Jesus Is King and Priest

Introduction

You may have noticed that this year I have done shorter series of sermons rather than a lengthy exposition of a book of the Bible. Sometimes, I think it is helpful to mix things up more quickly and look briefly at different parts of the Bible.

Today, I would like to begin a five-week series of sermons that I am calling, “Jesus in the Psalms.”

Why look at five different psalms?

First, the book of Psalms was the songbook that Jesus used. There are dozens of different hymnbooks that are currently used today in the English language. On top of that, you have scores of contemporary songs that are sung weekly in congregations all around the world.

But, in Jesus’ day, there was only one songbook. And that songbook was the book of Psalms. There are 150 psalms in the Psalter. Jesus likely knew each psalm by heart, as did most of the people of God. They sang psalms daily and certainly each Sabbath. So, we want to learn the psalms that Jesus knew and sang.

And second, I want to study the psalms because all the psalms in the Psalter in one way or another point to Jesus. The five psalms we will study this month are particularly clear in how they point to the person and/or work of Jesus.

The psalm I want to study today is Psalm 110.

I would like you to take out your Bibles and follow along closely because it will help you to see what is in Psalm 110 for yourself.

Some truths about this psalm that are interesting.

First, and this may surprise some of you, Psalm 110 is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament and verse 1 is the most quoted verse in the New Testament. Commentator James Montgomery Boice notes:

By my count, Psalm 110:1 is quoted directly or alluded to indirectly at least twenty-seven times, the chief passages being Matthew 22:44 (parallels in Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42–43); Acts 2:34–35; 7:56; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3, 13; 12:2; and 1 Peter 3:22. Verse 4 is referred to in Hebrews 5:6; 7:17, 21; 8:1; 10:11–13 and is the dominating idea of those key chapters (James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 107–150: An Expositional Commentary [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005], 892).

Second, Psalm 110 was written by David. The superscription is “A Psalm of David.” This is not an addition by a modern Bible editor but was written by King David himself when he composed the psalm.

Third, Psalm 110 is a royal psalm. The 150 psalms are categorized into one of 7 different genres. The categories are lament, royal, wisdom, thanksgiving, hymn, trust, and praise. Psalm 110 was likely a royal coronation psalm. A note in The Reformation Study Bible states:

It is likely that it [Psalm 110] was sung at the time of the coronation of the king. The composition seems to have been written after David defeated Jebus (Jerusalem) and celebrates his victory and enthronement in that city, explaining why he also inherits the royal priesthood of Melchizedek (R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version [2015 Edition] [Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015], 964).

And fourth, Psalm 110 is the greatest messianic psalm in the Psalter. That is one reason why the New Testament writers quoted this psalm so frequently. There are several other messianic psalms in the Psalter, such as Psalms 2, 22, 45, 72, and others, but they contain elements that also refer to an earthly king. Boice notes:

By contrast, Psalm 110 is entirely about a divine king who has been installed at the right hand of God in heaven and who is presently engaged in extending his spiritual rule throughout the whole earth. It tells us that this divine Messiah is also a priest, performing priestly functions, and that additionally he is a judge who at the end of time will execute a final judgment on the nations and rulers of this earth (James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 107–150: An Expositional Commentary [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005], 892–893).

Before I complete this introduction, I should mention that I spent one entire semester in graduate school studying only Psalm 110. That is how important is this psalm.

Scripture

Let us read Psalm 110:1-7:

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord says to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies your footstool.”

2 The Lord sends forth from Zion

your mighty scepter.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

3 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.

4 The Lord has sworn

and will not change his mind,

“You are a priest forever

after the order of Melchizedek.”

5 The Lord is at your right hand;

he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.

6 He will execute judgment among the nations,

filling them with corpses;

he will shatter chiefs

over the wide earth.

7 He will drink from the brook by the way;

therefore he will lift up his head.

Lesson

In Psalm 110:1-7, we learn about Jesus as king and priest.

Let’s use the following outline:

Jesus Will Reign as the Eternal King (110:1-3, 5-7)

Jesus Will Serve as the Eternal Priest (110:4)

I. Jesus Will Reign as the Eternal King (110:1-3, 5-7)

First, Jesus will reign as the eternal king.

If I were to ask, “What is the best-known psalm today?” you will most likely say, “Psalm 23.” And you are right. I memorized Psalm 23 in elementary school, as did most of you who are my age (or older!).

But, if you were to ask Jesus, “What is the most important psalm?” he would say, “Psalm 110.”

Why?

Psalm 110 most clearly points to the person and work of Jesus.

In fact, Jesus used Psalm 110 most interestingly in his final week on earth.

