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