August 15, 2023 — Psalm 110 

“The LORD says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” The LORD sends out from Zion your mighty scepter.  Rule in the midst of your foes. Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces  on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to 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 heads  over the wide earth. He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head.” 

“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” 

“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, “Then how does David in the Sprit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I put thine enemies beneath Thy feet?”’ If David then calls Him ‘Lord’, how is He his son?” (Matt. 22:41-45). 

The fact that Jesus quoted this psalm would have come as no surprise to the audience that day. It was believed that David was the psalm’s author, that he wrote by inspiration, and that he spoke of the Messiah. What the religious leaders were unwilling to admit was that David’s Lord was both divine and human. 

Melchizedek was originally mentioned in Genesis chapter 14. He is a Gentile but also an obscure and enigmatic figure. He certainly did not descend from Abraham. He was the “king of Salem” (Genesis 14:18), which some feel was the city of Jerusalem. The word “Salem” also meant “peace,” so he was the king of peace. He is also identified as a “priest of God Most High”. This king-priest pronounced a blessing on Abram and received his tithe, a tenth of the spoils of war (v. 20)  

In using the Apostles’ Creed to declare the faith of the Christian Church, the church says over and over again, “I believe in Jesus Christ … who sits at the right hand of God.” In this declaration of faith, we make a confession of where we first see Jesus in relation to G-d. The statement is the nearest approximation the church has to an answer to the question of where Jesus is now. The psalm thus declares to the world — he is the one who sits at the right hand of G-d. Jesus is King! The meaning and confession of our faith makes absolute claims on our response — obedience of the community and its members. 

Prayer 

Almighty God, your Son is the high priest of the new Jerusalem. Consecrate us to be your holy people, that the reign of Christ, your anointed one, may come in its fullness; through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. 

Amen. 

Pastor Dave