Preacher: John Weis,
Text: Psalm 110
East River Church (Batavia, OH)
The Lord Reigns
- Good morning. My name's John, I'm one of the pastors here at East River. Welcome if you're visiting with us for the first time. Thank you for spending your Lord's day with us. We're continuing in a short series in the book of the Psalms. Our reading this morning is from Psalm 110. Please turn there in your Bible. It's in the middle of your Bible if you're looking for it. Psalm 110, a Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments. From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Almighty and gracious heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your word. We thank you that through your word, through the mouth of David, we can have insight into your eternal plan. We pray now that you would help us to understand that this plan said in motion ago has been accomplished and is still abiding today. We pray therefore that you would send your spirit now to guide us, help us to understand your word about your son and his glorious power and the comfort that that should bring to us. It is in his name, the strong name of Jesus that I ask these things. Amen. Amen. Well, David's words in this Psalm are some of the most important words in the entire book of Psalms. In fact, I'll say even more than that, these are some of the most important words in the whole Bible. It's a pretty audacious claim. It's true though, that all scripture is inspired by God. None of the scriptures are dispensable. None can be done away with. All are vital for the Christian life. But there are some that are more important. There are some portions of scripture that are critically important for the Christian faith and for the Christian life. That is, you just can't do without them. Without these words in this Psalm, the whole Bible wouldn't be as tied together as it is. This Psalm, especially this first verse, is one of the most important in the Bible because what David says about his Lord in this Psalm, concerns not just all of Israel's history and not just all of human history, but all of time past and all of time in the future. What we learn from David about his Lord through this prophecy teaches us who the Messiah is. That is what he will be like. We hear that the Lord is a king who is also a priest, someone who will reign on the throne of God and stand in the presence of God forever. This is amazing in and of itself, but there's much more. This Psalm is also one of the most important verses in all of the Bible because it's the most quoted verse in all of the New Testament. More than 14 direct quotations, probably as many as 30 to 40 illusions in addition. This verse is vital to understand God's word. Unless we learn how Jesus and the apostles understood this prophecy, both its fulfillment and its abiding relevance for us, we cannot know who David's Lord truly is. From this Psalm, we do learn what he is like, but it's only in the New Testament that we can know the all important answer to the question, what is his name and what is he doing for me? As we will see this morning, unless we learn who David's Lord is and what it means that that Lord is seated on the throne, we will be left anxious and troubled in our lives. We will be left wondering what is going on with the world? What is happening in our world today and who is really in control? So let's look at those two big themes this morning, one after the other. First, we'll look in the Psalm to see who is David's Lord that is, what is David's Lord like? Who is he and his nature, his character, his actions? And then we'll turn to the New Testament to learn what is David's Lord's name. Two weeks ago in Psalm 51, we began noting that the all important thing to that Psalm is the inscription at the beginning, a Psalm of David. That inscription was there to tell us that this Psalm was about David's life. It's a Psalm concerning David, a Psalm about David. Here in today's reading, it's also a Psalm of David, but this is a different meaning of David. It's not about David, but it's a Psalm from David. And David is deeply connected to the character in verse one. In verse one, it says, the Lord says to my Lord, there are three all important things to learn from these first few words. First, in the Old Testament, the word that's translated here as says is a word that's used for prophecy, for direct speech from God. Whenever the prophets like Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah would declare that they're speaking on God's behalf, they would say, thus saith the Lord. And that's what David does at the very beginning. The first word in this Psalm is thus saith the Lord. David is speaking like a prophet in this Psalm. He is declaring what God himself is speaking. Second, to notice it is the Lord who is speaking in this Psalm. In our English Bibles, whenever you see the capitals, L-O-R-D, that is our way of translating into the English the name of God, his divine name, often named Yahweh or Jehovah, depending on your Bible translation. And this is very important to note the difference between L-O-R-D capitals and lowercase Lord. The reason it's important is because who is speaking and who is being spoken to are only distinguished by these names. Third, finally, it is my Lord who is being addressed. So it is God who is speaking, and he is speaking to one that David calls my Lord. This word Lord here is not Yahweh, it's not Jehovah, but another word called Adonai, that is a Lord. If we translated this into the English, you might think of an exalted ruler or a master or someone you might call sire or king. David is calling this one who is being addressed, his Lord. Putting these three things together, we realize how remarkable this song begins. David is foretelling to his readers, to us, a conversation that he overheard. But it's not a conversation that he heard from humans with his human ears. No, it's not even a conversation that's already happened. It's a conversation that David hears before it happens by the Holy Spirit. He is hearing something that is taking place in heaven, in time, future. It's a divine conversation that