What a beautiful word picture! “The womb of the Dawn” (Ps 110:3). Every day like a new birth that starts at dawn and every day a new life to unfold.
But back to the psalm. This is actually a warrior psalm and a Messianic psalm. We know this for certain as Jesus himself provided commentary for it. The opening verse may even sound familiar to you as you’ve probably read it a few places in Scripture (Mt 22:43; Acts 2:34).
The Lord says to my lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”
If you notice the “Lord’s” are different. One is LORD and the other is lord (upper case/lower case). This is different names in Scripture. The first is for Yahweh and the second is Adonai. It is God in heaven, talking to David about David’s Lord.
Jesus says this was a reference to not just himself, but to his divinity. The Pharisees knee the Messiah was to be a son of David, but they didn’t understand He was also to be divine:
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
David then goes on to say that the Lord showed him that the Messiah would a “priest like Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). What is the significant of Melchizedek? There’s a lot to this priest (Gen 14; Heb 5, 7), but what is important here is that Melchizedek had no known beginning or end. In the same way we know from Heb 7 that Jesus is like Melchizedek in that his priesthood has no end. He will forever be the priest that goes to God on behalf of man.
Lastly it says that God’s anger will be unleashed on the evil of the world, and that he will hold the leaders and kings accountable. This is not a small statement but one we see throughout Scripture, especially Ps 2 where leaders are clearly warned that they best fear God and lead in righteousness.
People tend to think God is the sweet pushover that just wants everyone to love one another. And he does. He really does want everyone to love one another and that’s the central part of his message to humanity. But make no mistake, he hates evil. He sees evil harming his children and it arouses righteous fury. All the world will be held accountable to him. That’s why we need the Messiah. Otherwise none of us would stand.
