Understanding Psalm 110: David’s Foreshadowing

Show Notes

Episode 518: 
In this episode, Chris and Jeff dive into the fascinating world of the Psalms, as we continue our chronological journey through the Old Testament. We delve into Psalm 110 as it is a significant passage that is quoted multiple times in the New Testament. We discuss how Jesus used this psalm to challenge the religious leaders of His time, emphasizing His divine authority and identity as the Messiah. The conversation touches on the implications of David calling the Messiah "my Lord," which underscores the idea that the Messiah is greater than David himself.

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys. We are the Bible Guys. Chris and Jeff. Yes, that's us. This is Chris and that's Jeff. Yeah. Because it would have been weird if they tuned into the Bible Guys and got like Joe Rogan or somebody. Yeah right, and they would have been perhaps a lot more successful in terms of listen, more interesting, more interesting, right, but not more important, darn it right, because the Word of God there it is, drop the mic. Hey, we are going to start off with an interesting segment. Actually, in fact, it's definitely something we've never done. Yeah, I don't know what to do with this one. Because I read the headline. I could take lead on it, and you do it and most see Chris. So okay, So here's first of all, we have to explain why Desire is choosing this segment because David, who is you know, in our chronological walking through the Old test order of doing that those things, David has just now assumed the throne because well he's about tomorrow. Tomorrow you just ruined tomorrow. Okay, I'm saying in the story, Saul dies dies. Everybody knows David's king. Okay, So anyway, the point is is that, Okay, Saul, excuse me, David writes psalms all the way through his life, and and so this psalm that we're going to be reading today has a connection to this point juncture in the story. So because of that, here's what Desre said. She's writing a segment called your own psalm as we were walking through the New Testament. It's the Old Testament. Oh, that's so funny. She wrote New Testament as we are walking through the Old Testament. We have come to the point recently where we match up Psalms with what's going on in First and Second Samuel. If you were to write your own psalm, what would yours be about? Now? Tell me why you. Don't know what to do with this, because I never contemplated writing my own psalm? I know, right. Well, you said something really cool yesterday. You said, don't build theology. And this was on another another record. Yeah, you said don't build theology on Psalms. By because it's not a doctrinal book. It's it's a heartfelt book. It's it's written from his life experiences. It's not a book that God uses to build theology as much as it is to just expose the fact that He delights in people bringing their heart, their heartfelt feelings to him. Right. So you got both arts, and then you have prayers, prayers and things, because every psalm is a prayer, yeah. Right, And and David sometimes would pray things that you know, that were in his heart that weren't necessarily grow man. So there's a term called imprecatory imprecatory prayers. And this is when David would pray that God would kill. His enemies, right, and he's praying, like, like horrible things. God grind their teeth, cover them and boil erase their name from from the earth. Not only their name, destroyed them and their children. I mean, it's pretty horrible some of the things he praised, which is why God's not endorsing. Them, right, We don't build theology on that. That's right. God's not endorsing those prayers. God's just saying this is how he prayed, right, and He's just pouring out his heart to me, right, That's what, which. Is why we know that again, that's why God encourages us to bring all of our you know, we may think wrong things, we're frustrated, we're angry, we could be angry even angry with Him, right and God would God would say, hey, God never gets mad, well never rebukes anyway for people bringing their questions or their anger to him. So that's a good example anyway. So, David, as he's writing psalms. So you're supposed to write your own psalm or to give us, give us a summary of a psalm that would be written about you. I have a story. It's it's not it's not about me, Okay, it's a it's a story of somebody doing just this, So believe it or not. I did this like thirty an exercise where where I taught Psalm twenty three. Now, almost everybody who's listening, if they have grown up at all in church world, they know Psalm twenty three. At least they've heard it. Right. Shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in need. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He you know, he astores my soul, restores my soul. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul so anyway, these all mean something to an actual shepherd, right, So I'm not going to go into it, but basically, it's like, you know, he leads me beside still waters, means sheep can't drink from a running water. You know. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He forces me to chew my own cut, all these different things, you know, and it means like the shepherd knows what's best. The shepherd will provide all these different things. Right. So I walked through all six verses and I said, here's really what all six verses means. I said, Now, a shepherd would definitely do a comparison. You know, he could write these concepts of God through this parable. You know, this this metaphor of a shepherd. I said, But here's what you're gonna do. You're going to break up. This is my youth group. I said, you're going to break up into different groups, and you're going to rewrite the Psalms. I said, you guys are going to write the Psalms as football players. I said, you guys are going to write Psalm twenty three as cheerleaders. And I said, you guys are going to write Psalm twenty three as rednecks because granted, give me a little umbrella of grace. I lived in Atlanta, right, And then you guys are going to live or we write Psalm twenty three and I did another category anyway, So we went all the way around the room and then they wrote them and then they presented them. I don't remember all of them, but I do remember a few lines from every category, and it was like, uh to the football players were like, the Lord is my coach, right, I shall never I shall I shall never fear the whistle or something like this, right, And I remember it says like I remember that these were football players who wrote it, and they said something like, yeah, he creates a whole big enough for a mac truck for me to me for me to go through, right. And then and then it was like and then I remember at the very end, he says I will score touchdowns and I will live in the Hall of Fame forever. Right, And I remember thinking like that is amazing, right, because it's so close to what David did. And what he's really doing is he's talking about the greatness of God, and he's talking about how God is able to do great things and this and to be honest, I don't think it's sacrilegious. I think it's just an exercise in saying we can also use. Metaphors to make the supply of my life. Yeah, yeah, okay. So here's my very favorite line of all of the It was the red Neck lines. Okay, and and it says, and I remember how this starts, I'll never forget it. It was the red neck version, and the first line was the lord is my watch dog named Bubba, and he barks with strangers. And I just thought to myself, that was one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. He barks as strangers means he protects me, right, It's so funny. And then and it was I will of course, it was I would dwell in the trailer trailer park forever. And then I remember another line in that one, and it's my spit cup runneth over. Oh no, I was like, no, you didn't know. That's the part I didn't like, right, It was like boom, but h but anyway, but they hit their teenagers, right, So they did all that, and uh, And I got to tell you, I thought it was an incredible exercise, even for young minds to say, this is what David did. He talked about the greatness of God, the provision of God, you know, the security that we feel our dependence upon God through these metaphors. Yeah, right, And so that was an exercise on writing our own songs. Well, there's a there's a lot of value in taking the scriptures and understanding. First of all, you understand who's he talking to? Right, So whatever passage, who's this passage being written to or for? What are the general facts of that story? And then you begin to look for principles? What what principles? Why would God include that in the Bible for me today? And does it apply to me? And then if it does, how's apply to me? That's essentially you know, so you and I then we're asking questions in our minds as we read through these passages. What is this passage telling us about God? What's it telling us about people? Is there some kind of a command to obey or a promise to claim? Is there something we should do as a result of this? How does it apply? And that's all you were teaching those young people to do, is to take a passage and figure out. How to put it into their world. Right. And that's all we try to do every day with the Bible, guys, is to take passages of scripture, answer a few key questions. What does it say about God? What does it say about me? Was? You know? What should I do as a result of these things? And that I think is the best way to read the Bible is not just to read it for the factual things that are on the page, but also to get the facts, understand them, understand the context of those facts, but then extrapolate principles that apply to for a century lifestyle. So yeah, well we are in a good job. Chris, Thank you, Thank you, buddy, thank you. I'm not sure that we followed the entire spirit of what she intended for that segment. I don't think so either, but that was as close as I can get to fulfilling her desire. So David writes these psalms, and psalms are prayers that he put to music, So he's a musician. He's a man after God's own heart, so he's walking with God. Those I think are the best worship songs, our prayers. If you think a lot of the songs we sing on Sunday morning, they really are either boy, God, thank you for blessing me. Or God, I trust