he hears by the Spirit of God, a conversation that he heard and then wrote by God's design for our benefit, for us to know and to read. You see, this song is not just a prophecy of an event that will happen in the future to David. No, it's a promise to God's people. It's a promise of what God is going to do through this Lord who he installs at his right hand. What David writes about this Lord isn't just interesting factual information. No, it's an abiding promise that God is giving to his people. And what is said about what God does through this Lord answers some of the greatest questions that you have in your life. Questions that if left unanswered are like a specter that will haunt your future. Questions like who's ultimately in control of this thing. Where's this whole thing going? There's really only two ways to answer that question. Either there is someone in control at the helm of the universe or there's nothing. In atheism, all we have is material in motion, time and chance acting on matter. In Christianity, however, we believe that God not only has his hand on the tiller guiding the world, he is ruling over all of the world. It's not just some central plan that's being worked out and he hopes it's going to turn out right. No, his hand is on the rudder guiding history towards a directed end that he accomplishes through the sun. And those are the only two options you have to view the world. You either see a world that is random and is chaos or you have a world that is guided by a sovereign, all powerful Lord. And that is exactly what David tells us about in this Psalm. God speaks the answer to you about the biggest questions of your life, partly in through this Psalm. These questions find their answer in David's Lord in this Psalm. And as king over Israel, there's no one above David other than this man who he calls Lord. Now, remembering that David's a king, it is perplexing that he would call him a Lord because there's no one in the kingdom that's higher than a king. So we know that David is talking about someone in the future. Now, as I said at the beginning, we do not learn that Lord's name from this Psalm. But David tells us three vital things that we'll look at this morning from this Psalm. Three remarkable things. First, he will be a king that reigns at God's very right hand. Continuing on in verse one, Yahweh says to this Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies, your foot still. To sit at God's right hand is a pretty powerful statement. The right hand is a hand of power. Most people in the world are right handed and your right hand has dexterity, it has control, it has strength, it has often a greater amount of power than your left hand because you use it more frequently. Your right hand has stamina and endurance. In fact, that's where we get the very word dexterity. It means in the Latin from the right. And to sit at the right hand of God, therefore, is to be imbued with power. It's to be given control over the throne. This invitation from God to this Lord to reign at his right hand, it reminds me a lot of Pharaoh's elevation of Joseph. After Joseph and Genesis 41 interpreted Pharaoh's dream, Pharaoh said to his servants in verse 38, "Can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God?" Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has shown you all this, "there is none as discerning and as wise as you are. "You shall be over my house, "and all my people shall order themselves as you command. "Only regards the throne will I be greater than you." And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set you over "all the land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it in Joseph's hand and clothed in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot and they called out before him, "Baldani!" Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, "and without your consent, "no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the lands." Pharaoh's elevating of Joseph out of prison to the palace to be second in command is amazing. First of all, it's amazing that Pharaoh put this Hebrew in charge of his country, but it's more amazing that he put him in the palace. However, Yahweh's elevation of this Lord that David prophesies is even more amazing. He is not just going to be elevated to a chariot. He's going to sit at the right hand of God on the throne. He is going to rule not just over the land of Egypt, he is going to rule over all the nations. In Psalm 103 verse 19, it says, "The Lord has established his throne, "not just in Zion, but in the heavens, "and his kingdom rules over all." You see, our God is not just the God of a small country in the Middle East. He is the God over all people, everywhere, over all time. This Lord is not being promised just a human kingdom. He's not just going to take the promises to the nation of Israel to their full. No, he is going to fulfill all of God's promises to install one on the throne. This Lord is going to sit on the throne in the heavens. In the whole of the entire Old Testament, there is no promise as great as this promise. No one is ever told to sit at my right hand other than this Lord. Further still, not only will he have universal dominion, not only will he reign over all people, he will also have God himself extending that reign. In verse two, it says, "The Lord, Yahweh, "cends forth from Zion your mighty scepter, "rule in the midst of your enemies." Though the Lord does indeed reign at God's right hand in heaven, his rule is going to gain ground in the earth. That's where it says his mighty scepter is going to be extended from Zion. You see, this king, this Lord, is not just going to have a spiritual kingdom that is detached from the earth. No, his reign is from heaven to the earth, and he will gain ground in the world. What does it mean that he rules in the midst of their enemies? He rules in the midst of his enemies because his reign is not going to be toppled even though it is persistently opposed. What great peace this should bring to God's people. In this world, you are surrounded by enemies. You are surrounded by physical enemies that harass