The King and Priest Who Came at Christmas (Psalm 110)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Morata, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This week we're doing something a little different. For Christmas, I'm taking us to Psalm 110, which is one of the most often quoted passages in the New Testament, and it's a powerful glimpse into the identity of the Messiah. It may not sound like a traditional Christmas test. There's no manger, no shepherd, no angel singing in the sky, but this ancient psalm, written about a thousand years before Jesus was born, helps us answer one of the most important questions of the season. As Christians, what are we celebrating at Christmas? Are we celebrating the birth of a wise teacher who told us how to be kind and love one another? Or are we celebrating something far greater and someone far greater? Psalm 110 shows us that the baby in the manger is not just a child of promise. He is the king who will conquer every enemy and the priest who brings us back to God once and for all. That's what we'll explore in today's episode. Psalm 110 is what scholars call a messianic psalm. It's a psalm that points us forward to the coming of the Christ or the Messiah. But this psalm doesn't point to his birth, it points to his mission, his power, and his eternal ring. If Christmas marks the moment the Messiah entered the world, Psalm 110 helps us understand why he came and who he really is. We're going to look at the Psalm today and then we're going to go to the New Testament to see how the New Testament authors understand the Psalm. It's a short one. Let me read all seven verses to you. 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 from over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook, by the way, therefore he will lift up his head. It says it's a Psalm of David, and in many psalms we can skip knowing who the author is. It doesn't make any difference. But in Psalm 110, authorship matters a lot. Understanding who wrote this Psalm is key to understanding what it means. And this isn't biblical scholars making a claim or a guess. Jesus himself calls attention to the significance of the fact that David wrote the Psalm. We'll come back to that in a minute. David was Israel's greatest king. He was chosen by God to lead the nation. David lived from approximately 1040 to 970 BC. He became ruler over Israel around 1,000 BC, and God promised David that the Messiah would one day come from his family line and rule on his throne forever. King David wrote this song, and here's what he writes. We'll start with verse 1. The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. So the first question we want to sort out is who is speaking to who? We know David is writing, but who is speaking to who when he says, The Lord says to my Lord. If David wasn't the author, if some servant in the royal household or a scribe in the palace wrote this line, we might read this verse and think, okay, the Lord is speaking to the king. The Lord, and we'll see in a moment that refers to God, said something to my Lord, and if I'm a servant of King David, then my Lord would be the king. So God said something to David, and that would make sense. But this isn't a servant writing, this is David the King of Israel writing. And he says, God says to my Lord. Well that's unexpected because who would King David call my Lord? In ancient Israel there was no one above him, and yet here he is writing under inspiration that God is speaking to someone greater than himself. Well that tells us right away David's Lord can't be Solomon or any of the kings who followed from his line. This psalm is pointing to someone unique, someone David calls my Lord, and as we'll see, that is the Messiah. Now I told you the first Lord in the phrase, the Lord says to my Lord, referred to God the Father. How do I know that? In English, it looks like the same word is repeated twice, Lord and Lord, but in Hebrew, we're looking at two different words. If you're looking at the English Standard Version, you may notice that the first Lord is in all capital letters, and the second time we see it, only the first letter is capital. That's the translator's way of telling you these are two different words, but both of them are translated Lord. In many English Bibles, when you see the word Lord in all capital letters, that means this is the word Yahweh. This is God's name. It's the name He revealed to Moses at the burning bush that means I am He who is. Now many English Bibles will print it in small capital letters to signal the original Hebrew says Yahweh, not the generic title for Lord, Master, or ruler, which is the word we have in the second place. The second Lord is the word Adonai, which means master, Lord, or sovereign. So what David is saying here is Yahweh says to my Adonai, my master, the one I serve. For centuries, Jewish tradition held that you didn't pronounce the name Yahweh when reading the Old Testament scriptures out loud. Out of reverence, they would say Adonai instead, even when the text itself said Yahweh. In many English translations, that tradition has carried over, and so even today, many translations don't put the name Yahweh in the text. Instead, they render it Lord in all capital letters. And that's what we're seeing here. Now, sometimes you'll hear it argued that one of the reasons we know Jesus is God is because he invites people to call him Lord, or at least he doesn't contradict them when they call him Lord. They argue that because Lord refers to God so many times in the Old Testament, it must be a title for God, which means Jesus is claiming to be God when he allows people to use that title for him. Well, as you can see from this background, I don't think that argument holds water. I do believe Jesus is God incarnate, but I don't think that's the argument we want to use to make that case. Jesus is allowing people to call him Adonai, which simply means Lord or Sir or Master, and it's not a title for God. It's what people would say instead of saying the