Recall that we’re looking at some non-Acts passages to prepare us for a sermon series through Acts. The passages we’re examining beforehand will help us understand Acts better because these Old Testament passages are the foundation upon which the events in Acts are built.
Here’s a trivia question: what is the Old Testament passage that’s cited the most – by direct quotation and allusion – in the New Testament? The answer is Psalm 110. {Let’s turn there.}
Luke, the author of the book of Acts, makes much of this psalm. He quotes Peter quoting from it in the first Christian sermon. After he and the apostles were arrested, Peter alludes to the psalm again in Act 5:31. Again, Luke alludes to it as he records the death of the first Christian martyr. If we want to understand the thinking of the early church, if we want to understand Acts, if we want to understand the center of Christianity, you could do worse than investigating Psalm 110.
A PSALM OF DAVID
The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The LORD sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3 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.
4 The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
Five brief observations:
- Almost all the words of this psalm are easy to understand
- There’s both LORD with all caps and Lord with just the first letter capitalized. LORD is the way that ESV translators (and most others) deal with the Hebrew word Yahweh (in English, Jehovah). ‘Lord’ is the word for a person of high rank, a boss. So, in verse 1, David (a king himself) says: “Jehovah says to my Lord…” The first hearers/ readers must have been a little confused: Wait, who’s King David’s Lord?
- The one word that’s unfamiliar to many is a name, Melchizedek. You can read about him at the end of Genesis 14. Melchizedek was a priest of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, living at Abraham’s time. Even though he’s a shadowy figure who only shows up for a moment toward the very beginning of God redeeming the world, the author of Hebrews persuades us that he has enduring significance.
- Though the individual words of this psalm are commonplace, there are a couple mysterious phrases
- But the main points of this psalm are obvious: Jehovah is promising to David’s Lord that he’ll be victorious over his enemies. And that he is a priest, the living portal connecting heaven and earth, the re-joiner of the Creator and his creation.
Overall, this is a psalm of conquest. Let’s keep that in mind while we recall that this is the psalm most often quoted in the New Testament. We’re supposed to think of Christianity as a subduing of the nations.
Ok, equipped with some of the high-level observations and the big note that this is the most oft-cited passage in the New Testament and so it explains a lot about what God has done/ is doing through Jesus Christ – let’s run through this verse by verse.
V.1 –Jehovah desires to give to the one David calls his Lord the high honor of being his right-hand Man. Included in this honor is the subduing of his enemies.
What V. 2 adds is specificity: Jehovah’s right-hand Man will rule from Zion. Without taking the time to specify all what that means, the summary meaning is that the rule of God’s right-hand Man won’t envelop people like a misty cloud of nice-ness but will come through a particular channel, in space and time.
A lot of people want to keep God at a distance by thinking of him generically. But here he says that his rule comes through David’s Lord – a specific person with a particular history who spoke particular words that have been collected in specific books by which he directs his people…and all of this had its source in an earthly Zion – that is, a particular city called Jerusalem.
V. 3 – David’s Lord has enemies, but as was just mentioned, he also has his people. And when he comes into power, his people will be characterized by at least two things: a) willingness from their heart to serve him; b) an obvious holiness, which means that they’ve come to think differently – and livelier! – about some basic realities. They’ve repented.
The womb of the morning and the dew of your youth phrases are hard to suss out. But generally, we can infer that David’s Lord, the right-hand Man of God is characterized by freshness…by which I mean he’s evergreen, energetic, refreshed.
And coming after the phrases about his willing and holy people implies a link between his energy and his people’s holy willingness. Out of his life, his people are constantly renewed in their deep places to serve him. Let me say that again: Out of his boundless energetic life, the Lord’s people are continually renewed in their deep places to want to serve him.
V. 4 – Besides the fact that David’s lord is God’s right-hand man whose enemies will be subdued, there’s one other thing to say. And a very important thing judging by this preface: Jehovah has sworn and will not change his mind. Knowing that God is normally given to understatement and generally prefers to use as few words as possible, this rather wordy, highfalutin preamble gets our attention.
So, what is the massive statement about David’s Lord? We can break it out into three points:
- That he is a priest. He is a destroyer, conqueror, but he’s also bringing things…persons…together. Specifically, David’s Lord brings together God/ the Great Spirit/ Creator/ Most High/ the Father of all fathers/ the Source/ the Divine…and that which is not- God. Or to put that simpler: this Priest brings God and the creation together – or since they were once together, he REUNITES/RECONCILES Creator and creation.
- And did you notice the forever? “You are a priest forever”. The reunion of God and his creation is a permanent one because the mediator lives on!