you and try to distort your faith and try to discourage you. You are surrounded by spiritual enemies that tempt you to join into their rebellion to partake in illicit sinful pleasures to go in unrepentant doubt. You are surrounded by enemies that tempt you to turn against this king that you love and to join in their rebellion. You're surrounded by the enemy of sickness and weakness that affects your very frame, your physical body. You're surrounded by the enemy of doubt that would drown hope in unbelief. You're surrounded by the enemy of death that you must finally at one day face. But there is a king that rules in the midst of his enemies. This prophecy holds out a promise not just to this king but to this king's people. So helpfully summarized in the catechism that our Messiah, our king, will execute the office of a king by subduing us to himself, in ruling us and defending us and in restraining and conquering all of his and our enemies. What a wonderful promise it is that this Lord will rule in the midst of his enemies. Whatever his name, this Lord is clearly a most powerful king. He is the most powerful king, powerful enough to reign forever and powerful enough to protect your life. But he's more than a king, which leads us to our second thing that David tells us. Not only will this Lord be a king who reigns at God's right hand, he will be a priest forever blessing his people. In verse three, David writes, "Your people will offer themselves freely "on the day of your power in holy garments. "From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth "will be yours." God's promise to this Lord isn't just of universal reign, but the free cooperation of God's people. Frequently in the nation of Israel, in the history of God's people, whenever a king would be in transition, when one king would go out of power and a new king would come into power, the people of Israel would often turn away from that king. For example, when Rehoboam comes to the throne, the people of Israel say, "We have no participation. "We have no share in David. "Everyone Israel, return back to your tents, but not here." When this Lord is installed, the people will remain with him. They will freely offer themselves in the day of his power. They will be loyal to him and will serve him in purity. This Psalm says that they will wear holy garments. They're garments that priests wear. The reason that they will be a loyal people, a holy army is because their Lord isn't just a human king. No, he is a king and a priest forever. Now admittedly, this language is a little strange. This idea of from the womb of the morning, the due of your youth will be yours. If you have an ESV Bible, there might be a footnote. And I just want to thank the ESV translators for making my job extra difficult here. They say the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. And while I don't agree with them, I do agree it's difficult. I don't think it's impossible. I don't think it's uncertain. It just requires care. In Psalm 113, verses two and three, there's a connection between priesthood and do. Listen to what Psalm 113 says. It is like the precious oil on the head running down the beard on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the due of Herman, which falls on the mountain of Zion. You see, that poetic language is making a comparison between the anointing, which comes on a king or a priest and the do that falls down on the mountain. See, in the Old Testament, whenever a king or a priest would be installed into office, they would be installed by oil being poured upon their head. And the Psalmist is using a word picture. He's saying it's like the oil, which through gravity is falling down, just like the do which falls down from heaven. But there's another reason that do and anointing oil are connected is they both leave a mark. They not only both fall down, they both leave a mark. And we know something about do here in Claremont County, don't we? Just before a good rain, when the humidity is really high, especially overnight, the next morning, it'll come in thick and just linger. The fog which sweeps down from the hills and settles. This last Friday, when I got in my car in the morning, the fog was so thick, I couldn't even see to the end of my driveway. And as I got out of my car, once I got to where I was going, it just hit me, this tangible feeling of the moisture in the air. And it even had a kind of a smell to it. It left a mark. I think that's the exact picture going on here in this Psalm. In this Psalm, there is an abiding anointing that is placed on this priest and on his people. That's what it means for someone to be the Messiah, not just someone who was anointed in the past, but one who is anointed and has a abiding character and power. That's what it means to be anointed for office. You see, Saul was anointed as a king, but he turned away from God through rebellion, through sin, through wanting to make a name for himself. And God then told Saul, God has rejected you as king. Same with Eli. Eli was anointed as a priest, but he failed to stop the sins of his sons. And therefore, through the prophets, God told Eli, God has rejected your priesthood, but not so for this priest and king. He will remain before God's presence forever. In verse four, it says, the Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This Lord is going to be a priest founded on God's promise, seal with an eternal oath and an eternal anointing. Now, time would fail us this morning to fully explain all the significance of what it means that this priest will be of the order of Melchizedek, but it is helpful to know what this means. After the Exodus, God established a priesthood through the tribe of Levi that was based on genealogy or dissent. But before that, we meet a priest in the story of Abram, before Abram was renamed as Abraham. Abraham accomplishes a great victory. And a character who we learn is named Melchizedek, the priest of Salem before it was Jerusalem, emerges seemingly out of nowhere. It's a really amazing story if you do read it. Abraham wins a victory, then there's a celebration. Melchizedek