name Yahweh. And you can see that right here in Psalm 110. The word Adonai is well established in the Old Testament as meaning Lord. In the scriptures, Adonai is the standard way to refer to someone in authority, a ruler, a king, a master. So the fact that Jesus allows people to call him Adonai or Lord says nothing one way or the other about his divinity. When the New Testament authors refer to Jesus as Lord, I think the primary emphasis is on his authority, not his divine nature. To say Jesus is Lord is to say Jesus is King, He is our master, He is the one who rules over us and the one we must obey. And that's what David is recognizing here. He says, God spoke to my Lord, to someone who holds a higher rank even than Israel's greatest king. God says something to my ruler, my sovereign, the one I serve. And what did God say to that person? Let's look at verse one again. The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Now the right hand of God is a symbolic way of describing a place of authority. Just think of any old movies you've watched where someone is granted an audience with the king. The king sits on the throne and his servants and attendants all stand around him. When a visitor approaches the king, the visitor bows or kneels to show his respect and submission. The only people in the room who sit are those on either side of the king, especially the person at his right. And they sit not because they're kings themselves, but because they've been honored with that position of authority. So the queen might be on his right and his most trusted servant on his left, or vice versa. Their authority comes from their proximity to the king. They can speak and act on his behalf. When others interact with the people on the king's right or left, they are effectively interacting with the king, and that's the image we have here. When God says, sit at my right hand, he's saying, I'm giving you a seat beside me. Not a seat in the room, but I'm giving you a place of power and authority. I'm giving you the authority to speak for me. And when people respond to you, they are responding to me, because I'm giving you authority to rule with my backing, my name, and a place next to my throne. That's no small appointment. And then there's the second part of the line, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Now there's an important emphasis here on the idea of until God has declared to this person who is David's Lord, the one who is more important even than Israel's greatest king, God has declared to him, I am putting you at my right hand, giving you authority, and you will be there until I take your enemies and make them a footstool for your feet. Right now your enemies are running around loose. They're out there plotting against you, thinking they have the upper hand. But the day is coming when I, God, am going to take all your enemies and subdue them so thoroughly and completely that it will be as if they are a footstool for your feet. And on that day, you will finally and irrevocably be established as ruling over them. Right now you sit at my right hand with my authority, but on that day all rebellion will end, all your enemies will be conquered and subdued, and you will have control over all of them. Now, as we'll see, God has two things to say in the Psalm to the king who is greater than David. This is the first one sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. I'm giving you a place of importance and authority, and there you will be until I subdue every enemy in all creation under your rule. That's the first declaration. But before we get to the second one, he further explores this picture of authority. This is verse 2. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Zion is another name for Jerusalem. In other words, this king is ruling from Jerusalem. He's sitting on the throne of David, but he is greater than David, and God will extend his rule out over all his enemies. When David ruled over Israel, he extended the borders of its lands, but he still had enemies to deal with. He had to keep beating back the Philistines and all the others who threatened them. Unlike David, this king is going to prevail over all of his enemies. This is another way of stating the promise God will make his enemies a footstool for his feet. This isn't some small border conflict between neighbors. This isn't one local dictator skirmishing with another dictator over a small patch of land. This is the author and creator of the universe declaring that his appointed king, his messiah, is going to rule over everything. The enemies of this king are the enemies of God. And God tolerates them for now. God gives them some time to wake up and change sides, but the day is coming when his patience will end and he will fully and finally establish his rule through his chosen king over all creation. So Psalm 110 is describing the final battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil that will decide the fate of the world. And who is going to prevail? God is declaring right now, no enemy will remain, no opposition will stand, the Messiah will rule, and his rule will be complete. In other words, Psalm 110 is describing what the New Testament calls the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. When Jesus began his public ministry on earth, he claimed the kingdom of God is at hand. He wasn't inventing a new idea. He's stepping into this very story. He, Jesus, is this king, the one David called my Lord. He's the one God seats at his right hand, and he is the one whose rule will extend from Jerusalem over all the earth, and all his enemies will be vanquished. The Psalm gives us this poetic preview of exactly what the New Testament means when it talks about Jesus returning and establishing his rule over all the earth. The kingdom of God is not just a nice idea that maybe there's some kind of heaven somewhere we can go to after we die. The kingdom of God is the declared, predicted coming reign of God's chosen king. A kingdom where no enemy of God remains, a kingdom where every rival power has been subdued, and a kingdom where righteousness and justice are no longer hoped for, but fully realized. He goes on in verse three Your people will offer themselves freely on that day of your power, in holy garments from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. So this verse adds a new detail. The king does not stand alone. Now we see his people, all of those who belong to him, join him willingly. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power. In other words, on the day when the king steps out in might, he won't be alone. His followers, or his subjects, if you will, will rise to join him, not grudgingly, not under compulsion, but freely and joyfully. The poetic picture is this great battle is about to begin, but this army doesn't need to be conscripted or forced or drafted. These soldiers come running, and they are clothed in holy garments, set apart for this very purpose, ready, eager, and willing to stand with their king. This is the people of God answering the call of their Messiah, clothed in righteousness, transformed by grace, taking their place beside the king who reigns. And this is the picture of a victorious king surrounded by willing, holy people who serve and belong to him. And then we have this imagery here from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. That's a bit confusing. I'm not sure I fully understood it. The poetry is a little vague. And over the years, Bible students have suggested several different proposals for exactly what's going on in this verse. It's hard to be specific. I think the idea is first we're being asked to picture the dawn, the beginning of the day, as giving birth to something. That's this phrase, the womb of the morning. I think that's a vivid way of saying when this decisive day arrives, it will bring something new and radiant. It will be as if this day is giving birth to something new and wonderful. And what is that? Well, the clue we have is the dew of your youth will be yours. Well, are we talking about the king's youthful strength, his energy and vigor in the prime of life? That's possible. Or we could be talking about his warriors, his soldiers, the strong youthful army that appears like morning dew across the battlefield because they are so numerous. That's also possible. I lean toward the second idea, that this is an image of the king's people as young, strong, and willing, rising up at dawn, eager and ready for the fight, and like dew that covers the ground, they appear in abundance, fresh, radiant, and a countless host gathered to serve their king. I may be right, I may be wrong on that. I'm not sure we can pin down every detail with certainty, but the overall image seems to be this is a battle scene. God's chosen king has enemies, but when the day of his power comes, the day when God conquers those enemies, this king will not be alone. He will be strong and surrounded by strong willing people. Now, we could argue whether this should be taken as a literal battle or figurative battle. I'm not going to get into that debate, but I think the point either way is God's rule through this appointed king will be fully and finally established. That brings us to God's second declaration. This is verse 4. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now we need to let this language, Yahweh has sworn and will not change his mind, carry the weight it deserves. This isn't just a passive statement. God has sworn, he has taken an oath, a solemn promise and a vow. This is God saying, This is what I have decreed. I am not revising it, I'm not reversing it. This decree is final. If you want to know what God's doing in the world, what all of history is moving toward, this is it. And what has God sworn? This king who sits at my right hand, this king, the one David calls my Lord, is also a priest forever. Now we might not feel the tension here at first, but I think David's original audience would absolutely have been a little bit shocked by this, because in ancient Israel, the priesthood wasn't open to just anyone. Random Israelites could not just simply decide, hey, I think I want to serve as a priest. To be a priest, you had to be a descendant of Levi. The entire priestly system was built around that tribe. That's why we call it the Levitical priesthood. And God established that system himself. He decreed that when they entered the land, only those from the tribe of Levi could become priests. But David isn't writing about a Levite. In fact, none of David's descendants are Levites. David is writing about a king who will rule from Jerusalem. And Israel knows that kings come from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of David, not from the tribe of Levi. In fact, David has already been promised that the throne will stay in his family line forever, which means the Messiah, the one who rules from David's throne, must be from the tribe of Judah. So how can this king also be a priest? Well, the answer to that lies in the last phrase after the order of Melchizedek. So the next question we have to answer is who was Melchizedek? And we need to go back to Genesis 14. Let me give you a little bit of background. This is a story about Abraham, who was still called Abram at this point. He gets pulled into a regional conflict. A group of kings went to war with each other. They raided Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the process, they captured Abraham's nephew, Lot. So Abram decides, I need to go and free Lot. And he arms his men, goes out to battle, and defeats all the other kings, freeing Lot. On his way back after this victory, we get this little story. This is Genesis 14, verses 17 through 20. After his return from the defeat of Kerda Laomer, the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom, went out to meet him at the valley of Shiva, that is the king's valley. And Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God most high. