Promised King & Forever Priest

Well, good morning. It is good to have you all here, both in person and on the live stream.

We're glad you're able to join us today.

You know, this week I had a couple of adventures in life management.

One was I needed to try to get someone to repair some siding on my house.

And so I used HomeAdvisor because I didn't have a good reference.

And the second adventure I had is that I'm trying to buy a new bed and trying to search out in the midst of a pandemic

when I don't have a lot of time to go to a bed store to try things out, exploring the world of bed in a box.

And I don't know if any of you have been down that rabbit hole, but it's an interesting one.

One of the things that I found myself struggling with in both of them is a question of whether the promises that were made to me would be kept.

As I looked through the fine print, as I searched through whether this repair person would actually show up,

and that was an adventure in and of itself, and as we continue to figure out whether these beds are going to work or not,

and how to figure out what they're going to be,

this question of whether promises will be kept is one that's been on my mind.

And as we continue our series in the Psalms, during this Advent series,

if you remember, we've entitled this series,

Songs of Hope in an Uncertain Time.

And it's occurred to me that one of the things that this uncertain times has caused in my own heart is a question.

Will God keep his promises?

I don't know about you, but it's not been an easy year.

There have been more losses than things to rejoice.

More disappointments than celebrations.

There have been more challenges, twists and turns in the path of life than there have been ease and comfort.

And maybe, like me, you've wondered,

what is God up to?

And how is he keeping his promises?

And of course, we're not the first ones in the history of Israel,

or the history of the world, or the history of the Bible to struggle with this.

We saw last week in Psalm 106 how much Israel failed to trust God and to believe in his promises.

How often they grumbled and complained and disobeyed because of their lack of trust in him.

You know, it's easy when things go well to think God is good.

His promises are great.

But with another relationship lost, another dream dashed,

another time explaining to your children about what does it mean to wait on the Lord,

it's not easy to trust God.

And it's easy to wonder about how he will show his goodness.

And yet the Bible tells us that in the midst of this experience,

which is a common experience for all of us,

God continues to say that he is trustworthy.

And his promises are good.

He continues to tell us that when we trust him and look to him,

what he has for us is better than what we would ever imagine.

And that brings us to our text today.

We're reading Psalm 110.

If you have that on your phone or in your Bible,

if you brought one or at home, we're going to look at Psalm 110.

It's a Psalm of David, and it is a Psalm of David the King

clearly looking ahead to a Messiah who has not yet come, but who will come.

Psalm 110 is notable because it is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament.

It is used a number of times, verses 1 and 4 in particular.

And as David was writing this, he was looking forward to a future kingdom

that would be even greater than his own kingdom

and a future Messiah who would be finally and fully all that we need.

So with that, let's look at Psalm 110.

We're going to read it and then pray.

Psalm 110 says this, a Psalm of David.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies your footstool.

The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.

Rule in the midst of your enemies.

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.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord is at your right hand.

He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.

He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses.

He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.

And he will drink from the brook by the way.

Therefore, he will lift his head.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, as we come to this word this morning,

I pray that by your spirit we might catch a glimpse of your glory and your greatness.

Lord, thank you that you have revealed yourself in various times in various ways,

as we read earlier.

But now fully, most fully, you have shown yourself in your son.

And Lord, as we read this psalm of David,

help us to see his glory more greatly this Advent season.

Lord, I pray for our ears that we would be attuned to listen,

our hearts that we would receive your word.

Lord, I pray for me that I might speak clearly, Lord,

and that by me, through me, Lord,

you might proclaim to us your glorious truth.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

David writes of a Messiah to come.

And what does he tell us about this Messiah?

This psalm is framed by two oracles,

two words directly from the Lord

that David heard and reports to us.

And we're going to look at those two in order.

One is verse 1 and one is verse 4,

and we will explore what those oracles mean and what they say.

The first oracle is in verse 1.

The Lord says to my Lord,

sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

In this verse, David is saying

that there is a better king who is coming

and who has power to deliver his people.

It's interesting to stop and to think about

who the people are in this very first sentence.

The Lord says to my Lord.

The Lord, the first one, has all the small caps.

That's Yahweh.

That's God, the God of the covenant,

the God of Israel.

And he is speaking to my Lord.

