Announcement of the Messiah’s Reign
The Priest-King
Coming of the Priest-King-Judge
• The Psalm describes the appointment of the kingly priest, His followers, His battles, and His victory
The Lord’s Decree
God’s Invitation
110:1 The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
• The Lord’s decree, establishing His anointed as His regent in the face of all opposition (NIV)
• The Lord said – a Saying of the Lord – used in prophetic or other solemn or express declarations (JFB)
• My Lord – that the Jews understood this term to denote the Messiah their traditions show, and Christ’s mode of arguing
on such an assumption also proves (Matthew 22:44) (JFB)
• What wonderful intercourse there has been between the Father and the Son! (TOD)
• How condescending on Jehovah’s part to permit a mortal ear to hear, and a human pen to record his secret converse
with his co-equal Son! (TOD)
• How greatly should we prize the revelation of his private and solemn discourse with the Son, herein made public for the
refreshing of His people! (TOD)
• Lord, what is man that thou shouldst thus impart thy secrets unto him! (TOD)
• First oracle: My Lord – My Sovereign – therefore superior to David (NIV)
• He receives of the Father this honor and glory (MH)
• He functions as God’s representative and viceroy upon earth (Z)
• The bible clearly calls Him the Messiah (L)
• Sit – His work is well done and He may sit (TOD)
• Sitting is a resting posture. It is a ruling posture; he sits to give law, to give judgment (MH)
• Right hand – not only a mark of honor but also implied participation of power (JFB)
• There is no cause for alarm whatever may happen in this lower world; the sight of Jesus enthroned in divine glory is the
sure guarantee that all things are moving onward towards ultimate victory (TOD)
• In this one verse we have a description of Christ’s person, His wars and His victory (John Trapp)
• This putting of Christ’s enemies as a stool under His feet, also denotes unto us two things in reference to Christ: first,
His rest, and secondly, His triumph. To stand, in the scripture phrase, denotes ministry, and to sit, rest; and there is no
posture so easy as to sit with a stool under one’s feet. (Reynolds)
• Footstool denotes four things:
1. The extreme shame and confusion which they shall everlastingly suffer, the utter abasing and bringing down
of all that exalts itself against Christ
2. The burden which wicked men must bear; the footstool bears the weight of the body
3. The relation which the just recompense of God bears unto the sins of ungodly men
4. The great power and wisdom of Christ in turning the malice and mischief of his enemies unto his own use
and advantage (Reynolds)
Matthew 22:43 (He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord’ saying….), 44; Mark 12:36; 16:19; Luke 20:42, 43; Acts 2:34, 35; Colossians 3:1 (If then
you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God); Hebrews 1:13 (But to which of the angels has He
ever said….); 1 Corinthians 15:25 (For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet); Ephesians 1:22 (And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him
to be head over all things to the church); Matthew 26:64; Ephesians 1:20; Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2
110:2 The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!
