The problem is that we are all rebels in an opposing army. The declaration of the arrival of Abram was bad news for Lot’s captors. Furthermore, the history of Israel and God’s revelation of Himself revealed two major complications. Firstly, God is establishing His rule by His King, but the disobedience of that King as God’s steward leads the covenant people astray. Secondly, God relates to His people by His Covenant, and the Aaronic priesthood administers the Covenant to God’s people and teaches them His ways, but the sons of Aaron failed to fulfill their duties.

Psalm 110 describes both what the Lord has done for us and how we ought to respond like this: Because the Messiah has secured his reign by His eternal priesthood, we must submit ourselves to His rule, deserting the division of the damned and enlisting in the retinue of the Redeemer.

Psalm 110 divides nicely into 3 sections. In verses 1-3, David describes the enthronement of the Messiah. Verse 4, the pièce de résistance of Psalm 110, describes the Messiah as Priest. And verses 5-7 show that the Messiah finds rest by right of conquest. 

Verses 1-3 instruct us that Jesus’ enthronement has universal consequence for both those inside and those outside His Kingdom.  

How do we know this enthronement is about Jesus? The underlying word here behind the uppercase “LORD” of some translations is the covenant name of God, Yahweh. David understands that Yahweh says the following invitation to someone who is David’s superior. This is quite shocking. David, as King over all Israel, could conceivably be equaled by a descendant from His line, but David understands that one must come who will surpass him. 


To confirm this, we need look no further than Jesus’ self understanding of this passage. In Matthew 26, Jesus responds to the interrogation of Caiaphas this way: “But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven (Mt 26:64).” With these words, Jesus identifies himself both as the reigning God-Man of Daniel 7:13-14 and also as the seated Sovereign of Psalm 110. Elsewhere, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for failing to understand that the Messiah, according to David’s understanding in Psalm 110, must be greater than Him (Mt 22:43–46). 

So, why does Jesus take a seat at the place of honor beside Yahweh in Psalm 110? So that YHWH “will make His enemies His footstool,” and “extend His mighty scepter from Zion" (vv. 1-2). Matthew Poole comments that this wording reflects an Ancient Near East practice of physically walking upon the necks of defeated monarchs. It is the practice of a complete victor over an ashamed foe. And the scepter that we see in verse 2, is not merely a symbol of majesty, it is a “mighty” or “fortified scepter” fit for crushing heads, shattering shields, and crashing chariots. 

But, notice the passivity of the Messiah in all this! Jesus' victory is finally a receipt of the work of Almighty Yahweh. That’s a theme that comes up repeatedly in Psalm 110. Although we understand that Jesus does do things by way of agency of the Father, he is unlike previous Kings and covenant heads. He completely trusts God for victory, and by doing so, according to the Apostle Paul, “When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all (1 Cor 15:28).” Here we see that finally a perfect vice-regent and obedient son has been installed in Zion in the humanity of the Lord Jesus.

If Psalm 110 ended here, this would be a declaration of bad news. The Lord will have victory over those disobedient to His will, and that would entail the death of all. But we have verse 3. Jesus even has victory over the hearts of men and amasses an army. This army is as abundant as the dew of the dawn, and vigorous like a platoon of young men. The word used for “volunteer” alludes also to free-will offerings of the Mosaic law, while “your youth” should probably be translated “your young men”. 

Think about dew with me for a second. It’s not a concept that is very important for most of us in 2020. But, for a former shepherd King of Israel in ancient times, dew is pretty important and quite mysterious. David lived in an arid climate where water was fairly sparse, so when dew showed up in the morning, a shepherd would leap for joy. Now, his sheep could drink water from the field without searching for a well. Therefore, when David mentions dew, he is drawing on imagery that is numerous - it’s everywhere, and mysterious - you don’t really know where it comes from. 

So, the people who come to the Messiah’s army will appear from nowhere, with holy splendor, voluntarily from their hearts. This is New Covenant language for anyone who has ears to hear. This could easily be ripped out of John 3:5-8 to describe the action of Spirit in bringing sinners to new life. This is what every King wants - a Kingdom that loves and follows him from their hearts.

