As the kids are heading down there with the children's ministry workers, you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 110. We are looking this morning at the last Psalm of our Summer Psalms series. Doesn't mean it's the last time we'll look in the Psalms. We're actually toying around with making Summer Psalms an ongoing series for the summer. It's nice standalone messages, so as people are in and out on vacations, they can drop in without having to feel like they need to catch up. But this summer, this Sunday will be the last Sunday that we're officially in Psalms for this series, and we're looking this morning at Psalm 110.
So you can turn with me. It should be on the Word on the overhead as well. Psalm 110, prescript, a Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. 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. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgments among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore he will lift up His head.
Well, imagine with me for a moment the scene. It's a scene that if you're familiar with the Bible, you'll recognize. Even if you're not real familiar with the Bible, you'll probably get a sense of it. The scene is this: after 3 years of ministry, Jesus enters Jerusalem. It's Palm Sunday, Sunday when sometimes little kids in children's ministry get the big palm branches and wave them around. It's that original Palm Sunday. So Jesus is entering Jerusalem, and he's entering Jerusalem on a donkey. He's riding a foal. He's fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy about what the Messiah would do, the action is bold. He's making a statement as he enters Zion, God's city. And the crowds in Jerusalem, they see the significance. The air is electric. They see the significance, and the Jewish leaders catch the significance. They know what this Jesus of Nazareth is claiming. So this air isn't just electric, it's filled with tension. You have the crowds who are excited that here comes one riding on a donkey, this Jesus that we've heard so much about for 3 years, doing miracles, doing incredible things. Are the rumors true? Is this God's anointed? Is this the Messiah? And on the other hand, the leaders grumbling and plotting. Who does this Jesus think he is? How can he come into Jerusalem this way? He must know what this means. The people love him and the leaders despise him. Some are ready to crown him and others are already plotting to crucify him. The crowds become increasingly curious about his identity. Events begin to unfold as he's in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, and as those events unfold, as the crowd grows in its anticipation, the leaders grow in their jealousy. And so what ensues is this increasing game of cat and mouse that we read about in all the gospel accounts. The Pharisees and Sadducees, normally rivals, the scribes and the chief priests, normally fighting for their own grip on the leadership of Israel, now come together in a united front against Jesus. They're coming together to catch Him, to trap Him, to show that He's theologically wrong, to show that He's a charlatan, that He's not what He claims to be. So they start mounting questions and they start challenging Him, meaning to trip Him up, meaning to show that He doesn't know what He's doing, meaning to make Him look like a fool in front of all these crowds Who are ready to declare him the Lord's anointed, the Messiah. Well, a debate begins to grow, and that debate grows and increases, and the nature of the questions and the specificity of the questions, the trickiness of the questions— you can imagine being in front of thousands of people and the experts are coming to you and challenging you in front of— you have no idea what the questions will be. And they come and they lob them. Jesus knows what the questions will be, right? Well, the Great Debate ends with Jesus turning the tables. And he poses a question to his critics. Now, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question. It says in Matthew's account, "What do you think about the Christ?" The crowd knows, the leaders know, Jesus knows. That's what they're talking about. Whose son is he? And they respond to him, the son of David. So Jesus says again, how is it then that David in the spirit calls him, the one who's going to be his son, Lord, saying the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son? How can David call this one Lord who's actually his descendant? Crickets. Jesus has been playing the game. He's been answering the questions. The crowd is continually amazed at his knowledge. He flips the tables. He drops the question on a group of experts. And together, they've got nothing. The next verse says, "No one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions." Okay, so he's got a little bit more game than we do. Let's not do this in public anymore. Let's start meeting in secret and quiet at night. That day, the debate ended. The plot to kill Jesus begins in earnest. They start doing all they can to ensure that they can bring the full force of their political influence to have him arrested and eventually killed. And it all hangs on what Jesus says and challenges them from this psalm that we're looking at today, from Psalm 110.
So this psalm that you read, that we just heard this morning, is incredibly significant. It's actually the most quoted Psalm in the entire New Testament. Psalm 110 is quoted more times than any other passage from the Psalter, and it's also deeply and directly messianic. Every Psalm has a connection with Jesus. Sometimes those connections are different. This Psalm is directly saying, hey, I'm writing this about the Messiah.
