For Sermon Central researchers: I have posted a series of 15 sermons on the Psalms. In recent personal studies I have found the psalms to be richer and more thought-provoking than I had fully appreciated. I had too often swept swiftly through psalms without slowing down to inquire as thoroughly as I might have into the depths of meaning and feeling that are expressed by the psalmists. Upon deeper examination and reflection, I find the psalms to be highly relevant to Christians in every age. My most recent foray into the psalms led me to present a series of studies of selected psalms in a class environment.
In my classes I did not examine every psalm, or every verse of the ones I did. Rather, I presented selected psalms that I believe to be representative of the collection in the book of Psalms. The studies were held in a class environment suitable for pauses for questions and discussion, and to pose “thought questions” where the meanings are not readily apparent, as is often the case in poetry. My notes include suggested points for such pauses, and I have not removed them in Sermon Central posts.
I developed the material with the view in mind that the series may be well used as sermons. There is an introductory sermon that describes what psalms are (whether they are in the 150-chapter book or elsewhere) and explains my approach to the series. The psalms I selected were presented in no particular order in the classes; however, I suggest that anyone using this material as a series begin with the introductory sermon and follow it with Psalms 1 and 2 in that order, as the first two psalms function as a pair. Beyond that, the selected psalms may be presented in any order.
To get as much enjoyment as we could from our study, I did some of the reading from the KJV, which I believe is the most beautiful of the English bible translations. For clarity we also used other versions, mainly ESV, which I have used for several years and the one I have come to prefer.
Psalm 110
Read the psalm
Introduction
This is a Messianic psalm. It’s about the Christ, the anointed one.
I haven’t personally run the numbers, but Psalm 110 is said to be the most quoted psalm in the NT.
It is said to be “the gospel in a psalm,” but I prefer to think of it as “the gospel era in a psalm.”
David is the author according to the title. I see no reason to doubt it.
Again we have a lot of pronouns. I counted 22 in these 7 verses. V1 has 5.
Knowing who the pronouns refer to is key to understanding the psalm.
v1 – Two Lords
Portraying one Lord as speaking to another would be absurd if there were not two distinct identities within the deity, though in another sense the two are one.
In the psalm’s original language, the first Lord (probably in all caps in your bible) is from the unpronounceable tetragrammaton, which is transliterated YHWH. Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush in Exodus 3:15 is the first Biblical usage of that name, later made pronounceable by interspersing the leading vowels from the Greek Adonai, and Elohim, resulting in the now familiar “Yahweh.”
God had previously said that he was to be identified to Pharaoh as “I AM” when in the next verse, he tells Moses how he is to be identified - not to Pharaoh - but to the people of Israel.
That name is Yahweh:
Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
“Lord” in that verse is the tetragrammaton YHWH. The English language doesn’t have an exact translation of the word “Yahweh,” so in our Old Testament we see it written as “LORD” in all capital letters.
The second “Lord” in Psalm 110:1 is a different word – Adon, or Adonai. It means “master,” signifying anyone in a position of authority; e.g., when Abraham sent his servant to fetch a wife for his son Isaac, he made the servant swear that he would choose Isaac’s wife from the family in Mesopotamia and not from the Canaanites. Abraham made the servant put his hand under Abraham’s thigh to so swear (a way of swearing we rarely use today, as far as I know). Here’s what happened:
Genesis 24:9 …the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
“Master,” referring to Abraham is from Adon, the root of Adonay or Adonai is the same root word as the second Lord in Psalms 110:1. Adon refers to one having authority over others.
Here the context shows it to refer to Christ.
We are privileged to see a conversation between two identities in the godhead.
“Sit at my right hand.” The right hand is the place of highest honor.
“…until I make your enemies your footstool.” The place of no honor.
Christ has enemies.
Christ has never done anything but good in the worldwide conflict of good and evil that rages in every age. Why does Christ then have enemies?What lies at the root of that enmity?
Satan is of course the arch-enemy, who attempted to thwart Christ’s mission with temptation. Scribes and Pharisees set themselves at enmity with Christ because their pre-eminence was threatened. I believe there is a clue to the reason in Revelation 12:7-12, which tells us of a war in heaven.
I’m not as interested in resolving the time this war happened as I am with the motivation, weaponry, and the way victory is won. Briefly, the power held by Satan and his minions was the power to rightfully accuse the brethren of sin. That was their only weapon but was a powerful one because as long as God granted favor to “the brethren,” he would be an unjust God, and therefore “not God.”
