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God? Lord? My Lord?
Psalm 110
Andy Nagahara
0 Of David. A psalm.
1 The LORD(Yahweh) says to my Lord(New king): “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
2 The LORD(Yahweh) will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD(Yahweh) has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord(Yahweh) is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He(Yahweh) will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
7 He(New king) will drink from a brook beside the way ; therefore he will lift up his head.
It is assumed that this psalm was sung on the occasion of the accession of the king. Although it is a short psalm, it is a difficult one that can be translated in many different ways.
Furthermore, there are many references to the word “Lord” and the word “he,” but since there are two characters, it is very difficult to tell which one they are referring to.
So, I have added who they refer to in parentheses to your bulletin and screen texts. However, there are some things that can be interpreted differently.
1. Jewish interpretation
We must know that, in fact, the idea of awaiting the Savior Messiah, Christ in Greek, who is a descendant of David, has not been central to Judaism since ancient times, but was an idea that was strongly recognized in Judaism in the time of Jesus.
The tendency to seek the Messiah, the one who will save the world, is naturally stronger when the situation in society is bad.
There is also a lot of discourse about the apocalypse being near, especially during major recessions and wars.
The Jews of Jesus’ day were at a political, diplomatic and religious standstill, so they needed a king who would break the deadlock, not just a hereditary king, but someone who would be the second coming of David, the best king they could think of.
But as I mentioned earlier, this psalm is a song of praise to God, sung on the occasion of the king’s coronation, with the hope that God’s guidance will be abundant.
It was sung as a congratulation to the king and a thanksgiving and expectation to God so that the king who ascended to the throne in reality, not the future Messiah, could rule the country according to God’s will.
The original meaning of the word Messiah is “the anointed one”. And all the kings of Israel, starting with Saul, were anointed by prophets, priests, or elders to become kings.
But as the generations went by, in Jesus’ time, the kings of Israel had fallen, their power had diminished, they were under Roman rule, and the people were expecting a great leader like David.
2. The early church’s interpretation
Jesus, who appeared at exactly such a time, was naturally expected to be such a political and military messiah. Even the disciples expected Jesus to be such a Messiah-Christ until they saw the crucifixion and resurrection.
But, Jesus disqualified himself as the Messiah in that sense. For instead of taking power, he was captured by the authorities and crucified to death.
The crucifixion brought despair to the disciples. But three days later, something happened that blew away their despair. It was the resurrection. This is when the disciples realized. They realized that it was not the land occupied by the Romans that they needed to liberate, but the souls of those occupied by sin. They also took this passage in the Old Testament as referring to the real Messiah, Jesus.This is clear from the fact that they are quoted as Jesus’ words in the Gospels.(Matt 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37 , Luke 20:41-44)
3. What should our interpretation be?
In order to understand the Old Testament texts that we share with Judaism, we cannot ignore the understanding of Judaism of the time when the psalms were actually sung, the time when Jesus came, the understanding of the early church, and the understanding of the church up to now.
With those considerations in mind, this psalm teaches us what it means to follow Jesus in today’s society.
We believe, along with the people of the early church, that the true king is Jesus, and that he is not just a human king, but also God himself.
Then we see that we are not only the people of King Jesus, but also the kings of the earth, who have been given territory by the Lord our God.
Of course, our territory is not land. It is the people we love.
Not like earthly kings, who use people for their own glory, but like Jesus, our King, who makes people alive.
That is, in other words, to be a priest, as the psalm says.
When we live that way, Jesus is always right next to us, as mentioned in last week’s message.
Just as the kings of the earth are refreshed by the waters of the river and continue their mighty march, so we can go forward with our heads held high, being poured out abundantly with the Holy Spirit.
The following worship time is a time of preparation for you to do a good work on earth with the Lord Jesus.
At this time, let’s be filled with the Holy Spirit and walk through the new week filled with new strength.
（Prayer）We praise you, God. Thank you for coming into this world as our Lord Jesus Christ and for being our King.
Please fill us with your Spirit so that we can work with your love and strength for those who are entrusted to us.
I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Summary
Believing in Jesus as my Lord means that I acknowledge his power as king over my life. The Bible often uses war as a metaphor for our lives, but this war is not against flesh and blood (other human beings), but against the sin that dwells in us. Jesus leads us into battle in this war.
For Discussion
1. Today, kings don’t hold power as they did in the past. In what way is Jesus our king?
2. How do you follow King Jesus in your life?