As we have said, references to Ps. 110 are scattered all throughout the Gospels, the Acts and the Epistles and utilized as a wonderful "power point" that clearly addresses the matter of what the current situation is in God's Big God-Story. It provides for us a simplified construct for understanding the times, spiritually speaking, between the first and second coming's of Christ...and it was written hundreds of years before He came for the first time! This point is illustrated in prominent NT passages like at the end of Ephesians 1.
"That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." Eph. 1:19b-23
The Father seated His Son "at his right hand in the heavenly realms" after He was raised from the dead. This is an obvious reference to the language of Ps. 110. It has, not only biblical christology at its heart, but also cosmology, esslesiology, missiology and eschatology. These theological implications and ramifications expounded upon in the NT flow freely from the apostles' divinely inspired interpretations and applications of Ps. 110 and many other OT Messianic prophecies the are cut from the same theological cloth.
One of the largest truths present in this Ephesian passage is how the Father has already exalted Christ "far above" any other powers that be in the heavens or on the earth. And...for us in evangelicalism...it has been easy to say that this would be true "in the age to come", but we haven't understood or communicated well that this is the actual case "in this present age". (Ironically, for the early Christians, Paul had to emphasize that it is true "not only in the present age, but also in the one to come"...just the opposite emphasis that we seem to need.)
The major point is this: Christ is already "reigning" as King of both heaven and earth from His most highly exalted position at the Father's "right hand" in the invisible realm. We are not waiting for Christ to become King of all at His second coming, but He has already been crowned the King of all the kings of the earth (cf. Rev 1:5). Yet, here is the tension: we don't yet see all earthly things fully subjected to Jesus and the New Humanity (the Church) that He inaugurated through His resurrection, but we do, through faith, "see Jesus" in the place of kingly honor and authority with which the Father has rewarded Him...and we know it's just a matter of time before the ramifications of His exaltation are progressively brought fully to pass.
"In putting everything under him (i.e. redeemed humanity...from Psalm 8), God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." Hebrews 2:8b-9
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 10
The 3rd OT passage that Peter quotes in his brief and amazingly effective sermon in Acts 2 (yes..there is such a thing!) is, of course, the first couple of verses of Ps. 110
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
" 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet." '
"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Acts 2:32-37
Psalm 110 was used again, as we saw in the ministry of Jesus in an earlier blog, to cause arguments to suddenly cease and to stun the hearts of devout Jews. In this case, 3,000 put their faith in Jesus as the Christ. There is a mysterious power in this prophecy. So what are the theological implications embedded in this amazing Psalm? How are we to view and understand it?
Peter said that David was a prophet. It is obvious from this passage in Acts 2 and from other NT references to Psalm 110, that David had a very clear revelation from God, that spanned many future generations, in which he saw facts about the Messiah...who was to come through his bloodline. In this case, David saw beyond Christ's birth, earthly life and ministry, death, burial and resurrection...right to the moment of His "coronation" or His "exaltation" in heaven after He had finished His sacrificial work of humanity's redemption on the earth. David identified and articulated the place of honor, rest, victory and authority that Jesus entered into after His ascension. His position and office of the "first-born over all creation", the "first-born from among the dead", the "Lord of lords", the "King of kings" and the long-awaited Christ, who was both fully God and fully man, was validated and celebrated in all of heaven on that "Day".
Not only that, but, it was at this time that Jesus received from the Father the gift of the Holy Spirit...not this time for His own ministry, as at His baptism, but, the Father gave Him the authorization to dispense "the Promise of the Father" to His followers...to "pour out" the Holy Spirit upon His own in a way and measure never before known in the history of the world, so that they could testify to His death and resurrection (especially!) with a power and conviction far beyond their own.
The importance of Ps. 110, in relation to "God's Big God-Story" is that it outlined for us and prophesied to us (and all who have lived in between the times of Christ's first and second coming's) the answer to the all-important question, theologically speaking, "what time is it in God's Story right now?"
Can you see the framework of Psalm 110 reflected in these 2 classic NT passages (probably part of early Christian hymnody) about Jesus Christ...even though it is not specifically quoted? (And, I submit that the paradigm of Ps. 110 actually informs the whole of NT "kingdom of God" theology including its: christology, pneumatology, ecclesiology, missiology and eschatology.)
Col 1: 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Phil 2: 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
" 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet." '
"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Acts 2:32-37
Psalm 110 was used again, as we saw in the ministry of Jesus in an earlier blog, to cause arguments to suddenly cease and to stun the hearts of devout Jews. In this case, 3,000 put their faith in Jesus as the Christ. There is a mysterious power in this prophecy. So what are the theological implications embedded in this amazing Psalm? How are we to view and understand it?
