Priest and King Forever: Psalm 110

The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

The most quoted psalm in the New Testament. David speaking, but calling someone else Lord. The Lord (Yahweh) speaks to my Lord (Adonai)—David's master, David's superior. Who ranks above King David?

Jesus would ask this very question: If David calls him Lord, how can he be David's son?

Sit at my right hand. The position of highest honor. And a posture of completion—the work is done; now wait. Until enemies become footstool. The conquering king rested his feet on defeated foes. Christ's enemies are being positioned.

The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, Rule in the midst of your enemies!

The kingdom expands. From Zion outward. The scepter extends. And the shocking location of rule: midst of enemies. Not after victory but during conflict. The kingdom advances through opposition.

Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning's womb.

Willing troops. Not conscripted but volunteering. Arrayed in holiness, not just armor. And numerous: like dew from the morning. Countless, fresh, sparkling with new light.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

The oath. The Lord swears—unprecedented. And will not change his mind—the decision is final. What did he swear? Priesthood. Forever. Not Levitical priesthood but Melchizedek's order.

Melchizedek: king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who appeared to Abraham with no genealogy, no beginning, no end. A priest-king. Jesus is this: priest and king combined, forever.

The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.

Position reversed. Now the Lord is at the king's right hand—supporting, empowering. Kings will be crushed. The day of wrath comes for those who oppose.

He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.

Global judgment. Nations judged. Dead heaped. Rulers crushed. The whole earth under his authority.

He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift up his head.

The warrior refreshed in battle. Drinking from a brook—pausing to be strengthened. Then lifting his head—victorious, confident, continuing the conquest.

Seven verses. A priest forever. A king enthroned. Enemies becoming footstool. The psalm Jesus claimed as his own.