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram by God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. So after this battle we meet this man Melchizedek, and we're told two things about him. He is a king of Salem, and he is a priest of God most high. Now Salem is the area that will eventually become Jerusalem. The Salem in Jerusalem comes from this name. Melchizedek is both a king and a priest, and not just any priest, he's a priest of the one true God, the God most high. And he's a priest in the region that will become Jerusalem. He probably didn't know the name Yahweh because God hadn't revealed that name yet. He reveals that later to Moses. But Melchizedek clearly worships the same God. And Abram recognizes that they serve the same God. He receives a blessing from this priest, and in response, he gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything. That's a gesture of respect that shows Abram recognizes Melchizedek's spiritual authority. Now Melchizedek stands outside the Levitical priesthood. This is long before Levi was even born, but here is a priest who was appointed not by lineage, but by God himself. And that's what Psalm 110 is picking up on. The Messiah will not be a priest because of his ancestry. He won't follow the order of Levi. Instead, he will be a priest like Melchizedek, appointed by God to rule both as king and to serve as priest. So what God is saying here through David about this figure, this one David calls my Lord, is this. But unlike Melchizedek or any other priest before him, his role will be eternal. God has sworn it, and he will not change his mind. The only person who is both king forever and priest forever is the Messiah. Now the Psalm continues, let's look at the last three verses. 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. All right, now the imagery has shifted. In the first few verses of the psalm, we were in the throne room. God was on his throne, and this king was seated next to him at his right hand, ruling with authority. Now the scene has shifted to a battlefield. The king is going out to war, and God is standing at the king's right hand. Now this doesn't mean they've reversed roles. The psalm is not saying the king is now over God. This is a different picture altogether. The king is leading the battle, and at his side, his ally in the fight is God Himself, which means the outcome of this battle is not in question. When the creator of the universe fights at your side, you are not going to lose. And this day of battle, which the Psalm calls the day of his wrath, is the day at the end of history as we know it, when God steps in to judge his enemies. On this day, every earthly ruler, everyone who set themselves against God and his Messiah will be brought low, kings will be shattered, nations will be held accountable, and all rebellion to God and his king will end. And as the New Testament says, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus, the Messiah, is Lord. Now, yes, the poetry is a little gritty and graphic. It says he will fill the nation with corpses. That's not pleasant, but it's not really supposed to be. The psalm is giving us a sobering picture of a very real coming judgment. This is the cost of defying the God who made us. And it's a reminder, this world isn't going to go on forever just like this. Violence, injustice, corruption, rebellion, those things don't get the final word. The day is coming when God will say enough. No more pretending God doesn't exist, no more ignoring God's rule. God will step in and his king will reign. And we get that final kind of cryptic line: He will drink from the brook by the way, therefore he will lift up his head. Again, I'm not sure I fully understood this, but remember, we're in the middle of a battle. And this is not a modern battle with satellites and drones. This is an ancient boots on the ground kind of battle where swords are hitting swords and a king is surrounded by his soldiers. And the king's in the front, riding, running, fighting, leading his people as they pursue the enemy. And the picture seems to be: this king is so thoroughly winning. His enemies are so thoroughly on their run, and the outcome is so certain that this king has the leisure to pause and take a drink from a stream. He can very calmly stoop down, take a drink, and then lift his head, refreshed and ready to continue, because he is so thoroughly winning this battle. He's not hurried, he's not panicked, he's not pressed, he's not worried about getting hit from behind. He is in command. He is so thoroughly winning this battle in such a decisive way that he has the leisure right in the middle of it to stop for a drink. So to summarize the psalm, we have a prophetic statement from David. David is not speaking about himself. He is speaking about someone greater than he is, someone he calls my Lord. He tells us God has declared two things about this person. First, this Lord will be king, he will be seated at God's right hand, the place of highest authority, and God will give him rule over all. He sits there now, but the day is coming when every one of his enemies will be defeated and every one of his rivals will fall. Second, this Lord, this king, is a priest. In addition to being a king who rules with strength and righteousness, he will be a priest who intercedes for his people and reconciles them to God. He will be like Melchizedek outside the line of Levi, but directly appointed by God to be both king and priest. So now we just need to know who is this king who is both king and priest. Well, David doesn't tell us, but the New Testament does. This psalm is about the Christ, the Messiah, and more specifically, it's about Jesus. The one Jesus refers to as my Lord in this psalm is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the one seated at the right hand of God, and he is the one who has been given rule over all. He is both king and priest forever. And the New Testament makes this connection clearer. So what I'd like to do is take you to a couple of places in the New Testament where Jesus and the New Testament authors point this psalm back to Jesus. The first place I want to look is Matthew chapter 22, verses 41 through 45. This is a little confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees. 