Christ is Our King and Priest

Yahweh says to my Lord:

“Sit at My right hand

Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”

Yahweh will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,

“Have dominion in the midst of Your enemies.”

Your people will offer themselves freely in the day of Your power;

In the splendor of holiness, from the womb of the dawn,

The dew of Your youthfulness will be Yours.

Yahweh has sworn and will not change His mind,

“You are a priest forever

According to the order of Melchizedek.”

The Lord is at Your right hand;

He will crush kings in the day of His anger.

He will render justice among the nations,

He will fill them with corpses,

He will crush the head that is over the wide earth.

He will drink from the brook by the wayside;

Therefore He will lift up His head (Psalm 110, Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)).

This psalm triumphantly looks to the future, to the Son of David who towers over David himself as God’s ultimate solution to a world hostile toward its Creator. The first verse of this psalm is cited all throughout the New Testament, and especially throughout Hebrews, as ancient testimony fulfilled in Christ of God’s promise of a coming Messiah who would establish justice over God’s enemies once and for all.

How does this text integrate into your own life? Christ’s enemies are your enemies, as you are his disciple aligned with him. Your greatest battle has been won. But what is this greatest battle? Your deepest struggle is against sin and death and condemnation. This transcends all other struggles. This is your real danger: separation from the Father because of your own rebellion. Conquest by Satan and the forces of hell, accusing you of your actual sinfulness.

And how is this battle won? By the fulfillment of verse 4: God has sent a priest who, unlike every other priest, will never die and will never have to offer a sacrifice for his own sin (Heb. 7:1–25). Instead, this priest has himself been the sacrifice for your sins.

Christ is your king, representing God to you, but he is also your priest, representing you to God. He is worthy of all our trust.

Adapted from the ESV Devotional Psalter