Israel’s Greatest Hits-Psalm 110

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24-37 Israel’s Greatest Hits-Psalm 110

 

Israel’s Greatest Hits

Psalm 110

Pastor Mike Fabarez

 

Well, I’m sure you’ve had some friends of yours come up and say in response to something you were excited about, “Been there, done that.” Have you heard that phrase before? Sometimes it’s so irritating, isn’t it? I mean, you’re excited about a trip you took and I went to this place and, “I’ve been there, done that.” Or you’re going through a hard time? You’re looking for some sympathy, like, you know, my boss… “Been there, done that” No, just listen to me. And when it comes Christmas time and we start trying to talk to people about the Christ of Christmas or the reason for the season or whatever we’re pitching it as, like you need to learn about Christ, come to church at Christmas, whatever it might be. You kind of get that same attitude coming back at you so often, right? “Been there, done that.” They don’t think they need to go there. They know all they need to know about Christ. “It is about the baby in Bethlehem, something about a manger and a census and angels and, you know, kings, apparently. I don’t know. There’s just the blab and I know. I’d just like to go shop for my family.” It’s like they just brush us off.

 

And when they say been there, done that to the Christ of Christmas, the incarnation of the God-man Jesus Christ, I’m quite sure that your response should be, no, you haven’t. Right? You haven’t been there and done that. If you can casually respond to the birth of Christ then you really don’t understand it. It’s a remarkable, inexhaustible topic. And as a pastor for decades now, I mean, every Christmas I’ve got two, three, sometimes four sermons to create on Christmas and I’m still going. There’s plenty to talk about. And sometimes I get to passages you would never expect from a pastor on Christmas like the one you see today. But I can’t stop digging deep into this topic and saying this is an amazing truth. And if you just start to grasp a little bit of what it means that Jesus Christ showed up to accomplish our salvation and he came as a human being in a baby’s body. Right? This is just a remarkable truth.

 

And there’s no better passage, I think, to dig deep, at least at this particular point of my study and research, than Psalm 110. And this will be a passage I hope fuels your interest. And the next time someone kind of gives you the brush off, the elbow raised, the squinted eyes, the pursed lips. “Yeah, yeah. I don’t need to go to your little kids’ play at your church or I don’t need to go to your Christmas Eve thing, and I don’t want to talk about the Christ thing. I’ve been there. I was raised in a church. I understand,” you need to say let’s talk about Psalm 110. You can’t even read this psalm without just really squinting hard and going what is going on here. So let me read it for you. Seven verses. That’s all it is. Let’s tackle this today. Psalm 110. It’s printed on your worksheet. I hope you can turn there in some device or book or whatever you got there that has Psalm 110 in it. The book would be the Bible, by the way. (audience laughing) “In some book.” Yeah, I brought Huck Finn with me and it’s right here on page 220. No, no. In the Bible. In the Bible. Psalm 110.

 

Okay. Are you ready? Strap in. Here we go. Verse 1, “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’ The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’ The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore, he will lift up his head.” There wasn’t one Shakespearean thee or thou in that passage, but I guarantee a lot of that flew right over our heads. Right? Like, what is that about drinking from the thirsty? I don’t. What? Huh?

 

And I think as Christians, even varsity Christians in the room, if there were such a thing, we need to lean into this and get a little bit out of this to deepen the well when it comes to understanding the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Let’s start where it starts, which is really before I started in verse 1, it’s the superscription. Now, some old Hebrew texts will even have this and even modern ones, where the numbering system is off because they take the superscription and they call that verse 1, which is not a bad idea because we don’t have an ancient manuscript of this text or others without the superscriptions in them, The superscriptions, that line right above verse 1, is pretty important because it’s been there for a long time. In no way should we doubt the superscription, certainly in Psalm 110, because in Psalm 110 it is repeated over and over and over in the New Testament, out of the mouth of Jesus himself, that this is a psalm of David that David wrote in the Spirit. In other words, that’s a catchphrase for a prophetic person in his prophetic office, as he’s giving written revelation from God he wrote these words, and Jesus makes a point in all three synoptic gospels in different settings, one in Matthew Chapter 12, talking to the Pharisees, others to the crowds. But you see him here saying David wrote these words.

 

So a psalm of David, that’s important. It’s a psalm of David in the sense that he wrote it. And here he says, look at that first line, “The Lord says to my Lord.” Now, if you’ve heard this preached before, I just want to tell you right out of the gate you don’t need to know Hebrew to be able to look at that. You can read English words and say there’s something going on here that’s a little strange because you see the definite article before the first “Lord” and a personal pronoun before the second “Lord.” The Lord. THE Lord said to MY Lord, and they’re talking to each other so this is not the same person. So we have THE Lord saying to MY Lord. Now that’s only interesting because it’s coming off of the pen, if you will, of an ancient near-eastern king. And there’s no Senate, there’s no Congress, there’s no Supreme Court. Guess what? If you’re the king of an ancient near-eastern kingdom like David was, not only that, with his sword sated in blood, he was one who had conquered as a military leader. Like at rare times in our country when we’ve had like a military commander become the president. You have someone here without all the checks and balances, a sovereign, ancient near-eastern king who is the last word in the kingdom. And he is, trust me, he’s the one in charge.

 

And I only say that because if someone else wrote this, if someone who worked for the king or some, I don’t know, religious leader wrote this psalm, you could understand that the word Lord could mean someone other than deity. Now you could say The Lord, the King of kings and Lord of lords said to my Lord, because that’s a word that’s used in even domestic context, right? The head of the household was called Lord. Sarah called him lord, it showed him respect. And if you’re working for someone, certainly if you’re conscripted, he would be your lord, your master, the one who’s your boss. You could see someone saying to a king, certainly an ancient near-eastern king, you’re the Lord. Well, you’re not THE Lord, but you’re MY Lord because I’m under your jurisdiction. But in this case, Jesus makes a point of saying have you ever really considered here what’s going on? THE Lord said to MY Lord, if it’s David and he is the sovereign of the kingdom. And when you’re talking about a nation the only one that really mattered to the Jews was the nation of Israel. It was supposed to be the head and not the tail. And so THE nation with THE sovereign, not only that, with God’s commentary over and over again, a man after God’s own heart, the greatest king of the Old Testament, that sovereign, that Lord. He says, THE Lord said to MY Lord.

