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The Great Switch

Because of the importance upon which Yahweh’s decree lies, as was discussed in the previous chapter, it is at the risk of redundancy to further pursue a more comprehensive view of what lies behind the meaning of those words God’s prophet laid down for us nearly three thousand years ago: “I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you'.”[1]

You will find, even within a divided Christianity that the centrality of the Christian faith is in the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The resurrection is that doctrine which sets apart Christianity from all the other religions of the world. No other religion confesses to a bodily resurrection from the corruption of the grave.

The Apostle Paul, as he often did, pointed us back to the scriptures, specifically the passage found in David’s’ Psalm, and proclaimed before his countrymen: “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead: And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made to the fathers, God has fulfilled the same to us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus; as it is also written in the second psalm, ‘you are my Son, this day have I begotten you.'”[2]

The scriptures are clear; the son Yahweh promised to David would also be “my Son.” A thousand years before “a son was to be given,”[3] Yahweh promised David, “Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, for his name shall be Solomon (Peace), and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name.[4] He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.”[5] How David’s son could also be “My Son,” as expressed in the decree of Yahweh, became possible through the Resurrection, and is the answer to why David called the son of his body “my Lord.”[6]

The great switch[7] took place when David, the firstborn, was replaced by his son. The switch took place when God raised Jesus, the root of Jesse,[8] the son of David, from the dead.

This was foreseen a thousand years before the event, prophesied in the decree of God. While the spirit of God moves the Psalmist, the Son who was to come through David spoke, "I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession." [9] The Son did ask, and the LORD God gave.[10] This is the great switch which replaced David’s position as the father, lifting the Son to the position on the Throne of God.[11] Whenever the spirit of God moved David, he envisioned his resurrected Lord, and wrote of him, as can be found in many of the Psalms we have today.

In the great switch, the father now calls his own son Lord.

On the day of Pentecost Peter pointed out to those gathered on that great feast day that David was dead and buried. [12] David’s bones could still be seen where they had been lying in the tomb for nearly a thousand years. It is probable that many of the visitors to the great city of David during those feast days came with the intent to visit the tomb site of King David. If it had been possible to open the tomb they would have seen the dusty bones of their great King. But the son of David,[13] Jesus of Nazareth, whom God raised from the dead, did not experience the corruption of the grave.

Peter went on to remind the people of what many listening to him already knew. “For David says concerning him, "'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;⁶ therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”[14]

When they heard this, many “were cut to the heart.”[15] But not all understood what Jesus of Nazareth was about. 

 

 Had the Pharisees believed in the scriptures,[16] they would have been looking for the promise made to the fathers. In their love for tradition and the praise of men, the Pharisees missed the contemplation of Ethan the Ez’ra-hite.[17]

Ethan wrote in the same spirit as his predecessor concerning God’s Holy One and in the prophetic sense, we hear Yahweh speaking through him, “In my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.' And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever and my covenant will stand firm for him.”[18]

In the mind of God, there is only one man who has been viewed in this light throughout all of human history, and Ethan, moved by the Spirit of God, pointed his pen at him.

 

Jesus’ confrontation with the unbelieving Pharisees created an irony for us. The dilemma of the Pharisees, demonstrated by their inability to answer Jesus’ question "how does David call his son Lord?” was resolved by the resurrection. The Pharisees, a well-recognized elite group who believed in the resurrection as part of their own dogma, failed, as many do today,[19] to see the truth: that the resurrection of “the son of man”[20] heralded “the Son of God.”[21]

Through the resurrection, Yahweh gave the Son of his decree "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.”[22] As a result of the resurrection, the son of man, was declared “the Son of God,” and thus supplanted David as the firstborn. David knew this when, moved by the Spirit of God, a thousand years before the event took place, he wrote, “The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool."[23]

The resurrection is also the answer to David’s question, “What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you take care of him?” [24] Because he was a prophet, David’s question stemmed from the knowledge that Yahweh had “put all things in subjection under his (man’s) feet!”