Peter said that David was a prophet. It is obvious from this passage in Acts 2 and from other NT references to Psalm 110, that David had a very clear revelation from God, that spanned many future generations, in which he saw facts about the Messiah...who was to come through his bloodline. In this case, David saw beyond Christ's birth, earthly life and ministry, death, burial and resurrection...right to the moment of His "coronation" or His "exaltation" in heaven after He had finished His sacrificial work of humanity's redemption on the earth. David identified and articulated the place of honor, rest, victory and authority that Jesus entered into after His ascension. His position and office of the "first-born over all creation", the "first-born from among the dead", the "Lord of lords", the "King of kings" and the long-awaited Christ, who was both fully God and fully man, was validated and celebrated in all of heaven on that "Day".
Not only that, but, it was at this time that Jesus received from the Father the gift of the Holy Spirit...not this time for His own ministry, as at His baptism, but, the Father gave Him the authorization to dispense "the Promise of the Father" to His followers...to "pour out" the Holy Spirit upon His own in a way and measure never before known in the history of the world, so that they could testify to His death and resurrection (especially!) with a power and conviction far beyond their own.
The importance of Ps. 110, in relation to "God's Big God-Story" is that it outlined for us and prophesied to us (and all who have lived in between the times of Christ's first and second coming's) the answer to the all-important question, theologically speaking, "what time is it in God's Story right now?"
Can you see the framework of Psalm 110 reflected in these 2 classic NT passages (probably part of early Christian hymnody) about Jesus Christ...even though it is not specifically quoted? (And, I submit that the paradigm of Ps. 110 actually informs the whole of NT "kingdom of God" theology including its: christology, pneumatology, ecclesiology, missiology and eschatology.)
Col 1: 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Phil 2: 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 9
So...it's the day of Pentecost in the 1st century. These first apostles had weathered an amazing set of circumstances over the months and weeks. Some 40 months previously, they had been suddenly uprooted from their regular commitments and routines to travel the countryside with Jesus of Nazareth--preaching, teaching and healing with great rigor, crowds, adulation, controversy and persecution in attendance. They had experienced a full range of emotions over those 3+ years: surprise, joy, frustration, awe, doubt, fear, enthusiasm, dismay, anger, sadness and probably all the rest possible.
Some 50 days previously, they had attended Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the Passover time. Then, in a most grievous turn of events, they stood by in a stunned and paralyzed state, as Jesus was arrested, mocked, condemned and crucified. Their euphoria had, all at once, turned to fear, doubt, disillusionment, anger and confusion. They were, for the most part, not strong and courageous, but weak and timid. If there were any heroes, it was the ladies, not the guys.
But suddenly...almost beyond belief...their sorrows and doubts turned to joy and restored faith as Jesus came up from the grave and appeared to them. He kindly and firmly wooed each of them back into confidence and strength on the heels of their various brokennesses. (Untested faith and unbroken strength don't seem to get the job done over the long haul, do they?) He appeared to them regularly over that period of 40 days...days of reformation and transformation and preparation. A time of refitting and retooling for the great mission and Divine purpose ahead. The resurrected Christ speaks with them, in depth, about the kingdom of God that his coming had inaugurated...the new genesis that his incarnation and resurrection mysteriously witnessed to.
So...now...after 10 days of waiting on God in prayer and fellowship...the Spirit of God had come upon them and filled them as never before in the whole history of God's relationship with His people. They are standing together to testify and explain the strange and miraculous event of this Pentecost day to those devout Jews, both local and international, who had come to celebrate the feast before God. Just 53 days before, many of these gathered had been a part of the religious mob that had called for the crucifixion of Jesus and the release of Barabbas. It is in the face of this potentially lethal throng that Peter, as a spokesperson for the rest, interprets this phenomena in the light of Scripture. He quotes from memory (and...I'd bet these were passages that Jesus had expounded to them during the 40 days--how about you?) the following:
1. Joel 2:28-32--This wondrous event was a fulfillment of Joel's foresight into a future trans-national, trans-generational, trans-gender and unprecedented outpouring and infilling of the Holy Spirit. (And...some of the melodramatic and symbolically charged cosmic events were apparently hidden from human eyes...though some were not.)
"I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord."