 

Now it’s more than that and it gets interesting because you can see even in the typesetting convention of most English Bibles today, these look a little different. Look at it again, certainly as we reproduce it on your worksheet or whatever Bible you’re reading, it should show you these two words are different. And there’s a code which I wish there weren’t, but there’s a code in modern Bible translations, almost all of them, that try to tell you that the word Lord, if it’s put the way it is, typeset the way it is in the first reference in verse 1, it’s one Hebrew word. And if it’s the second way, well, then it’s a different Hebrew word and you can see the difference. What’s the difference between the first Lord and the second Lord when it comes to typesetting this text? Capitals. So the first Lord is capital “L,” and then what technically is because it’s lower on the line, a small cap “O” a small cap “R” and a small cap “D.” Now in the second reference, the Lord, it’s a capital “L” because of course it’s Lord, that’s big and we capitalized, at least in our convention, not in Hebrew, not in Greek, but we capitalize it in our convention as God. We put the first letter, we make it big and that’s accepted. The Chicago Manual of Style. It’s the way that we work in English. And so we have a capital “L,” but we have, as you would expect, any time you see the word Lord with a small “o” a small “r” and a small “d,” and we learn the difference, at least we used to in school, there’s a difference between large letters and small letters. Capital letters and minuscule letters, small letters.

 

So what’s going on here? Well, most of you know or if you don’t know, let me fill you in. The way this is done, you can read this in the preface of any modern translation. It will say the reason we put small cap “o” small cap “r” small cap “d” is because we’re trying to telegraph to you through the way that we typeset it, that we’re talking about God’s proper name. And God’s proper name, it’s not Jehovah. That’s a conflation. We’ve talked about that in other sermons and that’s another time we can talk about it. But it’s as best as we can understand, at least we know the vowels of it. It’s the word “Yahweh.” That’s probably how it’s pronounced or something like that. Yahweh. Yahweh is from the verb “to be” in Hebrew. So Yahweh is his proper name. Like you have a proper name, a proper name. My name is Mike or Michael. So that’s my proper name. But then I might serve in a position like I am as a pastor and have a title. And sometimes people can put those together, juxtapose those. “Pastor Mike” people call me around here. That’s my role, pastor, and this is my proper name, Mike. If you get a different pastor with a different name then you could have, you know, Pastor Zerubbabel or whoever comes next. I’m just trying to feel better than him as I forecast the future of Compass Bible Church. Just at least I have a better name if it’s Zerubbabel or Mephibosheth or whatever his name might be.

 

So the proper name of God. How many times does that show up in the Old Testament? Like 6,800 times. Almost 7,000 times. But then there’s another word in Hebrew that translates this title, Lord, and that’s Adonai. Adonai hundreds of times in the Old Testament. Well, not quite as many, not thousands of times like we have for the proper name of God, Yahweh. So when we have in Hebrew clearly this statement, there’s another word you’re probably used to that shows up first. The most common word, generic word for God is the word ‘ĕlōhîm, which is a plural, by the way, with an ‘im” as we transliterated in English. ‘ĕlōhîm. Right? It’s like putting a noun with an “s” on it, which is weird because when you have, just for a second here, when you have a noun with an “s,” if it’s talking about a person, you would expect that the pronouns would be plural, but the pronouns are singular with a few exceptions and very interesting exceptions in Genesis Chapter 1. Nevertheless, God, ‘ĕlōhîm, you could translate “Gods” if all the rest of the number of the nouns around it or the pronouns if they were plural, you’d say, okay, we’re just talking about some gods that people recognize. But there’s only one God, but he’s so big in majesty that his name itself is a plural and for other reasons we know theologically later in the Scripture.

 

Nevertheless, here is the word Yahweh, Adonai. Yahweh, the Lord of Israel says the king, David, Yahweh, THE God, THE Lord says to MY captain, MY king, MY leader. What does he say? He says, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool.” Well, that’s an interesting phrase we need to untangle on its own. But that first statement just reminds us, as Jesus pointed out, that yes, it might start in Matthew Chapter 1 verse 1 that Christ is the son of David. But when I say son of David, I’m only talking as Romans Chapter 1, I think it’s verse 3, says he’s only the son of David as it relates to his lineage or “according to the flesh,” according to his body. Because he certainly wasn’t the son of David like Hezekiah was the son of David. Because generations apart, you might call a good king. You might say, well, this is the son of David. You only mean he’s like a chip off the old block. He is in the lineage but we say he’s the son of David because he’s a great king like David was a great king. But he’s lesser because he’s down the lineage and you’re not quite as great as David, because David was unique in his greatness as a king of Israel. But here to be the son of David is only a fulfillment of Second Samuel Chapter 7, the Davidic Covenant when God said through David’s line there would be a great leader, THE great leader, and we call him today the Messiah or the Christ in Greek.

 

So the Messiah or the Christ was going to be the great king who we should know just by reading about him, like in Isaiah Chapter 9, which we often read at Christmas, we say the extent of his government will have no end.” It’s going to go all over the world, it will be universal. David expanded the borders of Israel as far as they were going to be expanded, and he handed it off along with the silver spoon to Solomon, and he ruled in peacetime over that area of land. So David has the biggest land mass of Israel being a warrior and a leader and a commander of the armies that they’d ever had. He was a great king. And his expanse of leadership by the end of his life was huge, but not as huge as the son of David, because the son of David was going to have a universal kingdom. And so we learn that just by explaining his jurisdiction, this must be a greater king than David. And of course, Jesus points it out by simply saying this psalm was written by David and David looks up to whoever he’s talking about here, which of course, as you read it, you start to understand this must be talking about the son of David, the ultimate son of David, who is even greater than David.

 

It’s not like this Messiah is going to be great like David was. It’s no, that this Messiah was going to be greater than David was. And to be greater than David would spin the mind around of any Jewish person after the 10th century B.C. because they would say there’s no king greater than David. I mean, everything else was just a copy at that point. Even if it was good, it was just a faint copy of the greatness of David. David was THE King. Even in the prophecies we read about David being resurrected and put in place of leadership in Jerusalem, in the capital. But it’s interesting he’s not called the king. He’s called the prince because there is another king, the son of David, who you would think is less than. But he’s not less than, David is reporting to him in the millennial kingdom, because David is looking up to someone who outranks him. This is speaking of the Messiah. And it’s an authoritative statement. And when we start talking about a baby born in Bethlehem in the city of David, you just need to understand that your friends, who you say, “been there, done that. I know he’s special, whatever. God in the flesh.” No, no, no. Stop and listen to what you’re saying. You haven’t been there and done that because you need to understand what this means. This is huge.