A thousand years later, the Hebrew author wrote, in the context of David’s question, that “All things were not in subjection under man.”[25] Why? Because of the offense of the first man,[26] sin had come between God and man,[27] sin entered into the world,[28] and mankind lost the ability to take dominion of the earth and subdue it.[29]

With the judgment of God pronounced upon the man who stood in the shame of his nakedness, while pointing the blame at the woman at his side, God then cursed the earth for his sake.[30] Before man could once again fulfill God's mandate, the curse would have to be removed.[31]

The Hebrew author pointed to the answer to David's question, and ultimately to how the curse of God upon the earth is to be reversed. The answer is, “but we see Jesus.”[32]

The author of the Hebrew letter understood that Jesus was the answer to the Psalmist’s question. If a man (anyone) is to see God, the God who is mindful and caring of man, it is through Jesus,[33] the one whom He has set above all others as “the son of man.” [34] God determined, through the son of man, to fulfill the mandate to subdue and take dominion of the earth. His name is Jesus, the one whom we can see.[35]

The apostles believed, paying with their blood that all authority has been granted to Jesus “Because he is the son of man.”[36]

When the Pharisees confronted Jesus of Nazareth, they missed seeing the son of man. They missed him because they understood neither the scriptures nor the power of God.[37] Many, including the religious elite and those who had grown up knowing Jesus, looked down upon him and saw him as nothing more than the lowly son of a carpenter,[38] the Nazarene of no consequence. [39] They derided and spurned his claim to be “the one sent,”[40] and “the anointed one of God.”[41] And just as important, many disregarded the works Jesus implored them to believe,[42] along with his continual avowals that he was “the son of man,”[43] who came in the name of the Father “to finish the works given me.”[44]

 

The Pharisees have not gone away, since they still exist and abound within what the world sees as Christianity today. They are the religious adherents who advocate forms of worship and the doctrines of men[45] at the neglect and misrepresentation of the word of God. They are those who have gone too far,[46] according to the doctrine of the Christ.[47] In going too far, as the Apostle John warned, they have made the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the son of David, the son of the carpenter,[48] God Himself. They are those who are the inventors of creeds and confessions which mystify the relationship between God the Father, who is Spirit, and the Son of His proclamation, whom He raised up from the dead and glorified,[49] and who now sits at the right hand of the throne of God.[50] They are religious adherents who have replaced the scriptures, the foundation of faith, with creeds and confessions—the works of men’s hands which bind the conscience of those who would seek to enter God's kingdom.[51]

The Pharisees of yesterday spurned Jesus’ humanity and questioned his origin. The Pharisees of today speak little or nothing of Jesus’ humanity, and in truth have all but removed his humanity with their message proclaiming Jesus is God Himself. The removal of Jesus’ humanity has been achieved through the accepted dogma, based upon creeds written more than fourteen centuries ago. It is this message, taught and preached from the pulpits of denominational Christianity today, which has all but completely removed the truth: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of man, was appointed and anointed by God...according to the scriptures. [52]

The creeds of old have become unfamiliar to those who sit in Church pews each week. But the result of the creeds made by men remains the same, the binding of the conscious. It is a consciousness whereby a man becomes a religious adherent without knowing why or what he believes. It is a consciousness based upon creeds and confessions, whose sources he may know nothing about, and when confronted is unable to give grounds for his faith, a faith in God which ought to be derived from the scriptures.

Jesus is the prime example of a man who did know the scriptures.[53] Jesus went to the scriptures when he testified and pointed out that he was the anointed of God.[54] Because of the scriptures, Jesus understood and trusted[55] in the promises of God, when, through the Psalmist, we hear him cry out, “Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.'"[56] And it was from the scriptures that Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."[57]

If there is but one important thing to learn from the man whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth, is that he believed, trusting that God the Father had appointed and anointed him as the Christ. Yet Jesus did not want this truth to be known among those whom he ministered.[58] Jesus taught the disciples what it meant to increase one’s faith in light of the servant's duty to the master, “Does he (the master) thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" [59] What we should not miss about Jesus’ lesson to the disciples is that Jesus is the example of the ultimate servant[60] who serves the Father.[61]

In Jesus’ obedience to the Father,[62] he understood the day would come when he would rule as King,[63] trusting that God, according to the scriptures, would, “set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” [64] Because He trusted His God,[65] his resurrection became the path to fulfillment of those words Jesus believed and trusted in, “You will not leave my soul in Sheol or let your holy one see corruption.”[66]