Not that these are the final words on or exclusive fulfillments of what these things referred to, but... the Father did speak audibly from heaven on three occasions and many miracles took place on the earth during the ministry of Jesus. The sky went dark supernaturally during the crucifixion. And, of course, Jesus did shed his precious blood on the cross. Tongues of fire appeared over each believer's head on this particular day. We know from the epistles that the demonic powers were stripped of their authority by the work of Jesus on the cross as well--what kind of colorful and vivid language might God use to prophesy such displacement in the invisible realm? Truly, the heavens and the earth have never been the same since the resurrection of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit--whether the peoples of the earth recognize this or not. A main part of our mission as followers of Jesus is to simply unveil to them this historic and radical shift.
2. Psalm 16:26-27--"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave...."
Peter's inspired commentary on the passage follows in Acts 2:29-31: "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay."
Such NT passages provide a interpretative grid or template for how we must approach many OT prophecies of this genre--i.e. David wasn't speaking primarily or literally about himself in this Psalm, as we would tend to imagine on the surface of things. But, more profoundly, he was intimately linked by sovereign and superintending prophetic purposes of God, across the generations, to the Person of Messiah Jesus and was even penning grand words that he himself did not fully comprehend.
And then, at the climactic point of his sermon, immediately prior to three thousand, formerly hostile, people putting their personal faith in Jesus and...their representatives crying out to Peter, "What must we do to be saved?"...he quotes one more OT prophecy. Can you venture a guess which one???
Some 50 days previously, they had attended Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the Passover time. Then, in a most grievous turn of events, they stood by in a stunned and paralyzed state, as Jesus was arrested, mocked, condemned and crucified. Their euphoria had, all at once, turned to fear, doubt, disillusionment, anger and confusion. They were, for the most part, not strong and courageous, but weak and timid. If there were any heroes, it was the ladies, not the guys.
But suddenly...almost beyond belief...their sorrows and doubts turned to joy and restored faith as Jesus came up from the grave and appeared to them. He kindly and firmly wooed each of them back into confidence and strength on the heels of their various brokennesses. (Untested faith and unbroken strength don't seem to get the job done over the long haul, do they?) He appeared to them regularly over that period of 40 days...days of reformation and transformation and preparation. A time of refitting and retooling for the great mission and Divine purpose ahead. The resurrected Christ speaks with them, in depth, about the kingdom of God that his coming had inaugurated...the new genesis that his incarnation and resurrection mysteriously witnessed to.
So...now...after 10 days of waiting on God in prayer and fellowship...the Spirit of God had come upon them and filled them as never before in the whole history of God's relationship with His people. They are standing together to testify and explain the strange and miraculous event of this Pentecost day to those devout Jews, both local and international, who had come to celebrate the feast before God. Just 53 days before, many of these gathered had been a part of the religious mob that had called for the crucifixion of Jesus and the release of Barabbas. It is in the face of this potentially lethal throng that Peter, as a spokesperson for the rest, interprets this phenomena in the light of Scripture. He quotes from memory (and...I'd bet these were passages that Jesus had expounded to them during the 40 days--how about you?) the following:
1. Joel 2:28-32--This wondrous event was a fulfillment of Joel's foresight into a future trans-national, trans-generational, trans-gender and unprecedented outpouring and infilling of the Holy Spirit. (And...some of the melodramatic and symbolically charged cosmic events were apparently hidden from human eyes...though some were not.)
"I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord."
Not that these are the final words on or exclusive fulfillments of what these things referred to, but... the Father did speak audibly from heaven on three occasions and many miracles took place on the earth during the ministry of Jesus. The sky went dark supernaturally during the crucifixion. And, of course, Jesus did shed his precious blood on the cross. Tongues of fire appeared over each believer's head on this particular day. We know from the epistles that the demonic powers were stripped of their authority by the work of Jesus on the cross as well--what kind of colorful and vivid language might God use to prophesy such displacement in the invisible realm? Truly, the heavens and the earth have never been the same since the resurrection of Jesus and the descent of the Holy Spirit--whether the peoples of the earth recognize this or not. A main part of our mission as followers of Jesus is to simply unveil to them this historic and radical shift.
2. Psalm 16:26-27--"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave...."
Peter's inspired commentary on the passage follows in Acts 2:29-31: "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay."
Such NT passages provide a interpretative grid or template for how we must approach many OT prophecies of this genre--i.e. David wasn't speaking primarily or literally about himself in this Psalm, as we would tend to imagine on the surface of things. But, more profoundly, he was intimately linked by sovereign and superintending prophetic purposes of God, across the generations, to the Person of Messiah Jesus and was even penning grand words that he himself did not fully comprehend.
And then, at the climactic point of his sermon, immediately prior to three thousand, formerly hostile, people putting their personal faith in Jesus and...their representatives crying out to Peter, "What must we do to be saved?"...he quotes one more OT prophecy. Can you venture a guess which one???