That's the psalm that we look at today. What we see in this psalm are the offices that the Messiah, that David's anointed, the King, the One that God will establish for all eternity, will take. And so we're going to see 3 offices that emerge from this significant text. And the first is just that, that Jesus is King.
That the Messiah will be King. So look at verses 1 to 3. You see that in the opening stanzas, the first 3 lines. Now, kings are a foreign concept to us. We're not really familiar with them. We're 300 years removed from really having any idea what a king is like in America.
6 · Using a Schoolhouse Rock video about the American Revolution, the pastor illustrates how American culture has been shaped to view monarchy negatively—as incompetent, bullying, and oppressive—creating cultural baggage that hinders understanding biblical kingship
We still get some sense. I don't know how many of you grew up in elementary school watching the Schoolhouse Rock Schoolhouse Rocks videos? I grew up with those. Now, there was one of them that was titled "No More Kings." And so it's this Schoolhouse Rocks video that explains how America came to be, how we established our independence from evil Great Britain and the evil king over there. And you can imagine how they do this. Now, if you've ever seen one of these videos, it's exactly what you're imagining. As cheeky as the rest of them. So you've got this really clunky animation going on, these super cheesy songs that are like a 3-minute sound bite to teach you something. And so, yeah, just plain awesome. Cheesy, cheesy songs, terrible animation, and you can't help but not remember the theme and the message. Well, this one, the basic point to this one, "No More Kings," was that In 3 minutes, we're telling you about how the pilgrims come and you see them floating on the ship and they run into Plymouth Rock, 1620, and they establish the colony. Oh, we need your help, King George. It's terrible the way they present King George. He's sitting on a throne eating fish and throwing it into the ocean. It's comical. So for 3 minutes, there's this propaganda about King George as the incompetent bully monarch over across the pond. In Europe. Message is really simple: kings are bad, people should rule themselves. And King George says at one point in the video, "Anything I say, do it my way now. Don't you get to feeling independent because I'm going to force you to obey." It's like, wow, that's just so subtle. I'm sure that's exactly how King George said it.
7 · The pastor makes a critical theological distinction: while Americans rightly rejected an incompetent earthly king, Jesus as King is fundamentally different, making rebellion against His rule both irrational and sinful rather than justified
You get the picture. Kings and monarchs are not a good thing. Independence and autonomy, that is to be valued. And I just want to say, I love our democracy. I'm glad we don't have a king, and I'm really glad the current royal family isn't ruling us, because that is one dysfunctional family, right? But as Americans, we've got to admit, when it comes to kings, We've got some baggage. And when your king is as incompetent as King George, rebellion makes sense. But King Jesus isn't like King George. So independence and autonomy and rebellion, they don't make sense from King Jesus.
8 · The pastor begins close exegesis of Psalm 110:1-3, drawing attention to the divine names (Yahweh and Adonai), the enthronement at God's right hand, the extension of royal authority through the scepter, and the willing submission of the Messiah's people—contrasting sharply with colonial rebellion
Listen to how he's described in the opening verses. The Lord— now all caps, Lord, so Yahweh, the covenant God— says to my Lord Adonai, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord Yahweh sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power. Your people aren't going to be like the 13 original colonies. Wishing they weren't ruled. Your people are going to delight under your rule.