Who is my?

Well, my is David.

And so David is saying,

there is one greater than I.

I have a Lord who is a ruler of some sort

that God is speaking to,

giving these words of invitation.

Come sit at my right hand until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet.

David is acknowledging this psalm was likely written

at the height of David's power,

at the height of his kingship,

when his kingdom was greater than the kingdom of Israel

had ever been or ever would be.

And yet he is saying,

there is one greater than I

who is coming,

to whom the Lord speaks these words.

And friends,

these words are picked up

throughout the New Testament.

Jesus uses them

in confounding those who say,

who are you, Jesus?

Who do you think you are?

He says,

who was David speaking to

when he quoted these words?

Who was David speaking of,

that is?

Who was the Lord speaking to?

It wasn't to David.

It was to one who would be greater than him.

Similarly, the apostle Peter,

on the day of Pentecost,

as he preaches,

says the same thing.

You have trusted,

the people of Israel have trusted

that a great king would come

in the line of David.

Well, here he is,

and he's greater,

greater than David himself.

And as we read earlier

in this,

in the service,

Hebrews 1.13,

the writer of Hebrews says,

And even if you were looking

to angelic beings,

this one is greater than they as well.

Because God never said this

to an angel.

He only said it to this one

who is greater than David,

but who would be in David's line.

So this is the king.

David is looking,

hearing this and saying,

there is a greater king to come.

And what does he say about this king?

He says specifically,

this invitation,

this one who is coming,

God will invite to sit

at his right hand.

And at his right hand,

he will sit in a place of honor,

and a place of counsel,

and a place of rulership,

and a place of authority.

And he will not just stand there

at the ready,

but he will sit.

He will sit.

Having finished his work.

Having done all that he needs to do

in order to rest

in the finished work

of his ruling over.

And God says to this one,

Come and sit at my right hand.

For you have done the work,

and now I will make your enemies

a footstool for your feet,

under your feet.

Now, we don't use it.

It's sort of a weird image, right?

It's like pulling up a,

you know,

an Ikea, you know,

footstool to kind of

prop your feet up on top of

because you're tired

at the end of the day.

And that's not the idea here.

The idea here is

maybe an image

that we might have.

The words would be,

he has his foot on his neck,

right?

He's standing on his,

it's that,

it's a place of submission.

It's a place of ruling over.

It's a place of,

I have conquered and defeated them,

and they are now subjugated to me

and to my rule.

And this is what we see

in verses two and three,

that as God seats this one

with his finished work,

he will rule over his enemies.

He will have this ever-renewed army

of willing believers,

of willing followers,

who will serve him.

And then we see in verses five and six

how he will shatter his enemies.

And in graphic imagery,

that this one will defeat

all the enemies of God

and bring peace.

Now verses five and six

have some fairly violent images,

don't they?

We need to make sure

that we neither sanitize it

nor misunderstand it.

To sanitize it would be to say,

oh, he doesn't really mean that.

Well, I think he does.

He's using imagery of real war

because in David's day,

the establishment of the kingdom

involved real war.

But what we see though

is this,

the meaning of that

has to do with conquering,

has to do with overcoming,

has to do with defeating utterly.

David,

the Lord uses this language

to picture a greater rule and reign

than just the physical victory.

And as we move to the New Testament,

we see that the enemies of God

are primarily not the rulers

and authorities of this land.

They are not people.

They are ultimately spiritual forces,

spiritual enemies.

enemies.

And the victory that we see

over those enemies,

over sin and death and Satan,

that they are all defeated

in the person of Jesus.

We do not battle against flesh and blood,

but against the powers,

the rulers,

the authorities in the heavenly realms.

But we know that Jesus,

by his life and by his death

and by his resurrection,

has come to triumph over them.

He has broken the power of sin and death.

He has taken the power of Satan

and put it on a leash.

None of these ultimately have the rule.

Though the wrong seems off so strong,

he is the ruler yet.

And though we live in the in-between times,

and though we live,

as many commentators have said,

between D-Day when the invasion has begun

and V-E Day when the victory is assured

and peace is established fully,

though we live in that in-between time,

we know that the victory is assured.

And we know that this one

that David was looking forward to

was Jesus.

