The King Priest

This morning we are wrapping up our Advent in the Psalms sermon series.

I love preaching and teaching through the OT.

I love looking through the history that God has given us in the bible and seeing how his plan takes shape and plays out.

B/c it is absolutely astounding and mind blowing if you take a step back and examine it.

We were having this conversation at a recent Wednesday night bible study.

Shameless plug, if you don’t come, you should we have a great time diving deep into God’s Word.

Right now we are studying through the book of Judges, and the question was brought up about why does this matter to us today.

What importance does it play in our lives.

And the only response that I could think of at the time, and it’s a good one, is that studying the OT, helps us to see how God brought about the history of Salvation.

We get to see how God used ordinary people to accomplish his great mission.

And yes reading about Othniel, Ehud, David, Moses, and Abraham may seem to be tedious, but we need to keep in mind that everything recorded in the OT is pointing to one thing.

Jesus and his coming.

The salvation we find in him is b/c God chose to use those broken people to accomplish his mission.

That even when everyone was unfaithful, God was faithful.

And here the thing, the psalm we are going to examine this morning does just that.

In this short Psalm we see the history of Redemption played out.

This Psalm is connected to Abraham, David, and Jesus.

Traveling from the beginning of redemptive history to salvation found in Jesus Christ.

It’s a beautiful picture of God’s grand design.

And it may see weird or obscure that this short Psalm nestled right here in the middle of the book of Psalms would carry so much weight and importance, but I assure you it does.

In fact, this psalm is the most quoted or alluded to Psalm in all the NT.

It is either quoted, cited, or alluded to more than 25 times by various authors of the NT.

In fact, the first verse is even quoted by Jesus.

Now I will warn you that as we study this morning we will make a journey around your bible.

We are going to be in Genesis, Psalms, and Hebrews to try an make sense of what is being taught here.

This is going to be because of a character that we are going to meet in the middle of the Psalm named Melchizedek.

We will spend a good chunk of this morning talking about him.

Now don’t be afraid or ashamed if you haven’t heard of him before.

He’s a relatively obscure character in the Scriptures.

He’s only mentioned 2 times in the OT, and in one book of the NT.

But I want to assure you that understanding Melchizedek will help us to better understand Jesus.

And that’s what we all want, right?

To better understand Jesus.

To see him for who he is.

To love him more fully.

Especially as we celebrate him during this season.

This Sermon is going to be broken down into 3 Sections.

v. 1-3 is Jesus the Sovereign King.

v. 4 is Jesus the Ultimate Priest

v. 5-7 is Jesus the Warrior King.

before we head to break this down, let’s go to the lord with a word of prayer.

Psalm 110:1–3 CSB

1 This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion. Rule over your surrounding enemies. 3 Your people will volunteer on your day of battle. In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.

The Sovereign King

One of the beautiful things about our place in history is that through our knowledge of Jesus’ life some of the verses in the OT that may make us pause actually become more clear.

Saint Augustine some nearly 1700 years ago said this:

“The new Testament is in the old Testament concealed; the old Testament is in the new testament revealed.”

Meaning that this cohesive library of books that we call the Holy Bible is telling one story.

The story of redemption.

And it’s not till we get to the stories of the gospels that we can truly see the beauty of what God has done.

It’s almost like one of those movies that doesn’t really make sense until the end, when the story line is all tied together.

Then if you go back and watch it again you can see all the pieces in play throughout the whole movie.

That’s what these verses, especially v.1 is like.

You see the gospel authors tell us how to do read and understand these verses.

The life of Jesus tells us how to make sense.

B/c if we’re honest, outside of divine revelation these words don’t make much sense.

We learn from the title of this Psalm that David is the author.

This is verified later on by Jesus crediting the Psalm to David under the inspiration of the HS.

And you may be thinking how does this verse not make sense it seems very straight forward.

Psalm 110:1 “1 This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.””

Now, in order to see the strangeness of this verse we need to understand that the Lord, that is Yahweh is talking here.

In our English Bibles, they try their hardest to help us to see when God’s proper name is used. His proper name is Yahweh.

And the way they do this is they call him The Lord, with all capital letters.

So we see here that The Lord, said to my lord.

That second lord is a different word all together, in Hebrew it’s Adonai, it’s the title of Lord.

Not to try and get too confusing here, but David says that the Lord of all Creation, Yahweh, God Himself is talking to another one who David defines as his Lord, Adonai.

Now we know that David is King.

And this Lord he refers to is greater than David.