9 · The pastor conducts detailed exegesis of the opening line of Psalm 110, unpacking its Trinitarian structure (Father, Son, Spirit), the technical meaning of the Hebrew verb for divine oracle, and the cosmic significance of the Messiah being enthroned at Yahweh's right hand—a position of supreme authority and shared divine power, illustrated by Jeremiah's description of Yahweh's incomparable majesty
Remember, Jesus himself confirms in the Gospels, in that exchange with the Pharisees, this psalm is written by David, and he says David is under the influence of the Spirit. So you've got this incredibly Trinitarian account. You want to think about places in Scripture where you see the Trinity? Here's one that gets overlooked a lot. Jesus quoting a Psalm that references the Father, talking about the Messiah, and specifically says that when David wrote it, the Spirit inspired it. That's the Trinity. Here's what he says: vast significance in these words. Hebrew has this sense of "the Lord says to my Lord." Well, that doesn't come anywhere close to capturing the significance. That word "says" in the original has this sense of divine oracle. In fact, almost every time it's used in the Old Testament, it highlights God making an immediate utterance directly to a person. God says to David. God says to Moses. Things like that where God isn't speaking through an angel, He's not speaking through— He's speaking to a human directly. This is what God says. Get the sense what He's saying to David, the covenant king. It's not just poetic, it's prophetic. Yahweh said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand. Here's the significance of that line. Jesus, who's taking that messianic title in the New Testament, is saying that he is enthroned by God. Yahweh, God of the Old Testament, God the Father, said to Adonai, my Lord. That's how the Hebrew reads. The Lord of hosts says to His anointed, the Father says to the Son, "Sit at My right hand." Now, that's a statement of huge import. Yahweh commands His Messiah to be seated, which is to say, God says to the Messiah, "Be enthroned." And be enthroned not on some kingdom on earth. Don't be enthroned just in Jerusalem. Don't be enthroned just on earth. I want you to be enthroned. I'm commanding you, my anointed, my Messiah, be enthroned at my right hand. Sit in the place of highest honor. Sit in a place where everyone knows that you carry my authority. That you carry my power, that every place that I have dominion, you will have dominion. When Yahweh seats the Messiah King at his right, he enthrones him with God's own glory. He extends to Jesus all his power. Now listen to how Jeremiah the prophet describes Yahweh's power, the majesty of his throne. There is none like you, O Yahweh. You are great. Your name is great and mighty. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due. For among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none 'Like you.' And that King, that great Lord of the universe, says to the Messiah, says prophetically to Jesus, 'Sit in the seat of my power.'
10 · The pastor exposits Psalm 110:2-3, explaining the scepter as a symbol of delegated divine authority (illustrated through the presidential seal analogy), contrasting David's anointing through Samuel with the Messiah's direct anointing by God, and drawing on Psalm 89 to demonstrate the cosmic scope of the Messiah's eternal rule—over sea, land, creation, and the nations—culminating in the tension Jesus created by claiming this authority publicly
Then you read in verse 2, 'The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies.' David's anointed by God through the prophet Samuel. Remember that? Samuel comes, he's looking for the next king. Saul has done all sorts of weird, wicked stuff. The Spirit of the Lord has left Saul. And so Samuel is sent out, anoint the next king. Finds David through that whole process, and he anoints him with oil. David becomes the Lord's anointed, but it's through the intermediary of Samuel. Everyone gets this is God's man, so God's anointing David. That's not what's happening here. No, Jesus as the Messiah King is anointed by God directly. First Yahweh seats him in the position of power. Now the Lord places the symbol of his domination, the symbol of his strength, his mighty scepter, into the Messiah King's hand. What's a scepter? What does that look like? A little historical distance from the last time we've seen one of our leaders with a scepter. You're not going to see Obama on the campaign trail carrying a scepter, and Mitt Romney on the campaign trail with a cardboard scepter. "Well, this is what I would look like if I had the scepter." That's not going to happen. We don't have scepters. But we do have the presidential seal. You ever seen that? You ever notice that? Anywhere the president speaks, anytime he's speaking, he's at a podium. His podium doesn't look like this. His podium has a seal. It has a circle on the front of it. Everywhere he speaks publicly, in the Oval Office, there's a massive seal in the carpet. There's seals of the president all over the White House. His seal follows him wherever he goes. The president's seal is always with the president because that seal signifies for everyone who sees that this seal carries with it the authority of this office. You see that seal on the podium, it means the man behind the podium speaks with the authority and the power and the rights of the officeholder of the president of the United States. And that's a big deal when you got the biggest guns in the world. It's a big deal when you're the most influential nation in the world. That seal carries weight. That seal is analogous to the scepter. Wherever the king's scepter goes, his authority goes with it. His right to rule goes with it. The Lord takes that scepter and personally sends it to the Messiah. He promises that His rule and His reign will be eternal, that it will be unfading like the hope of dawn. This sense in verse 3 of the young, just limitless energy, limitless hope, that's what the reign of this Messiah is gonna be like. Listen to how Psalm 89 fills out the details of this power and rule and authority that the Lord establishes in Psalm 110, His Messiah King. Psalm 89 kind of fills out the imagery. You could read the whole Psalm and see it. I've selected a handful of verses. You have said, God has said, I have made a covenant with my chosen ones, 89:3. I have sworn to David My servant, I will establish your offspring, singular, Messiah forever and build your throne for all generations. In verse 8, O Lord, O Yahweh, God of hosts, who is mighty as You are? Who holds a scepter like Yours? O Lord, O Yahweh, with Your faithfulness all around You. 'You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them.' Pharaoh might command a lot of chariots. The rulers of Assyria might have thousands of men. But the Lord of Hosts He commands the sea. He controls the world. The heavens are yours, verse 11. The earth also is yours, the world and all that is in it. You have founded them. Because you founded them, you have the right to rule them. The north and the south, the directions of the compass, you created them. 'You, Lord, have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.' Right hand, seated at the right hand of the throne. 'Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.' That. Is what God gives to the Messiah. Sense the tension in the crowd now? Jesus makes these claims. I came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. This donkey exists because I speak him into existence. Sitting here in front of a crowd I'm not just gonna rule this crowd, I'm gonna rule the universe. Yeah, the crowd's getting a little excited. And the leaders are getting really peeved. Really scared.