So with the first sin, earth became a participant in that war. Every earth-dweller except the sinless Jesus is a featured character in the war.
What was at stake for Satan? The right to stand in heaven before God’s throne and accuse you, me, and every sinner. Until Christ changed it all and won the war. The power by which the war was won was:
• The blood of the Lamb – the sacrifice
• Testimony of the brethren – the gospel
• That people were willing to die for what the gospel did for them
Satan was thrown down to earth, along with all his angels. He still has some power, and is still dangerous. But he can’t accuse you and me of sin anymore. The blood of the Lamb has nullified his accusations.
Comments?
Some enemies are already overcome. Others remain to be overcome yet.
V2 – What is “your scepter” and who is referred to by the pronoun “your?”
Scepter is a symbol of governing authority and power. In ancient times kings and rulers held them as they exercised their rule, such as ordering actions or pronouncing judgment. When a king held the scepter, it emphasized that what he was doing or saying was the action of a king by the power of his sovereignty.
Moses’ staff – used as a walking stick - was also a symbol of God’s authority (Exo 4:2). After the encounter at the burning bush, the staff is sometimes referred to as “the staff (or rod) of God.”
Psalm 23 – KJV – “thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” They are the same instrument, spoken of poetically in two separate functions:
• As a rod, it is for correction and guidance.
• As a staff, it is for support and protection.
Hebrews 1:7-8 …of the angels he [God] says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness (NASB righteousness) is the scepter of your kingdom.”
Christ is the priest-king and righteousness is his scepter.
How is righteousness a scepter?
Discuss
It is the gospel, and only the gospel, that has power to save (Romans 1:16). Christ’s righteousness is the heart and soul of the gospel.
How is the gospel God’s power to save? Doesn’t God have the power to save anyway, without the gospel?
No, not without not being God.
One thing God cannot do is not be God.
Romans 3:4 “…let God be true, but every man a liar…”
God cannot be untrue to who God is. It is impossible for him to lie.
Without Christ’s righteousness there is no gospel. The scepter is the gospel because the gospel is the power by which we enter the kingdom, and the power under which it is ruled.
Psalms 110:2 says the scepter is sent, or stretched, by the Lord from Zion.
What went forth from Jerusalem?
The word – good news – radiated to the world from Jerusalem, carried on the beautiful feet of the apostles and their associates.
The apostles did not make an abrupt, wholesale exodus from Jerusalem.
Acts 8:1 And Saul approved of his [Stephen’s] execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
The apostles apparently stayed in Jerusalem for some time after Jesus gave them instruction to go into all the world preaching, then began to make forays into the near area – Samaria, Joppa, etc., Antioch…then Crete, Pamphilia and Galatia…and eventually, “all Judea and the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Why didn’t the apostles leave Jerusalem right away and go as commissioned?
There was a new church. The church of those first days and months was the church at Jerusalem. Everything was changed from all the Jews held dear. The Jerusalem church was enormous, made up of many, many Jews whose whole religious experience was deeply tradition-bound. To give you an idea, the spots and stripes of the churches of Christ, many of which are rooted in tradition, are often deeply dug in (e.g., our order of service). It would have required a phenomenal amount of persuasion and hand-holding to help the new converts grasp the new “order of worship.”
In good time the apostles went, and their work was breathtakingly effective. Hippolytus gives a credible account (though lacking the weight of scripture) of where the apostles went when they split up to do as they had been commissioned. What they carried to the world was the gospel.
From Jerusalem. From Zion, the priest-king’s scepter.
v3 – “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power.”
The pronoun “your” answers to Adonai in v1, so refers to Christ’s power. What is the power of Christ? The gospel.
In the gospel age - and now - people offered themselves freely. The kingdom of the priest-king was to consist entirely of people who come to it willingly. Entrance into the kingdom – that is, being “in Christ” - is 100% voluntary.
If time permits:
From 1961 to 1989 Berlin, Germany was divided in two by the Berlin wall. Those on the east side of the wall were held captive by the government, which was a socialist republic. People who tried to escape to West Berlin were shot. Few escaped. Many died trying.
The people in East Berlin were not there because they wanted to be there.
They wanted to get to West Berlin.
When they could, they came to it willingly.
The people who are in Christ are there because they come willingly. We want to be here.