He doesn’t have a Lord, He doesn’t have anyone other than God that he submits to, so who can this be?

Who is this Lord?

And to add complexity to this conversation what does, Yahweh tell David’s Lord.

What does he declare?

Sit at my right hand.

Sitting at the right hand of God, means that this Lord is going to have the same power, authority, and throne as Yahweh.

He is going to be seen as equal to Yahweh.

And we know from Isaiah 42:8 “8 I am the Lord. That is my name, and I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

Isaiah 42:8 CSB

8 I am the Lord. That is my name, and I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.

But here we see that this Lord is going to rule and reign in conjunction with Yahweh.

So throughout Jewish history, this verse has been attributed to the coming messiah.

The anointed one who is going to bring restoration and peace.

And the gospel authors tell us how to read and interpret this

in Mark 12:35-37

Mark 12:35–37 CSB

35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he asked, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 David himself says by the Holy Spirit: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’ 37 David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How, then, can he be his son?” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.

Jesus here in Mark’s gospel is tell the scribes that he is the messiah.

That he is the one that David wrote about.

He is the long awaited king that has come to bring restoration and peace.

But they didn’t like the restoration and peace that Jesus was bringing.

They wanted a nation, but Jesus is building a kingdom.

They wanted to be free from oppression, but Jesus is going to free them from bondage to sin.

They wanted the great royal king, but Jesus came to be a humble servant.

Yet one day Jesus will come back and fulfill the rule and reign over the new heavens and new earth.

You see Jesus wasn’t the savior they wanted or expected, but he is the savior they needed.

After declaring Jesus to be the one who is the coeternal Lord of all creation, Yahweh makes some more promises about this kingly reign.

The Enemies will be a footstool.

This means that all those who oppose Jesus are ultimately going to be overcome by the conquering power of Jesus.

The footstool is a symbol of total and complete victory.

I heard someone talking about a visit they made to Egypt.

And as they were touring around they came up to see some relics of King Tut.

And with those relics was his footstool and around the footstool were the names of all the nations and peoples his empire has conquered.

So every time that King Tut sat down on his throne, people would know all the enemies that he had conquered were underneath his feet.

This is the type of picture we get here.

Those who oppose Jesus.

Those who oppose his good creation.

Those who run counter to his plan and purposes are going to be laid to rest under his feet.

Sin, death, the devil, and all his minions are going t be destroyed.

Once and for all.

In fact, this first verse of Psalm 110 is quoted at the end of Peter’s first public sermon after Pentecost.

Publicly declaring that Jesus is the long awaited messiah.

He is the one that is going to put all the enemies under his feet.

His death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave declares to Satan and his minions that the battle has been won.

He has been defeated.

Christ is victorious

And the final victory will be at his second coming when he recreates heaven and earth.

Even though this new heaven and earth hasn’t taken place yet, Yahweh makes a promise to Jesus in these verses that he will rule in the midst of his enemies. or rule over the enemies that surround him.

Meaning that right now, even when Jesus is opposed.

Even when his church faces persecution.

Even when his people are being imprisoned and martyred for their faith.

The mission of the church, the mission of redemption, the mission of Jesus isn’t going to stop.

There is no stopping his kingdom.

As long as people are still declaring Jesus as messiah, the gates of hell will not prevail.

The growth of Jesus’ kingdom isn’t dependent on perfect circumstances.

It’s not dependent on comfort and complacency, the only thing that Jesus’ church is dependent on for growth is him and him alone.

As his enemies multiply.

Though the world may spiral into more chaos.

Though things may not be as we want them to be, we can rest assured that Jesus is still reigning among his enemies.

We see this in the reality of our brothers and sisters in foreign countries who, though their lives are on the line, are seeing people come to know and embrace the good news of the gospel.

We see in the book of acts that God used the persecution of Stephen to move his church and mission forward.

We know that as long as Jesus is on the throne, he is always winning.

and the good news is, he will never be dethroned.

So his rule is forever and ever.

In verse 3, we read Psalm 110:3 “3 Your people will volunteer on your day of battle. In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.”

People will freely offer to serve him.

To fight for his cause.

To go out into the dangerous mission field and proclaim the good news of Jesus.

This is the call of the church.

To be heralds of the gospel.

To go and tell about his goodness and grace.

This is our great calling and our magnificent privilege that we get to tell other’s where to find rest, peace, and salvation.

We get to do this b/c we have been set apart and cleansed by our belief in Jesus as the Son of God.