11 · The pastor transitions to the second office revealed in Psalm 110—the priesthood—explaining that the Messiah uniquely combines the distinct Old Testament offices of king and priest
Jesus, in Psalm 119, will be the King. We also see in verse 4 that Jesus will be the Priest. King is just the first office we see David prophesying Jesus will fill. Look at verse 4: "The Lord," Yahweh again, "has sworn, He will not change His mind: 'You, My Anointed One, are a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.'" That's obviously pretty easy to understand, so we can just go to the next point, right? Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Here's the deal. Jesus won't just be the Messiah King. He'll be the Priest King. Now, these are two Old Testament offices. You've got prophet, priest, and king in the Old Testament. Here we see priest and king. These are offices held by different people. Prophets had a unique calling, a unique office, a unique gifting that they were called to practice and establish in the nation of Israel. Priests had a unique calling, a unique office. The priests are called to mediate between God's people and God. They stand between God and the people. They stand between a holy God and an unholy people. They make intercession. They make sacrifice. They make a way for God and the people to interact. The prophets speak oracles and words of God to the people. The king rules in God's stead. He rules as God's anointed. He establishes and represents as a regent God's rule on earth. Well, here in Psalm 110, we see the king and the priest, they come together. Here's one that will govern the people and that same one will mediate for the people. But Jesus isn't the first priest-king. Enter Melchizedek, international man of mystery. He's mentioned 3 times in the Bible. 3 different places in the Bible we see Melchizedek enter the scene. Each time, strange. It's just this character that sort of emerges from the shadows. His face comes out, He goes back in. What was that? Who is that guy? Tell me more. It's just kind of there lurking. Genesis 14, Abraham sojourning. He meets Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem. So the priest-king of the proto-Jerusalem. The city that will become the city of God. And when he's mentioned here in Psalm 110, the most Messianic psalmist, the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. All of a sudden, a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, a priest like Melchizedek, this character we kind of saw in Genesis 14. We don't really know much about him, but here he is in this linchpin passage of the Old Testament. And then finally, in the book of Hebrews, he starts to emerge more and more, and there's more clarity brought to who he is. Here's what people do all the time with Mel. They want to ask all these questions that we don't have answers for. We don't know how tall he was. We don't know what he looked like. We just don't know a ton of stuff about him. The thing to do with Melchizedek isn't to ask endless questions that we haven't been given answers to. It's to trust that the little bit that God has described about him is sufficient for us to gather his significance.