Christ’s people will freely offer themselves … “from the womb of the morning”
What is the womb of the morning?
Discuss
Simply put, the womb of the morning is that which gives life to a new day.
One idea: a new birth to a new life. The gospel is to be obeyed. A person of any age who is obedient to the gospel is a newborn child, risen from the water of baptism to newness of life, as fresh as the morning dew.
v4 - “…a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”
Hebrews 7:2 conveniently gives us a translation of the ancient priest’s name right within the bible:
He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
Melchizedek was "priest of the most high God," who went out to meet Abraham following his victory over Chedorlaomer and his allies. Melchizedek brought bread and wine for the warriors, and bestowed his blessing upon Abraham. In return Abraham gave him a tenth of all the spoil taken from the enemy. The tithe was an acknowledgment of the divine priesthood of Melchizedek.
In addition to Psalm 110, Melchizedek is mentioned in Hebrews. 6:20 and 7:5ff, where Psalm 110 is quoted, saying Christ is:
a priest forever “after the order of Melchizedek."
That relation of Christ’s priesthood to that of Melchizedek consists of the following particulars:
Each was a priest:
(1) whose priesthood did not depend on genealogy, as it did with the sons of Aaron or the Levitical tribe;
(2) superior to Abraham
(3) whose beginning and end are unknown
(4) who is not only a priest, but also a king of righteousness and peace.
"Without father," etc. (Hebrews. 7:3) refers to priestly genealogies. This is not to suggest that he had no father or mother, that he was never born at any time, nor ever died; but that these facts were nowhere found on the register of the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood.
Melchizedek’s name would not be found if there were a register of priests from Aaron on. All those priests lived and died long after Melchizedek met Abraham. No record of his name would be there; nor his father's name, nor his mother's
The writer to the Hebrewsrews describes the everlasting tenure and kingly authority of Christ's high priesthood by the phrase, "after the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 6:20; 7:23, 24).
He ever lives to make intercession. (Hebrews 7:25).
The Levitical priesthood, as handed down from the line of Aaron, also prefigured the priesthood of Christ in a different way – in sacrifices and intercession. But the priesthood of a Levite ended at his death.
There were many priests in the Levitical order of priests over many years. As far as I can tell, there were only two priests in the order of Melchizedek – Melchizedek and Christ.
The Melchizedek priesthood portrays the perpetuity of Christ’s priesthood.
Although the Levitical priesthood also typifies Christ’s priestly work, it was limited in portraying the full scope of His priestly ministry. The Melchizedek type is therefore different from the Levitical figure, although both point to Christ in different ways.
vs 5-7 The psalm now breaks out of the quote of Yahweh’s words to Christ, and reverts to David speaking to God.
v5 – “The Lord (Jesus) is at your right hand (that is, Yahweh’s right hand).”
In this verse, Lord is from adonai, who we saw in v1 to be Christ, not Yahweh. “Lord,” then in v5 is the one spoken about in the third-person pronoun “he” the rest of the way to the end of the psalm.
Is David telling God what Christ will do?
No. Psalms are a stylistic method of expression, often very different than a person would use in ordinary communication of information.
vs 5-6 give us good reason to offer ourselves willingly in the day of Christ’s power.
Christ, the gentle, defenseless lamb of Isaiah 53:2 -
…a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground; having no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him or be attracted to him…despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; like one from whom men hide their face - despised, and we did not esteem him.
This same Jesus:
…will crush kings in the day of his wrath, judge among the nations, heap up dead bodies, and crush the ruler of the whole earth.
Jesus – by his own testimony meek and lowly - will do that?
We are to be Christlike - which of those personality types should we emulate – meek and lowly, or crushing kings? I suggest meek and lowly. Christ will do the king-crushing.
How are the actions of Christ as here described going to happen, or are they happening now? Or does this refer to Christ’s work of combatting his enemies in every age?
Discuss
V7 – “Christ will drink by the brook and lift up his head.”
When and how did this happen?
There are about as many ideas of what this means as there are people holding those views.
Most of them seem strained to me. Like many passages in the psalms, this is highly stylistic language, and more figurative than literal,
The Pulpit Commentary suggests that the action described is that of pausing along the way in the pursuit of enemies for a refreshing drink of water from a brook. As applied to the Messiah, which the context indicates, the refreshing drinks he draws are from the wellspring of same living water he offers to others.
He lifts up his head as being refreshed, and ultimately, victorious.
Discuss