Here you see that the debate between paedobaptists and credobaptists is firstly an eschatological debate before it is an ecclesiological debate. While the former insist that these realities are only present in the new heavens and new earth, credobaptists are insisting that these promises are present in the church now. 

My contention, and that of Baptists that have preceded me, is that we must understand the implications of the already and the not-yet. Through Jesus’ work in the incarnation, we have received all and not merely some of God’s promises, but the promises will one day come to greater fullness. For example, we are new creations, but the old creation remains until Christ makes all things new. The Kingdom is here, but it will be most fully consummated at Christ’s second coming. 

By claiming that we have a regenerate community now, I, and the greater Baptist tradition, are claiming that unbelievers are in no way part of the spiritual reality of the church - the one and very same free-will offerings clothed in holy splendor of verse 3. David intends to contrast the mixed motives and commitments of Israel to their King with the voluntary commitment of the people under the Messiah. Do you see the same themes here that get picked up by later prophets? The New Covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:33-34 and Ezekiel 37:24-25 anticipates very similar things. The people under the Messiah will be regenerated in their hearts, free-will offerings to the Lord. 

Furthermore, fellow Christians, I wonder how Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12:1-2 sits with us? Let’s not be Christians for whom obedience is dreaded bore, but rather soldiers who are eager to vanquish the foes of our Master and Lord. The first of such foes usually lie in our own hearts where our unholy loves - our idols - must be put to death.

Now, David has made it clear that Christ will have this tremendous victory, but the really big question is, how?

Verse 4 shows us that Jesus is the eternal priest of a new and better covenant. What David writes here stands as the backbone of the book of Hebrews, and two things are extremely important to see.

Firstly, this is a divine oath. This harkens back to the Covenant that God made with David. (See Ps 89:4, 34-35) Yahweh promised that someone from David’s line would sit on his throne forever, and David, back in 2 Samuel 7:16-19, always understood that the fulfillment of the promise to him, to Abraham, and finally to Adam and Eve would be his descendant. All of God’s promises are narrowing on Jesus. He must be the Seed of the Woman, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and finally, David’s Son.

Secondly, the book of Hebrews makes a huge deal out of the word, “forever” in verse 4. In contrast to the Aaronic Priesthood, where the priests would offer sacrifices over and over and finally die, Christ offers one sacrifice and lives forever. Melchizedek, a biblical person from Genesis 14 is an example of one who according to the book of Hebrews had neither lineage nor end of days (Hebrews 7:3). He stands as a type of Christ, one who was both King of Salem and Priest of God Most High.

At this point, I think we must ask a very probing question. Why - in the middle of a Kingly Psalm - must David insert this stuff about the Messiah being this awesome kind of Priest? David understands by his prophetic role and his own understanding, that all of God’s revelation is pointing to this reality: God’s Kingdom comes by His Covenant, and His Covenant is administered by His Priest. Therefore, the first crown to rest on Christ’s brow would be made of thorns, and His first throne would be a cross. Jesus sits down at the right hand of the Father in verse 1 of Psalm 110 as a sign of a completion of His priestly work. But don’t take my word for it that's exactly the argument of Hebrews 10:12-13. By the completion of His priestly atoning sacrifice, Christ has inaugurated his kingly reign.

We might compare Christ’s priestly atoning work to a chess game. Imagine that you and I are playing chess. (I will have to break the laws of chess a little bit to get this to work, so bear with me) Imagine that in one move, I manage to eliminate all your pieces except for your King while retaining all of my pieces. We could say that this singular move won me the game. This is like Christ’s work on the cross. Satan, sin, and death were utterly defeated in this one moment, but their eternal judgment and Christ’s final checkmate await His return in glory.

I think that this verse has a very natural application into our answer to the question: What is the Gospel? Some voices, even within evangelicalism, have attempted to say that the Gospel is the simple declaration that “Jesus is Lord.” They have foregrounded Christ’s kingly work while neglecting his priestly work. This is a serious error. Ever since the 1st century, men have tried to look away from the bloody hill of Calvary to make the Gospel more palatable. The Romans did not even dare to utter the word, “staurao” or “crucify” since it was considered a dirty word. But Paul had the audacity to write, “But we preach Christ estauromenon” that is “Christ crucified.” (1 Corinthians 1:23)

Therefore, being "gospel-centered" must entail being "cross-centered". At the cross is where our High Priest and King dealt a death blow to the powers of darkness, and his own death could not hold back his exaltation all the way from the grave of Joseph of Arimathea to the place of honor by the Father’s right hand.