 

In that stable came into this world breathing the air of this planet, Jesus is the ultimate authority in all of the universe. Number one, you need to “Affirm the Divine Incarnation.’ Now, underline that. Highlight it. Capitalize it, whatever you want to do. Circle it. The divine incarnation. Incarnation, putting on flesh the divine incarnation is, to put it bluntly and simply, as it’s put elsewhere in Scripture, like in Colossians, “In him the fullness of deity dwelt in bodily form.” That’s gigantic, right? Here was Christ who existed in the form of God. He did not regard equality with God, at least in the exercise of his attributes, a thing to be grasped or hung on to. “But he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, being found in human flesh.” What happened in that stable is so big that I just have to drive this home for a few minutes. Go to John 5 just to get a sense of this. This is bigger than any of your neighbors think. This is bigger than your coworkers can imagine, and it’s probably bigger than most of us tend to think. And we need to brush off the dust to think about the divine incarnation, that God visited the planet and walked around with toenails and had teeth and eyelashes. This is gigantic.

 

This is gigantic. How big is it? Well, let’s look at this passage in John Chapter 5. If you look at John Chapter 5 and you start, let’s say in verse 19, you can see a superscription in our English translation. It’s not a superscription like in the Psalms. We have modern-day editors and translators who looked at how this is laid out and typeset and they add those titles. But what is the title if you’re reading out of an English Standard Version above verse 19, what does it read? “The Authority of the Son.” We’re talking about the power. Now, I’ve already given you the authority of the Son, the most authoritative person in the Old Testament says, well, God, the king says to MY Lord. He outranks all the humans. We know that. “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you,'” verse 19, “‘the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.” That may sound like well you’re really trying to be humble here. If you said that I call you a blasphemer.

 

Because here’s the deal. Even as a Christian, let’s talk to Christians now. You’re a Christian, you’re striving to be holy, you’re striving to be sanctified. Whatever God would do I want you to do. Remember the old armbands that said, “What would Jesus do?” Let’s just think about this. If you were a perfect person you could say, I only do things the Father does. Whatever he is, that’s what I am. Well, I don’t have my own agenda. My agenda is God’s agenda. You might have some pious person say that to you and even that you’re like, well, I doubt it. Not 24/7. And here is Jesus saying, I don’t do anything, I have no agenda of my own, my agenda is God’s will. Only what the Father’s doing, that’s what I do. Look at the bottom of verse 19. “Whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” I just do what God does. Whatever he thinks, whatever he does, whatever he values, whatever he prioritizes, whatever he does, that’s what I do. Whoa!

 

Verse 20, “The Father loves the Son and he shows him all that he himself is doing.” I have complete access to his brain. Everything he thinks. Everything he does… Why? Because he loves me. “And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.” And you’re going to marvel. Like with what? Well, let’s start with verse 21, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life.” Now, think about this. There is clearly in Daniel Chapter 12 a promise that not just a few, and you can count them on basically your hands, less than ten people in all of the Bible and just a handful in the Old Testament who were resuscitated from death. Clearly, they were dead and God brought them back through the ministry, let’s say, of Elisha. But you can see a person dead and they come back to life. That’s pretty remarkable. I’ve been to a lot of funerals and have never seen that. Okay? This would be like if someone stepped up and said, bam, you’re alive now. That’d be big. Well, Jesus comes and does that to Lazarus.

 

But that’s really bigger than that because in Daniel Chapter 12 it says every single person who has ever lived, they’re going to rise from the dust and they’re either going to go to a place of shame and punishment or they’re going to go to a place of blessing and honor. And here God is going to call forth all the dead one day. Read Revelation 20. All the dead are going to come before God and God is going to speak them into existence. Here they are, your body reassembled with your spirit. You are here now just like you were on earth. You going to be called before me and you have to answer to me. “The Father raises the dead and gives them life.” Well, that’s true. That’s huge, if you really know what that means. “So also the Son gives life to whom he will.” What in the world are you talking about? You’re telling me that you’re right there with teeth and lips and a jaw and a mustache, you can say to anyone you want to say to live and they live if they’ve already died. You’ve got to be kidding me. Did he prove that? Yeah. He proved it. And they marveled at it. He speaks life back into dead things. Dead people. Unreal.

 

Verse 22. “For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.” All you have to do is read the Bible. Clearly the Bible says from beginning to the end, all throughout the Psalms, take Psalm 98 for instance, God is going to judge everyone. God is the judge. Why? Because he’s the creator. He created everyone and therefore he has the right to judge them. Well, the book of John started with that whole claim. Nothing that has been made was made without Christ making that thing. Well, I thought God was the creator. “In the beginning ‘ĕlōhîm created the heavens and the earth.” Well, that God is so big that he stated as a plural. And even in that chapter he’s speaking with plural pronouns. This particular God is now revealing to us that the agency of everything he ever created was the Word, the “Logos.” The agency of creation was his own Son. And if you read the passage carefully, not only do you see the weirdness of plural pronouns that God is speaking in and God himself has a name that goes throughout the whole Old Testament was a plural. But you also have in verse 2, “The Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters” in Genesis. You have a Triune God who now is existing in all eternity, and the Son himself says I just want to tell you, it’s not the Father who is going to judge. He’s given all that judgment to me. I will judge everyone. Well you’re not the creator. Oh yes I am. That’s how the whole book started.

 

Matter of fact, I can’t help this. I’ll read it for you because I wasn’t planning on taking you there. But let me go to Hebrews Chapter 1. You stay right where you’re at. Hebrews Chapter 1. Hebrews Chapter 1. It’s not in my Bible anymore. There it is. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. But in these last days he’s spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and in the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” I want you to think about that baby born who couldn’t even speak. And in the kenosis of God, him laying aside the independent use of his divine attributes, he laid there in the arms of his mother, a poor woman who could only bring the poor sacrifice in the presentation of her baby to the temple. This poor couple. Think about this now. The Bible says created the entire world. He is now in a container that he himself designed, the human body. He’s now taking on all the attributes of the human spirit and yet without sin. And he upholds the world by the word of his power. If he wants to say to the world be dead, then it’s dead. As Second Peter Chapter 3 says by a word he could end it all, by his word. He doesn’t have to check in with the Father, because if it’s time to end the world, he will say it because he does the will of his Father. That baby is the ultimate authority of the universe.