12 · The pastor turns to Hebrews 7 to unpack what it means for Jesus to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, emphasizing that Jesus guarantees a better covenant through His permanent priesthood, eternal intercession, once-for-all sacrifice of Himself, and perfect holiness
So let's not be worried about what we don't know. Let's consider what we do know. Listen to what Hebrews 7 says in the context of Jesus as a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. This is what it means for Jesus to be like Melchizedek, to be the type, the one that Melchizedek was pointing to, the one that Melchizedek was foreshadowing. So in other words, you get Melchizedek way back here in the background, kind of sticks his head out for the first time out of the shadows, Genesis 14. Psalm 110, peeks onto the scene again and leaves. All of that is looking forward, Hebrews says, to Jesus. When Jesus comes on the scene, quit worrying about Melchizedek. This is the one Melchizedek was pointing towards. Melchizedek's just the analogy. Why are you so concerned about Melchizedek? Jesus is here! The real deal is here! Hebrews 7: This being a priest of the order of Melchizedek makes Jesus— Hebrews is quoting just before this from Psalm 110— this makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. They don't continue perpetually like Jesus will. But he holds his priesthood permanently. He continues forever. And this is big. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives, since he lives eternally for this purpose. To make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins to make him pure, and then for the sins of all the people, since he did this once for all when he, Jesus, the priest after the order of Melchizedek, offered up himself. The law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. Hebrews calls Jesus our great high priest. After the order of Melchizedek. Here's what Melchizedek means. It means king of righteousness. And it says that he's king, he's ruler of Salem. Salem means peace. Melchizedek is the king of righteousness and the king of peace. And he foreshadows Jesus, the Messiah. Isn't just a perfectly ruling king. He's one who will make eternally perfect mediation. He will go between the people and God. He will make a way between the people and God forever.
13 · The pastor declares the theological implications of Christ's priesthood: the old covenant sacrificial system was insufficient and temporary, designed only to point forward to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice, which saves perfectly and eternally
You know why I'm not a priest? Why I'm a pastor? Because we don't need priests anymore. We have access to God by the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 5:9, "And being made perfect, He, Jesus, became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him." The old system is broken. You've got a holy God, you've got unholy people. How do they come together? You've seen places in Scripture where people thinking they can approach God approach God and it doesn't end in a pretty way. You don't just flippantly approach God. You need a mediator to cover that gap. In the Old Testament, they have in the law this system of sinful priests killing bulls and killing goats. Well, if God's so holy, I'll kill this animal. And that'll make a way, right? Romans 3. The only reason God gives any significance to that is because the killing of that lamb, of that animal, of that bull points forward to the killing of the Lamb. The old system didn't work. It was insufficient. Not broken, just not enough. It only reveals our sin. Now, in Jesus, in the Messiah, in the Great Priest King from Melchizedek, we have what Hebrews describes as a better hope, a better covenant. The Messiah doesn't just rule perfectly, he saves perfectly. The words of Hebrews: He saves to the uttermost. He saves every corner of your heart. He saves forever through one sacrifice of infinite value and eternal power. The work of the cross is not just a past event. It's a past event that has present reality and future promise. The shadow of the cross goes backwards covering all of those Old Testament saints who trusted in this deficient system knowing that somehow in some way the character of God, He was allowing for a dead animal to cover their sins. The cross's shadow goes back across that, Romans 3 says. The cross's shadow stands in Jesus' day and says, "You trust in Me," And you are forgiven because there's blood flowing from this cross and because I'm going to come out of this grave. And the cross's shadow goes forward and it says your hope is established. The cross is now empty. The priest is now enthroned as the Messiah, as the King. He stands in the throne room at the right hand of God and he intercedes for you. He always will. God has said This throne, it will never go away. It will never diminish. The dominion is eternal. And so the salvation He offers is unshakable.
14 · The pastor articulates the pastoral comfort of Christ's eternal intercession: when believers are weak, don't know how to pray, or are overwhelmed by failure, Jesus at God's right hand continuously intercedes for them before the Father, making this the singular source of genuine good news
Jesus has saved us if you trust in Him. And He will continue to save us for all eternity. The living and eternal intercession of Jesus on behalf of us is Jesus continually and prayerfully bringing our requests before the Father. Hebrews says that He intercedes for us in our weakness. When we don't know what to pray. When we don't feel like we can come pray. When we feel like our words are inadequate, and all we can see in front of ourselves is the last big failure. In those weaknesses, Jesus, enthroned at God's right hand, prays into the inclined ear of a listening Father. Father. And that's really good news. It's the only good news that's out there.
15 · The pastor signals the structural shift to the third and final office revealed in Psalm 110: Jesus as warrior
Because there's one more office. Jesus isn't just King. The Messiah isn't just a Priest. He's a warrior.
