In our previous two segments, we explored the blessings of all the nations coming through a Messianic King that Yahweh Himself appointed. While there are many portions of scripture throughout the bible that help in determining the state of the nations in its relation to the coming of the King from the line of David, no other single scriptural reference is as significant as Psalm 110. David’s Psalm reverberates throughout the New Testament as an extensive testimony of King Jesus’ reign, His intercessory work, and even the conditions in the world just prior to the end of history. The numerous citations from this Psalm, whether directly or in an allusion, demonstrate its significance to the faith of the early church. It became centric in both the ministry of the Lord Himself and His apostles to communicate the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth. This Psalm’s significance is sadly not felt as intensely today, and this is perhaps the reason for the lag in enthusiasm in both the mission of the church and authenticity in the study of eschatological matters. Prior to delving into the New Testament references, let’s begin with an overview of the original means of Psalm 110 sprinkled with some New Testament fulfillments.
The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head.
The Promissory meaning of Psalm 110
In his commentary on the Psalms, Derek Kidner divides this Canticle with three titles describing this anointed One of Yahweh to come: The King (vs.1-3), The Priest (vs. 4) and The Warrior (vs. 5-7). But while we can divide this Psalm into these neat compartments, I can’t help but notice that there is an incredible lucidness to all 7 verses. They are not describing separate attributes of the Divine King but David seems to interwind these traits to describe the conquering Priest-King of Yahweh. In other words, the Kingship is entirely connected with the priesthood. The authorship of the Psalm is attributed to King David (Matthew 22:42-43) and as we’ll see later, it was given by David acting as a prophet (Acts 2:30) through a divine word about the coming Messiah. Its primary focus is upon the coronation of God’s king who would be given Sovereignty overall. This dominion granted to God’s king was described as greater than the rule given to David. David as the writer of the Psalm would attribute Lordship in a personal way to this coming monarch.
Yahweh’s King
The Psalm begins with God giving oracles to this coming King. Yahweh personally placing Him in the position of the ultimate Royal Ruler. This divine decree establishes His rule and is followed by a promise to bless the King by sitting Him on His throne to rule, and also to make His enemies His footstool (v.1). It is God (pronoun “I”) who will accomplish this task through the Messiah and His people. One distinction attributed to this king is that He would not be sitting on a throne on earth, but He would reign while seated on a heavenly throne. He is seated at the right hand, the place of honour and power on the highest of thrones. The act of sitting is not so much accenting a posture as it is explaining His position. The right hand is generally associated with power and shattering enemies (Exodus 15:6). It was the place of tribute where someone sat when they had achieved victory and favour in the sight of a great king (1 Kings 2:19; Psalm 44:3; Psalm 89:13). To make an enemy a footstool was to bring them under another King’s submission. All the enemies of this king would be subdued while He would sit at His right hand awaiting that fulfillment. The term until denotes a timeframe that at least alludes to the fact that this window of time has an end in sight.
His Scepter & The King’s Rule
David further depicts this rule from the right hand by stating that Yahweh will stretch forth His strong Scepter (or rod). At this point, God addresses the Messiah directly. The Scepter belongs to Yahweh, and it is a symbol of rulership. This Scepter will be stretched forth, or let loose (extended from) Zion[1], the holy mountain of the Lord. Zion symbolizes the heavenly place where Yahweh’s throne resides (Hebrews 12:22)[2]. Yahweh speaks to David’s Lord with a proclamation that He is to “rule in the midst of Your enemies”. These enemies are in contrast with the volunteers we will see in v.3. These adversaries will be ruled over with authority and firmness. He will conquer His enemies through a compulsory dominion which will lead in an unquestioned conquest.
The Volunteers & The King’s Rule
V.3 points at a military campaign effected by volunteers who unite behind their king. The opening line reminds us of the song of Deborah and Barak when “That the leaders led in Israel, That the people volunteered, Bless the Lord! (Judges 5:2). The first act after Jesus ascended into heaven was to pour out the Holy Spirit to make people willing. The subjects of this king will offer themselves freely to serve Him in battle. The language is reminiscent of some New Testament texts which tells believers to fight the good fight (1 Timothy 1:18; 6:12) and to put on the full armour of God (Ephesians 6:13-17) in a spiritual war, those who did not love their lives unto death (Revelation 12:11) [3].They will heed their marching orders to go forth on behalf of their King who has all authority in heaven and on earth to baptize and disciple the nations (Matthew 28:18-20). They will volunteer in the splendor of holiness, as priests representing the king from the very beginning (or the dawn/womb) in this war. The final expression, your youth are to You as the dew, is meant to convey that these volunteers also glorify the king because they continue to be refreshed by their king as a youth or the dew of the morning.
The Priest-King
This King who will be seated at the right hand of the Father will serve in the capacity of a priest. Not a corrupt priest like those of the Aaronic or Levitical priesthoods, but that of a royal priest to the order of Melchizedek. God will swear an oath to this king and the promises that this pledge entails will be irreversible. The eternal nature of this priesthood will provide assurance to those for whom He intercedes. Of course, the priesthood that He would represent would be that of a king-priest to the order of Melchizedek, king of Salem. We will discover more about this as we go through certain selected texts in Hebrews. But notice that v.4 is right in the middle of two sections meant to convey the rule and battle of the King. The priesthood is included because it is every bit as much a part of His reign. What is most fascinating about the order of Melchizedek is that Christ Jesus, the fulfillment of this priesthood, would unite in a very real way three offices (prophet, priest & king) that were once deemed unable to be joined together. The priest-king would return to build the temple of the Lord (Zechariah 6:12-13) and this was completed in the building of the greatest temple of all, His body (John 2:20-22) and the church (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 6:16-18).
Shattering Kings
We now enter into language that is meant to convey a battle and the triumph of the king. Yahweh and His King are together going on a world conquest presumably with those volunteers from v.3. The goal of the conquest is to make His enemies His footstool, which includes even Kings. This is a similar outcome as we see in Psalm 2:2: The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed. This second Psalm is applied to Herod and Pontius Pilate who gathered together against your holy Servant (Acts 4:26-27) resulting in Herod dying a dreadful death (Acts 12:1-2, 23). But we also see in this text a similar message as in Daniel 2:34-35 where God says that You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. There is a sense where there is a take over of other kingdoms and they will cease to exist. This will happen on the day of His wrath, which is a day that the whole world will experience the terrifying fire of His judgment (Zephaniah 1:15,18)
Judging Nations
While the reign of the Messiah will eventually see nations converted, there will also be in its span nations that are judged. When we consider the first century at the beginning of the reign of Jesus, the enemies of Christ, both the Jews and the Romans were eventually defeated and destroyed. In both cases, there were literally corpses filling both Jerusalem and Rome.
Drinking and Lifting
The priest-king of Yahweh will not be like those who thirst in the desert, or becomes exhausted by his conquest, but will drink from the brook the waters of relief. He will not hang His head in shame but lift it up in victory. He will not tire until He fulfills His conquest, and His efforts will continue to be refreshed as time goes on until the day He has achieved complete victory.
In our next segment, we will begin to explore how this mighty Psalm was fulfilled in the New Testament and what we can expect as believers as a result of it.
[1] The rod could be referring to His Word (Isaiah 11:4) which will go forth through the law (Isaiah 2:3).
[2] It could also be that this is referring to the going forth of the proclamation of Christ’s Kingship from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14, 29-36)
[3] This could also be linked to the giving of one’s life to the service of Christ (Romans 12:1; Philippians 2:17 etc)
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