Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 22:43-45

"He saith unto them, How then doth David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I put thine enemies underneath thy feet? If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son?" — Matthew 22:43-45 (ASV)

These questions of our Lord themselves contain the answers to the present-day critics who deny the divine inspiration of the Scriptures, and the Davidic authorship, and Messianic application of certain Psalms. He says to them, “How then does David in spirit call him Lord?” quoting from Psalm 110:1, saying, The LORD said unto My Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool, our Savior declared that these were the words of David, speaking by the Holy Ghost , concerning the Christ, the Messiah. This ought to settle forever the question about the inspiration, authorship, and application of that Psalm at least.

The LORD said unto my Lord,—Jehovah said to my Adonai. David, by the Holy Ghost, learned what the Father said to the Son, and thus he was brought into connection with the whole sacred Trinity. Sit thou on my right hand. The Messiah was commanded to rest after His great mediatorial work was accomplished and to sit on His Father’s right hand, in the place of honor, power, and majesty. Till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Jesus is to keep His seat till His foes are all prostrate at His feet.

This was the problem the Pharisees had to solve: if the Messiah was David’s Son, how was it that David, by the Holy Ghost, called Him his Lord? The Christ must be something more than mere man; otherwise, the Psalmist’s words would have been unsuitable and even blasphemous. He was higher than the angels, for to none of them did Jehovah ever say, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool (Hebrews 1:13).