(Psalm 110:1)
It seems clear from the New Testament that there were many in Israel who were conversant with the Old Testament Scriptures that spoke of the coming Messiah. When the Magi came to Herod, the king enquired of the chief priests and scribes “where Christ should be born,” and they were able to tell him that it was in “Bethlehem of Judea,” according to the Scripture. No doubt David also knew that the Spirit of God was enabling him to write of Christ in this psalm, though he could not enter into the fulness of its meaning as we now can as having the New Testament Scriptures and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Messiah is distinguished as David’s Lord, and Jehovah invites Him to sit on His right hand in heaven until He makes all His foes the footstool of His feet. Now we know that this was subsequent to, and in consequence of, His death upon the cross in which He glorified God by procuring redemption. David, in spirit, looks forward to the time when Christ will rule in the midst of His enemies; His people who rejected Him willingly accepting Him in the day of His power and glory, the fairest of Israel being His servants from the dawning of the morning of His kingdom.
Before entering upon His millennial reign, Messiah is to be “a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek,” and when He does reign, He will be a priest upon His throne. We know Jesus now as Priest on high, where God has crowned Him with glory and honour, but the nation of Israel will not see Him till He returns to “strike through kings in the day of His wrath.” It will be a day of judgment for the nations and their rulers, but of salvation for His earthly people.
While waiting for His earthly kingdom, and sitting at God’s right hand, the Lord Jesus finds pleasure and refreshment through those who now trust Him and praise Him. There is sorrow for His heart now from Israel, for they have rejected Him; but He drinks of the brook of refreshment as adored by those who have accepted Him now as Saviour and own Him as Lord.
“What think ye of Christ?”
In Matthew 22, the Lord Jesus had answered the disciples of the Pharisees and Herodians, and silenced the Sadducees; and while the Pharisees are gathered together He asks them, “What think ye of Christ? whose son is He?” They had no doubt as to this, for Scripture had plainly showed Him to be “The Son of David.” Jesus then asks a further question, “How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call Him Lord, how is He his son?”
The multitudes had already hailed Jesus as the Son of David (21:9), and the scribes and Pharisees knew that Messiah was the Son of David, but they refused to own Jesus as such. Now Jesus brings before them that Messiah was none other than David’s Lord, and this was from the very pen of David. How could Messiah be both David’s son and David’s Lord? The Pharisees were unable to answer. Yet the enigma was resolved in the Person of Jesus standing before them, the Root and the Offspring of David. They had not the faith to perceive the glory of the Person of Jesus, nor could they say like Nathaniel, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel” (John 1:49).
“Lord and Christ”
In Acts 2, the Apostle Peter had shown from Psalm 16 that David had written prophetically of Jesus and His resurrection, then he quotes from Psalm 110 regarding the ascension of Jesus, “For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he says himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool” (verses 34, 35).
The Lord Jesus quotes this passage to show the greatness of the Person of Messiah, pointing out that He was not only David’s son, but David’s Lord. Here, the Apostle Peter quotes the same Scripture to show that the ascension of Christ to the right hand of God was foreseen by David by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Glorified at God’s right hand, Jesus has been “made both Lord and Christ.” Jesus is Lord in a new way. He was ever Lord, because of who He is in His Person, God the Son; but now as Man He has been made Lord of all, and the day is coming when all in the vast universe will have to own Him as such (Phil. 2:11). He was the Christ on earth as the Messiah of Israel, God’s Anointed, but Israel refused Him, and put their Messiah on a cross. At God’s right hand He is God’s Anointed, but not only in relation to Israel, but as Head over all things. It is the privilege of the saints of God now to know Jesus as Lord and Christ, although the house of Israel, and many more, refuse to acknowledge Him in the place that God has given to Him at His own right hand in heaven.
Greater than angels
Hebrews 1 presents to us the greatness of the Person of Jesus as Son of God. Of old God spoke in a fragmentary way to the fathers of Israel through their prophets, but in the Person of the Son there has been the full revelation of God. God has been made fully known in Son, the only way in which He could be fully revealed, for only One who is God could reveal God. The Son is the appointed of the universe, the creator of all, the brightness of the glory of God, and the express image of the divine substance. It is by the word of His own power the Son upholds the mighty universe, and He by Himself made purification for sins; and He has sat down in His own rights on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Angels are greater in power and station then men, and the Hebrews knew of none greater, saving God Himself. The writer of this Epistle shows from the Old Testament Scriptures that as having the Name of Son, Jesus is greater than angels. His Name is more excellent than angels, for no angel has ever been addressed by God as Jesus is addressed in Psalm 2, or as He was spoken of to David, when Solomon was mentioned as son as a figure of Christ.
After other quotations, specially from Psalms 45 and 102, the writer asks, “But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make Thine enemies thy footstool?” The relationship of Jesus as Son to God far transcends anything belonging to angels, whether we see Jesus in eternity, in Manhood on earth, in the display of His glory in the coming day, or in His present place at the right hand of God in heaven. Jesus is Son as God and as Man; and it is as Man that He now sits on God’s right hand in heaven. He has His own right to sit down at God’s right hand, but in this Psalm He is invited to take His place on high, and because of God’s satisfaction in the great work He has accomplished.
One sacrifice for sins
There are two distinct aspects of Jesus sitting down at God’s right hand, as already noticed; His right and title as a Divine Person to be there, and His sitting down as Man by God’s invitation. Both are seen in Hebrews 1. In verse 3 the Son is presented as sitting down in virtue of His Personal glory, having by Himself wrought out the great work of purification for sins. Then in verse 12 the Son sits down as invited by God, having a place into which no angel could enter. God’s right hand is the place of supreme honour and glory, and reserved for One alone.
It has often been pointed out that Jesus also sits down in the greatness of His priesthood in Hebrews 8:1, and in the greatness of His accomplished work in Hebrews 10:12. In these it is not exactly by divine invitation, but His taking what is His rightful place.
But these two distinct aspects of Jesus’ place at God’s right hand seem to be combined in Hebrews 10, for after showing that Jesus has sat down for ever, or in perpetuity, in virtue of His one sacrifice that requires no repetition, there is added, “From henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool,” which is an allusion to Psalm 110. Does not this bring out clearly that Christ’s present place at God’s right hand is God’s answer to His pleasure and satisfaction in the great sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross?
God has promised to make Christ’s enemies the footstool of His feet, and He waits in heaven in expectation of this being done. Very soon Christ will come out of heaven, even as seen by the Apostle John, where he writes, “I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True…and He has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:11-16). Coming out of heaven, the Lord Jesus will deal with His enemies before reigning in His millennial kingdom.
“He must reign”
Although every knee shall bow to the Lord Jesus in the coming day, His enemies will not be put completely under His feet till the end of the thousand years, even as it is written, “He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). Death, in this Scripture, is called “The last enemy,” and it is to be destroyed. When the Lord Jesus comes for His saints, death will yield up “the dead in Christ.” At the close of Christ’s reign, death will give up all within its power, so that they may stand before the great white throne for judgment. There will not be a single soul of man, living or dead, upon the earth when it passes away; the wicked dead will have been raised, and the righteous of earth transferred to the new earth. Then death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 14).
Nor only are Christ’s enemies under His feet, but God “has put all things under His feet” (1 Cor. 15:27); that is, the whole universe is brought in subjection to Christ. The only One not made subject to Christ is “Him that put all things under Him.” Then for the eternal day, Christ, as Man, retains His place in Manhood, for ever subject to God, that God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, might be all in all for ever and ever.
R. 31.3.66.