As we previously mentioned, Psalm 110 is saturated throughout the New Testament as a primary scriptural focal point. Its pre-eminence is central to the ministry of Jesus and His apostles. In examining how this Psalm connects to or is fulfilled in the New Testament, we need to begin by probing how the Lord Jesus applied the 110th Psalm especially to Himself.
Jesus’ Prediction Concerning the Psalm
The Lord Jesus declares unequivocally that He is the expected Messianic King spoken of by David hundreds of years prior to His birth.
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “The son of David.” He *said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet”’? If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?” (Matthew 22:41-45)
In confronting the religious leaders of His day, The Lord Jesus applies the Psalm as a means of condemning the unbelief of His opposers and their attempt to question His authority. They had publicly attacked Him because He refused to rebuke children shouting Hosanna to the Son of David after He had miraculously healed the blind and the lame (21:14-15). He presented to them several parables containing the character of “a son”, who was murdered by a group of brigands. At this point in the interaction, He returns to the theme of the Son by presenting this Psalm to them. The Pharisees were not ignorant that the Messiah would come from the branch of David who would reign as king (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Isaiah 11:1-10) so Jesus begs the question: how does David in the Spirit call Him Lord? How can a great king like David call another his superior? The fact that David called the Messiah “Lord” demonstrates that David believed that He would be an even greater king than himself. David was considered the greatest of the kings of Israel and to surpass his legacy, one would need to possess a greater kingdom. This Messiah that David looked forward to would be the One to Whom he would bow! Jesus applies the Psalm to Himself with the intent to condemn them. If David respected the authority of God’s promise, then who were they to question it? These were men who would fall under the category of enemies that would be placed under His feet. We know this because latter, during the Lord’s trial, Jesus states:
Jesus *said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:64)
“If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.” (Luke 22:67-71)
Imagine that these words were uttered when the Lord was arrested and brought before Caiaphas the High Priest, the Scribes, and elders (Matthew 26:57). They gathered as a council in an attempt to find a charge to lay upon Him. His silence was angering them to no end, and these leaders began to increase the intensity of their interrogation. He had previously claimed authority as the Son of David, and Caiaphas wanted a straight answer on whether He was the Messiah and, in return, the Son of God. The Jews were looking for a verbal confession to charge Him with blasphemy and they got their wish. He agreed to this claim because He truly was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God! He tells these men standing before Him that “you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” What this meant was that they would come to acknowledge that He was the Son of David, and they would see the coming judgment. The tables would turn, and He would then judge those who condemned Him to death. The Psalm is applied in the condemnation of Christ’s enemies. These men in Jerusalem in the 1st century would be the first batch of enemies to be put under His feet.
The Enthroned Conqueror
The previous quotations in the gospels were in essence a pronouncement of the guarantee that the crowning of God’s King would bring repercussions upon His enemies, mainly all those who rejected Him. While we addressed this briefly in a previous post, we must turn to the question of what Psalm 110 tells us about when His coronation happens and what are the events that will manifest this rise to Kingship. One of the crucial texts that explains His ascension to David’s throne is found in Acts chapter 2.
And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:30-36)
In Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, he proclaims to his hearers the fulfillment of prophecy through the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the judgment, and the time when those who call upon the name of the Lord to be saved was in their midst fulfilling the words of the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16-21). Peter then proclaims the Lord Jesus as One who performed many signs and wonders for them to believe, but they had rejected Him, handing Him over to be crucified (Acts 2:22-23). He then turns to align this coronation to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, once again, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. Peter quotes Psalm 16:8-11, a Psalm concerning David who expresses his trust in Yahweh that he will give him help in his time of need and not abandon him. This is applied to the Messiah since David did die and experienced decay while the descendant of David would raise from the dead. The fact that David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day, demonstrates that Psalm 16 is speaking of something beyond David’s experience.
David was not speaking of himself, since Peter refers to him as a “prophet” meaning that he was looking forward to a time when God would seat one of his descendants on his throne (Acts 2:30). This was promised as a part of David’s covenant (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalms 89:3-4; 35-37, 132:11). This happened when Solomon sat on his father’s throne, but the true fulfilment of these texts was not finalized in Solomon. One of the most poignant features of the promised kingship of David was that the kingship would be forever. The only way that a king could remain on the throne forever would that He would never die. Luke tells us that when David uttered these words, he was looking to the resurrection of the Christ, whom He would not abandon to Hades (Acts 2:31). The resurrection account was witnessed by many individuals, one even placing his finger into the wounds from the crucifixion (John 20:24-28).