We have seen that Christ is qualified to be our King and our Priest, but will he finally rescue us? Will he lay waste to the enemies of God? Will He defeat Satan, death, sin, and all rebels against His throne?

Psalm 110:5-7 will show us that the conquest of Jesus brings the long-sought rest. 

First, we see again the dependency of the Messiah upon the Lord. Adonai, usually translated as "the Lord", is another name for YHWH who beckoned the Messiah to sit at His right hand in honor in verse 1, and Adonai is at the Messiah’s right hand to crush all his enemies. 

Look at some of these enemies for a moment. “Kings,” who represent nations, are crushed in verse 5, and then their “nations” are “judged” in verse 6. What is the result of Christ’s judgment in the power of Almighty God? Piles of corpses; Death, on an unfathomable scale. This will be the just judgement of our Warrior-King in what later prophets will call the Day of the Lord and what David calls, “the day of His anger.”

I question many of the English translations in the last part of verse 6, but the verse should read, “He will crush the head over the whole world.” The “head” is singular. This is none other than the reiteration of the promise to Eve in Genesis 3:15. The Lord has apportioned the heel of the Messiah to be Satan’s doom. The Prince of the power of the air will be shattered into the dust. 

Friend, if you’re reading this today and you do not know the Lord Jesus as your faithful High Priest, I do not want you to be misinformed. You stand condemned in the judgment of the Lord Jesus at His return in glory. You live even now under the curse of sin and death, and your days are numbered. But God has crushed Jesus Christ in the place of sinners like you and me. He received the penalty for everyone who repents of their sins and trusts in Him as their all-sufficient Savior. So, friend, flee from the coming wrath, and trust in Jesus Christ. 

David wraps up His Psalm with the Messiah finding rest, but Psalm 110 verse 7 might be a little perplexing for us. Therefore, let’s take a moment and return to the context of our author. The superscription attributes this Psalm to David. David was what we might call the grand architect of the Psalter, and while Psalm 110 is probably his most cited work in the New Testament, Psalm 1 stands as an introduction to the entire Psalter. There, David contrasts two roads or ways. The Hebrew is the same word here as there (דֶּרֶךְ). Also, while it isn’t the exact same word, both instances discuss flowing water as well. In Psalm 1, the water causes the righteous one to grow like a tree. Here, the stream grants sustenance to the conquering King after battle. Putting these things together, we see that following Christ’s final victory, he walks forever in the paths of righteousness and enjoys the eternal life that flows from the stream. 

Finally, notice the contrast between the head of the Messiah and the head of the Serpent. Jesus in verse 7 “will raise his head” triumphantly, while the head of the Serpent is not merely low, or even a footstool, but it is crushed. 

This is the foretelling of the eternal rest of the New Covenant in Christ. Our Lord, through His union with God along the way of the righteous, conquers the enemy and lives a victorious life walking forever with God and drinking from the water of life that issues from the presence of God.

This same rest is ours as Christians when we come to Christ by faith. By right of covenant in His blood, we may be found in Christ. Our Lord told us, ““Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) Does your life seem unfulfilled and stunted by Corona? Do your daily labors in service to your family feel like monotonous half-successes? Do you long for a godly spouse, or a place of permanent employment? Brother and sisters, rest in the Savior. Only in Christ can we be at peace and have joy. Only in Him will the work of our hands be established. All of our lives have meaning when they rest in the finished work of our conquering Priest-King.

We began with the conundrum that all humanity is in rebellion against the crown, but we’ve established that Christ, by His covenant, has saved His people. The New Testament will show us that Christ has saved us, he is saving us, and he will save us. We live in the overlap of the ages, awaiting the consummation of all things when God’s people will rule in God’s place in God’s presence to the glory of the Messiah.