Psalm 110, these are the words of God. A Psalm of David. Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Yahweh shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion, rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power. In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth. Yahweh has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He shall execute kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the nations. He shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall execute the heads of many countries. He shall drink of the brook by the wayside. Therefore, he shall lift up the head. Amen. This ends the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. It's a very important psalm by the number of places that it is quoted in the New Testament, but not just the number of places where it's quoted. but the many different things that the New Testament scriptures show out of this psalm or show from this psalm. The Lord Jesus himself in, I believe it's Matthew 19 later on in the chapter, but the Lord Jesus himself for sure makes much of the fact that it is a psalm of David. It's a good time for us to remember that the superscripts, if you have a New King James, not the, or at least in my copy, not the all caps stuff that has been added by editors here. So mine has announcement of the Messiah's reign and Ezekiel says, same thing, announcement of the Messiah's reign. So that must be a very specific New King James thing. That's not Holy Scripture. But the superscripts, the superscript right below it, a Psalm of David. That is Holy Scripture. And in fact, it is part of the first verse. There's not a significant break between the superscript and the rest of the first verse. Sometimes the superscript is a versal by itself. So our English verse one would be Hebrew verse two. However, in this case, a Psalm of David is very closely connected to, Yahweh said to my Lord, And when the Lord Jesus refers to this, and he's challenging them with how can David's son be David's Lord, be greater than David, the Lord Jesus says, David says this by the Holy Spirit. He reminds us of the way that Holy Scripture comes to us, not so much upon the wisdom and virtue of the human author, although it is by the instrument or the instrumentality of the human author, but especially by the wisdom and virtue of God, the Holy Spirit. And so the Lord Jesus says, David says by the Holy Spirit, and then a verse or two later, he says, David himself says, and underlines that David was the one particular that the Holy Spirit used to write this. which is very important because we come in the rest of the verse then to hear, Yahweh said to my Lord, that is the one about whom David is speaking is his own Lord. And this tells us that Jesus is higher than David. Peter, when he quotes this verse, points out that David did not ascend into heaven, but it was to David's Lord that Yahweh said, sit at my right hand. So Jesus is higher than David. And then Hebrews chapter one uses this verse to say Jesus is not just higher than David, Jesus is higher than the angels. which of course in glory at the right hand of God, he sits actually above the angels. And that is one of the great themes of Hebrews chapter one, as it's making the point that the Lord Jesus is not a creature. He is creator, he is God, he is Yahweh, Yahweh the son who has added creatureliness to himself that he might redeem us, and that he, as the one to whom we are united, might take his seat above even the angels. And so how exalted the Lord Jesus is. But notice that David speaks of this already in the preterite, in the past tense, indicating that David's son, who is David's Lord, existed before David. Or, lest we bring him into time who is from outside of time, he exists before David. just as when Jesus says Abraham was glad to see this his day and the Pharisees, the Jews opposed him and say, you are not yet 40 years old. And Jesus says, not before Abraham was, I was, but before Abraham was, I am. And so there's so much, just a few words into this glorious psalm. Psalm of David, you always said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Now that is not saying that Jesus is going to be dethroned when the enemies are made his footstool. Rather, Jesus will sit on the throne and if he sits on the throne while they are being made his footstool, how much more shall he be enthroned forever and ever as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And behold then the patience of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is not anxious about how the extension of the kingdom is going. He is not worried about how the gathering in of the saints is going. He is not nervous about the kings who have raised themselves up as his enemies. No, in joy and cheerfulness, he patiently awaits the perfect working of his father. Of course, his father says, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. And the perfect fellowship and love and knowledge of the faithfulness of his father, he glorifies his father by the patience with which he sits in royal confidence upon the throne. While the spirit who goes forth from the father and from the son brings about the subjection of all the enemies, And bless God, we too were among these enemies. Although, as we'll get to verse three, we'll find out how Jesus exercised and exercises his kingship over us as his enemies are brought underneath them. But then later in the Psalm, especially in verse five and six, we see how dreadful it is if you do not come under the Lord Jesus as someone