And that Jesus is seated

at the right hand of the Father.

And that he is resting

from his finished work of his life

and death and resurrection

for our salvation

and for the victory over

the enemies of God.

And we are able to live trusting,

trusting that the one that David foretold,

the promised one,

would actually come.

He comes with power

and gives us hope

that the evil will not win.

That the ugliness and division

in our own hearts

and in our nation's life

will not last forever.

That the scourge of pandemics

will not continue without end.

But that God will come

in Jesus.

And when he comes

and establishes his kingdom fully,

all of these will end.

They will not win.

They will not win in the end

and they will not win

in the lives of those

who have put their faith

in Jesus Christ.

Because under his rulership,

as they come to him in faith,

they will be covered

and rescued

for the day of salvation.

And that we,

as those people,

can look forward to a kingdom

with no more sin

and no more sorrow,

no more sickness,

no more death.

As Nick read earlier,

that that glorious hope

will be ours.

And that kingdom

is our future

in Christ.

So this is the first oracle

and this is the first word

that he gives us

there is a king coming

with this great power

to subdue our enemies.

But then the second oracle

is in verse 4.

Look with me at it.

The Lord has sworn

and he will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever

after the order of Melchizedek.

Now, you might be forgiven

if Melchizedek hasn't come up

in your Rolodex

of the best heroes of the Bible

that you know really well.

Melchizedek is not a major player

in the Old Testament story.

As a matter of fact,

Melchizedek is mentioned twice.

Once here

and once in Genesis 14.

And in order to understand

what this means,

we need to go back

and look at that

for a brief second.

If you have your Bible,

why don't you turn with me

to Genesis chapter 14.

Genesis 14 · chapter mention

If you don't,

you can listen along.

It's only a couple of verses

that I will read.

This is in the story of Abraham.

Abraham,

the one to whom God gave a promise

that he would make him

the father of a great nation.

Abraham,

who is moving into

the land of promise

and in doing so,

finding that there are enemies

against him

who seek to destroy him.

And he is gathering

some other local kings

to fight with him

against other kings

who are opposing him.

This is part of what's going on.

And in verse 18

of chapter 14 of Genesis,

it says this.

And Melchizedek,

the king of Salem,

brought out bread and wine.

He was a priest

of God most high.

And he blessed him,

that is,

Melchizedek blessed Abraham

and said,

blessed be Abraham

by God most high.

possessor of heaven and earth.

And blessed be God most high

who has delivered

your enemies

into your hand.

And Abraham gave him

a tenth of everything.

There it is.

That's the whole story

of Melchizedek.

What's the significance of it?

Well, there's lots of things

if you read this.

One is,

his name,

Melchizedek,

is a combination

of king and righteousness.

So he is presented,

his name means

he is the king

of righteousness.

He is clearly

a king of Salem,

which is,

if you can think through this,

this is Jerusalem.

Salem is the second half

of Jerusalem.

And that's,

so he is the king

of Jerusalem,

which at this point

was not yet

the center

of the kingdom of God

or the nation of Israel.

It was just a town.

But he was the king

of Jerusalem.

And it says clearly,

he was a priest

of the God most high.

And as Abraham

encounters him,

Melchizedek comes out

and he brings provision

and blessing.

And Abraham responds

by honoring him

and giving him a tithe

as if he were

a representative

of God himself.

There's lots of mystery

about Melchizedek.

He had no lineage.

He had no,

he has no father.

He has no son.

He has no provenance.

We know very,

very little about him.

But David knew about him.

And as you read through,

it seems that

in the Old Testament world,

there was speculation

in the nation of Israel

about who this Melchizedek was

and what role he might have.

And there are lots

of really interesting

and curious

and fanciful suggestions

about what he might be.

But what David says is,

the one who's going to come

will be in his line.

And this thread then

is pulled

by the writer

of the book of Hebrews.

And in Hebrews 5 through 7,

we understand

more about who

Melchizedek was.

Melchizedek was

a king and a priest.

And he was a priest

of the God Most High

to whom Abraham,

the father of Israel,

gave honor and glory.

Melchizedek had a role

that superseded

Abraham

and Abraham's sons,

including Levi

and the Levitical priesthood

that would flow from him.

