I’ve got a Bible trivia question for you: Who’s the only NT author who doesn’t quote Psalm 110:1? Matthew quotes it twice, Mark twice, Peter 4 times (once in his book and 3 times in sermons), the writer of Hebrews 6 times, Paul 6 times, and Luke 7 times. Stephen quotes it with his dying breath, and Jesus himself quotes it.
The only writer who doesn’t quote that verse directly is … John. What John does instead is take that verse, Psalm 110:1, and expand it out into the greatest work of apocalyptic literature ever written, the book of Revelation. If you want to know what Jesus seated at the right hand of God is all about, just read Revelation. The Father holds the scroll in his right hand, and no one is worthy to take it except Jesus, who is right there at the Father’s right hand. And the rest of the book is the description of him opening that scroll and rolling out his eternal rule described in Psalm 110. Psalm 110:1 is the foundation for the whole NT.
To refresh your memory, last time we looked at the first half of Psalm 110, which describes the current reign of Christ, between the first coming and second coming.
Jesus Reigns!
1 Yahweh says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."
Jesus earned that place of honor on the cross.
Hebrews 1:3 … After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
And now Jesus reigns in total, perfect, awesome sovereignty. Jesus Christ determines when every light will turn green or red. He controls the flight path of every raindrop. He holds the earth steady, he feeds every bird every day. It’s his decision whether every person on earth gets hired at a job, gets fired, becomes wealthy, looses everything—… Jesus controls providence which means he controls every action everywhere in the universe.
Nothing begins without Christ’s permission, and nothing is over until Jesus says it’s over. He reigns. As the ultimate king, he will administer the sovereignty of God. When God appointed leaders of his people, he gave three different kinds—kings, prophets, and priests. And each one represents one of the key attributes of God that God wants displayed in humanity. Prophets represent the Word of God, and kings represent the sovereignty of God. And the Messiah, as the ultimate king, will not only represent God’s sovereignty, but he will possess God’s sovereignty.
He’s the supreme authority over morality. He decides everything that’s allowed or disallowed. He makes the rules. And not only does he make them, but the only thing that determines whether something is good or evil is whether Jesus commanded it or prohibited it. Nothing is good unless Jesus says it’s good. Nothing is evil unless Jesus forbids it.
Everything exists for his glory. He is worthy of all power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. From him and through him and to him are all things. To him who sits on the throne at the right hand of the majesty in heaven be all blessing and honor and glory and power forever and ever. That’s verse 1.
The Mighty Scepter
2 Yahweh will extend your mighty scepter from Zion.
Jesus’ reign over the hearts of his people started at Zion (Jerusalem), and expanded out to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. John wrote a whole book on v.1 of Ps.110, Luke wrote a whole book on v.2. The book of Acts is the story of the scepter of King Jesus extending out over the whole world.
But that scepter wasn’t a golden rod. It was the strangest scepter anyone’s ever seen. It had a cross beam. The scepter—the implement that brought about Christ’s rule, was the message of the cross. Isaiah 2:3 describes the Messiah’s authority going out from Zion just like Ps.110:2, but in Isaiah, that scepter takes the form of words.
Isaiah 2:3 … The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The preaching of the cross extended Christ’s authority from Jerusalem throughout the whole world and brought Christ’s enemies to their knees in glad, voluntary worship in every nook and cranny of the entire globe.
The cross doesn’t look very mighty. Just the opposite. It looks like the epitome of weakness. But that which appears to be weak and foolish is really the power and wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
No Borders
Then the rest of v.2.
2 … you will rule in the midst of your enemies. 3 Your troops will be willing on your day of battle.
Now that his scepter has gone out, Jesus rules over a very strange kingdom. Strange, because it has no boundaries. No territory, no land, no borders, no capital—it’s a kingdom that exists within the borders of every other country.
Freewill Offerings
Jesus gains citizens for his kingdom, not through military conquest, but by winning people’s hearts.