Acts 2:33 begins with the term “therefore” meaning that the result of this resurrection and the fulfillment of the promises of David would be found in the next verses. There are two conclusions from that resurrection from the dead: (1) He was exalted to the right hand of God, (2) He receives the Holy Spirit whom He pours out. What’s important to remember is that they were seeing the repercussions of the Holy Spirit being sent out with their own eyes which leads us to the conclusion that if that happened, then the exaltation must have taken place also. The place of His exaltation was to sit at the right hand as the King. Peter then quotes an important Psalm to substantiate the claim of the exaltation of Christ as the promised King. While some may have looked to a fulfillment in David, it was Christ who had ascended, not David (v.34). It was Christ as One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. “And to Him was given dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14). Peter makes it clear that because Christ had been exalted to the right hand, they had received the Holy Spirit. This is unquestionable when we consider the quotation from Psalm 110:1. God ruled Israel through a representative king, whether David or his successors, but this time He would rule Israel through an ultimate King in Jesus. This coming King was greater than David since even David refers to Him as Lord! When Christ ascended into heaven in Act 1:9, this was the moment when He journeyed up to the Ancient of Days to receive His kingdom. Many people struggle with this since they are looking to a time when Jesus will sit on the literal throne of David in Jerusalem, but the throne on earth wasn’t the greater throne. Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh (1 Chronicles 28:5; 29:23) and hence the biblical writers were not thinking necessarily in terms of a physical throne.
We now come to our final “therefore” statement in Peter’s sermon. The result of this coronation of Jesus, was that all the house of Israel would know, that God has made Him both Lord and Christ! Peter exclaims that the house of Israel should “be certain” that Jesus was the Messiah and, at the same time, Lord or king sitting on the throne of Yahweh, and ruling over the heavens and the earth (Matthew 28:18). So, if Jesus has been raised from the dead, then the 110th Psalm is in full motion with God having already started the work of placing His enemies under His feet which includes, as we saw in this text, those who crucified Him.
To offer a further example of this, Let’s take a look at what the apostle Paul had to say regarding this Davidic enthronement and how it relates to the resurrection of Christ:
concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, (Romans 1:3-4)
The proof of His Messiahship was in the fact that He raised from the dead. His resurrection was key to the enthronement and so if Christ rose from the dead, then He ascended to the majesty on High to be enthroned with power and rulership over all, whether Jew or Gentile.
The Enthronement & The Cross
While His coronation is interchangeable with His resurrection from the dead and the ascension into Heaven, His enthronement was also deeply interrelated to His death on the cross. Obviously, without the death on the cross, there could not be a resurrection from the dead. The writer of Hebrews makes this clear:
And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. (Hebrews 1:3-4)
We see clearly here the work of the priest from Psalm 110:4 and how it correlates with the crowning of God’s King. The crown is clearly associated with the sacrifice. Christ’s atoning death purified sinners and satisfied the wrath against God’s people. It pleased the Lord and in return He seated Him at His right hand. This time we are introduced to the exaltation of Christ above angels, not only kings and nations.
We see this very same concept continue later in this epistle:
let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The context of this passage is upon faith and the sheer determination that the faithfulness of Christ produced, even to the point of enduring the shame of the cross. This shame is now portrayed as joy because it was a joy that was set before Him, that of fulfilling the promises of the Father, that lead to this pleasure. He died like a disgraced criminal, but the Father had grandeur plans for this death mainly that because of this faithfulness, He would seat Him at the right hand of His glorious throne. In His disgrace, He would be granted the place of the highest honour as King.
A Post-Resurrection Reality
So, now that we’ve explored the means by which Jesus was enthroned, let’s uncover the repercussions of that seat in relation to those upon the earth. How real was Jesus’ enthronement to those Christians living in the 1st Century?
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:31)
The Father didn’t simply make Him a Savior, but also a Prince or a ruler. This was the substance behind the boldness of the evangelistic endeavour of the early church. After having been imprisoned, they stood before the council which included the High Priest defying the mandate to no longer preach the name of Jesus openly. Peter’s response was that they must obey God rather than men. Because of the resurrection (v.30), He took on a new position seated at the right hand to become both their Lord and Saviour, and so as to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Those who’d been directly responsible in the death of their Messiah were called to repent and acknowledge Him as the promised anointed One of Yahweh. So, the reaction of the apostles after His coronation was the proclaim Him as Lord and Saviour with boldness.
The seating of the Son of Man in glory also produced comfort for those who were about to die. While the executioners were content to put Stephen to death, he found his comfort in the revelation from God to him that the One for whom he would die a martyr was very much alive and well seated at the right hand, King over Israel and the nations.
But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55-56)
The coronation of Christ would not only bring hope to believers in this life, but in the next. The apostle Paul writing to the church of Colossae could write:
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
The assurance of salvation and inheritance was so certain to Paul that he applies it to the believers in Colossae in the 1st century. We are not to simply look around us at the earthy but should set our minds on the heavenly. It is a motivation to live godly lives that are focused upon the seated Christ in heaven rather than the earthly lusts (v.5). Again, they found hope in the fact that Jesus was actually seated at the right hand of God, fulfilling the promises of Psalm 110 and the idea that He rules as the Davidic King today. If He has achieved victory, so would they!
The Moncton Herald 