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.
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