We are called and equipped to be his ambassadors, living lives that are holy and pleasing to him.

Dressed in his holy splendor.

How great it is that he took our filthy rags and gave us the splendorous robes of his righteousness.

How can we not share this good news with others.

Now the last line offers some difficulty in interpretation, but here’s the interpretation that I go with when it talks about the dew of your youth belongs to you.

I believe this is speaking about the perpetual beauty and youth of Jesus in his glorified body.

That he will never grow tired or weary.

His rule and reign will be forever and ever without any exhaustion.

And here’s the thing, Jesus isn’t just the eternal sovereign king, he is also the ultimate priest.

Psalm 110:4 CSB

4 The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back: “You are a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek.”

The Ultimate Priest

Here we read about the second declaration of the Lord.

And it isn’t simply a declaration, the Lord is swearing an oath.

He will not change his mind.

He is swearing this oath to the Messiah.

That not only will the Messiah be a king, but he will also be a priest.

This may not mean much to us, but it would have been practically unthinkable for the Jewish People.

From their salvation out of Egypt, the king and the priest were 2 separate and distinct roles.

Not only that, they would come from two different families.

Two different tribes.

The kings descending from Judah and the Priests coming from Levi.

These two offices, King and Priest, were never to be intertwined.

They were never to cross over from one to the other.

In fact, we have 2 instances in the OT where Kings tried to act like priests and were cursed by God.

Saul tried to act as a priest in 1 Sam 13:5-14, and tried to offer a burnt sacrifice to the Lord.

And God declared that the kingdom will be torn away from him.

King Uzziah in 2 Chron 26, burned and offered incense to the Lord and was struck down with Leprosy til the day he died.

God takes seriously what he had commanded to the Israelites that the office of Priest and King should never be intertwined.

Why is this?

B/c the office of King and priest serve different purpose.

The King Represented God to the People.

Through strength, power, and judgement.

and The Priest represented the people to God.

Through sympathy, service, and offering of atonement.

And here in Ps 110.4, we see that God takes what is separate and unites it.

He declares that this Messiah, the savior will hold both offices of both King and Priest.

And he will be equally both King and Priest.

Fully representing God to the People and the People to God.

He will be both the lion and the lamb, the Judge and savior.

The Messiah, Jesus, is the perfect fulfillment of both offices as only he could be.

And what we learn from this is that God can choose who gets to be both King and Priest.

And if he desires to unite the offices that is his prerogative as creator and sustainer of the universe.

However, if man tries to join them, then that is going against the rule of God.

That is rebellion and God dishes out the consequences.

When talking about God getting to choose who gets to be priest and king, we need to look at this obscure Character, Melchizedek.

Melchizedek is only mentioned 2 times in the OT.

Here in Ps 110, and in Gen. 14.

We’re not going to read all of Gen 14, so I want to give a little context to what’s happening.

Abraham and his nephew Lot have gone separate directions after leaving their home.

Lot finds himself in a difficult position so Abraham has to go out and rescue him.

Abraham and his people ends up fighting off some kings and their armies to rescue Lot.

Then Melchizedek shows up and we have 4 verses about their interaction with one another.

Genesis 14:17–20 CSB

17 After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said: Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 20 and blessed be God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

We learn a few things about Mel. in these verses.

First, we learn that he is King of Salem.

That would be future Jerusalem. The land promised to God’s people by God himself.

Second, we learn that he is priest to God Most High.

So we see that Melchizedek is both King and Priest.

But he isn’t just any priest he is priest of Yahweh.

God most High.

At this point in the genesis narrative, the only one we are told is following the Creator God is Abraham.

And all of a sudden, Melchizedek comes out of nowhere and he is both the king of the land that God promised his people, and a priest.

Not only that, but he comes to Abraham bringing bread and wine.

All of this happening before God has installed and initiated his priesthood through Aaron.

Then before Melchizedek leave, Abraham, the father of the faith gives him a tenth of all he recieved as the spoils of war.

So we see Melchizedek in Gen 14, Ps 110, and we don’t read about him again until the book of Hebrews in the NT.

And the author of Hebrews spends a great deal of time and space talking about Melchizedek, a character that has a total of 5 verses dedicated to him in the OT.

This is why again, I will say that Jesus is the key to unlocking the deeper meaning of the OT.

the author of Hebrews tells us that Melchizedek means King of Righteousness, and he was King of Salem, which means king of peace.

and that he resembled the Son of God.

You see Melchizedek was a taste and foreshadow of the ultimate priest king, Jesus Christ.