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The Fellowship of the Mystery--Part 8
I just completed a three minute key word search of the New Testament (at www.biblegateway.com) for the words: "right hand". There were 22 direct references to Jesus being strategically positioned at the "right hand" of God. I did another search for "priest forever" and 5 more NT passages came up. Just these four simple words from Psalm 110 account for, by far, the most often quoted Old Testament prophecy in the NT. (And...there are several other less direct NT references to the themes of this Psalm as well.) When Jesus opened the minds of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (see Luke 24) to understand the Scriptures about himself, I can't imagine that he didn't make clear references to Ps. 110 as a part of that overview of Messianic prophecy. When the resurrected Christ met with his disciples over a period of 40 days to elaborate on the nature of the kingdom of God before returning (semi-permanently!) to heaven (see Acts 1), he certainly must have utilized Ps. 110 as an outstanding OT reference point. What an amazing series of Bible studies that would have been to attend!
Here are just 2 of the 7 verses from this grand Psalm:
1The LORD says to my Lord:
"Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." ...
...4The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind,
"You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek."
Jesus, in the gospels, and Paul and Peter, in their sermons in Acts and in their letters, all made specific references to Ps. 110. The writer of Hebrews, most of all, relied heavily on the "Messianic kingdom" framework prophetically outlined in Ps. 110 in his eloquent and powerful essay that unveils the superiority of Jesus Christ over all other great Biblical characters--whether angelic or human.
In Matthew 22:41-46, Jesus throws out a simple question to the Pharisees derived from Ps. 110 that resulted in an astounding response.
41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42saying,"What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." 43He said to them, "How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44"'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet'? 45If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Don't you just love Jesus? With an OT "101" quote and a one-question commentary, he significantly disrupts the Messianic theology and the confidence of the overly-confident Pharisees. This is just a hint to us of the power of God that is embedded in the amazing prophecy of Ps. 110.
Traditionally, it was understood, and rightly so, that the Messiah would be the "son of David" and fulfill God's promises to David that One who would come from his lineage would reign forever on his throne. However, according to Ps. 110, the prophesied Christ, although "fully human", would be more than "merely human"...that is...more than just the "son of David". In Ps. 110 the Messiah is directly referred to by David himself as David's Lord or Master. It is a reference to the mysterious Divine Nature of the Messiah, which the NT bears out so clearly in its Christology. This is the theological implication dealt out by Jesus (no false humility here!) that threw the Pharisees of his day for such a loop. How ironic it was that Jesus simply quoted a well-known, but glossed over, one-liner from the Hebrew Scriptures, revered so highly by the Pharisees themselves, that caused such an abrupt end to their carnal inquisitions of him.
The apostle Paul esteemed this particular truth so highly, that he decided to open his greatest theological treatise ever with this very point...
1Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord....
Rom 1:1-4
Here are just 2 of the 7 verses from this grand Psalm:
1The LORD says to my Lord:
"Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." ...
...4The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind,
"You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek."
Jesus, in the gospels, and Paul and Peter, in their sermons in Acts and in their letters, all made specific references to Ps. 110. The writer of Hebrews, most of all, relied heavily on the "Messianic kingdom" framework prophetically outlined in Ps. 110 in his eloquent and powerful essay that unveils the superiority of Jesus Christ over all other great Biblical characters--whether angelic or human.
In Matthew 22:41-46, Jesus throws out a simple question to the Pharisees derived from Ps. 110 that resulted in an astounding response.
41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42saying,
Don't you just love Jesus? With an OT "101" quote and a one-question commentary, he significantly disrupts the Messianic theology and the confidence of the overly-confident Pharisees. This is just a hint to us of the power of God that is embedded in the amazing prophecy of Ps. 110.
Traditionally, it was understood, and rightly so, that the Messiah would be the "son of David" and fulfill God's promises to David that One who would come from his lineage would reign forever on his throne. However, according to Ps. 110, the prophesied Christ, although "fully human", would be more than "merely human"...that is...more than just the "son of David". In Ps. 110 the Messiah is directly referred to by David himself as David's Lord or Master. It is a reference to the mysterious Divine Nature of the Messiah, which the NT bears out so clearly in its Christology. This is the theological implication dealt out by Jesus (no false humility here!) that threw the Pharisees of his day for such a loop. How ironic it was that Jesus simply quoted a well-known, but glossed over, one-liner from the Hebrew Scriptures, revered so highly by the Pharisees themselves, that caused such an abrupt end to their carnal inquisitions of him.
The apostle Paul esteemed this particular truth so highly, that he decided to open his greatest theological treatise ever with this very point...
1Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord....
Rom 1:1-4
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