- After the order of Melchizedek – As with almost everything he accomplishes in the creation, God determined to reconcile the world through humans. Specifically, through priests. There are a few classifications of priests mentioned in Scripture that records God redeeming/reconciling the world.
The most primal, important order of priests is the order of Melchizedek – meaning either that Melchizedek is the historical head over it or simply that he’s part of it. All other priestly orders were shadows of the Melchizedekian. The one at God’s right hand who will permanently reconcile the Creator and creation is a Melchizedekian priest.
To say that he’s Melchizedekian is to separate him from all other priesthoods, because Melchizedek himself is unique, unaffiliated with any human-sourced cause, unsponsored by any human organization, a King-priest completely dedicated to God.
V. 5a – After the important statement about his priestly work, the psalm returns to the theme of David’s Lord as conqueror. The Lord – here now probably a reference to Jehovah as the Master of all – the Lord is at the right hand of David’s Lord. A professional Bible reader writes: “Just as in his rule [the priest-king] sits at the Father’s right hand, so in his battles the Father is at his right hand, giving him the promised triumphs.” (Ash). God, the Possessor of Heaven and Earth – is backing this Lord.
VV. 5b-6 – As we’ve seen, thisi King-priest is a reconciler of the creation. But returning to the first point: the priest-king shatters – the word used twice that communicates the completeness of the victory (Ash) – rebellious rulers and those they’re ruling who are in lock step with their rebellion.
To not fall under the priest-king’s reconciliation to the Creator is to remain in a hostile state to the Creator whom we were created to reflect. To remain unreconciled is to dig deeper into our failing at our pivotal role within the creation, which then harms the creation. To remain unreconciled to God is to side with decay and death…when we’re supposed to be bringers of God’s life!
The priest king isn’t apathetic toward the fact that humans have become merchants of death by refusing to return to the Source of Life. Their sin and their sins anger him. His wrath grows. He will eventually move against the destroyers of life and destroy them in the day of his wrath…which is not the day when he became angry but the day when he gives vent to his anger. The day of his wrath likely refers both to an ultimate day of his wrath at the end of the age and also moments in our current history when evildoers are taken down, often in response to the prayers of his people.
Importantly, as your footnote points out, the word the ESV translates chiefs is literally the head. So, the priest-king reaches the Head of evil that has spawned such destruction and shatters him. This sounds like the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, when God pledges that one day a Man will crush the head of the ancient serpent, that malignant being who launched death and chaos into God’s ordered creation through separating the image bearers from the Creator.
V. 7 – This brief psalm ends with a hard-to-understand sentence. But I think we can perceive two things:
a) The priest-king won’t accomplish his tasks all at once but there is a lengthy process – a way – to all this.
b) The priest-king – and/or presumably his people who act in his behalf – will regularly be refreshed, energized on his way to fulfilling his unique purpose. Whatever setbacks, heel-bruisings, fatigue he/they face(s) on the path toward rule and reconciliation, he’ll always return to the journey with his head lifted up in victory and confidence.
Summary of Psalm 110: King David speaks of his Lord being pledged by God universal rule the victory over their common enemies. David’s Lord won’t act alone but will have a people willingly participating in his conquest and rule. But David’s Lord isn’t only a conquering ruler but a priest that brings blessing from the Creator to the creation and enacts reconciliation between Creator and creation. Backed by the sovereign Lord of the Creation, this priest-King will destroy the enemies of the Creator and creation, including shattering the ancient Head of the rebellion. Throughout this process of achieving rule and reconciliation, the Lord – himself and his people – will be continually refreshed, moving from strength to strength.
Please turn to Acts 2, and we’ll take one big point from this first Christian sermon given by Peter. Starting in v. 32:
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 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. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Here, Peter identified David’s Lord: Jesus. And lest there’s confusion about which Jesus…the one who the house of Israel crucified and then God raised up. God has made this Man both Lord and Christ, promoted him to the highest place of the creation and, going forward, history will be the story of his enemies being defeated.
Closing with a few points:
- The Church’s announcement is that Jesus is God’s King of kings.
David’s Lord, who stands at the center of heaven and earth’s history, is Jesus. Jesus is God’s King of kings. All powers in earth and heaven are on their way to submission to Jesus the Christ. This was the conviction and the message of the apostles before Christians had an obvious earthly power.
Jesus had been dead but by the power of an unconquerable life he is alive. Jesus has defeated the powers. Jesus wins.
And through Jesus, Jehovah wins, because he arranged the world in such a way that he would rule through Man. That arrangement was contested but now Jesus is the Man eternally at God’s right hand. God wins.