The Jewish religious leaders were not happy that Jesus’ popularity was at a fever-pitch high. Thousands of people followed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. They wanted a Messiah—a Christ—who would liberate them from Roman oppression.

On Tuesday of Jesus’ final week, he was back in the temple precincts. The religious leaders wanted to trap Jesus into making some wrong statement that they could use against him. So, they asked him question after question.

Jesus was asked a question about politics. “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Matthew 22:17).

They asked a question about theology. A man married a woman and he died before they had children. In those days, the brother of the widow was to marry the woman. It so happened that there were seven brothers and each of them married the widow and then died. They asked, “In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her” (Matthew 22:28).

They asked a question about law. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:36).

In each case, Jesus answered their questions perfectly well. He hit home run after home run.

The religious leaders were very frustrated at this point. They could not trap Jesus into saying something wrong that they could use against him. They huddled together to figure out the next best way to entangle Jesus in his words (see Matthew 22:15).

Then, at this point, Jesus decided to ask the religious leaders a question. He wanted to make sure that they were all on the same page. He did not want them to misunderstand him.

This reminds me of the story of meeting my grandchildren a little over a month ago. My wife and I went to the Orlando International Airport to pick up my daughter, her husband, and our three grandchildren (ages 6, 4, and 2 1/2). We finally got to see them at about 9:00 p.m. once they got out of Customs & Immigration.

They had not eaten supper. So, we went to the food court. My daughter and her husband went to get fast food for everyone. My wife watched all their luggage. And I took the three little grandchildren for a walk before the food arrived.

My two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter took my hand as we walked around the concourse. After a little while, she asked, “So, do you speak English? Or do you speak Spanish?”

“I speak English,” I replied.

Then she asked, “And do you live in America? Or do you live in Colombia?”

I said, “I live in America.”

Satisfied that she now knew what language to use when speaking to me and where I lived, we carried on with our walk.

It seems to me that Jesus wanted to make sure that he knew what the religious leaders understood when he asked them a question.

So, Jesus asked, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

They said to him, “The son of David” (Matthew 22:42).

Before I carry on, some background will be helpful. The Bible in Jesus’ day (what we call the Old Testament) was filled with prophecies that God the Father was going to send his anointed one to deliver Israel. God’s anointed one is called “Christ” in Greek and “Messiah” in Hebrew. This anointed one, this Messiah, this Christ, would be a descendent of King David. He would be a great king that would rule and deliver God’s people from their enemies.

During Jesus’ lifetime, there was a great anticipation and expectation of a coming deliverer, the Christ, who would deliver the people of Israel from under their Roman oppression.

And Psalm 110 was one of the key places in the entire Old Testament that Jewish scholars identified as teaching that the Christ would come and deliver the people of God as their great king.

So, after the religious leaders correctly identified the Christ as the son of David, Jesus then asked them another question.

Jesus said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him 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?” (Matthew 22:43-45).

The Gospel author, Matthew, notes, “And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions” (Matthew 22:46).

So, what happened here? What was the answer to Jesus’ questions? Who was David talking about when he called him “Lord”?

David was the king of Israel. He was on the throne. So, who in the world would David call “my Lord”?

The Hebrew text of Psalm 110 is most helpful here. Look at your Bibles.

Look at the first part of verse 1 in Psalm 110. The text says, “The Lord says to my Lord.”

What do you notice?

Look at the two places where the word “Lord” is used. Your Bible should have the first “LORD” all in capital letters, and the second “Lord” with a capital “L” and a small “o-r-d.” The first “LORD” is Jehovah and the second “Lord” is Adonai.

So, David was saying that God the Father was saying to David’s Lord, and that Lord is none other than the Christ, the Lord Jesus himself.

So, at the time of David’s coronation as king, he was foretelling an event that was to take place 1,000 years later. David was saying in Psalm 110:1 that the Father was saying to the Christ, to Jesus, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

That was of course a reference to the ascension of Jesus. When Jesus ascended back to the Father after his crucifixion, he sat down at the right hand of the Father. That is where Jesus is presently seated until he returns to collect his bride.

Sitting on the right hand of a king made that person co-equal with the king. And, of course, Jesus is co-equal with the Father.

Right now, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. And the Father is making all the enemies of Christ his footstool. All unbelievers who die in their unbelief discover that they do not get 72 virgins in the afterlife or enjoy blissful rewards. No. To their horror, they discover that they are nothing more than a footstool for the Lord Jesus Christ.

The rest of Psalm 110 supports this interpretation.

There is much more to say about this but I need to move on to my second point.

But before I move on, I want you to understand that Jesus will reign as the eternal king. So many people say, “Oh, I believe in Jesus. He was meek and mild. He taught wonderful and helpful morals.”