16 · The pastor exposits Psalm 110:5-7, revealing Jesus as the returning warrior who will execute violent judgment on His enemies
Read verses 5 to 7. The Lord— this is small caps, this isn't Yahweh, this is the Anointed One, the Messiah, this is pointing to Jesus. The Lord is at your right hand. He's enthroned, He's established, He's the King, He's the High Priest. And what will He do at the right hand of the Almighty Eternal Lord of Hosts, the God of all creation? He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. And he will drink from the brook by the way, therefore he will lift up his head. In other words, there's this image of Jesus, the warrior king, just brushing aside his foes, nonchalantly leaning over the brook, refreshing himself, no concern that any can assault him. You ever hear somebody say, "I'm not a fan of religion. I'm not a big fan of Christianity. I really like Jesus. He had some really good things to say." But Christianity and religion, I can't stand that. You ever hear anyone talk like that? That's really common. That's really out there today. Jesus is actually a fairly popular figure in this country. What's really interesting about that is we live in a very anti-judgment world. You know that whole no more kings 3-minute pamphlet? Parody that Schoolhouse Rock put out. It's actually really telling. This whole colony of people yelling back across the Atlantic Ocean at King George, "You can't tell us what to do!" And it shows the Tea Party, and they're all basically swimming in what looks like a hot tub of tea. It's a historical joke about how our country was founded. A prophetic little 3 minutes about how the human heart operates. We want to make our time, our age, really unique sometimes, you know? Well, today people are just off the rails. Today people don't like authority. Today people, they're anti-judgment. They're anti this view of God that gets put out there. That's how people are like today. You know what? If you look at the sermons 50 years ago? They're saying, "Today!" Right? You go back 300 years, they're saying, "Today! Look at what's going on in the world around us today!" Go back to Paul's day. You read some of the letters in the New Testament. You know what that says? That says the Schoolhouse Rock video saying, "No more kings." It's just the whisper of every human heart. No more King. No more Creator. No more God. Don't need your rule. Don't want your rule. Get your rule out of my life. Don't give me any sort of religion or book or system that tells me there's a certain way to live and a certain way not to live. Live, that there's a certain punishment for living a certain way and a certain reward for living another way. Don't need it, don't want it. What authority do you have to say it? I can't stand that stuff. Now Jesus, I'm cool with Jesus. Jesus was a good dude. He's walking around, hanging out with people, seemed pretty chill. People liked him, did lots of healings, really loved the poor, really hated the rich. I mean, that's obvious because I've read the scriptures so thoroughly, right? That's who Jesus is. Jesus is a great guy. People are in for a rude awakening when the Jesus described in Psalm 110 returns. Verse 4 of Psalm 110 took us to Hebrews. Back to Genesis 14, but really to Hebrews, fills out this imagery of Jesus, the Messiah, as priest. The last 3 verses, they point us to several spots, but they especially point us to Revelation. The Messiah is King, the Messiah is Priest, and the Messiah, Jesus, is a Warrior Lamb. Listen to how He sits at the right hand of God. In verse 1 it says, "Sit at My right hand, be enthroned." And here's how long you're going to sit there. Here's what you're going to do. "Until I make your enemies your footstool." footstool. Now, the imagery of that footstool is not your grandma's footstool in the sitting room. That's not what he's talking about. It's a symbol of absolute victory. The Messiah King, this warrior king, will rest his feet on the exposed necks of his enemies. 1 Corinthians 15:25: For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. Kind of hear Genesis 3:15 in that? You'll bruise his heel, Satan. He will crush your head. He will make it a footstool. Jesus is not just a king who will rule justly, who will rule peacefully. He will. But he's a king who will establish justice. He's a King who will establish peace. He will establish it with the power and authority of the Lord of Hosts. So all the omnipotence of God Almighty that we read about in Psalm 89, we read about in Jeremiah, all of that power is at His authority. Why is that His authority? Psalm 110, the book of Revelation says, "For this reason, that in the day of His power," described in 110:3, that in the day of His power, that you would see in verse 5, "the day of His wrath." It's not talking about God the Father in verse 5. Jesus is really loving, God the Father has wrath. That's not what's happening in Psalm 110. In Psalm 110:5 is referring to Jesus when He returns, and He's not returning happy. He's returning as a warrior to mete out justice. And this is totally out of whack with the imagery of Jesus today, right? Jesus is just sort of this limp-wristed, friendly guy. Wears togas, right? Sandals. Really blue-collar, a fisherman. He was a man of the people. No. Lithograph Jesus of Sunday school is not the Jesus of Psalm 110. There's a fixed day. There is a day that the God who writes out time, that writes out the histories, has set. On this day it will happen. As surely as creation happened, on this day it will happen. And on that