Is not this the son of David?

Matthew introduces his Gospel with the words, ‘The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham’, Matt. 1. 1. The Lord Jesus was the Messiah anticipated by prophets of old, who foretold the things that He would do to demonstrate His credentials as Son of David, with right to the throne of Israel. Matthew shows that the Lord Jesus had all of the Messianic features identified by the prophets, indeed one of the recurring phrases in Matthew’s Gospel is ‘that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet’ It is evident that, unlike the blind Pharisees, the common people accepted that the Lord was fulfilling what the prophets had said concerning the Messiah, hence we hear them say, ‘Is not this the son of David?’, v. 23.

The Pharisees could not refute that the Lord was doing these mighty works, and the accolades of the people towards the Lord raised their anger. To counter this, they tried to undermine the Lord’s works, by claiming that His power was coming from Beelzebub, the prince of demon, v. 24. The Lord showed that if this was true, then Satan would be casting out Satan, which was completely illogical, v. 26, and that ascribing the work of the Holy Spirit done through Him to Satan, was blasphemy of an unforgiveable kind, vv. 31, 32. Of course, the exception among the Pharisees was Nicodemus, who came to the Lord and said, ‘No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him’, John 3. 2. Nicodemus was honest enough to acknowledge the Lord’s mighty works, as coming from God.

There are some practical lessons we can learn from these events. Firstly, that the realm of fulfilled prophecy is one of the strongest bulwarks against assaults being made upon the divine inspiration of the scriptures. Secondly, many religious leaders in Christendom today are no different from the Pharisees, and deny the power of God as witnessed in the works of the Lord Jesus. Finally, we find encouragement to continue with the spread of the gospel, knowing that as in our Lord’s day, there are still many who are ready to accept Him for who He is - the Saviour of the world - even among the Pharisees.