Imagine if we had this psalm and Acts but didn’t have the gospels. In the psalms we could see that the foundation of what God is doing is backing a Conqueror and corralling the creation through him. And through Acts we learn that this Conqueror’s name is Jesus. But by themselves, we’d be anxious with just those two facts.
But we also have the gospels, and we have stories of this Man. He’s good, I tell you. Energetic. Strong. Approachable. Scoops up kids in his arms. Grills on the seashore. Gratefully loved by Mary Magdalene. Goes to his death to free his people. A serious Man. This is no distant or frivolous King! Come on: Jesus wins, God wins, the world wins!
But also: Warning, world: The Most High and Jesus are one. Jehovah is at David’s Lord right hand and David’s Lord seated at Jehovah’s right hand. They’re united in purpose and project. To worship God, know God, is to ascribe power and glory to Jesus. To see Jesus is to see the Father.
Which means, the time for generalities about God is over. God is ruling through King Jesus from Zion. To not call Jesus Lord from your heart is to be on the side of the ancient Head of evil, on the side of death. Side with death and you’ll end up being one of the corpses with whom the Lord fills the nations.
Don’t side with death; side with Jesus. There is no neutrality! The flow of the world is away from God, toward an idea of freedom from God! If you don’t do anything, you’re drifting from God. So, what? If you look over the page at the end of Peter’s sermon you’ll hear him say in response to the audience’s desperate question: what should we do? Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Jesus is the priest, the way to be re-joined to the Father.
The Father of what? The Father-forth-er of all things. The Alpha. The Beginning.
Humans have this longing for connection to the Ancient, the permanent. So many metaphysics and religions throughout the world are attempting to tap into the Source. But we keep getting tricked. We look at the old days and say, those were the good ol’ days…how can I return to them?
The current movie blockbuster is the Odyssey, a story all about trying to go home. Back to the springs of our life. But as it happens, we go back to our childhood house and it’s a disappointment…smaller than we thought, dumpier than we thought, current owners re-landscaped. We investigate our ancestors and quickly inherit some embarrassment.
But Jesus is the Creator’s sworn way of returning us to the Source, the Personal Source, the Father, who has been Eternally Father, who is making and will make all things new. Through Jesus, and only through Jesus, we are re-gathered, born again, come home.
I mean it, though it sounds melodramatic: Human, you want God, even if you don’t realize it. And Jesus – the forever priest – is the only way to God.
- Jesus’ people are marked by their willingness to serve him
Finally, although this psalm is relaying the big picture of what God is doing in the world – giving the rule of the world to Jesus – his people show up briefly in this psalm. And when they briefly show up they are marked by offering themselves freely. His people here are characterized by their eager willingness to serve him.
Parents raise their children in the instruction and discipline of the Lord, providing ample opportunity for the kids to see the truth of and goodness in and authority of Jesus, to fear him above all else. But they can’t force heart belief onto their kids.
I long for leaders of this country to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and craft policies in accordance with the way he’s set up the world. But I don’t want to live in a country where a certain religious faith is compelled. A Christian State is a State with religious freedom.
The people of the Messiah aren’t using him for some greater end. They’re not hhis people because they’re trying to obtain some political end or because they’re trying to please their mommy or simply because it’s how their ancestors have believed or because they want to be on the side of niceness or because they associate Christianity with some nostalgia or patriotism or great civilization.
The people of the Messiah love… him. And their love of him is an answering love – he has first loved them and given his life for them. God loved them first and now they love God. In a way, in this day of salvation the Messiah’s first subduing of his enemies is a conquest by crucifixion love.
Repeat: the people of the Messiah love… him. And through reading and understanding the Scriptures their love for him is made capacious and filled up.
I’m sure the quality of the love differs person to person. For some it’s a simple, pure response to the goodness and sacrifice of Jesus. For others it’s more brooding – they’re continually and often mournfully amazed that Jesus knows and stands by their heart of darkness… and pledges that he will someday transform it by resurrection power.
Some of his people think of Jesus and can only smile. Others think of Jesus and, invariably, tears well in their eyes. Others of his people think of Jesus without a lot of emotion and quietly admire him for his solidness. All lean on him.
But none of them are going through the motions. Each one wants to know him more. Every one of them is thinking: this world needs more of Christ. They’re praying for his will to be done. And in their truest moments, they’re considering: how can I be most useful in his service?
And, when things become heated or wearisome because they’re in his service, they open their Bible. And “the law of their Lord is perfect, reviving the soul,” and they, as their Lord did before them, drink deeply from the text, and with lifted head return to the war which in principle is already won.
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