day Jesus will be made known for of who He is. He has been revealed to us. We've seen Him. He's walked the earth. We have a revelation of Jesus. The apostles' testimony, the account of Scripture, we have seen a revelation of Jesus. But you know what the book of Revelation says? It says here's a little bit more about the revelation of Jesus. Right now, it's closed. We're not going to see any more infallible revelation of Jesus. That canon is not being added to. But on that day set in the future, There's going to be a revelation of Jesus. Jesus is going to come back and we're going to spend eternity learning a lot about Him. And one thing we're going to see is that this Jesus will be a warrior king. This is what Psalm 110 says about this warrior king when He returns. I don't know where you're at right now. Maybe you're sitting here thinking, holy smokes, I was trackin' for the the first two points. Now this guy is like sinners in the hands of an angry God, just off his rocker. What is he talking about? Well, you know, this is what happens when a guy like Jonathan Edwards takes up his Scripture and says, I'm one who sits under authority, and so I give you what the Word of God gives you. This is supposed to get under the skin. It should be sobering. There should be some gulping. This warrior king, the last 3 verses say, will shatter kings. Literally, He'll execute them. He will execute judgment among the nations. You hear people say, you know, "I let God judge. You should just let God judge. Don't be judge—" Do you know what happens when God judges? It's not humorous. When He judges, He will fill the nations with corpses. Literally the sense that He will execute, He will put to death the chiefs of many countries. He won't just crush the serpent, He will crush all who reign in the serpent's stead. Whether they know it or not. He will judge, He will avenge, He will punish, He will mete out retribution against every rebel heart. This is going to be a little bit long here, and I think that's really good. We're going to listen to some, not all, of the revelations the descriptions of Jesus that God showed John that fill out what these last 3 verses of Psalm 110 are saying. Listen to what we hear about Jesus. Revelation 1:1, the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is who you will see him to be, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. This revelation is for you, that you would know who he is, that you wouldn't have some popular cultural caricature of Jesus, that you would see him accurately and respond correctly. Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. He is the king. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him. No more sticking your head in the sand and saying there's no creator, there's no creator, there's no king, there's no king, there's no king. He will come and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Verse 12, then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw 7 golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands. So there's 7 golden lampstands, this perfect number of golden lampstands, and they're just spotlighting. The One. One like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. There's a force behind it when He speaks. "In His right hand He held 7 stars, and from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. And His face was like the sun shining in full strength." 2:12. "And to the angel of the church of Pergamum write," so to this body of believers in Pergamum, "these are the words of Him, Jesus, the Alpha and Omega," The Messiah King, the Messiah Priest, the returning Messiah Warrior. The words of Him who has the sharp two-edged sword. And then in verse 16, "Repent." This is to a church. It's not to "those people." It's to a group of believers. Repent. 'If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.' 6:15. This is just a sampling. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones, the generals, the Napoleons, the presidents, the Caesars, the rich and powerful, The Bill Gateses, the Romneys, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us! Hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne! Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come!" 'Come, and who can stand?' And finally in Revelation 19: And then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like the flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. Then verse 21: "And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of Him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh."
17 · The pastor issues a direct polemic against domesticated images of Jesus, arguing that while Jesus is loving, His supreme love is for His own glory and holiness, which He will defend with violent force
You can have your caricatures of Jesus, you can have the flannelgraph image, You can delude yourself and insulate yourself with this thought that Jesus is just all about love. He is about love. One thing Jesus, the Messiah King, the Messiah Priest, the Messiah Warrior, loves above all else: the glory and the holiness and the repute of his name. Everything he does, he does to establish it and to defend it. People who want to domesticate Jesus put him at odds with Paul and the Old Testament, and they are in for a sobering wake-up call because Jesus is not to be trifled with. Jesus' first visit was a fairly peaceful one. You know, all he did was conquer death and the devil, right? His return will be much different. His first coming was as a lamb to the slaughter, but his return will be as a warrior with an army.