• He should have a kingdom set up in the world, beginning at Jerusalem (MH)
• He sits in heaven in the midst of His friends; He rules on earth in the midst of His enemies (MH)
• Zion – David’s royal city, but also God’s, where He rules as The Great King. The Lord’s anointed is His regent over His
emerging kingdom in the world. (NIV)
• Expand your reign in ever widening circles until no foe remains to oppose your rule (NIV)
• Rod of strength – the gospel, the doctrine of Christ crucified (AC)
• Rod of strength – the rod of correction (JFB)
Romans 11:26, 27 (And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My
covenant with the, when I take away their sins); Psalm 2:9 (You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel); Daniel 7:13,
14 (I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought
Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed); Psalm 45:6 (Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a
scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom); Jeremiah 48:17 (Mourn for him, all you who live around him, even all of you who know his name; say, “How
has the mighty scepter been broken, a staff of scepter); Ezekiel 19:14 (And fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoots and fruit, so that there is not
in it a strong branch, a scepter to rule); Psalm 72:8 (He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth)
110:3 Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
• Volunteers – willing – willing to do what? They shall be willing while others are unwilling. The simple term “willing” is
very expressive. It denotes the beautiful condition of creatures who suffer themselves to be wrought upon, and moved,
according to the will of God. They suffer God to work in them to will and to do. They are willing to die unto all sin, they are
willing to crucify the old man, or self, in order that the new man, or Christ, may be formed in them. They are willing to be
weaned from their own thoughts and purposes, that the thoughts and purposes of God may be fulfilled in them. They are
willing to be transferred from nature’s steps of human descent to God’s steps of human ascent. Or to abide by the simplicity
of our text, God is Will, and they are “willing”. God will beautify them with salvation, because there is nothing in them to
hinder his working. They will be wise, they will be good, they will be lovely, they will be like god for they are ‘willing’; and
there proceeds form God a mighty spirit the whole tendency of which is to make his creatures like Himself. John Pulsford
• Volunteers – free will offerings (NAS)
• They will offer themselves as dedicated warriors to support you on the battlefield – as the Israelites offered of their
treasurers for the building of the tabernacle in the desert. Accordingly Paul speaks of Christ’s followers offering their
bodies “as living sacrifices” and of himself as a “drink offering”. (NIV)
• Servants that choose their service, soldiers that are volunteers and not pressed men (MH)
• Volunteers = free people – the character of the people who shall constitute the kingdom of Christ. The people of
liberality – the princely, noble, and generous people (AC)
• All unwillingness, whether practical or lurking in the heart, springs from unbelief – from a failure to realize Him or His
purposes. Willingness is the essence of holiness; it constitutes ‘the beauties of holiness’ – the beauty of Christ cast over the
soul. Alfred Edersheim
• He would have His own people, who would recognize, receive, and serve Him as King, with true obedience, nor would it
be a small company, but like the dew, which waters the face of the whole earth. Rivetus
• Power – army (NAS)
• God’s soldiers can only maintain their war by priestly self-consecration. Conversely: God’s priests can only preserve
their purity by unintermitted conflict. William Kay
• ‘The beauties of holiness’ is a frequent phrase for the sacerdotal garments, the holy festal attire of the priests of the
Lord. The conquering King is followed by an army of priests. The soldiers are gathered in the day of the muster, with high
courage and willing devotion, ready to fling away their lives; but they are clad not in mail, but in priestly robes; like those
who wait before the altar rather than like those who plunge into the fight, like those who compassed Jericho with the ark for
their standard and the trumpets for all their weapons. (A McLaren)
• Beauties of holiness – an allusion to the beautiful garments of the high priest (AC)
• Beauty of holiness – splendor of holiness (NAS)
• Godliness is our spiritual beauty. Godliness is to the soul as the light to the world, to illustrate and adorn it. It is not
greatness that sets us off in God’s eye, but goodness; what is the beauty of the angels but their sanctity? Godliness is
the curious embroidery and workmanship of the Holy Shot; a soul furnished with godliness is damasked with beauty, and
enameled with purity; this is the ‘clothing of wrought gold’ which makes the King of heaven fall in love with us. Were there
not an excellency in holiness, the hypocrite would never go about to paint it. Godliness sheds a glory and luster upon the
saints; what are the graces but the golden feathers in which Christ’s dove shines? (Thomas Watson)
• “Dew of your youth’ – we are meant to gladden, to adorn, to refresh this parched, prosaic world, with a freshness
brought from the chambers of the sunrise. As dew is formed in the silence of the darkness while men sleep … so created
in silence by an unseen influence, feeble when taken in detail, but strong in their myriads, glad to occupy the lowliest place,
and each “bright with something of celestial light” Christian men and women are to be in the midst of many people as a
dew from the Lord. (A McLaren)
• Dew – the formation of the dew is represented in Scripture as the work of God, and not of man; and its descending
to refresh and fertilize the earth is mentioned as his peculiar gift, and in opposition to human means of rendering the earth
more fruitful (Richard Dixon)
• Dew of the morning – as the dew flows from the womb of the morning, so shall all the godly from You. They are the
offspring of Your own nativity. As the human nature of our Lord was begotten by the creative energy of God in the womb
of the Virgin, so the followers of God are born by the Divine Spirit. (AC)
• The dew of Thy youth is Thine (NAS)
• Youth – if the text is descriptive of the Lord’s anointed, as seems likely, it depicts Him as clothed in royal majesty and
glory and perpetually preserving the bloom of youth even as the “womb of the dawn” gives birth each morning to the dew.