The resurrection of Jesus was the consummation of Yahweh’s decree, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” While he was moved by the Spirit of God, David heard these words, “The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool."[67] The resurrection is the answer to how God would set His King upon His holy hill of Zion. Through the determinate council of God, through the means of wicked hands[68] who would kill the Son of righteousness,[69] the resurrection was God’s way to exalt Jesus to His holy mount of Zion, [70] to declare the servant[71] to be the beloved Son,[72] "to sit at my right hand." [73]

The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead was the crowning proof that he is the true heir,[74] the seed promised to Abraham.[75] As the heir, Jesus promised his people he will return,[76] and in the age to come, take possession of the kingdom, sitting upon His father David’s throne.[77]

And so will the resurrection on the last day[78] declare all the sons and daughters who are the called of God.[79] The resurrection is the promise of God, for those who hear His voice,[80] and at the sound of the trumpet, [81] they will rise from the sleep of death.[82] To all those who are the called of God,[83] to all the saints throughout the ages,[84] the resurrection upon the last day[85] will reveal those who are to be co-heirs with Christ Jesus.[86] On that great day of the Jubilee,[87] death and the grave will give up the righteous.[88]

The resurrection revealed to us that Jesus was made (became) a life-giving spirit.[89] This great and precious promise was given to the true children of God so they might be partners of the divine nature.[90]

 

 

In conclusion, the dilemma is solved: The resurrection of Jesus is the reason why David, when writing the Psalm, called his own son Lord. The solution to this messianic mystery was hidden from the Pharisees, along with many of the religious elite, because in their unbelief they rejected the person of Jesus, both as the son of David and the son of man, and as God’s servant who came performing the works of God.[91]

The answer to Jesus’ question, which pointed to David’s Psalm, the truth found in the decree of Yahweh, [92] could not be seen or understood by the Pharisees. In the blindness of their unbelief, they missed the mystery of “the great switch” between King David and his son: “The LORD said to my Lord.” In the end, the Pharisees simply had no way to answer Jesus. Their silence is deafening.

Today as then, many continue to miss the intent of the Word of God, and thus the mystery of the Christ.[93] The mystery was fully resolved in “the today of the resurrection,” revealing the switch between David and the one whom Yahweh called “my son.”[94] He is Jesus of Nazareth, the last man,[95] who has been “declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”[96] As “the son of man,”[97] Jesus is “seated at the right hand of the throne of God,”[98] waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise that he would sit upon the throne of his father David.[99]

Jesus is the stone[100] the builders rejected in the temple that God is building for Himself.[101] Since many of the religious elite at the time of Jesus rejected the stone,[102] it is no surprise many today also miss the truth of Jesus’ Sonship to His (my) God.[103]

To sum it up, Jesus’ question to the Pharisees is the “the great switch.”
            Jesus’ question also reveals the hope[104] for those who believe and are called the sons and daughters of God.[105] As the Apostle Paul said, “And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?”[106]

When God raised Jesus from the dead,[107] he became the firstborn of the dead, and is the answer to the dilemma the Pharisees faced with Jesus’ question. “Jesus asked them a question, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, "'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet"'? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" [108]

Jesus, having become the firstborn from the dead,[109] became the first of a new race.[110] The resurrection from the dead, in effect made Jesus both the firstborn over David, thus, making Jesus the father over David and worthy of the title ‘Lord.’

As the firstborn Jesus is now the Father[111] of all those who are raised from the dead.

 

Next Chapter

 

 

[1] Psalm 2:7

[2] Acts 13:29-33

[3] Isaiah 9:6 1John 4:9

[4] Hebrews 3:6 "The house that Jesus is building… a Temple for the LORD," Ephesians 2:19-22

[5] 1Chronicles 22:9-10 See also 2 Samuel 7:12-16

[6] Psalm 110:1 Matthew 22:43-46

[7] When = "today… I have begotten you" Psalm 2:7

[8] Isaiah 11:1-5, 10 Romans 15:12

[9] Psalm 2:7-8

[10] All that the Son has was given to him by the Father. John 3:35, 13:3 *see also John 1,
 The priestly prayer of Jesus to the Father. Jesus prays before the Father to give his disciples the glory that the Father has given to him.