emerges with bread and wine, blesses Abraham and gives thanks to God. But the connection here, the idea that this Lord is part of the priesthood of Melchizedek is that Melchizedek is a priest in the story that doesn't have a genealogy. I don't believe for a moment that Melchizedek just emerged out of nowhere and disappeared as if he was not a human. But in the story, in the way that the story is told, he emerges out of nowhere and then recedes. We don't know where he comes from and we don't know where he went. In the way the story is told, it's as if he was never born and he never dies. Why is this important that we know who Melchizedek was? Well, it's amazing comfort for God's people. You see, David is not just a Lord in the priesthood of Aaron. Under Aaron, all of those priests die at the end of their life, their priesthood ends. And under Aaron, those priests only enter into God's presence once a year on the day of atonement. But this priest is much greater. He is a priest that is a priest forever by virtue of an indestructible life. And he doesn't enter into God's presence just once in the year. He enters into God's presence and abides there perpetually for you so that you are always represented before God. In Exodus 28, there's a beautiful reference about the priest and what he wears as he comes before God's presence. Aaron is given a breastplate. And on the breastplate are the names of the 12 tribes. And in Exodus 28, 29, it says, therefore, Aaron will bear the names of his people before God. And therefore, there will always be a remembrance before Yahweh. What an amazing promise this is that our priest will not only be a king, but also a priest who abides forever before God's presence. There's not a moment of your life, Christian. Even until the end of time, where you will not be remembered by this priest. And with that final day in mind, we come now to the third thing we learn about David's Lord. Not only is he a king who will sit at God's right hand, not only is he a priest that will serve forever, he also will be a judge who will judge the whole earth. Finally, after David has heard Yahweh speak to the Lord, he then begins in verse 5 to speak about this king back to God as well. In verse 2, God said to the Lord, sit at my right hand. But in verse 5, David now sees the time of the fulfillment of this promise. In verse 5, he says, the Lord, Adonai, is at your right hand. He was talking to the son, and now he is talking to the Lord. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook, by the way. And therefore, he will lift up his head. At this point in David's prophecy, he has now moved to a time of fulfillment. He's turned his gaze, as it were, in the spirit, from what will happen to what has happened. And now he sees the Lord as waiting until his reign is complete to finalize the judgments that he will bring. David says, the Lord will come on the day of his wrath to execute judgment. Now, this language is pretty stark, but it's serious. And I think it is seriously important for you to understand and believe. You see, our world is filled with terrible injustices. Terrible injustice is not just in the present day, but all of human history is filled with unspeakable horrors. Horrors that demand an answer, genocide, abortion, human trafficking, the abuse of children, the mind recoils even from beginning to contemplate the depth of man's depravity and dissent. But there's one more idea that's even more repulsive than just the evil of man. It's this idea that evil itself will go unanswered. If there's no justice, if evil just gets away with it at the end, then our world is a cosmic tragedy. It's pointless, it's meaningless, it's absurd. Now, it might be possible for you, I suppose, to be kind of detached from all the evil that happens out there or back then because it happened to someone else, somewhere else. But what will you do when tragedy inevitably touches your own life? What answer will suffice for you when you suffer terrible injustice? Or when your family member or when someone you love falls prey to tragedy, when you see injustice and they get away with it? Well, the only answer I think that will pull you back from the brink of despair is this, that none of those who remain the Lord's enemies on that final day will escape unpunished. Either they will bow the knee and become his subjects and recipients of his grace, or they will be destroyed by this great Lord and King. Just as he defeated his enemies throughout history, he will one day, this Psalm says, return to judge those who remain opposed to him. That's what it means when it says, he will drink from the brook, by the way. This is language from a pursuit in war, that even though his enemies are on the retreat, he will not be exhausted, he will pursue them down. He will be like a King who does not retire in battle. He will settle all accounts. He will correct every injustice and he will have complete victory for all time. And so he will lift up his head. What a glorious prophecy through this Psalm. We see a King who reigns at God's right hand, a priest who will forever bless his people and a judge who will one day judge the whole earth. As amazing as that is, there's still a question. Who is David's Lord? What is his name? Well, to answer that question, we have to move forward to the New Testament. As an aside, I just want to say, it might be easy for you as a Christian to when you hear God's word refer to things that have obvious answers, for you just feel like, oh, well, I know that answer, I can just kind of skip past it. In fact, I thought about this. If you have any children, if you ask them, who do you think David's Lord is? If you've been catacizing them, they'll almost always tell you, oh, it's Jesus. That's the Sunday school answer, right? If you ever get asked a question, you don't know the answer, just try Jesus. It'll work. But the point is, there's often gold lying just beneath the surface of the ground we think we've already covered. And there's one such nugget of gold found in Jesus' first use of this psalm in the book of Matthew. In Matthew 22, when Jesus and the religious