18 · The pastor argues that Revelation's portrayal of Jesus as violent warrior is fully consistent with the Gospels and Psalm 110, all inspired by the Spirit
I heard someone comment once that the Jesus of Revelation is hard to reconcile with the Jesus of the Gospels. Jesus' revelation seems crueler and harder. I think they're implying He's less loving, He's not as compassionate. The final words written in the Bible about Jesus are out of place with what's previously been written. And you know, the Gospels, that's really who Jesus was, it's the Gospels, right? That's kind of what they're implying. I don't know that they've ever really read the Gospels much. Because Jesus, if you read the Gospels, actually says a fair amount of stuff like this. Psalm 110 is inspired. Jesus said in the Gospels by the Holy Spirit, written by David, and it predicted that Jesus, He would be a King of righteousness. He would be a perfect High Priest mediating between God and man. And He would judge eternally. He would set the scales right. He would vindicate God's holiness. He would mete out justice He would crush His enemies. And this is what we see Jesus saying in the Gospels. As we see in Psalm 110, in the Gospels, in Revelation, Jesus will return. And He will wield the sword. And He will do horrible, awesome, appropriate things to His enemies. Jesus sitting at the right hand of God like he's described in Psalm 110, that should strike terror into the hearts of those who live in rebellion against his reign. Those hearts that are indifferent to him, those hearts that are set against him, those hearts that want to pretend he doesn't exist or that what he says about himself doesn't matter. He's not like King George III. No rebels succeed, and all who seek autonomy and independence will find death. But Jesus seated at God's right hand also brings great joy. To His people. A sampling of things I left out about the revelation of this Jesus. Revelation 1:4: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood. You see it all there. You see the returning judge, the warrior, the priest. He's freed us from our sins by His blood. You see the king. He has made us a kingdom. He has now made us priests to his God and Father. In other words, now we are going to be in heaven and we are going to get to act like priests. We are going to get to act and interact with God. And then in 19:6, right in the midst of what we read about that last one, the rider on the white horse, right? And his sword just laying waste to his enemies. This is what he says: Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns! The Messiah is enthroned! He sits at the right hand of God Almighty! He is established! It is an eternal kingdom!" Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! There is joy, there is hope, there is assurance to be found here. Let us rejoice and exalt and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. She's clothing herself in the robes of Jesus. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the deeds of the saints. Revelation 19:9: And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." He is inviting you to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. He either comes as a warrior to destroy, or He comes as your Bridegroom to take you into His house and to love you and lavish you with blessings for eternity.
19 · The pastor closes with a prayer that synthesizes the sermon's three-office Christology (King, Priest, Warrior) and issues a dual pastoral charge: for unbelievers to repent and see Jesus as He truly is, abandoning illusions of autonomy, and for believers to find their assurance firmly established in Christ's eternal reign and intercession at God's right hand
Would you pray? Lord, there is only one thing in all the earth that is established and will never fail. It is that you are God. You have established the heavens. You have created man. You rule man. And despite our rebellion, you have established redemption in your Son. And so would you help us now to see that your Son Jesus, the great Messiah King, the great Messiah Priest, the great Messiah Warrior, the one who will rule, the one who will mediate, the one who will judge in your name, Would you help us to treasure him above everything else? Help us to repent where it's necessary. Turn hearts right now, God, in the power of your Spirit to your Son, to your Messiah. Open blind eyes. Help people to see they are not autonomous. They are not able to do whatever they please. Help them to see that they will be held accountable. Turn those hearts, breathe life into them, create new life, and let them see Jesus as He truly is. Let them repent, let them know Him, let them surrender all they have to Him. Let their hearts be turned, Lord. Let them believe. Let them have hope. And God, I pray now that all those who have believed who haven't trusted themselves would find their hope and their assurance firmly established. Because Jesus is their King and He is their Priest and He is their Warrior and He is enthroned at Your right hand. For His glory and for the sake of their joy. You save to the uttermost, and so You give assurance that is unshakable. Pray this in the name, in His name, in Jesus' name. Amen.