 

Well, that’s big. We should stand in awe of the person. We should really try and kiss up to the person who’s going to judge us. Well, you should. Verse 23. Are you still in John 5? “That all may honor the Son, just as…” Now those are super important words. “Just as.” Just as. I want you to do it just the same way “as you honor the Father.” There’s one thing that you knew from the very beginning. When God is going to make the rules come down from the mountain, Moses has got them etched in stone, the first rule is this: I’m the only God. Jesus even says it in Matthew Chapter 4 when he’s out there battling the devil in this temptation. And when the devil says just bow down to me and I’ll give you all this stuff. Jesus says you shall not worship or serve anyone but God alone. I mean, there’s one thing you know from reading the book of Exodus Chapter 34 verse 14, “God is a jealous God.” He doesn’t want to worship anyone but him. Jealous because he properly is due all the worship service deference of all creation. And the text here says that he is the creator, he is the judge, he’s the giver of life so that everyone will honor the Son just as, in the same manner, in which they honor the Father.

 

That would be called blasphemy. Well, you know, maybe if you’re non-human, maybe you’ve got some angel dust in you. Well, the angels had people bowing down to them like John in the book of Revelation. And they said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don’t want any of us to get struck dead here, me or you. You don’t worship me. I’m a fellow servant. There is no one else in the universe to worship but the Triune God. And right here it says all of this is so that they “may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” Can I read that again? “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” Hey, soft-hearted, sentimental, you know, Facebook posting of Bible verses Christian, can I talk to you for a second? You’d like to think that God is so magnanimous that anybody who kind of thinks there’s a God and tries to serve whatever God they know, then it’s all cool. Like those Muslims, you know, at least they’re monotheists. At least they worship and pray to the same God that we do. I mean, they have their theology a little mixed-up. They may think that Jesus, as they call Isa in the Arabic Koran, well, he’s just, you know, he’s a good prophet. I mean, at least they put him on the shelf and he’s a good prophet. He may not be the Son of God.

 

Can you see this? If you don’t honor the Son just as you would honor… If you don’t worship Jesus Christ the way you worship the Father, then you’re not honoring the Father because “whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” Do not keep saying to yourself that when you see Buddhists or Hindus because they’re religious people or devout people of any group, or maybe it’s a Christian cult group that does not believe that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God with all the possessions of deity, the exact representation of the power and attributes of God, do not sit here and think, well, you know, I’m sure God’s happy with that. “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” Christianity is exclusive. I understand that. It’s exclusive not like a country club or, you know, or some fast car or something. Right? It’s given freely without cost. And the call goes out to the whole world. But there’s no other way. Because he has all authority. He’s the creator. He is the judge. He is the one to be worshiped.

 

So stop with this whole thing where your neighbor might say, “Well, I’m sure Jesus, he kind of changed the world. I watch the Discovery Channel. I know he’s an important historical figure.” He’s not an important historical figure. He’s the one who created your brain. He designed the world. So stop with this putting him on a medium shelf. As Lewis rightly said, C.S. Lewis, remember the whole trilemma, right? I love the way he puts that. Jesus did not leave that option open to us. He’s not a good teacher. You cannot say he’s a good teacher, right? He is a good teacher but he’s way more than that. He did not leave that option open for us. Because if he says if you have someone come to your small group and says, you know, as the Father raises the dead I can raise whoever I want too. And, you know, Father is not going to judge you, you’re going to stand before me and you’re going to be judged by me. And you know what? If you don’t worship me the way you worship God, you know, you’re not even worshiping God. Kick him out of your small group.

 

And Louis set it right. “Jesus is either a lunatic or a liar.” Unless, of course, you want to think the unthinkable, which is that all the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding the highest-ranking king saying THE Lord said to MY Lord. Someone is outranking us and it’s not the Father? Yes, it’s the Son because we have a triune God and Christ has come in human flesh and was born 2,000 years ago. And we decorate this stage and we send cards and we give gifts, all because we recognize that God stepped into time and space and became a human being to redeem human beings. That’s a gigantic thing. Affirm the divine incarnation. Jot this down, if you would, John 3:16. “I don’t have to jot that down. I know it.” Go all the way to verse 35. Your homework assignment is to read the whole thing and go to verse 35 and read it three times and remember “God so loved the world he gave…” And then read the rest of it. And realize this: the problem with your neighbor is not that he doesn’t know some of the facts. He may even know exactly what I’m saying. “Yes, I know he claims to be God incarnate.” But it is not someone who says that they believe that.

 

Matter of fact, go back to our text if you’re still in John 5. Are we still there? Verse 24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but he has passed from death to life.” Jesus says that because it’s not about you just affirming facts. It’s you hearing him and believing him. And clearly in John 3 it says believing in means you’re responding to what he says, responding positively to what he says. “My sheep hear my voice,” John 10, “And they follow me.” Or go back in your mind to that passage in John 3. Here it is. If you “believe in the Son you have life; if you do not obey the Son you’re already standing in judgment.” What’s the point? Obeying and believing are one and the same. Because the one who hears the word and doesn’t do it is deceiving himself. And your neighbor may be deceiving himself. Your coworker, your extended family member might be saying to you, “I believe the stuff. I don’t need to go to church again to hear that he’s the divine Son of God. I don’t need to hear that.” Well, you know, one thing that he said, he said a lot of things, he said things like, you know, you ought to have a band of believers that you connect with. He set up a thing called the Church and he set up pastors and leaders in the Church and you’re supposed to be a part of one.

 

He said things like this: “What God joins together in marriage let no one separate.” Let’s just think when your neighbor’s thinking about divorce, if he really thinks that the creator of the universe said that to him and not only that he says, I’m going to judge you one day and he says you better be worshiping me, I think you’d give a lot more weight to the statement about you shouldn’t divorce. Are there some exceptions? He gave us two exceptions. I understand that. Or what about even if he says you ought to be giving to the place that is spiritually nourishing you? “Yeah, but that church, they’re not perfect. I don’t even know how they spend the money.” Do you remember when Jesus healed someone he sent them to the temple? Did he think the temple was a great place spending their money? Well, no. He knew they were corrupt. And yet he said go give the offering to the priests. Or when the woman comes and gives all she has that the widow’s mite, as we call it, he holds her up as an example. There you go. Well, don’t you know where that’s going? We need to see the audit report. I mean, what’s going on with her $0.02 there?