If it speaks of the young warriors who flock to Him, it apparently describes them as dressed in priestly garb, ready for
participation in a holy war and pouring into His camp morning by morning as copious as the dew. (NIV)
Judges 5:2 (When leaders lead in Israel, when the people willingly offer themselves, bless the Lord!); Nehemiah 11:2 (and the people blessed all the men who willingly
offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem); 1 Chronicles 16:29 (Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the
Lord in the beauty of holiness!); Psalm 96:9 (Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth); 2 Samuel 17:12 (….we will fall on
him as the dew falls on the ground….); Micah 5:7 (Then the remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on vegetation
which do not wait for man or delay for the sons of men)
110:4 The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek”.
• It must be a solemn and a sure matter which leads the Eternal to swear, and with him an oath fixes and settles the decree
forever; but in this case, as if to make assurance a thousand times sure, it is added, “and will not repent”. It is done and done
for ever and ever.(TOD)
• The Lord’s oath establishing His anointed as King-Priest in Zion and assuring Him victory over all powers that oppose Him.
(NIV)
• The second oracle – in accordance also with His sworn covenant to maintain David’s royal line forever. (NIV)
• The second oracle is a solemn pledge of the King’s sacred role in the purposes of God (Z)
• These words are predictive for there is included in them a supposition that God would prepare a body for Him wherein he
might exercise his priesthood and which He might offer up unto Him. (John Owen) (TOD)
• Relent – repent – has most firmly purposed, and will most certainly perform it. Will never change this purpose (AC)
• Relent – be sorry (NAS)
• It should be diligently considered, that God has consecrated Christ priest by an oath, and that this was done for our
sakes: first, that we might know how exceedingly momentous was this transaction, and the more reverently and with the
stronger faith believe it. Secondly, that we might acknowledge the goodness of God, who, being most truthful in himself,
and concerning whose faithfulness it is the greatest crime to doubt, nevertheless has been pleased to speak to us not only
with a bare word, but also, after the manner of men, to confirm his decree by an oath. (Rivetus) (TOD)
• If we consider the oath, and the thing confirmed by this oath, two things will be manifest:
1. That Christ’s priesthood is personal, and settled in one single person forever; so that He can have no fellow
nor co-partner, nor any successor in His priesthood
2. That, by this oath, God did limit His own supreme and absolute power in this particular; and took away the
use and exercise of it, and that forever. (G Lawson) (TOD)
• Melchizedek’s office was exceptional: none preceded or succeeded him; he comes upon the page of history
mysteriously; no pedigree is given, no date of birth, or mention of death; he blesses Abraham, receives tithe, and vanishes
from the scene amid honors which show that he was greater than the founder of the chosen nation. He is seen but once,
and that once suffices. Our Lord Jesus, like Melchizedek, stands forth before us as a priest of divine ordaining; not made
a priest by fleshly birth, as the sons of Aaron; He mentions neither father, mother, nor descent, as His right to the sacred
office; He stands upon His personal merits, by Himself alone; as no man came before Him in His work, so none can follow
after: His order begins and ends in His own person, and in Himself it is eternal. (TOD)
• To be a priest like Melchizedek means that Christ will never abuse His divine position and that His reign will be
forever (L)
• Unlike the Jebusite dynasty, the Davidic one was never to be superseded (Z)
• The rule of the whole world is imposed upon our Savior by command; and even in this did Christ show His obedience
to His Father, that He took upon Him the government of His church. (D Featley) (TOD)
• Forever – permanently and irrevocably (NIV)
Numbers 23:19 (God is not a man, that He should like, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not
make it good?); Zechariah 6:13 (Yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on
His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both); Hebrews 5:6, 10; 6:20 (where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become
High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek); Hebrews 7:17, 21
110:5 The Lord is at Your right hand;
He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
• Execute – has shattered (NAS)
• Kings – not common men, but their rulers, and so all under them
• The last verses of this Psalm we understand to refer to the future victories of the Priest-King. He shall not forever sit
in waiting posture, but shall come into the fight to end the weary war by his own victorious presence. He will lead the final
charge in person; His own right hand and His holy arm shall get unto Him the victory (TOD)
• Eternal power attends the coming of the Lord (TOD)
• As there is a time of grace and patience, so there is also an appointed time of wrath and vengeance of God..
