CreatorWorship

The more I read the Old and New Testaments, the more I think that God is most usually repeating Himself in the New and expanding on the thought.  When He repeats Himself He must have a reason and we had better listen carefully. For instance, we tend to believe Leviticus to be the driest of reading and yet Jesus quotes it several times in the Sermon on the Mount and other places throughout Matthew. Hebrews also frequently uses Leviticus; we should look closer at it.  Among the most repeated Old Testament passages are those of Psalms 110.  I have long been fascinated by the repetition of verse one in the New Testament which reads, “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’”  It is indeed important and the unfolding of its interpretation in the New Testament is quite interesting.

          In order to understand the train of thought it is helpful to have some understanding of the psalm itself.  In just seven verses it packs in amazing insight on three persons and two groups of people.  The first person in sequence and in priority is the LORD (Yahweh in Hebrew), the Great I AM, who is the covenant-keeping God revealing Himself to Abram in Exodus 3:14-15, and who is declared Creator (Exodus 20:11) as He acts as Law-giver in the conveying of the Ten Commandments.  He is speaking to the Lord (Adonai in Hebrew), who Yahweh declares will rule (v.2) and preside as a permanent priest (v.4) and reside at Yahweh’s right hand.  The third person indicated in the psalm by “my” is David, who wrote the psalm, the present king of Israel. Because he refers to “my Lord” he clearly identifies himself as a servant of Adonai.  He is perhaps standing at the foot of the throne as Yahweh makes these declarations to Adonai in verses 1-4 and Adonai responds in verses 5-7.  And Adonai’s response is just as bold as Yahweh’s declarations as He affirms that He will fulfill His position and role.  From this position of strength, at the right hand of Yahweh, Adonai will act as a warrior king, smashing the enemies among whom He rules (v.2,6).  As a picture of the victorious champion He will lift up His head from drinking (v.7) as He pursues His enemies, fully confident of the outcome, which is, His enemies as a footstool (v.1). His people are those who freely volunteered when He came to power, plentiful as dew and sanctified (holy array) from the inception of His rising (dawn) (v.3).  His people are greatly blessed by walking in the victory He is given by Yahweh and secures by His rule, while His enemies, the kings and their nations will be shattered and their corpses spread over a wide country (v.6).  When the enemies are subdued He will continue as a priest among His people even as Melchizedek, king of peace and righteousness (Hebrews 7:2).  Melchizedek, and therefore Adonai by Mechizedekian priesthood, is clearly greater than Abraham, the father of the Hebrews (Hebrews 7:4-7), because Abraham blesses him.  Thus, He will fulfill being “a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices” (Zechariah 6:13).  But who is this “Branch” (Zechariah 6:12), this Lord, this king, this priest, this champion?  The proclamation of who is laid out in careful sequence with abundant evidence in the New Testament.  I want to write about that another day.