The Priest King

THE PRIEST KING
Psalms 110:1-7 is the most quoted in the New Testament. It is the Psalm that Jesus used to challenge the religious leaders of Jerusalem. It is the Psalm of the Priest-King. The superscription ascribes it to David. A Psalm of David.
The LORD says to my Lord:
"Sit at My right hand,
Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet." (Psalms 110:1). As we approach this Psalm, we see at the outset that there are three people mentioned. This cast of characters is seen in the first verse.

King David: The superscription calls this a Psalm of David. He is the king of Israel. Yet David seems to be overshadowed by the other two characters in the Psalm. This is unique. Kings are normally the most important people around. Kings are not used to taking second place to anyone. David does not even rank second in the Psalm. He ranks a distant third. The Lord: This is God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is called here by His divine name - Yahweh. He is the God who led His people through the Red Sea. He is the covenant keeping God.

David's lord: This is the third character of this first verse. He is really the main character of this Psalm. The entire Psalm is addressed to Him. He is seen here as David's lord and He is seek in verse for as a Priest after the order of Melchizedek. He is Jesus Christ. The Lord (Yahweh)|David's Lord|David the King|
Yahweh said...|To my lord...||
“Sit at My right hand, Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet.”||| To be seated at one's right hand was to be in the place of honor. Thus when Joseph brought his sons to be blessed by Jacob, he was careful to place the older son at that Patriarch's right hand and was displeased when his father crossed his hands to put the hand of blessing upon the head of the younger son.

David was the beloved of the Lord, but David was not called to sit at the right hand of God. That special place was reserved for another. This is the place of highest honor. It can only be held by the One who deserves all honor and glory. It is held by the Son of God.

David is only a bystander in this drama. He listens to the conversation of two that are greater than he. The conversation involves sitting in the place of honor. This is especially significant when we consider that the One who sits is described in Psalms 110:4 as a priest. One thing that a priest did not do when he came into the temple is to sit down. Jesus is the priest who sat down. He sat down because His work upon the cross was completed.

Notice the patience of God. The Father is pictured as speaking to the Son: “Sit here until...” We are in the between times today. We are awaiting a final consummation. The consumation takes place when the enemies of David's Lord serve as a footstool for His feet. When we think of a footstool, we think of a comfortable piece of furniture on which you set your feet when you kick back to watch the afternoon football game. But this is not the image that is in view in this verse. This reflects the ancient practice of a king bowing in complete submission to a master conqueror. This same passage was the object of discussion in one of the key confrontations of Jesus and the religious leaders. It is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. The setting was Jerusalem. It was just prior to the Passover and the city was packed with Jewish pilgrims from all over the world. The crowds were gathered in the temple as they came to hear the teaching of a Galilean rabbi. For several days, he had been preaching in the temple. The Jewish leaders have challenged Him repeatedly and He has answered all of their objections. Now it is His turn to ask a question.

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David.” (Matthew 22:41-42). The question that Jesus asks concerns the identity of the Christ -- the identity of the Messiah promised from the Old Testament. Whose son will he be? What will be his lineage? From what family will he come? The Pharisees know the answer. The Messiah is to come from the house of David. He will be the son of David. This brings up a second question.

43 He said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,' saying, 44 ‘The Lord said to my LORD, “Sit at My right hand, Until I put Thine enemies beneath Thy feet”? 45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,' how is He his son?”

46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question. (Matthew 22:43-46).

Jesus refers to Psalms 110:1-7. It was recognized by the Jews to be a Psalm of David and a Psalm that spoke of the Messiah who was to come. The Jews recognized that there were three characters in this Psalm.

David|He is the one who writes Psalms 110:1-7|
The Lord|The Hebrew of Psalms 110:1-7 uses the term Yahweh to describe the Lord|
My (David's) Lord|This unidentified one is told to sit at the right hand of Yahweh. The only other clue to his identity is that he is David's lord (adoni)| The question revolves around the true identity of the one whom David describes as “my lord.” He is shown to be a different person from Yahweh, for it is Yahweh who says to Him, “Sit here.”

Here is the point of the question. A son is not by nature greater than his father. Fathers do not bow down before their sons. Fathers do not look to their sons for leadership. If this is the sake, then how can the Messiah be both...

David's Son

David's lord The Scriptures make it quite clear that the Messiah is both David's son as well as David's lord. How can this be? It can only be the case if the Messiah's existence predated his birth. It can only be the case if the Messiah had a pre-incarnate existence. The Messiah is to be both the Son of Man and the Son of God.