 

Jesus is saying to you this is getting real now when it deals with your marriage or with your giving. Some of you in this room say I believe Jesus was born 2,000 years ago and the New Testament reveals what he taught. But you don’t give or you divorce because, you know, I’m not happy. Do you understand what we mean when we say that Jesus is the all-time authority? He came in human flesh, fulfilled Scripture, and then spoke words that he said, “My words will never pass away.” “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.” There’s a lot to this. The implications of this are endless. But this passage is much more mysterious and deeper than this, even though it starts with that.

 

Let’s keep moving. Back to our text, Psalm 110, it’s printed on your worksheet. There is a second half to verse 1. Don’t start plotting the time of the sermon based on half a verse that we’ve covered. (audience laughing) The second half of verse 1, “‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!” That’s weird enough just reading it. Think of a footstool. What does that mean? I guess you’re under the feet. That means you’re dominated. Okay, so one day the enemies of Christ are going to be dominated. But right here David’s Lord, David’s King, the Son of God, the one who is sent by God, he is going to sit down. When does that happen? According to the New Testament, he sits down at the right hand of the majesty on high when he finishes his propitiatory work, when he finishes his redemptive work, when he purifies people from sins he sits down in heaven. And I’m thinking to myself, stand up Jesus, your work isn’t done yet. Have you seen the news? If you watch what’s going on down here. I mean, America is bad enough. Have you read about North Korea and China and you know what’s going on in Vietnam? What’s happening in our world God? You can’t sit down right now.

 

Well, the Father says to the Son, sit down. Sit right here. You’re done with your first advent. You’re going to sit down and I’m going to make all your enemies, I’m going to put them under your feet and I’m going to send forth from Zion your scepter, the rule of a king and it’s going to go out but it’s going to happen in the midst of your enemies. Two words should bring you comfort and it’s hard to think of this. It’s counterintuitive, but the words at the bottom of verse 1 and at the bottom of verse 2 are “your enemies.” “Until I make your enemies your footstool,” and “You’re going to rule in the midst of your enemies.” The world is opposed to God. Put in the margin of your Bible, Psalm 2, because Psalm 2 talks about the fact that everyone is chafing against things like what I just said, that marriage should be permanent, that it should be, by the way, Jesus said between a man and a woman. I mean, these are things that are revolutionary to our mixed-up crazy world. But God is saying everyone likes to chafe against what I say.

 

And here is the world which the Bible says is getting worse and is going to get worse until Jesus stands up. When the Father says to the Son stand up, time for trip number two, advent number two. Right? That’s when God says, okay, we’re ready. We’ve separated the sheep from the goats, spiritually speaking, the wheat from the tares. Now go. And we’re going to read about that in just a second in verses 5 and 6. But what’s happening here is he’s leading in the current era between the two advents in the midst of his enemies. And how does that work? Well, he sends out his mighty scepter. Well, it doesn’t look like it’s doing much good. Well, look in this room right now. Here we are in south Orange County, California, right in the middle of a liberal state and a liberal period with liberal people calling themselves progressive as though they’re progressing somewhere good. They’re progressing somewhere bad. And here we sit giving our loyalty and deference to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the world doesn’t look like they care much about it.

 

We’re opposed and you want to go to other places on the globe. It’s opposed even harder than it is here. And here we are, where the mighty scepter of God has come and touched your heart and your heart and your heart and your heart. And now all of a sudden you’re saying, yeah, you’re my Lord. How is he ruling? He’s ruling in the midst of his enemies on earth. And every time a Christian starts to pray what he taught us to pray in Matthew 6, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” You know what? Your jurisdiction is very small. And the more you try to have God’s will done in this world the more opposition you’re going to have. All those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, Paul told Timothy will be persecuted. But that’s your task. God, I want your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Well, God is going to rule and give you some success in that. And maybe your family right now because of the gospel getting all of you and changing your life is better now than it was ten years ago. Praise God, his mighty scepter has gone out from the heavenly Zion and he’s working in your family, he’s working in your life, and praise God, he’s working in our church better now than it was, and I praise God for that. But I’m looking beyond the walls of the church. I’m saying things are not good.

 

I don’t want to get discouraged because of what the Bible is saying here to us, “THE Lord said to MY Lord,” just sit tight. Let this thing play out. And weird passages that may bother you. Let the evil continue to be evil. Let the wicked continue to be wicked. Let the rebel continue to be rebellious. Here is the higher of these statements like let it run amok down there. I’m going to keep calling one person at a time. When the apostle said in Acts Chapter 1 is now the “time going to restore the kingdom Israel?” Is it now? Is it now? Is it now? Are we ready now for your enemies to be under your feet? Well, they’re going to be but right now you go be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. You have a job to do in extending the mighty scepter into people’s lives. But the world that rulership is going to happen in the midst of his enemies. “He makes a table for us,” Psalm 23, “in the presence of my enemies.” And we’re feasting this morning, I hope, on some of the richness in the depth of the incarnation of Christ, in the midst of enemies who couldn’t care less about our book, couldn’t care less about the morality of Christianity, couldn’t care less about anything I’m saying this morning. They shine on the truth. And our job is to find out if among those rebels there might be someone who God is prepared for the truth of the gospel, some good soil, when the gospel hits that it bears fruit. That’s all we’re trying to do down here. We can’t overcome the culture. We can’t overcome the world. We’re doing the best we can within the jurisdiction we have to do God’s will here.

 

But you should, number two, “Never Doubt Christ’s Current Kingship.” And there are two things here that help us. Number one, he didn’t promise to vanquish our enemies in the current dispensation. He didn’t. But he did say I’m going to change people’s lives. The mighty scepter of God, to put it in the words of Second Corinthians Chapter 5, is transforming lives one person at a time. New creations in Christ. Every time I have a baptism, people stand up here and they talk about how God has changed their lives. That’s the mighty scepter coming from Zion. But it’s all happening surrounded by the enemies of God running amok. Well, God in heaven, it says in Psalm 2, “he laughs, he holds them in derision.” He knows their time is coming, and they will be squished under the feet of the throne of God. But right now, that’s how it’s going. And sadly, and I mean it sadly and I say it sadly because we never take joy in this because God takes no joy. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Ezekiel 18. No pleasure in that. But here’s the thing you need to understand it can’t come, this time of peace in verse 7, where the prince is “drinking by the brook” as though we’re now in peace, we can’t have that without verses 5 and 6.