[11] Ezekiel 43:7 "…the place of my throne… where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever"
See also Jeremiah 3:17 Isaiah 2:2-4 Micah 4:1-3 Revelation 3:21

[12] Acts 2:29

[13] Acts 13:22, 23

[14] Acts 2:25-28

[15] Acts 2:37

[16] Jesus condemns the Pharisees for their lack of knowledge. Mark 12:24 Matthew 22:29 *Luke 24:32

[17] Ethan the Ez'ra-hite is the author of the Messianic Psalm 89.

[18] Psalm 89:24-28 *The entire Psalm is messianic, with Yahweh speaking through Ethan in the spirit.
The Psalm appears to be in three major parts, Ethan sings and praises God, verses 1-18,
Yahweh speaks to His anointed one, verses 19-37, His anointed one speaks back, verses 38-52

[19] The Pharisees do not stand alone…many today fail to see the truth of what
 the resurrection means to the "Sonship of Jesus, the seed of David, to the Father"

[20] Jesus told the religious leaders directly, "But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Mat 26:64 ESV).

[21] Romans 1:4

[22] *see Daniel 7:13-14 The Pharisees, had they known their scriptures, would have been aware of and
 possessed the opportunity to make the connection between Jesus as the Son of man in Daniel's vision.
 Perhaps some of them did, after the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus to Glory

[23] Psalm 110:1 EVS

[24] Psalm 8:4-6

[25] Hebrews 2:5-8

[26] "Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation." Romans 5:18

[27] "For by one man's disobedience many were made were made sinners." Romans 5:19

[28] "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world…" Romans 5:12 The world, theologically speaking,
would have been that realm between God and the man He created and then placed in the Garden relationship.

[29] Man has indeed made inroads to subduing the earth, but not in all things..." as noted by the Hebrew author.

[30] Genesis 3:17

[31] "The whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs…" Romans 8:20-22

[32] "But we see Jesus…" Hebrews 2:9 See also Ephesians 1:20-22
 The one we cannot see is God (Yahweh) whom "no man has ever seen." John 1:18, 1John 4:12

[33] John 12:45, 14:8, 9 Colossians 1:15

[34] "...whoever sees me sees Him who sent me" John 12:45 See also John 14:6-13

[35] We see Jesus, Hebrews 2:9, but no man has never seen God, John 1:18, 6:46, 1John 4:12

[36] John 5:26-27, 8:28 "because he is the son of man" The phrase is found over eighty times in the gospels.

[37] Matthew 22:29 Mark 12:24

[38] Matthew 13:55-58 Luke 4:22 John 6:41-42

[39] John 7:52

[40] John 5:23, 36-37, 6:44, 57, 8:16, 18 10:36, 12:49, 17:21, 20:21

[41] Luke 4:18 Isaiah 61:1-2 Daniel 9:24

[42] John 10:25, 37-38 See also John 5:36

[43] The son of man: Jesus uses this term more than eighty times, as he refers to himself in the gospel accounts.
In contrast, Jesus uses the term Son of God, directly or indirectly, in only a handful of incidents. See John 10:36

[44] John 5:36, 37

[45] Jesus teaches against this. Matthew 15:3-9 See also Colossians 2:22 Titus 1:14

[46] "Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God." 2John 1:9a ESV

[47] Hebrews 6:1 1Timothy 4:6, 6:3

[48] Matthew 13:55 John 6:42 Mark 6:3

[49] John 12:16, 23, 28, 13:31-32, 17:10

[50] Revelation 3:21

[51] Matthew 23:13

[52] Luke 4:18 See also Isaiah 49:8,9 61:1 and following

[53] John 5:39 Luke 24:27 Isaiah 8:20, 34:16

[54] Luke 4:18 Isaiah 61:1-2

[55] Even those who hated Jesus saw that he trusted in God. Matthew 27:43 Luke 23:35 See also Psalms 22:8, 52:8, 91:2, 119:42

[56] Psalms 40:7-8

[57] John 8:32

[58] Matthew 16:20 Mark 8:30 Luke 9:21

[59] Luke 17:9-10 EVS

[60] Isaiah 42:1 Matthew 12:18 Philippians 2:7 *See also Isaiah 52:13-15, all of Isaiah   53

