Psalm 110
So why has the 110th Psalm crept into a series of devotional reflections for Easter to Pentecost? Maybe after the reading of Psalm 110 it is obvious to you, unless you were distracted by the reference to that obscure OT character Melchizedek. It would be a big claim to assert that Psalm 110 is the most influential text in the OT but it is just arithmetic to say that this Psalm is referenced in the NT more often than nay other OT text. Let’s take a look at what the Psalm says.
In the context of Israel’s ancient worship Psalm 110 is a Royal Psalm: The LORD, that is YHWH, says to my Lord, that is the King, that he is his vice-regent and that he will put all his enemies under his feet. Israel’s King will be victorious – all his enemies will be made his footstool.
This alludes to the ancient practice of a defeated enemy by doing obeisance, that is bowing face down before a great ruler. They get so low down to the floor that the victorious king can put his feet up on them like the footstool that goes with your TV chair.
Quite how the Psalm segues into the Melchizedek bit is harder to follow, but the chain of logic is something like this: Since the king of 110 verse one is a king of David’s family and royal ‘house’ and David’s descendants rule in Jerusalem that connects him to the first king of Jerusalem. That takes us the story in Genesis 14 of the patriarch Abraham bringing the spoils of battle to the first ancient ‘King of Salem’ or Jeru-salem. This king of Salem is the rather obscure Melchizedek whose name means king of Righteousness. He is the also the first priest of the Most High in the Bible and being earlier he is not a descendant of the priestly line of Levi, Aaron or Zadok. In 110.4 God promises the king of verse one an eternal priesthood. The rest of the Psalm reinforces the promise that he will have victory over his enemies: by God’s power his sceptre extends over his enemies; people will volunteer for his army and God will fight alongside him and lead him to victory.
Reading this the earliest Christian preachers and writers could see immediately that this Psalm found its fulfilment in the Lord Jesus. ‘Jesus is Lord’ is the most basic of early Christian confessions. Three simple words (actually its only two in Greek) convey three mind blowing things about Jesus: (i) that Jesus is the anointed king of David’s line and inheritor of all the promises to David; (ii) that he is exalted over the cosmos as ruler of all things and (iii) that Jesus (remember in the world’s eyes just a penniless preacher from the Galilee) is himself God, the eternal Son of the eternal Father. The double Lordship language: ‘the Lord said to my Lord’ made perfect sense if you confessed ‘Jesus is Lord’. Here was one of the passages from the Hebrew Bible that drew aside the veil on the Holy Trinity before Jesus came in the flesh.
The promise to the Lord Jesus then is that he is to sit at God’s right hand until all his enemies are made his footstool. This is what the kingdom or kingship of God is about – the vanquishing of all authorities than God himself. And here it is in the Psalm: he will make your enemies your footstool. Jesus rule is unassailable. It is inevitable, it can be taken for granted. But of course we only need to look around us (or even look in the mirror sometimes) to see that not everyone has got the message yet and that he is still waiting.
It is a terrible travesty of this cosmic rule of the Lord Jesus when we reduce that Lordship to my ‘making Jesus Lord of my life’. The Lordship of Jesus is of cosmic and historical significance. It is not something that I create but which God has already created and what I do is accept, embrace and confess what God has already done.
Psalm 110 also answers three key questions all of which fill out the picture of Jesus’ Lordship. First: what happened to the Lord Jesus after his ascension? Answer: he was seated at God’s right hand. This is all over the New Testament in allusions and quotes and explains the numerical dominance of Psalm 110 over all other OT texts quoted in the New. Occasionally there are visionary glimpses of heaven and that confirm that this is indeed what heaven looks like. Revelation 5.6-7 is one example and Stephen’s martyrdom in Acts 7.55-56 another. Though actually Stephen saw Jesus standing at God’s right hand. I like the idea the Lord stands up so salute the very first of many who will walk the way of the cross.
Second: how will God bring in his final rule? Answer: he will do it through Jesus who as Paul says will then present the Kingdom to the Father (1 Cor 15.24-25).
Thirdly: What does Jesus do all day? Or if you prefer more respectable theological language: What kind of heavenly ministry does Jesus exercise? Answer: a priesthood like Melchizedek’s, a picture is mos fully worked out in the description of Jesus the Great High Priest in Hebrews.
Now you can see why Psalm 110 snuck in here? It tells us what comes between the ascension and Jesus appearing. And Psalm 110 all good news: He sits at God’s right hand, he is waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool and he is exercising a priestly ministry for you and for me. This is the sweet taste of the full fruit of the victory won on the cross for us.
Lord Jesus – when we call you this we open a treasure chest of who you are and what you are doing and will do for us. Thrill our hearts today to live in all the goodness of your heavenly rule, your intercession for us and the certainty of your full and final victory.
Amen.