Psalms 110:4 - Forerunner Commentary

Psalms 110:4

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain The Book of Psalms 110:4:

Psalm 110:1-7
Excerpted from: Psalm Genres (Part Three): Messianic

Let us read Psalm 110. I am not going to have time to do much commentary on it, but I want you to see it. This is the purely prophetic psalm that I mentioned earlier that can only refer to Jesus Christ and no one else. Sometimes it is categorized as a royal psalm because some scholars think that it was used as liturgy for the coronations of Davidic kings, but to me, even if it was used that way, it does not fit. It fits better as a purely prophetic Messianic psalm.

It applies to no one else but Christ. It is prophesying of the anointed God-Priest-King, if you will, of the line of David. The Old Testament Davidic kings could not act as priests, so it cannot apply to them. And the Maccabean kings who came after the return from exile and before they were pretty much overthrown by the Romans, they were Levites. They were not Davidic, so they do not fit either. The only one that does is Jesus Christ.

Now this psalm is divided into two parts. Verses 1 through 3 and verses 4 through 7. And they are two oracles that are put back-to-back, two prophecies from God. Oracles are prophetic declarations or decrees and one is given in verse 1 and the next two verses give you a glimpse of its fulfillment. And then the second divine oracle is given in verse 4 along with an oath from God that is irrevocable. He says He will not relent. He will not change His mind. And then in verses 5, 6, and 7 is another glimpse of its fulfillment.

A lot of people do not understand this psalm. They understand verses 1 and 4 to a certain degree because they are explained considerably in the New Testament, but they do not understand the fulfillments very well. Also, the language in some of these verses is obscure and so there are a lot of different translations that you can find.

But like I said, I am not going to be able to go into too much detail here. But I want to at least get to verse 1 and to make sure you understand—you probably do—what is being talked about here. Both Jesus and Peter, Jesus in Matthew 22:43 and Peter in Acts 2:34, verified that David, acting here as a prophet, is the author of this verse. And you have to believe that in order to understand the pronouns that are used and the Lords that are mentioned here. If you do not have David as the author, then this gets really confusing about who is being talked about and who is talking.

If I can make it a little simpler, the declaration or the oracle that said in verse 1 is, "Yahweh declares to my Adon, 'Sit at My right hand.'" We are talking about three different people here. This is not two, this is three. Yahweh is the Father. My is a reference to David. And then the second Lord, Adon, in the Hebrew is his Master or his Lord.

So, "God above all said to my Master, 'Sit at My right hand [meaning Yahweh's right hand or the Father's right hand], till I make Your enemies [that is, Christ's enemies] His footstool.'" What this does is it is very important in establishing the Father-Son relationship and the fact that there are two God beings. There is the Father called here Yahweh, and then the Son called here Adon, or the Master, the Lord. And then David is below Them. David's master is Christ and the Son. Once you have all that straight, then the rest of the psalm gets a little bit easier to understand.

I also want to mention just before my time runs out here that the time setting here in verse 1 is Christ's ascension to heaven after being resurrected from the tomb. That is when the Father said, "Sit at My right hand. I will make Your enemies Your footstool," and everything goes from there. By the time you get to verses 2 and 3, we are talking about Christ's second coming. And just interestingly, if we endure to the end, you are mentioned in verse 3. "Your people shall be volunteers." That means you have a choice. And you will come to Christ and serve Him and be a part of that great army that comes from heaven and defeats His enemies.

Psalm 110:4
Excerpted from: Psalm Genres (Part Three B): Messianic (continued)

Let us go to verse 4. Verse 4 is a new section. This is a new oracle, and it switches gears. "The Lord has sworn and will not relent, 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'" Now this is speaking of Messiah, not as king, not as powerful ruler who bashes his enemies on their heads. This is calling Messiah as a priest, showing Him as a priest. And the author of Hebrews uses this verse extensively from Hebrews 5 to Hebrews 10, six chapters there, and he expands on just this point extensively. You want a college level course on Psalm 110:4? Read Hebrews because this is what he is talking about. Why does Jesus Christ qualify as the High Priest when He is not a Levite, He is not from Aaron? How can that be? And he goes through step-by-step-by-step-by-step showing how He qualified to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Now, what we see here in Psalm 110:4 is that the Father swears an oath—the highest of all oaths—and it says it is an irrevocable vow. He will not change His mind once it is said. It is sure because He will make sure it is coming to pass that His Son—the One that is called the Word, the King—is also the eternal and undying High Priest. He will fill both offices. He qualified for both offices. Whereas men had to have one as king and another man as a priest, He fulfills both and He fulfills both perfectly.

And as Hebrews 7 explains, this order—the order of Melchizedek—supersedes the Levitical priesthood. And he proves it by saying Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. And he says Levi was still in the loins of Abraham when he did this. And the lesser always pays tithes to the greater. So he said, "Hey, if Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and Levi was not even around, then this shows that the order of Melchizedek is a higher body of priests, order of priests, than the Levitical priesthood." By the way, as he also explains in Hebrews 7, Melchizedek means King of righteousness, and since he ruled from Salem, he is also King of peace, and those obviously both fit Jesus Christ.

Psalm 110:4-5
Excerpted from: Jesus Christ's Ascension

Now, there is one more highly significant part of this psalm, which is verse 4:

At first glance, this reference to a Priest may seem out of place because everything else has been about kingship after Christ’s enthronement. But this psalm foretells that David’s Lord would also be a Priest—the ultimate Priest. This was not possible in Israel, where the kings descended from David, who was of the tribe of Judah, and the priestly line was of the tribe of Levi, and more specifically, of the house of Aaron. But the One sitting down would also be a Priest. The two roles would be combined in the Messiah.

Booklets
The Mystery of Melchizedek Solved!

Essays
Making the Cut (Part Five)

Sermons
Shock and Awe - and Speed
God the Father in the Old Testament

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