who is willing and glad. to own him as your king. One thing that this reminds us then in verse one, that there are enemies, there are going to be enemies until the last day. So let us not be surprised when there are enemies of our Lord and of his kingdom. Let us not be surprised when they are rebellious and are refusing, rejecting his kingship. because the scripture has told us that his enemies continue, even now, to be made his footstool. As Hebrews chapter two says, we do not yet see all things but under his feet. This does not mean that we doubt whether they will be. It means that we can identify where we are in Psalm 110. We are still in the phase in which his enemies are being made his footstool. Yahweh shall send, or a better translation of that verb in this case, sometimes it may mean send, but in this case, Yahweh is not letting go of the rod of strength. So this word is very well translated. Actually, more often means stretch out or extend. So Yahweh shall extend or stretch out the rod. And the word that's translated here, rod, can be generically used of rod. But in a case like this, it is often translated scepter, the special rod, the special, well, When we say stick, it makes it sound like it's wood, but in this case, it's probably gold, at least in the imagery. Yahweh shall extend the scepter of your strength out of Zion. Notice that Yahweh and the king are one. It is the king's strength, rule in the midst of your enemies, and yet it is also Yahweh's scepter. This is a great king indeed, who rules even by the extension of the scepter of Yahweh in Yahweh's hand. And so we don't just see that he's exalted above David and he's exalted above the angels in verse one, but even that he is one with Yahweh in verse two. And so it starts to form a picture of just who this king is. which of course is behind the Lord Jesus's wonderful invitation to us to reflect upon this psalm as he's making, as he's revealing himself as the Lord, Yahweh, the creator, the one true God in the flesh. And he asks them because at that time, although at that time, all the Jews understood that this was a messianic psalm. that David was singing and prophesying about the forever king who was to come from him. Although following the coming of Christ, the Jews backed off. seeing this psalm as messianic, they started considering it to be kind of an idealized psalm about David himself, maybe a wishful thinking or a please let it be this way sort of thing. But that was because they were rejecting Christ, that they changed their interpretation. But in this case, the Lord Jesus invites us to consider what does Psalm 110 really mean? Can't you see that the son of David is higher than David? Can't you see that he sits at the right hand and so he's higher than angels? Can't you see that he and Yahweh wield one scepter together? And so he is the Lord, which is just marvelous when you think of what he has done in his human nature. The Lord himself, the creator, is the one who has obeyed in our place. The Lord himself, the creator, gave himself, took to himself a creaturely nature as well so that he might die, so that he might suffer and be punished and die in our place. So you have the great glory of Christ in the first two verses. In the third verse, you have the great salvation of Christ. Your people shall be volunteers. In fact, the word that's translated volunteers is a word that almost everywhere else is translated freewill offerings. It is as Romans 12, we look forward very soon now in the midweek sermons to hearing instruct us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices or Peter describes us as living stones being brought together into a holy temple to offer spiritual sacrifices, to offer even ourselves in spiritual sacrifice and the praying, the singing, the hearing and so forth. What you do, in the worship, when you gather, or what you ought to be doing, and what I hope you are seeking from God to always be growing and doing as we gather for the congregational worship, is offering your heart, offering your mind, offering your soul, offering your whole self to God as spiritual sacrifice. And then that, that which he gives us to do in the public worship shapes and colors and defines for us how the whole rest of our living is going to be, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. But praise God for this reminder in verse 3 that this comes not by force of our effort, but by the grace of the power of the Lord Jesus, that what part of his kingly rule, his kingly power is giving us willingness, making us to be free will offerings. This is the true sovereign grace of the Bible that is reflected in what we call reformed theology or Calvinism. Not that there is no willingness in those whom God saves, but that he gives them willingness by the greatness of his power and the generosity, the goodness of his grace. So your people shall be freewill offerings in the day of your power. And there are many variations, various ways that people have translated, different versions have translated, different commentators have translated the rest of verse three. Thankfully, New King James has gone fairly literally here because it really is about Christ himself. the camera, as it were, shifts. In the beginning of verse three, your people shall be volunteers. And so there's this giant army of those whom he has taken to himself, delivered by himself. And you see what a good king he is and how worthy of love and how worthy of being followed and admired. And and what a powerful king he is that he has given