The Lord (Father) says to my Lord (the Messiah, His Son),“Sit at My right handUntil I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet [subjugating them into complete submission].” The Lord will send the scepter of Your strength from Zion, saying,“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” Your people will offer themselves willingly [to participate in Your battle] in the day of Your power;In the splendor of holiness, from the womb of the dawn,Your young men are to You as the dew. The Lord has sworn [an oath] and will not change His mind:“You are a priest foreverAccording to the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at Your right hand,He will crush kings in the day of His wrath. He will execute judgment [in overwhelming punishment] among the nations;He will fill them with corpses,He will crush the chief men over a broad country. He will drink from the brook by the wayside;Therefore He will lift up His head [triumphantly].

Psalm 110

Some time ago, we waited with our Evangeline and her husband Rick in a hospital birthing room for the arrival of our grandson Jacob George Zorehkey. In the long hours prior to his delivery, the fetal monitor sounded out the presence of little Jacob through the constant swoosh-boom, swoosh-boom of his beating heart.

I felt a sense of sacred awe in realizing that, although I could not yet see my grandson, he was living and near.

David must have felt that way. In Psalm 110 he’s waiting the arrival of his great-grandson, to the fortieth great(see genealogy in Luke 3: 23-32). From a millennium away, David, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, put his stethoscope on the future and listened to the fullness of Christ.

George Wood

Mark records in his gospel that Jesus used the opening words of Psalm 110 to perplex His religious opponents: “How is it that the teachers of the law say that Christ is the sin of David…David himself called him Lord. How than can he be his son?(Mark 12: 27-37)

They wouldn’t answer His question because it would have compelled them to a response that united the truths of 2 Samuel 7: 12, 13, 16- that Christ is the human descendant of David and this psalm- as David’s Lord, Jesus is divine.

Consider what this psalm meant to the disciples and the early church as they had witnessed the vile and disgraceful treatment Christ had received as He was nailed to the cross. Yet this unjust verdict of men and the dishonor bestowed on Christ was in reality the honor given to Jesus by God himself. (See Philippians 2)

In this psalm, David prophesies of the moment when all the redemptive work of Christ on earth has been completed and He is welcomed back into heaven by the Father with these words: “Set at my right hand.”(verse 1) Everything necessary for salvation has been done by Christ, so He sat down.

“whereas Christ, having offered the one sacrifice [the all-sufficient sacrifice of Himself] for sins for all time, sat down [signifying the completion of atonement for sin] at the right hand of God [the position of honor],”

Hebrews 10: 12

We then enjoy the benefits of His victory(verse 2) and join His army as His troops in dress parade, fresh as the dawn or glistening dew(verse 3). And in truth we are His soldiers(2 Timothy 2:3), but our weapons are not those of this world(2 Corinthians 10:4)

When God, through Moses, established the priesthood, their purpose was to make intercession. When Saul was king, he tried to assume that role and offer sacrifice in his impatient wait for Samuel, but that was unacceptable. One of David’s descendants, King Uzziah, attempted to be both king and priest but was judged severely by God(2 Chronicles 26: 16-21). There is only one of David’s descendants, Christ Jesus, has been anointed by God to be both King and Priest. He is not a priest after the order of Levi, but Melchizedek- king of righteousness(Genesis 14:18-20). Jesus is Priest forever without beginning or end(Hebrews 5: 5-10).

David’s prophetic stethoscope reaches all the way to the end of time when his Lord, both King and Priest Eternal, has subdued all His enemies. Writing as a prophet, David records that he knew a “day of wrath” was coming in which God would settle all accounts and give justice to evil(verse 5). There is no doubt about the final outcome. At the end of time, the Lord will be refreshed when all foes have been vanquished. Jesus tells that He will sit down at the banquet table and invite all the children of God to join Him.

Those of us who have held our child/grandchild for the first time have wanted them to accomplish the purposes God has for them and to live life well. However, none of us can foretell their future or predict what they will do, much less the rest of our descendants. That’s what makes Psalm 110 so extraordinary. A thousand years before the baby born in Bethlehem and the crucifixion on Calvary, David is given revelation from God about the identity and mission of Christ.

Philippians 2 tells us that God “has highly exalted Jesus and given Him a name above every name.” So what about us? Can we bow in His presence and tell Him that He holds the highest place of honor in our hearts and lives?