 

Look at those verses. “The Lord is at your right hand; and he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.” Now, Lord, here is ‘ăḏōnāy but ‘ăḏōnāy is also the word for God and it is used of God. And here we have speaking now of David’s ‘ăḏōnāy, the ăḏōnāy of the Son is now at the right hand of Christ dispatched and in the margin you should put Revelation Chapter 19 because that’s when he’s dispatched with on his leg like a motocross rider here’s the ad, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” He not selling something else, he’s selling himself. I am the King of kings and Lord of lords, and I’m coming back on a horse. And the word of my power is now going to vanquish my enemies. Out of his mouth comes a great sword called the Battle of Armageddon and he crushes his enemies. What does it look like? Well, it looks like this. “Shattering kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.”

 

This is not a battle that David’s going to fight against Assyria or something. This is a battle that is going to take place worldwide. And when that’s done, then “He will drink from the brook by the way, and he will lift up his head,” without a flak jacket on. Because you know what? It’ll be peacetime called the great millennial kingdom. If you share my eschatology, that’s what’s going to happen. And he will rule in peace. And David, by the way, resurrected in his resurrection body, will be the prince of the kingdom. This David will know who he reports to. Someone with toenails, someone with elbows, someone with kneecaps, someone with toes. He’s a human being but he’s also fully divine. Never doubt his current kingship because the promise is there. And just like the promise for the first advent took place exactly as it was called, the second advent is coming. And I hate to say it, but the second advent with no joy in my heart will start with judgment and war.

 

Now, thankfully, if my eschatology is right, we get to meet the Lord in the air when the first thing he does when he stands up as he takes his Church to be with him to have the marriage supper of the Lamb, great wedding reception. And we get to enjoy well, we get to work our way sweating our way through the Bema Seat. But then we get the great marriage supper of the lamb, and then he’s going to dispatch, still standing, he’s going to come back on a white horse and he’s going to end this thing with us, with the saints behind him. But never doubt his current kingship.

 

And if you do, I just want you to think of something I often call your attention to. Think of David’s life because we’re living in the interim between when he was 15 years old and later in his life when he actually became the king. When David was about 15, rough and dirty, Samuel came. Was Samuel a good guy? Yes. Was he completely authorized to do what he did? Yes. God told him to go to Jesse’s house and find the next king. Saul is rejected. So here’s my next king. You go take every boy of Jesse, put him there, I’ll tell you which one is the next king. And sure enough, Jesse brings all of his sons and, you know, the runt to the family, someone has to watch the sheep, David didn’t even get called to this by dad. But he finally comes in after Samuel goes I got notes from God on all your sons. Is that all the sons you have? No. I got one more. So in comes the runt, the red-haired runt. He comes in and there he is. And God says, that’s the king. Take your flask and anoint him. He pulls out his flask and he pours oil on his head, the ceremonial way to set apart someone either of being a prophet or a priest or a king. And here he is named the king.

 

He’s cleaning off the oil off of his hair as Samuel gets on his donkey and leaves and David is going what was that all about? And if Dad had any sense in his head, he said you’re the new king. Because he was. And yet when he’s 16, 17, 18, 19, when he’s 19 years old, if I asked him hey, David, I know that you’re the king of Israel, but if I ask your neighbors or people who is the king, they’re going to say it isn’t David. Maybe his mother would say that. But everyone else is going to say no, because we’re not paying taxes to David. The army’s not answering to David. You know what? Right now it doesn’t seem like our world answers to Jesus Christ. But just as one day, and I can assure you of this because I know the history of it, because God played this out perfectly, every knee would bow and every tongue would confess that David of Bethlehem was the king of Israel, and one day he ascended the throne. 19, 20, 21, 22. That is his 23rd birthday, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th. What is he doing all those years? Do you know the Bible? He’s running around as a fugitive. He’s got his wanted posters all over. Saul is still commanding the armies.

 

Just like today. You know, the Senate, the Congress, the House, it’s not run by Christ, have you noticed? It’s not run by Christ. It’s a mess. They’re running amok in our culture and not only this one go to another country if you don’t like it so much. All these celebrities who were supposed to leave last week, they didn’t all leave. Did you notice that? (audience laughing) But my point is this. Go to another country and you’ll find out. This country, sure, is better than most. All the other ones. And here’s the thing. We don’t even like this country half the time. Why? Because everything is running amok. And yet there is someone who’s already been anointed the king. He’s called the Anointed One, the Christ. He’s earned the right because of his accomplishment of redemption. He sat down on the right hand of God and God is saying right now I’m just going to rule with my scepter from the divine Jerusalem, from Zion, and we’re going to win people one heart at a time. And then one day I’ll dispatch you to finish this thing. But right now, we’re just waiting on this.

 

David, depending on his faith, here’s Samuel now off the scene and David is sitting here saying well when is this all going to happen? Well, it did happen. And finally when he was 30 years old he became the king of Israel? No, of Judah. He gets two tribes. Well, wait a minute. The whole promise was you were the king of Israel. The whole thing. Seven and a half years if you know the history of the Old Testament there was a civil war going on. He did not even have the loyalty or the taxes or the obedience of the northern tribes until he was 37 years old. That’s incredible. And yet then everyone knew who the king was. Right now your neighbor doesn’t know who the king is. He doesn’t think there is a king, he doesn’t even like the word king. He doesn’t much care for the word president. But here’s the deal. There is a king and we’re just waiting until God says we’re done. Jesus, go get your Church. Let’s go evaluate your Church. Let’s go celebrate your Church, then come back and smash this thing and we’ll set up your kingdom. You need to believe that Jesus is currently the king even though he is not, as I often quote in Revelation 11, “taken his great power and begun to reign.” But in that passage it says one day he will, and “the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord,” our Lord and if you want to use the Old Testament terms, Yahweh, “and of his Christ,” the Lord, the King, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, the Anointed One. The Father will rule through the mediatorial work of his Son.