But what does David mean when he says that the Messiah will be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek?

First, Jesus came to establish a new priesthood that wouldn’t follow the line of Aaron, but a whole new line.

A divine line dictated by God Almighty.

Second, when talking about him being forever, this comes from the fact that Mel. doesn’t have a genealogy listed.

He shows up and then he’s gone.

The author of Hebrews puts it this way.

Hebrews 7:3 CSB

3 Without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

Now this may be a little confusing for us, but if you have ever read through the OT and the Pentateuch specifically, you will read about a lot of genealogies.

Especially of profound characters.

Yet, Melchizedek comes from out of nowhere.

We don’t know who his parents are, we don’t anything about him, almost as if he comes into existence without birth and lives forever.

Resembling the Son of God.

And in Psalm 110, we are told that the messiah is going to be this kind of eternal priest.

One who has existed from eternity past and will continue to exist into eternity future.

Always being the priest.

The mediator between God and Man.

And it is because of this oath from God that Jesus is the eternal priest that we have been invited into his family, but Jesus is continually making sacrifices as the priests of old, rather he made the perfect sacrifice once and for all and is now sitting on the throne b/c the work is finished.

And as he is sitting on the throne he is interceding for us on our behalf with the father.

So our assurance of salvation is b/c of Christ’s finished work on the cross and the reality that he continues to be our perfect priest king.

So we can rest assured that if we trust in his sacrifice for our sins then we are bought with his blood.

Our assurance of salvation is rooted in who our priest is.

The King Priest Christ Jesus.

I want to encourage you to read through the book of Hebrews to see the beauty of this new and ultimate priesthood.

Now we know that Jesus is our Sovereign King, our ultimate priest, and he is also our Victorious Warrior.

Psalm 110:5–7 CSB

5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his anger. 6 He will judge the nations, heaping up corpses; he will crush leaders over the entire world. 7 He will drink from the brook by the road; therefore, he will lift up his head.

The Warrior King

Much like Psalm 2 that we studied a few weeks ago, we see here that Jesus is going to win every battle.

That he is not just a priest, He is the Warrior King.

He is the one that is going to judge the nations.

He is going to judge and examine everyone of our lies.

All the rulers and kings of the world are going to submit to his lordship.

There is no escape from his judgement.

He is going to be victorious

This is another picture of the warrior king, who isn’t soft, but is mighty.

He rides in strength conquering his foes.

We studied his priestly duties in Hebrews, and now David in Psalm 110, points us forward to Revelation.

When Jesus finishes what he began.

This is the type of thing that many don’t want to talk about when it comes to Jesus.

We like Jesus the sacrifice.

We like Jesus the savior.

But when it comes to Jesus the Warrior, we can grimace.

But the Scriptures show us that Jesus isn’t merely a sacrifice, a savior, and a priest. He is also the one who is going to judge the living and the dead.

In fact, in these last three verses we see 5 bold affirmations of what Jesus is going to accomplish.

While this King-Priest is an advocate for all who follow him, he is a deadly adversary to all who oppose him.

First, “he will crush kings in the day of his anger” (v. 5).

Second, according to verse 6, “he will judge the nations”.

Third, he will fill the places [the nations] with dead bodies . This language anticipates the Armageddon judgment of Revelation 19:17–21 .

Revelation 19:17–21 CSB

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out in a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying high overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and of their riders, and the flesh of everyone, both free and slave, small and great.” 19 Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against his army. 20 But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh.

Fourth, “he will crush leaders over the entire world,” literally “the head over many lands.”

Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

and the protoevangelium are in the shadows of verse 6. The head of the old serpent and all who follow in his lying, deceitful, and evil path will be crushed by the thorn-crowned head of a risen King-Priest.

Fifth, and finally, “he will drink from the brook by the road.” Following his great victory, he is refreshed as he returns to his throne (v. 7). Therefore, “he will lift up his head” .

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 101–150 (His Priesthood Is Invincible (110:5–7))

We talked about this a few weeks ago, you will either bow down to worship King Jesus or you will be made to bow down.

There is no refuge from Jesus there is only refuge in him.

Believe in him or face his wrath.

Jesus the perfect King Priest, put on flesh.

lived the perfect life.

Offered his life as an atonement for your sins, was buried and rose again on the third day.

Conquering sin and death.

he now sits at the right hand of the Father waiting for his return.

I pray that if you don’t know him.

If you haven’t given your life to him, that you would do that today.

Let’s Pray.