3 Your people will be freewill offerings on the day of your power arrayed in the splendor of holiness.
He extended his scepter over the nations, all the way from Jerusalem into Colorado, and captured our hearts. Now we all offer our bodies to Christ as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Ro.12:1). So when the NIV says, “Your people will be willing,” that’s an understatement. We’re so willing that we define the good life as serving Jesus, and we think not having the opportunity to serve him would be a terrible life.
Ours is an unnatural willingness. If you look at the things Christ’s followers have willingly given up for him, it goes against human nature, societal custom, cultural norms, and all human reason. We are willing to lose money, family, health, and life itself in order to be near Christ.
The Splendor of Holiness
3 … arrayed in the splendor of holiness.
And the more we’re decked out in holiness, the more that honors him. That’s why Jesus died to make us more and more eager to obey him.
Titus 2:14 Jesus Christ gave himself for us to … to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Skip the Weird Verse
That’s where we left off last time. Makes good sense so far, but verse 4 is strange. Verse 4 is where he talks about a priest in the order of Melchizedek. That verse seems so out of the blue. Melchize-who? Why does David suddenly bring him up? Such an obscure figure. Even though there are chapters devoted to him in Hebrews, still, he hasn’t really caught on as a biblical hero. He’s nobody’s favorite character in the Bible. When you had kids, did it even cross your mind to name one of them Melchizedek? “Come on honey—we could call him little Meli.”
Melchizedek is an obscure character, and bringing up the concept of priesthood just seems out place in Psalm 110. All the verses before it and all the verses after it are about the Messiah as conquering king. Take out v.4 and the whole psalm fits together perfectly with one, unified theme. Verse 4 is just so weird, let’s just skip it. Just skip it, and the whole some makes perfect, coherent sense, so on to v.5.
Final Victory
The first three verses are about Messiah as conquering king—the last three are also Messiah as conquering king, but there’s a difference. In the first half of the psalm, the Messiah allows his enemies to exist and rules in their midst. But in the second half, things get rough for the Messiah’s enemies, to put it mildly.
5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the head of the whole earth.
No more Mr. Nice Guy in the second half of the psalm. No more patience, no more mercy. In the second half of the psalm, the Messiah drops the hammer on his enemies and brings final judgment on unbelievers.
Judge Jesus
And that’s exactly what we see in the NT.
Who’s in charge of the day of wrath?
Revelation 6:16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
And who’s in charge of Judgment Day?
John 5:22 The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.
Remember that whenever you’re distressed about injustice. No one will get away with anything. No little sin slips under the radar. Everyone will be brought to justice.
Crushing the Head
One other thing it says the Messiah will do in v.6.
6 … heaping up the dead and crushing the head of the whole earth.
Your Bible probably has that in the plural—heads or rulers of the whole earth. In the Hebrew, the word “head” is singular. It is grammatically possible to take it as a collective and translate it as a plural. Singular nouns are sometimes used that way, but without question the most natural way to translate it is as a simple, singular noun—he will crush the head of the whole earth. The reason translators want to make it plural is the singular doesn’t seem to make good sense to them. They say the original readers wouldn’t have thought in terms of someone who is the head of the whole earth other than God.
But when you think of the Messiah crushing someone’s head, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that the original readers may have taken that as an intentional hyperlink pointing back to Genesis 3, where the seed of the woman will strike the head of the serpent.
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
Many Jews thought of the offspring of the woman to refer to the Messiah, and they were right. And they took the serpent to stand for an intelligent, evil spiritual power, and they were right. The New Testament affirms that Satan is the serpent. Could it be that Psalm 110 is saying, “The head of the serpent is the head of the whole world”? I think that’s likely.
Even if you translate this as a plural—he will crush the heads or rulers of the world, the OT is clear that the human rulers of the nations are empowered by evil spiritual beings. The OT calls them the gods of the nations, the sons of God, the powers of the heavens—the prince of the Persian empire is one of them who does battle with an angel in Daniel 10. So for the Messiah to crush the human kings of the earth will require defeating the spiritual forces behind them.