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. 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 then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. Now notice the question that sets up this discussion. What do you think about the Christ? Well, Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah, and Messiah means God's anointed one. It was the word they used for the anointed king who would reign forever from the Davidic throne. In other words, for the person who's described in Psalm 110. So the context of this discussion is who is the Christ? Who is the Messiah? What do you know about him? And this is one of those moments where Jesus doesn't contradict the Pharisees so much as challenge them to expand the way they think. Jesus himself is in the line of David, and the New Testament makes a big point of that. That's not the issue. Jesus asks, What do you think about the Christ, whose son is he? And they respond, the son of David, and that's a good answer, but he challenges them to think more. He quotes Psalm 110. 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 then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? Now implicit in the question Jesus asks is that Psalm 110 is about the Messiah. Remember, the question under discussion is, who do you think the Messiah is? The Messiah is a son of David. Well, why did David call the Messiah my Lord? If David was talking about someone else in Psalm 110, Jesus' question would make no sense. David called the Messiah my Lord, why did he do that? So that gives us pretty solid evidence that Jesus himself understood this psalm to be about the Messiah. Now, what's behind his question is in their world, the founder of a family line, the patriarch, held the highest place of honor. He's the origin point. Everything else flows from him. For example, Abraham is the father of the Jewish people. He's the one to whom God first made the promises about a nation, a people, and a land. And the Jews rightly call themselves children of Abraham because he stands at the beginning. He's the patriarch. His significance is foundational. No one who comes after him surpasses Abraham in stature. Well, the same kind of thinking applies to David. David was the first chosen king of Israel. He established the dynasty that bears his name. When we speak of it, we don't talk about Solomon, we don't call it the Solomon dynasty, we call it the Davidic line, the Davidic throne. David is the one who stamps his name on the house, and his is the name that matters. Any king who comes after him, no matter how great, derives his significant from the fact that he is a son of David. So when the Pharisees say the Messiah is a son of David, they are putting the Messiah under David, so to speak. He's important because of his identity, and his identity flows from the promises given to David. But Jesus challenges that assumption. He says, What if the Messiah is more than David's son? What if he's actually greater than David? What if David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recognized that one of the people who would come after him was also greater than him? And that's what Psalm 110 reveals. The Lord said to my Lord, David, the king of Israel, looks ahead and calls the Messiah greater than he is, which means the Messiah doesn't just carry on the Davidic line, he fulfills it, he surpasses it, he becomes the greatest king. So, yes, in one sense, the Messiah is a son of David, he's in the Davidic line, a physical descendant of David. And in that sense, he fulfills the promises made to David. But David, under the inspiration of the Spirit, turns the whole relationship upside down and says, he doesn't derive significance from me, I derive my significance from him. He is my Lord, he is my master, and he is greater than me. And that's the point Jesus is making to the Pharisees. If David calls him Lord, how is the Messiah his son? There is a deeper, more ultimate sense in which David isn't the origin point. The Messiah doesn't merely carry on David's legacy, he fulfills it and surpasses it. And when all is said and done, it won't be called the house of David, it's going to be called the kingdom of God. So I think Jesus is correcting their limited vision. They're expecting a souped-up version of David, a warrior king to take back the throne, kick out the Romans, and restore the good old days. And Jesus is saying, your thinking's too small. David wasn't picturing someone who was going to merely walk in his footsteps. He was looking ahead to someone who would be greater than him, someone who would rule not only over Israel, but over all creation, who would sit at the right hand of God as both priest and king. So this is one of the places where Psalm 110 shows up in the New Testament, and Jesus confirms this Psalm was written by David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it was written about the Messiah. Now, how do we know that Messiah is Jesus? Well, let's look at another passage. Let's go to Acts chapter 2, verses 32 through 36. This is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. Peter is standing in front of a crowd in Jerusalem. This is after the crucifixion, after the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has been poured out on the apostles, and Peter is explaining who Jesus really is and what God has done through him. And here's part of what he says. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses, 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. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucify. Notice Peter echoes the language of Psalm 110, being exalted at the right hand of the Father, and then he quotes the Psalm directly and says, Look what David wrote. David said, God said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand. And he makes the same point Jesus made to the Pharisees. David wasn't talking about himself. David didn't ascend into heaven. He isn't the one seated at the right hand of God. That place belongs to someone else. That place belongs to the one David calls my Lord and Master. And Peter says, I'm here to tell you that's Jesus, the Jesus I followed, the Jesus we all saw crucified, the Jesus we saw alive again. He is the one seated at God's right hand. He is the one to whom all enemies will eventually bow. And so Peter's conclusion to his fellow Israelites is let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. In other words, the one David wrote about has arrived, and his name is Jesus. God exalted him, and God has declared him master and messiah. Jesus is not just a good teacher, he's not just a martyr, he's not even just a miracle worker, he is the risen reigning king who sits at God's right hand as king and reconciles God's people to God as priest. This is the fulfillment of Psalm 110. So the first passage we looked at, Jesus confirms David was speaking of the Messiah, and here Peter tells us Jesus is that Messiah. And I want to take you to one more passage. This is in 1 Corinthians 15, 23 through 28. And in this section, Paul is arguing for the resurrection. Some in Corinth don't believe there will be a physical resurrection, and Paul is setting them straight. So speaking of the resurrection, he says this, but each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God, 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. Now, I'm going to stop there for a second. That language should sound familiar. That phrase, he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, that is echoing Psalm 110. And Paul is arguing, this is how things are going to play out. First, Jesus rose from the dead. That happened three days after the crucifixion. Then when he comes again at the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God after defeating every one of his enemies, he raises us his people from the dead, and then comes the end where he conquers everything, including death. And then Paul continues, this is verse 27. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is accepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. Now that's a lot of subjecting, and that's pretty confusing language, but what he's saying is all things in subjection does not include Jesus. Here's the picture. And once he has done that, once nothing is left standing against the will of God, not even death itself, he places all of that at the feet of the Father. And this is the battle poetically described in Psalm 110. We're left with a world that is fully restored, fully renewed, Christ under God, creation under Christ, everything fully and finally under the will of God, no more sin, no more death, no decay or destruction, but a world, a creation made new, where we are ruled by righteousness and life. That's the future. That's the fulfillment of Psalm 110. This is what God decreed and will not change his mind, will happen. The whole story of creation is moving toward this day. But again, notice the language Paul uses. He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. Once more, he's reaching back to Psalm 110. This is the same phrase, the same promise. Jesus is reigning now. He's already seated at the right hand of the Father. That's happened. That's real and present. What hasn't happened yet is all his enemies are not subdued. So we live in that in-between time, the time of waiting for the day to come and expecting it to come. And this is where we are in the story. We're looking ahead to the day when he will rescue us from death, when he will reign visibly and unopposed, and his rule will extend over everything. So let's wrap this up. When you step back and look at all these texts, here's the heart of it. Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and he is coming back to establish his rule. In the Psalm, we're given a glimpse of God making two grand sweeping declarations. First, the Messiah, who is greater than David, will be exalted. He will sit at God's right hand. He will be given all power and authority, and in time every one of his enemies will be placed beneath his feet. And second, this king will be a priest forever. He will be a priest who can reconcile his people to God and God to the people. He stands in the gap and solves the problem of our sin once and for all. And when the New Testament opens and declares that Jesus is the Christ, this is what it means. He is the Messiah. He is this king who is seated even now at the right hand of God. And he is the priest who brings us to God, who offers us forgiveness and makes peace possible. So when we come to Christmas, we're remembering more than a silent night or a manger scene. We're celebrating the arrival of the Messiah, the one who came to bring peace on earth and reconcile us to God. At Christmas, we celebrate the baby who is born to be Christ. We're celebrating the arrival of the one David called my Lord, the one God promised would rule and redeem, the one who has been exalted and will return to conquer. And Christmas marks a significant step in the fulfillment of Psalm 110. The long-awaited king has come to earth. The eternal priest has stepped into history. God's promise has taken on flesh. And that's what we're celebrating when we celebrate Christmas. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. The blog version of this podcast is on wednesdayintheword.com slash Psalm110. You can find more episodes like this on my website, wednesdayintheword.com. There's no charge, no spam, and no ads. Just free resources to help you grow in your understanding of scripture and learn to study it for yourself. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please leave me a positive rating or review wherever you listen. It really helps people find the podcast. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Our theme music is graciously provided by my friend and my favorite musician, Reggie Coates. You can hear all of Reggie's music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.