(W Musculus) (TOD)
• The time appointed for it, when the measure of their iniquities is full and they are ripe for ruin (MH)
Psalm 16:8 (I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved); 2:5 (Then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress
them in His deep displeasure: “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion), 12 (Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled
but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him); Romans 2:5 (But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for
yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God); Revelation 6:17 (For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to
stand?); Psalm 109:31 (For He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul); Psalm 68:14; 76:12; Psalm 2:5, 12
110:6 He shall judge among the nations,
He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
He shall execute the heads of many countries.
• Nations – heathen (TOD)
• In the terrible battles of His gospel all opponents shall fall till the field of fight is heaped high with the slain (TOD)
• The greatness of His victory. (TOD)
• The slain of the Lord shall be many (MH)
• He shall fill pits – make heaps of slain; there shall be an immense slaughter among his enemies (AC)
Psalm 68:21 (But God will wound the head of His enemies, the hairy scalp of the one who still goes on in his trespasses); Isaiah 2:4 (And He will judge between the
nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up
sword against nation, and never again will they learn war); Joel 3:12 (Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to
judge all the surrounding nations); Micah 4:3 (And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war); Isaiah 66:24
(Then they shall go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched;
and they shall be an abhorrence to all mankind)
110:7 He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He shall lift up the head.
• So swiftly shall he march to conquest that He shall not stay for refreshment, but drink as He hastens on. Like
Gideon’s men that lapped, He shall throw His heart into the fray and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will
the Lord make in the earth. (TOD)
• He shall drink of the brook – He shall suffer and be overcome. For to drink out of the cup is to suffer; but to drink
out of the brook is to be altogether full of trouble, to be vexed and tormented and utterly to be overwhelmed with a strong
stream of troubles. (Coverdale) (TOD)
• Drink may allude to the king’s refreshing himself while on the march. It is more likely that it refers to a royal ceremony at
the spring of Gihon near the temple, during which the king ritually drank from the sacred fountain and symbolically received
the vital resources necessary for his reign (Z)
• Here is the Redeemer saving His friends and comforting them (MH)
• Christ drank of this brook when He was made a curse for us, and therefore, when He entered upon His suffering, He
went over the brook Kidron (MH)
• When He died He bowed the head, but He soon lifted up the head by His own power in His resurrection. He lifted up
the head as a conqueror. Because He drank of the brook in the way therefore, He lifted up His own head, and so lifted up
the heads of all His faithful followers, who, ‘if they suffer with Him, shall also reign with Him’. (MH)
• Drink from a brook – even in the heat of battle He will find refreshment and lift up His head with undiminished vigor
(NIV)
Isaiah 53:12 (Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He
was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors); Judges 7:5, 6; Psalm 27:6
Thank You Lord that You are coming – and it will be a victorious coming. Thank You that You know the way and that You
are The Way and The Truth. Hold on to me that I may see You in Your glory on that day – and forever, in Jesus name.
Thank You Lord for giving us the words that You are coming again. Thank You that You are our hope and our salvation –
the God Who is victorious. I love you, in Jesus name.