Psalm 110

Psalm 110

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

The Lord is your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.

As a young boy, my brothers and I, with a bunch of friends from the neighborhood would go to the forest at the end of the road and play a huge game of Capture the Flag. We would have a flag on one side of the forest with another flag on the other. Each team would have to go across the little creek, which split the forest in half, collect the flag from the opposing team and return it to their base and then raise it high in order to win. We built elaborate forts and made elaborate plans; ways to protect our flag and to sneak into the enemy territory and collect their flag.

One game we had snuck through the forest to behind their base. We were able to sneak inside their fort and grab the flag without being noticed at all. We also sneaked back through the forest to our base, again without being noticed. It wasn't until we stood atop our fort, 15 feet in the air because we found a fort built up in the trees, that we were able to shout and scream and wave the flag – victorious!

Psalm 110 is the waving victory flag of the Messiah-King. Prophetic in its proclamation, missed by many in the day of Jesus; a song of seemingly secreted truths proclaimed loudly in the day of victory. With the excitement and jubilance of a child winning capture the flag (but with so much more at stake and in result), David proclaims the victory of the Priest-King to come as Messiah.

Psalm 110 is the most quoted or alluded to Old Testament text in the New Testament. Verse 1 appears at least 25 times and verse 4 at least 5 times. Allen Ross says, “Psalm 110 is one of the most fascinating psalms in the entire collection.”[1] Martin Luther was apparently so taken with this Psalm he wrote more than 120 pages on it! All three synoptic gospels record the story of Jesus using this Psalm as a proof of his Messiahship and to show that the Messiah would be more than a man, he would be God in the flesh (Mt. 22:41-46; Mk. 12:35-37; Lk. 20:41-44).

This song reads as an inner-Trinitarian conversation between Yahweh and his chosen king. A conversation that David listens in on. It is a conversation between the Lord (YHWH) and David's Lord (Adonai). Between the Father and the Son. Peter quotes verse 1 on the Day of Pentecost to show that Jesus is the Messiah Lord; the book of Hebrews quotes this verse to show that the Messiah is greater than the angels (Heb. 1:13); and the writers of the New Testament used this verse in order to show that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven after his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension (cf. Acts 2:33-34; Heb. 6:20). The New Testament also shows us how God the Father places his enemies under his Son Jesus’ feet (1 Cor. 15:25-28; Eph. 1:22; Heb. 10:13).

The clear point of it all is that Jesus is the great King, the true and better son of David, through whom God would, “establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Sam. 7:13)

But the type of King Jesus would be, and the type of Kingdom he would lead is revealed to be vastly different than the Jewish, and the world's, expectation. The second part of the conversation David listens in on says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” (vs. 4) Throughout the entire Old Testament, the offices of priest and king are separate. But in the Messiah, they come together.

Melchizedek is an obscure. Reference that only appears twice in the Old Testament: Here in Psalm 110 and in Genesis 14. In Genesis 14:18-20 there is a King-Priest from Salem (which is Jerusalem before it becomes Jerusalem) who seemingly appears out of nowhere, blesses Abraham… and disappears. All we are told is that he is a “priest of God Most High” and a king of Salem who brought out bread and wine. His name is Melchizedek.

The letter to the Hebrews then takes this idea and name and mentions Melchizedek no less than eight times (Heb. 5:6,10; 6:20; and chapter 7 repeatedly) in connection to the person and work of Jesus. Jesus is given the title of High Priest in a priestly order that is greater than the one arising from Aaron; and it is eternal – just like his kingdom.

David records that this King-Priest will “crush kings… [and] crush the rulers of the whole earth” (vs. 5-6) – a clear allusion to the first gospel promise of Genesis 3:15, where God’s promised Son would crush the head of the serpent. A promise proclaimed again in Romans 16:20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

It is clear that Jesus is the promised Messiah who would be both eternal King and the Great High Priest forever. He has won the victory, crushing sin, death, and the devil. That is why we sing this song of prayer; this is a victory worth shouting and screaming and waving the victory flag for!

Jesus has won the war and he invites you to join the battle: “Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb.” (vs. 3) Tim Keller concludes, “So there is a battle to be fought, but with the weapons of love, service, and truth (2 Cor. 10:4-5; Rom. 12:9-2). Will you enlist?”[2]

Prayer
Lord Jesus! Messiah, King, Great High Priest, you call me into the battle because the victory is already won. Help me to fight the good fight of the faith with hope, wielding the weapons of love, mercy, and truth. Your kingdom economy is different because you are a different, unexpected, king. Help me to be different and unexpected in the world around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 
[1] Allen Ross, Psalms 90-150, 339.
[2] Keller, The Songs of Jesus, 291.