leaders are disputing, they're trying to trip him up, but Jesus pushes back on them. He turns the table in verse 41, it says, now while the Pharisees were gathered together, 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. Easy Sunday school answer. Verse 43, 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 David calls him Lord, how is he his son? Verse 46, and no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. They weren't gonna get into that battle again. They knew they were unmatched. And the reason the Pharisees were silenced is because of the impossible conundrum that Jesus has just put in front of them. On the one hand, it's astonishing that David would call his son my Lord. You see, by Jewish standards of familial respect, a father would have never called his son Lord. This is even reprehensible in our day. Imagine calling your son Lord. Now it's good to respect our children, but you would never call him Lord. You would never call your son Lord. No one who comes after is greater than one who comes before in the Jewish mind. So it's absolutely unthinkable if the Christ is David's son that David would say, my Lord. On the other hand, it's impossible for the scriptures to be broken. More than their respect for their tradition of what the family structure was like was their highest steam of God's word. It would be impossible for them to admit that there was an error in the scriptures. So if they say that the Messiah is indeed David's son, but he couldn't call him his Lord, then they'd have to be implying that the scripture is wrong. They can't go there. They can't admit that there is an error in the scriptures. So the only other option, the option that they're either spiritually blind to or stubbornly refusing to accept is exactly what Jesus is asserting and claiming. The only other option is, since he is David's Lord, then he must have been before David was. What Jesus is saying is that this psalm teaches that the Messiah is not just the son of David, but he is the eternal son of God, which leads us to the next question, when did he start his reign? Well, later in Matthew's gospel, when Jesus was on trial by the religious leaders of Israel, we have from Jesus's own mouth, the fulfillment of this psalm. As Jesus again is doing battle with the Pharisees, but now this time the Sadducees and the other religious leaders of Israel are putting him on trial. As they're testifying against him, he remains completely silent, but then the high priest directly challenges him. In Matthew 26, 63 we read, but Jesus remains silent. And the high priest said to him, I adore you by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so, but I tell you, from now on you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? And they all answered, he deserves death. Jesus' use of Psalm 110 verse one here is absolutely stunning. In the Psalm, David records that God told the Messiah to sit at my right hand. And now Jesus says of himself, describing himself by the phrase the son of man, he declares from now on, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power. What David saw by the spirit will now be made manifest to all of Israel and to all the world, the son of God who was rejected by his own people will be raised to life and not only raised to life, raised up into the heavens. Though he was put to death by the hands of the Romans, he was raised up in the resurrection. And on the day of Pentecost, Peter describes this in Acts two. He says that in his ascension, up from the earth, into heaven, Jesus has begun his reign at the right hand of God. In verse 32, Peter testifying to the entire nation, gathered in Jerusalem, verse 32, this Jesus raised up, God raised up. And of that, we are all witnesses. Verse 33, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit. He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies, your footstool. That's the conversation that David heard beforehand by the Holy Spirit, which was fulfilled in the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ in time past. And his reign, which began that day of his ascension, continues and he is sitting there even now. That is your great comfort and hope, Christian. Your life is not governed by time and chance acting on matter. Your life is not prey to random events that might come out of nowhere. No, your life is guided by the providence of God. And Christ himself is your advocate, not only reigning, but constantly making intercession. Nor can even the enemy, our great enemy Satan, separate you from the Lord of God. Your Messiah, your king has taken his rightful place at the right hand of God, and he is reigning there. As sure as I stand before you today, your king is seated on the throne. He exercises now a worldwide dominion, even though it is opposed. And the Father, just as he promised in this Psalm, is currently extending forth his scepter throughout the whole earth. He rules now as David prophesied, even in the midst of his enemies. And he will be seated until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. And on that last day, he will defeat your final enemy as well. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God to the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for, he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. What an amazing promise you have, Christian. Not only the knowledge that your king is seated on the throne of heaven, and your priest is constantly making intercession before the Father for you. And not only that he will judge all at his final coming, but he will defeat your final enemy, death. And he will raise you up to live with him forever on that last day. Let's pray. Our Father and God, we thank you that you have set your king on your holy hill. We thank you that you have installed Jesus Christ, our Messiah on the throne of heaven. We thank you that he reigns now, and we ask that you would help us to trust him, to have confidence in him, and that the knowledge of his reign would give us good and sure comfort. Not only for our lives, but for all of history. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. You