Friends, Jesus is the sovereign, eternal king. We dare not make Jesus into what we want for a king. He tells us how to submit to him. We don’t ask him to bless our agenda. He tells us to fall into line with his agenda.

Jesus will reign as the eternal king.

Are you presently submitting yourself to Jesus as the eternal king?

II. Jesus Will Serve as the Eternal Priest (110:4)

And second, Jesus will serve as the eternal priest.

You may have noticed that there are two direct quotations in Psalm 110. These direct quotations from God are sometimes also called oracles. The first direct quotation is in verse 1, which we have just examined.

The second direct quotation is in verse 4. We read in Psalm 110:4 “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’ ” Once again, note that God the Father is speaking because we see the use of his personal name, Jehovah (Lord).

Now, who is Melchizedek?

Melchizedek appears only three times in the entire Bible.

First, Melchizedek is introduced in Genesis 14, where he met and blessed Abraham. Abraham had succeeded in rescuing his nephew Lot, Lot’s family, and Lot’s possessions from a coalition of several kings. On his way back from the battle, Abraham was met by Melchizedek, who was identified as “priest of God Most High.” Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe of all the spoils of the battle.

The entire account is told in just three verses in Genesis 14:18-20:

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him [that is Abram] and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

That is all we are told about Melchizedek. We know nothing else about him. Scholars have speculated as to his identity. The best I can say is that Melchizedek was a type of Christ, that is, he foreshadowed Jesus.

However, I can say two things about Melchizedek. First, his name “Melchizedek” means “king of righteousness.” He stood for righteousness at a time when others did not.

And second, Melchizedek was the “king of Salem.” Since “Salem” means “peace,” that means that Melchizedek was the “king of peace.”

Both of these truths point to Jesus. Jesus is king of righteousness and he is also the king of peace. Jesus became our righteousness (see 1 Corinthians 1:30). And by his death, Jesus has made peace between God and us (see Romans 5:1).

Second, Melchizedek appears again in Psalm 110:4, where we read, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’ ” Once again, Melchizedek was a type of Christ, foreshadowing Jesus.

The idea that the Christ would be a priest would have been shocking to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. The reason was the office of king and the office of priest were never combined in ancient times to be held by one person. They were carefully kept distinct. A king could not function as a priest. And a priest could not function as a king. When Uzziah, king of Judah, attempted to perform a priestly function by offering incense to the Lord in the temple, where only priests were allowed to go, God judged him by afflicting him with leprosy (see 2 Chronicles 26:16-23).

But Melchizedek was both. He was called “king of Salem” and “priest of God Most High” in Genesis 14:18.

Psalm 110 rightly gives both offices to David’s Greater Son, the Christ. The first oracle in Psalm 110:1 notes that Jesus will reign as a king. And the second oracle in Psalm 110:4 notes that Jesus will serve as a priest.

The third appearance of Melchizedek is in the book of Hebrews, where he appears as a significant person. The author of Hebrews mentions “Melchizedek” eight times (Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 10–11, 15, 17), uses the phrase “the order of Melchizedek” four times (Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:17), and points us back both to Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 when he admonishes, “See how great this man was” (Hebrews 7:4).

We don’t have time to explore and learn more about Melchizedek. Suffice it to say that the Lord has promised that the Christ is “a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

The primary function of a priest is to represent the people to God. A priest offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people to atone for their sins. Jesus offered himself as the supreme sacrifice for sin when he went to the cross and died there. His perfect righteousness is now credited to the people of God. And Jesus has established eternal peace between God and us by his perfect death on the cross.

So, let me ask you: Is Jesus your eternal priest?

Conclusion

Therefore, let us make sure that Jesus is our king and priest.

Many of you know that about two months ago I had a hypoglycemic attack in Asheville, NC. I have had hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) for about 25 years. My wife and I were driving in downtown Asheville looking for a restaurant. The city was crowded and we could not find a parking spot. So we decided to leave and find another restaurant.

It was then that I “zoned out.” I have no recollection of about 30 minutes. When I “came to” again, I was in the Emergency Room of the local hospital. I was told that my blood sugar was 39.

Later, I learned that a blood sugar level below 70 is “dangerously low.” And a blood sugar level below 40 can cause death.

I have to tell you that I was rattled. I realized how fragile life is. One minute a person is fine and the next minute he is “zoned out.” It could be low blood sugar, a stroke, a heart attack, or an accident.

The question is: are you prepared to die? Do you know for sure that when you die, you will be received into heaven?

Have you submitted yourself to Jesus as your eternal king?

And is Jesus your eternal priest?

I pray that Jesus is your king and priest today. Amen.