 

Never doubt Christ’s current kingship. It’ll sadly be preceded by judgment. That’s why our job is to get as many of your friends, family, coworkers, strangers in this thing called the kingdom so they’ll be on the right side of history. Barack was wrong about all this. To be on the right side of history, he was very short-sighted. He was the one who made that famous phrase, “be on the right side of history.” We want to be on the right side of history, which is when Christ comes back and every knee and every tongue… You know, the people by the way, just to talk about David for one or two more minutes. First Samuel 22 verses 1 and 2 talked about the people who gathered around David when he was the fugitive and they met in a cave called the Cave of the Adullam, an out-of-the-way cave, 14 miles west of Bethlehem. And there he sat with his group. How many people were giving their allegiance to David? 400. And it describes it this way. They were “in distress, in debt and bitter of soul” or bitter of spirit. Oh, that looks like a great bunch of people to build your kingdom with. The same thing was said of the Church in this age. Have you read First Corinthians Chapter 1? “Not many noble,” not many celebrities, not many Ph.D., you know, everyone looks up to, everyone’s wanting to quote us and we’re always getting called in the talk shows of the secular world. They want to know what we think. They don’t care about us. And yet it’ll be us, he goes on to say, five chapters later, we’re going to be judging the world. We’ll be ruling and reining with Christ. Never doubt Christ’s current kingship. Your loyalty needs to be there because he is going to take his great power and begin to reign. Homework assignment number two, First Thessalonians Chapter 5 verses 1 through 10. Study that. It’s all coming. The time for us to act is now trusting him.

 

All right. Verses 3 and 4. I saved the juiciest part for last, are you ready? “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments.” What in the world? There were people who wore holy garments and the holy garments were worn by the priests. The priests wore holy garments. And if you read about them in Exodus and in Leviticus, you will read they’re very fancy, a turban. God was even concerned about what kind of underwear they wore, believe it or not. Right? And so he’s talking about it all the way down to the underwear you got to dress like this. And you got this fancy breastplate that the high priest would wear. It had, you know, the 12 jewels on it representing the 12 tribes of Israel. There were all kinds of things, a linen cloth. And it’s all crazy, all these things. But he was the guy dressed in fancy attire. And when you showed up with your ox or your bull or your lamb smelling like the fields that you just plowed all day, and you said, I’m here to worship. You had to deal with him. And he would take that and make sure you knew something about the substitutionary cost of your sins being paid for, even though it was all symbolic through animals. And you’d go home after his assuring words that throwing yourself on the mercy of God, you can go home knowing you’re forgiven. I’ll take this sacrifice now. I’ll go in and represent you before God in this temple. And you would be like, oh good. Your conscience would at least be assuaged for another week, another month.

 

And once a year he’d go into the Holy of Holies. He was the set… The one room you could only go in once a year where the Ark of the Covenant was. And he’d make sacrifices for himself and for the nation. He’d walk in trembling to meet with God. And that was the guy fancy-dressed in holy garments. Here it says, “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power,” when you take control and you’re drinking out of the brook with all power and there’s nobody against you, you have a kingdom of people who love you. You’re going to be people who are willingly, freely offering themselves to you, and they’re going to be dressed “in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.” That is a hard little Hebrew phrase. But if this is speaking of him, it talks about his resurrected body here. He will be in the youth of his life as all resurrected people will be and the Christ will reign. Or it could be about the people who serve him, they’re young. Either way, this is about the resurrection and the youthfulness, the vitality of the people in the kingdom.

 

Well, how’s that all going to happen? I’m glad you asked. Verse 4. “Yahweh has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.'” Melchizedek. If you go to Hebrew class and you learn the language of the Old Testament, you certainly learn the word “Meleḵ” and the word “Seḏeq,” ṣeḏeq and meleḵ. Meleḵ is the word for “king,” ṣeḏeq is the word for “righteousness,” you combine them into this proper name, Melchizedek, and you have these two words representing what Hebrews Chapter 7 says is what he is. He’s the king of righteousness. But it says in the text in Genesis 14, that he is a king of a place called Salem, which, of course, Hebrews 7 also clarifies. Salem. Does that sound familiar? In the Hebrew language, it’s those three consonants. The root of all these Hebrew words that matter. And the vowels can change depending on the context of what the word is. And we know those consonants and we say them even today, if you go to Israel, you learn one word for sure “shalom,” which becomes a greeting. But what does the word mean, travelers to Israel? What does it mean? Peace. And Melchizedek, it says, is the king of Salem. Or if you put the word “hill” or “mountain” in front of it, Jeru-salem. Jerusalem.

 

Now, this is happening in 2,000 B.C. Abraham, 2,000 B.C., roughly 500 years before the coming of the law of Moses. He’s coming back from this battle after bailing his nephew out. And you can read all about it in Genesis 14. In the middle of this discussion, you could take those few verses out that deal with this Melchizedek encounter, and the narrative reads just fine. But in Moses’ pen by the governance of the Spirit we have this injection of this priest-king. Priest-king, think about that. He’s a priest and he’s a king. Now, that was apparently no big deal to Abraham. He recognizes it right away, and the priest blesses him after this battle. And then in response, Abraham gives him a tenth. That’s what you give in a religious ceremony, a tenth of what you have. And so he gives them a tenth of the spoil and the booty of the war. And there you go. And then we go back to the narrative. What was that all about? Who is this guy? In Genesis? Usually anybody who is important we have their genealogy son of this, son of this, son of this, son of this. We know nothing of this Melchizedek other than that he’s a king and he’s a priest and he is in this text he is leading a place called Salem.

 

David ascends the throne. He, of course, is told to make a copy of the Scriptures. If you know the book of Deuteronomy, that’s what you’re supposed to do when the king was to be and it was going to be a long time before they had a king. But they become an Israeli monarchy. They have a king and David’s the king. And surely in reading Genesis 14 he thought as he took the Jebusite city that is called Jerusalem and he goes, wow, this is weird. I’m now the king of Jerusalem. I’m the king of this mount of peace and of Israel and Judah. And he thinks there was a king and that king was also a priest. And now he sits here under the direction of the Spirit, as Jesus said, in the Spirit he wrote these words, Psalm 110. “You are a priest forever.” “I have sworn and I will not change my mind,” “A priest forever according to the order,” or the likeness or the pattern, “of Melchizedek.”

 

Turn with me really quickly if you can find it. Second Chronicles 26. Second Chronicles 26. This is intriguing, isn’t it? That’s deep and intriguing. What’s going on here? Uzziah. Have you heard that name before? Second Chronicles 26, Uzziah. You know that word probably as the name of that king in Judah because in Isaiah’s prophecy in Chapter 6 when he has the vision of God, it says “in the year that King Uzziah died.” He was the king of Israel for 52 years. When you have that kind of stability and leadership things usually go well. And they did go well for Israel. For 52 years they had economic boon. It was a good time. But the problem is with success often comes and longevity often comes pride. And that’s what happens in verse 16, “When he was strong,” Uzziah was strong, “he grew proud.” And just like we see in Scripture, pride comes before destruction, before the fall. “He grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on,” the altar, “the altar of incense.” Well, that’s what you do with the altar of incense. You burn incense on it.