And that’s exactly what we see in the NT. At the final judgment, not only will people be judged, but the spiritual world will as well, including the ringleader of all rebellious spiritual beings.
Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
There are several linguistic links in Psalm 110 to passages that speak about how God will ultimately reclaim the nations that he disinherited in Dt.32. And defeating the false gods of the nations is part of how that happens. And that work began with the cross. Colossians 2:15 says “having disarmed the powers and authorities, [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Are You Worried?
Christians around the world were dismayed by the open mockery of Christianity at the opening ceremony of the 2024 summer Olympics in France. They spent $150 million on a show designed to promote immorality, ludeness, debauchery, and everything anti-Christian. When you see Christianity openly opposed on a world stage like that, does it make you a little nervous about where we’re headed? Because we’re talking about people whose efforts to change society have been incredibly effective. You look at how fast our society was transformed from 90+ percent of people being against gay marriage less than ten years ago to now, where 90+ percent are in favor of it. Transgenderism is going the same direction. So these people are very powerful and their efforts to win hearts and minds are succeeding at an alarming rate.
So are you worried … anxious … afraid? Well, if so, there’s an easy solution. Just switch sides. Isn’t that the obvious thing to do if the other side is going to win? Just switch sides. It’s not too late. It’s your choice. So by all means, hitch your wagon to whichever side you believe will come out on top.
Any takers? I didn’t think so, because you and I both know that however much the world may rage against Christ, it will never be able to pull him down from the right hand of the Father.
Psalm 2:2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. … 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill."
All the powers of this world and the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms vs. the Son of God is the biggest mismatch there’s ever been. They are zero threat to the one seated at the right hand of God.
But what about us? You can fit all the political and military power I have in a thimble. How am I going to go up against their $150 million and … their dominance in the media, news, big tech, all the biggest corporations, the entire education system, sports, Hollywood, Madison Avenue, publishing—they control all the cultural levers of power. What chance do we have?
I like our chances. Why?
Ephesians 2:6 God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
Revelation 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Everything we said about what it means that Jesus is seated at God’s right hand—if you are in Christ, you are in on all that. So I like our chances.
Fight with Christ
When it says “Your people will be willing,” the NIV translates it “your troops” because of the context of a conquering king. We are soldiers in the war Jesus is fighting, we’ve been given divine power to demolish the enemy’s strongholds. And how do we do that? What’s our role in Psalm 110? Willingness and holiness.
We magnify his glory by our willingness and by our holiness. That’s our role in winning this war. The more eager you are to obey Jesus, the more that glorifies him, and the more gains we make against the forces of evil. So if you’re distressed over the Olympics opening ceremony or what’s going on in politics, fight back. You can counteract those things just by living a holy life. The more you live a holy life, the more damage you do to the kingdom of darkness and there’s nothing any of his enemies can do to counteract that. Even if they kill you, that just shows your willingness and eagerness all the more and brings Jesus that much more glory.
Gloriously Ever After
7 He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head.
After receiving life-restoring sustenance from the Father, the Messiah will be lifted up from a state of humiliation to restored glory and honor and dignity forever. Those final words—"therefore he will lift up his head”—that’s David’s way of saying “happily ever after.”
Zechariah 9:10 He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
David’s Creed
Spurgeon called Psalm 110 “David’s Creed.” He called it that because all the points in all the major Christian creeds throughout church history have their foundation in Psalm 110. The Trinity , the incarnation , the supremacy of Christ , the cross, forgiveness of sins, redemption and Christ’s intercessory work , his ascension and glorification , the Church , the final judgment , the resurrection of Jesus and his people , and eternal life. This one, short psalm lays the foundation for all those doctrines. And most of the salvation aspects are wrapped up in Jesus’ role as our priest, which is a part of Jesus’ ministry that doesn’t get much attention.
