He was fully God and He was fully man. And then somebody says to me, well, pastor Paul, explain that to me. And I go, I can't. And neither can you explain it to me. Because it's the mystery of the incarnation. We cannot explain, but the Bible reveals that Jesus was fully man and fully God. And this dual nature is revealed in the Word of God over and over again. Let me show you one place. In the Book of Revelation chapter 22 we find both references. Let me show you this. First in verse 16, Jesus, now we know who's talking, right? Revelation 11:16 (ESV) “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. (and then He says this) I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” In other words, He's telling you of his human lineage. You got it? So Jesus was a human. But then 3 verses before this statement, He says this, look at this, from verse 13.

--- Revelation 11:13 (ESV)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, Omega is the last. He's saying, I am the A and the Z, and everything in between. I'm the beginning and the end. This is a statement of deity. So here Jesus speaks of who He is as God in human flesh in just one single chapter of the Bible. And this is revealed over and over again. And we have to understand people that it was absolutely necessary for Jesus to be both man and God. If He wasn't a man, He couldn't represent you on the cross. Because an angel cannot die for men, well, and God can't die at all, so He had to become a man. God had to become a man while yet not setting aside His deity. How is that possible? I have no idea. But He had to become a man so He could represent you. You see, you had another human representative who blew it. His name was Adam. He muffed it big time and we all fell into sin as a result. He was your corporate representative. And so what did God do? He sent you a different corporate representative to undo what the first one did. That's why we have Adam, who we call the first Adam. And Jesus, who we call the second Adam, and He had to be a man to take on your sin and to be able to take the punishment of that sin. But He also had to be God because if He weren't God, He wouldn't have the power to raise Himself from the dead. And make no mistake about it, Jesus raised Himself from the dead. He conquered death. Jesus Himself said to the religious leaders elsewhere, I have the authority to lay down my life and the authority to take it up again. (John 10:18) And so you see, He had to be fully man and He had to be fully God or He couldn't be your Savior. And I know it just it really boggles people's minds, as well it should. But if you're going to limit what you believe to what you can understand intellectually, you got problems, big problems. And the chapter ends in verse 46 by simply saying, “And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.” Because it just didn't work. ---