to his people to respond to his worthiness by how eager those are who follow him. And oh, may God by his spirit, may Christ by his spirit give us that eagerness. But then after taking in how willing all of his hosts are that he here is leading, the camera shifts to him himself. to His holiness, to His continually fresh life, the glory and the beauty of the King here. In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth and the poetry describing the morning time when everything is newly fresh and newly alive with the word picture of a womb from which life is continually coming forth and the wet hair or the dew upon the hair of the vigorous man. And in this case, the vigorous king and the vigorous warrior who is up and at him early. And there he is in all the freshness of life. Jesus is the king of life and his life never diminishes. It's always. It's always fresh. It's always new. It's always at the height of his vigor. As we'll see, that image repeated a little bit or rhymed maybe a little bit with verse seven. And so the glory of Jesus has delivered. So you have the glory of Jesus as the God King Verse one and two, the glory of Jesus as deliverer. In verse three, the glory of Jesus as priest. In verse four, Yahweh has sworn and will not relent. The Lord, of course, there is nothing that can make his word more sure. He gives us not even so much that the son may know that God's word is sure, but to encourage and strengthen our faith in the Lord Jesus as our priest. Because we cannot see him now where he has gone. the king from the first half or maybe a little bit less than half. Well, the first third really of the book of Hebrews is also the priest of the last two thirds of the book of Hebrews. And we can't see him where he is now. If we could, we could see him. We would hope that would be such a help to us, but we mustn't be so proud as to think that if our faith lacks without sight, that it would be stronger with sight. And so we want the Lord to increase our faith, to know, to perceive by faith that King Jesus, who has delivered us, is also our priest who intercedes for us. That what he does with this indestructible life, that verse, that verse three was describing is intercedes for us. He always lives to intercede for us by the power of his indestructible life. And that's why he's able to save us to the uttermost. Well, the Lord strengthens our faith then, gives something to us to help strengthen our faith by taking this oath. Yahweh has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek, who many read and believe it's just a man whose prior and subsequent kingliness and priesthood and actions are omitted from scripture in order to make him a type of Christ. But it is strange indeed that there would be this great king who is aloof from the entire world war that took place in the ancient Near East immediately prior to that and that there would be this great priest who is higher than Abraham and all the while God is speaking to Abraham as if he is the most chosen man on earth in whom all of God's plan of redemption and from whom All of God's plan of redemption is going to be worked out. I think it's probably a much better reading of Genesis and Hebrews and here in Psalm 110 to understand Melchizedek as a Christophany. His name means king of righteousness. And he's also called the King of Salem or the King of Peace. And so there is this appearance of the king whose priesthood has already begun. And this is the case for the Lord Jesus, although the human part of his priesthood in which he's actually accepted on our behalf and able to offer sacrifice on our behalf, which of course he had to be a human to be the proper sacrifice for us. That hasn't begun yet. But in the decree of God, when the father elects to redeem and in that wonderful covenant of redemption in which the father elects to redeem and the son commits to save those to be the redeemer, the Lord Jesus is already acting or functioning as it were, as a priest to us. And everything that happens in the creation, he is creating by his spirit with a view to the redemption that he is going to accomplish by himself, entering the creation, adding creatureliness to himself. And so the appearance of Melchizedek is, at least in my view, an actual appearance of Christ himself. appearing as a man, though not yet having taken the form, the actual nature of a man to himself. And so this priesthood that had no beginning, it certainly could have no end. It's not like the priesthood of Aaron, son of Levi, who was in the loins of Abraham when Abraham paid a tithe. to Melchizedek. Now the priesthood of Aaron must end with the end of the administration that is under Moses. So just as Jesus is the king who is higher than David, and the prophet who is higher than Moses, he's also the priest who is higher than Aaron. And what that means for us is that his intercession for us, his pleading the merits of his sacrifice for us will never run out. He will never stop being a priest for us. And of course, the sacrifice that he offered, being him himself, will never run out of worthiness and value to plead for us, atone for us, bring us near, consecrate us. to the Lord. And so here is the King who is not just leading his people out of the world, having delivered us from bondage to sin and bondage to Satan and from every earthly tyranny that there is. As glorious as what Jesus, our King, leads us out of, Even more glorious is what Jesus, our King, leads us unto, because he leads us as the forever priest, and he leads us unto God himself. He