So he had a priesthood

that was greater

than the priesthood

that would happen

under the law of Moses.

And Melchizedek

was one

who didn't have a birth

and didn't have a death

in the story.

And so he was

an eternal being

in the way

the story was told.

Does that mean

he literally lived forever?

No.

But it means

that the way

that he is reported

is meant to be suggestive

of the one

who would come.

And the writer of Hebrews

says we have

a great high priest

in heaven,

Jesus,

in the order

of Melchizedek,

greater than

the Levitical priesthood

that had to offer

sacrifices over and over again

because Jesus was able

to offer one sacrifice

once for all

that settled

the problem of sin forever,

that broke down

the barrier

between God and man,

that made a way

where a sinful people

like us

could approach

a holy God

and live.

He was also

an eternal

priest

because Jesus,

though he came

and offered himself

as a sacrifice,

was risen from the dead

and being risen

he is an eternally

interceding

priest for us.

And so he ever lives

to intercede for us

and secure

our salvation.

Unlike the priesthood

of old

where the priest

could lose their way

or would fail

to honor God,

Jesus was eternally,

righteously,

indestructibly serving.

And he does that today.

Listen to the writer

of Hebrews

as he explains this.

He says,

we have this

as a sure

and steadfast anchor

of the soul,

a hope that enters

into the inner place

behind the curtain.

That's a picture

of the temple

where God was.

Where Jesus has gone

as a forerunner

on our behalf,

having become

a high priest

forever

after the order

of Melchizedek.

And further on

in chapter 7,

verse 22,

he writes,

this makes Jesus

a guarantor

of a better covenant.

The former priests

were many in number

because they were

prevented by death

from continuing

in office.

But he holds

his priesthood

permanently

because he continues

forever.

Consequently,

he is able

to save

to the uttermost

those who draw

near to God

through him

since he always

lives to make

intercession

for them.

Friends,

this is what

the story in Genesis

and what Psalm 110

promises us.

there is one

who is going

to come

and fulfill

this role.

And Jesus,

we now stand

on the far side

of that fulfilled

promise.

Jesus has come

and he has done

more than we

could ever imagine

so that he might

be to us

a king

and a priest.

He will never

leave his post.

He will never

stop his role.

He will always

be the king

and the priest.

And we know

that what is now

in the struggles

of this fallen

world,

in the trials

of our lives,

we know that

what is now

is not what

will be.

We know

that there is

a promise

that this Jesus

will come back

and when he

comes back

he will fully

establish himself

as the king

and the priest.

And he will

judge the enemies

of God

and he will

end all evil.

And he will

welcome his

people into

a sweet fellowship

and into a life

and a kingdom

that is ruled

by peace

and fellowship

with God

where we

circle around

the throne

and give

God glory

and bathe

in his glory

and rejoice

and worship

in him

forever.

What David

looked forward

to friends

we have seen

he has come

and so we

have hope.

We have hope

that God

will fulfill

his promises.

We have hope

in the midst

of the doubts

and the trials

and the losses

of this year.

We can be

confident

because of

Jesus.

we are going

to sing

in just a

minute

O come

O come

Emmanuel

which in

one way

is written

from an

Old Testament

perspective

expecting

the coming

Messiah

but I think

it is for

us as well

in the New

Testament

as we long

for Jesus

to come

back

and to

finally

establish

in his

fullness

all that

we long

for.

We will

sing

verses 4

and 5

O come

our great

high priest

and intercede

thy sacrifice

our only

plea

the judgment

we no longer

fear

thy precious

blood

has brought

us near

rejoice

rejoice

Emmanuel

has banished

every fear

of hell

O come

desire

of nations

bind

in one

the hearts

of all

mankind

bid thou

our sad

divisions

cease

and be

thyself

our

prince

of peace

rejoice

rejoice

Emmanuel

shall come

again

with us

to dwell

let's pray

Lord as we

think of this

psalm

we rejoice

we rejoice

at what it

points to

we rejoice

at the things

that we know

the fullness

that we

have been

able to

see

that David

could only

grasp

at

Jesus

Emmanuel

the king

the priest

the babe

in the manger

come for us

for our salvation

for our hope

for our security

for our deliverance

oh Lord

may we

worship him

we pray this

in Jesus name

amen

we belts

R