[61] Psalms 40:7-10 John 4:34, 6:38 Hebrews 10:5-9

[62] Philippians 2:8 Hebrews 5:8 Romans 5:19

[63] "For this cause I came" John 18:37

[64] Psalm 2:6

[65] Psalm 22:1 John 20:17 Revelation 1:6

[66] Psalm 16:10 ESV Acts 13:35

[67] Psalm 110:1

[68] Acts 2:23

[69] Psalm 72:1

[70] "Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord?" The answer is found in Psalm 24:3-6

[71] Isaiah 42:1, 52:13

[72] Matthew 3:17, 17:5 Mark 1:11 *Colossians 1:13

[73] Psalm 110 Matthew 22:44 Mark 12:36, Acts 2:34, 35 *Colossians 3:1

[74] Psalm 2:8

[75] Galatians 3:16-19

[76] 1Timothy 6:14 Hebrews 9:28 Titus 2:13 1Peter 1:7

[77] Luke 1:32 Isaiah 9:7, *16:5 "and on it (the throne) will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David
 one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness." *Currently Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne of God.
 The day is to come when Jesus will take possession of the throne of His Father David, see Revelation 3:21 Matthew 19:28

[78] John 5:28-29, 11:24

[79] Romans 1:6 *8:28 "to them who are the called according to his purpose."

[80] "My sheep hear my voice" John 10:27 See also 5:24-29, 11:25-26

[81] 1Thessalonians 4:16 Matthew 24:30, 31 1Corinthians 15:52 *See also Leviticus 25:9

[82] 1Thessalonians 4:13, 14 1Corinthians 15:20, 2Corthinians 4:14 *The resurrection is the answer to Job's question,
"If a man dies, shall he live again?" Job 14:14 ESV

[83] Romans 1:6, 8:28

[84] "And all these" The saints of old. Hebrews 11:39-40

[85] John 11:24, 5:25

[86] Romans 8:17 Galatians 3:29 Titus 3:7 Hebrews 6:17 James 2:5

[87] The concept of the Jubilee is found in Leviticus chapter 25. The word appears some twenty times and carries with it the "release of liberty."
The ultimate release for the believer in God is from the bondage of death and the grave.

[88] John 5:25, 11:24-26 *The Righteous – Romans 1:17 Galatians 3:8 1Peter 3:12, 4:18

[89] 1Corinthians 15:45

[90] 2Peter 1:4 1John 3:2 Philippians 3:21 Romans 8:28-29 2Corinthians 3:18

[91] John 5:36, 7:3, 10:25, 37-38, *14:11

[92] Psalm 2:7

[93] Romans 16:25 Ephesians 3:4 Colossians 2:2, 4:3

[94] Psalm 2:7

[95] 1Corinthians 15:45

[96] Romans 1:4

[97] "the son of man" – a term Jesus used to refer to himself more than eighty times in the gospels.

[98] *Hebrews 12:2 See also Hebrews 1:3, 10:12

[99] Isaiah 9:6, 7 Luke 1:32 Revelation 3:21

[100] Psalm 118:22-23 Matthew 21:42 Mark 12:10 1Peter 2:7,8

[101] Isaiah 66:1, cited in Acts 7:49, 50 *See also Acts 17:24

[102] Daniel 2:34-35, 45 Matthew 21:44 Luke 20:18

[103] John 20:17 Revelation 3:2, 12, 21. Prophetically, the Christ is heard calling out to his God. Psalms 22:1,2 , 10, 25:2, 40:8, 17, 69:3 *89:26-27 Isaiah 49:4-5, 61:10

[104] 1Thessalonians 4:13

[105] 1Corinthians 6:18 Romans 8:14

[106] Acts 26:6, 8

[107] Acts 2:24, 32 3:15, 5:30, 10:40, 1Peter 1:21

[108] Matthew 22:41-45

[109] Revelation 1:5

[110] The new man that is created in Righteousness, (Ephesians 4:23), that is immortal, (Romans 2:7) a life-giving spirit,
(1Corthinians 15:45) i.e. in the express image of God (Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15). Jesus is the first.

[111] “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
 and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6