brings us to where he is, seated at the right hand of God. Well, in order for him to bring this to final fruition, we see him as final judge. And the scene in verses five and six is the scene really in Revelation 19. We're moving now. from the book of Hebrews into the book of Revelation, as it were, with King Jesus, the Lord, verse five, at the right hand, and this is probably David at this point, praying under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prophesying the Lord is at your right hand, just as God said to him, or Yahweh said to him to do it, said to David's Lord to take his seat, verse one, so also David's Lord takes the seat that he has been commanded to, takes that authority, executes his wrath. It's very similar to the movement in Psalm 2, where, the Lord Jesus reports the command that is given to him. as the eternally begotten son to ask of God and receive the nations as his inheritance and to smite with his rod of iron and shatter all of his enemies, all of these rebellious kings, all of the nations into smithereens. And that's what we see in verses five and six. David seeing the obedience of Christ, and by the time the obedience of Christ has brought him in his session to the right hand of God, session just means sitting, brought him to the place where he is sitting at the right hand of God, the obedience of Christ has first taken place in his humbling himself, in his incarnation. And his earthly obedience, Obeying God completely continually perfectly and he's humbled himself even to the point of the death on the cross and humiliating himself And so he's obeyed in that way and he's obeyed in rising again from the dead and he's obeyed in ascending into heaven and now There he is, as David sees him in verse five, at the right hand of God, knowing exactly what he will do. He shall execute, and the word literally means strike through or smite. There's not just the, the mortality of the blow, but the completeness and even the ease with which he does it. And that also reminds us of Revelation 19, doesn't it? With the Lord Jesus slaying all of his enemies just by the sword that comes out of his mouth. how complete and total is his power, and how righteously and justly he executes that power in vengeance. Oh, that we would see how good the king is who invites all to be these volunteers who are with him instead of these enemies who are against him. And these are your only two choices, that Jesus would be your enemy who slaughters you, or that he would be your king, who is also your priest and brings you to God and intercedes for you forever. How much better to have him as our priest, as the one whose life is continually fresh for us, as he leads us, the one who has given us the willing hearts. And yet he will take his vengeance in the day of his wrath. Filling the place with dead bodies also resonates with Revelation 19 and there being the place filled with the dead bodies and the beasts and the birds gorging themselves upon the dead in that word picture. So however great the king is, even the heads of many countries, verse six, and in this case, not meaning so much, although it is true and it is covered by verse six. individual heads of individual countries, but even those who were the great kings, who were able to subdue other nations, they are no match for King Jesus. Indeed, verse seven shows us a refreshed king, drinking from the brook, head lifted up, still strength not diminished, looking to the continuation of his just and powerful rule, not exhausted like Gideon. after the battle, when they stop and drink, exhausted and continuing. No, the Lord Jesus is continuing, but not exhausted. And so here is the picture of Jesus exalted as the God King, Jesus exalted as the saving King, Jesus exalted as the priest King, and Jesus exalted as the victorious King. The Lord giving us this psalm and having given his people this psalm, that they might, until Christ came, hunger for who He would be, and when He came, recognize and respond to who He is and whom He displayed Himself to be to them. And yet there are many who saw Him and did not see Him by faith, and they did not behold His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, and they did not become the willing volunteers. And so let us seek the help of God's Spirit that we would not be those who get a glimpse of Christ and then reject Him with our lives, but rather those for whom the Spirit of Christ Himself gives us those soft hearts to be His willing volunteers, His eager followers. who are delighted in the holiness, the glory, the inexhaustible life of our King. Let's pray. Our gracious God and our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you and praise you for your spirit who proceeds from you. And we pray that he would minister to us this portion of your word that these thoughts and more that are from this passage that we have just begun to scratch the surface of would delight us, that King Jesus himself would delight us, that we would honor him and worship him. that we would submit to him and follow him, that we would rejoice and exult in him, that we would trust in him and come to God through him, that we would be sure and take comfort in his vengeance upon all of his and our enemies. Make us to be those, we pray, who kiss the sun before his wrath is kindled but a little, in which we would have been destroyed. Make us part of those blessed ones. When you teach us, blessed are all who trust in him. Grant this to us by your spirit, Lord Jesus, we ask, even in your own name, amen.