 

But Azariah throws a flag on the play. He goes in after. Where are you going? Where are you going with 80 priests in tow, “80 priests of the Lord who were men of valor,” they weren’t afraid of the king. They cared more about the King of kings. “And they withstood King Uzziah and they said to him, ‘It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron,” you had to be from the Levitical tribe and you got to be a part of the sons of Aaron, they were “consecrated to burn incense,” not you. “Go out of the sanctuary for you’ve done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord,” to do this thing that you think is bringing honor to the Lord.” You’re doing the right thing but you’re the wrong person to do it. It is bringing no honor to the Lord. “Then Uzziah was angry.” If you confront and try and rebuke, even if you’re right, a prideful man, he will get angry at you. And Uzziah was angry. And “he had a censer in his hand to burn incense,” he was doing it defiantly, “and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priest in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense.” Wow. What timing to get a disease on your forehead. Right? Amazing.

 

Leprosy was the number one feared disease. Not only did they have no way to stop it in the old ancient days. Right? But it was something they were so concerned would be contagious and getting out you had to create a leper colony. Even by the time of Christ you were supposed to cry out the Mosaic law, said “Unclean. Unclean.” Well, there’s no place that’s antithetical to the word “unclean” than the temple. And here is King Uzziah in Solomon’s temple trying to burn incense. He gets angry when he’s rebuked and instead of being humbly corrected and walking out, he stands there defiantly and leprosy breaks out on his forehead. Verse 20, “Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out,” he knows I can’t be in here as a leper, “because the Lord had struck him.” Who struck him? The Lord struck him. “And King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death, and being a leper he lived in a separate house for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king’s household, governing the people.” He lost his job that day. He became an exiled king in a separate house because he was a leper. Don’t you if you’re a king dare to try and be a priest. Don’t you dare try to be a priest.

 

David says the great king, his son, the ultimate king of Israel who’s going to be king of the world, the extent of his government will know no end, he is going to be a priest. Well, you can’t do that according to the order of Melchizedek. That’s the checkmate move of this passage. Checkmate. Well, what? You can’t be a be a priest. You’re not of Levi. You’re of the promised line of the great king, the Messiah, Judah. That’s why Matthew Chapter 1 starts the “Christ, the son of David.” You better be the son of David. Well if you’re a son of David you can’t possibly be a priest because this is what happens to people who want to be a priest if you’re the king. We have a priest. Why do we have that? Look back at our text, it’s printed on your worksheet. Do you know why we have that? Because I need to somehow get in some holy garments. If I’m of the tribe of Benjamin, I cannot be ever in the holy place or the Holy of Holies. In the outer court that’s fine. But I cannot be in the presence of God. I’m not under the right tribe. And I’m not to be dressed in priestly garb. I’m not acceptable to God. I’m bringing my sacrifice. I need the blood sacrifice here as a symbolic act of obedience so that I might somehow, you know, go home with a clean conscience. I got to keep doing that for the rest of my life. And the priests, by the way, they know they’re sinners. They have to do the same thing.

 

But there’s going to be the King of kings and Lord of lords who will not only be a prophet speaking God’s truth, he will not only be a king, rightfully asking for your submission and obedience, but he’s also going to be a priest who is not going to say, yeah, bring your animal, bring your lamb, bring your goat. No, he’s not going to say that. He’s going to say I will be the sacrifice, as John said, “the lamb of God that takes away the sin.” I’ll be the lamb. As it says in Isaiah 53, the reason so many people miss Christ is the same reason your neighbor doesn’t have a sign on his lawn that says, hey, vote for Jesus Christ. Do you know why? Because “Jesus had no stately … majesty” with which to attract us, Isaiah 53. And yet he went “like a lamb to the slaughter … he didn’t open his mouth,” and he laid his own life down as a propitiatory sacrifice, as a satisfaction of God’s justice. And as it says in Hebrews, he, by his own flesh, tore the curtain so that you as a non-priest could enter, so to speak, in holy garments and walk right into the presence of God. You do it enveloped in the torn body and blood of Christ.

 

And not only is your neighbor not putting a sign up in his yard for Jesus because he doesn’t think Jesus is all that. He also doesn’t think he needs him. You ask your neighbor, are you a sinner? “Nah, I may have done some things wrong, but I’m not a sinner.” I hope everyone sitting here today knows that they need a high priest, that you can dress in his righteousness. Number three, “See Your Need for the High Priest.” Not just a high priest. Because all the high priests of the Old Testament were just “a shadow of the things to come.” Hebrews Chapter 10 verse 1. A shadow. But the substance is in Christ. The substance of the high priest you need to represent you before God to say, Mike, he’s cool, he’s with me. I need that high priest and God’s going to go, well, he’s dirty, he’s filthy. And here’s the thing. Christ is going to envelop me in himself and clothe me, as Paul said to the Galatians churches, in himself, we’ll be clothed in the righteousness of Christ in standing with no merit of our own. And you’ve got to know you need that. And Christ came to be that.

 

He was born in a stable so that he might die as a human being with infinite worth, the God-man, so that you could be forgiven, purified. And after he purified and gave himself as a purification, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Waiting for what? The second advent. Your neighbor can’t say “been there, done that” because they won’t come to the kid’s musical. They don’t really understand. If they did, they would run to church every day of the week. Because what they need more than anything else is to be right with their creator. The Son will judge them. And instead of being a judge to them, he will be their savior if only they would see their sin and throw themselves on the mercy of Christ. And say have mercy on me, a sinner.

 

God, a lot of our discussion today was deep. The richness of your prophetic word, the tapestry of your prophetic promises regarding the Messiah they’re enriching, they’re insightful, they’re so great. There’s so much of it makes sense of that passage in Luke 24 when Jesus said to those men on the Road to Emmaus that he began, just at the very beginning with Moses, began to explain the Scriptures in light of himself. Here’s a figure 2,000 years before Christ who was only spoken of once in the Old Testament after that fact by David, a thousand years later fulfilled a thousand years after that in the coming of Christ. And in vogue, changing the whole system because the priesthood has been changed out. So, God, we love you for the greatness of your word, the wonders of your word. Make us better students of your word. Not so that we can know data, but so that we can love you and love others better starting with our non-Christian friends this Christmas season. So we commit ourselves afresh to you, God. Take our words, our thoughts, our lives, and utilize them for your glory.

 

In Jesus name. Amen.