you, or You're a big God, You're a good God. Right, they're prayers essentially that we have that we set to music, and so David writes these different prayers. Sometimes he's writing, kill my enemies. We already talked about that. Sometimes he's saying, God deliver me. Sometimes he's saying, God, You're just so good and he's celebrating and it's just some kind of big celebration about how good God is. Other times I feel like I'm going to die and needs you to help me. Sometimes he's confessing sin. You know, search me, o, God, know my heart, see if there's any wicked way in me. He's confessing his sin. And then sometimes he's just making declarations about what he sees about the character the person of God. P. One ten is a unique one because he's talking about the Messiah in the future. It's the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. So that's where as we're reading Psalm one ten and it says the Lord said, to my Lord, sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a. Footstool under your feet. The Lord will extend your powerful kingdom from Jerusalem, and you will rule over your enemies. When you go to war, your people will serve you willingly. You are rayed in holy garments, and your strength will be renewed each day like the morning do. The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. The Lord stands at your right hand to protect you, and he will strike down many kings. When his anger erupts. He will punish the nations and fill their lands with corpses. He will shatter heads over the whole earth, but he himself will be refreshed from brooks along the way. He will be victorious. And out of all the psalms which are there there, you know, there's what one hundred and fifty of them. Yes, you know this. You would think that something like Psalm twenty three would be you know, quoted more right, But this doesn't seem to be something that we hear a lot of messages on. You know, there are definite references, right, like the priesthood of Melchizedek. I've heard that, you know, I've heard, but you know the famous quote is really verse number one, right, so it says this the life application study Bible says, many people have a vague belief in God but refuse to accept Jesus as anything more than a great human teacher. But the Bible does not allow that option. Both the Old and New Testaments proclaimed the deity of the one who came to save us. In say to Ragin, Jesus explained that the psalm spoke of the Messiah, which he's referring to this psalm as greater than David, Israel's greatest King that is found in Mark twelve, and it is also something that Peter's quoted in Acts chapter number two. Peter used this Psalm to show that Jesus the Messiah said at God's right hand and his Lord overall. So you can't straddle the fence, it says, calling Jesus just a good teacher, because the Bible clearly calls him Lord. Right. Which one do you have to read? Mark or X? I was looking up Matthew twenty two. Oh yeah, yeah, okay, well let me look up Mark chapter twelve, Mark Chapter twelve, verse number thirty five. Do you want to read yours? Well? So before we got into Mark twelve and Act two. Jesus quotes this in Matthew chapter twenty two, where he's challenging them with regard to if this is talking about the son of David, the Messiah's son of David, then why does this say that? The Lord said to my lord? Right, why call my lord? So that's interesting, that was the challenge there, and then he also quotes it Revelation six through nine. It shows up multiple times. Christ reign on Earth is in Revelation chapter twenty, has priestly worked for his people, has found in Hebrews five chapters five through eight, and then the final battle on Earth when chryst will overcome the forces of evil and Revelation chapter nineteen. Right, It's just this whole passage just really summarizes the power and the majesty of the Messiah and the fact that he's going to resolve all these issues, that he is God right, the Lord said to my Lord that that establishes that, and from that point on he's going to be victorious. So three times in Revelation, one time in Hebrews, and then what three times in the Gospel some one town is. Reference yes, and then in the Book of Acts and then. The Book of Acts. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. So it's a very significant passage. It's easy to read those words and blow past it, going what does that mean? Right, But clearly throughout the rest of the Bible, it pulls this passage back in over and over and over again. So it's an important passage to study. So let's just go through them. Yeah, yeah, do the Mark one. Yeah, so Mark twelve, it says, Verses thirty five through thirty seven. It says, later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple, he asked, why do the teachers of the religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David? For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, Holy Spirit, said, and then he quotes Psalm one ten, the Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet. And then he goes on and says, since David called him called the Messiah, my Lord, how can the Messiah be his son? The large crowd listened to him with great delight. He's acknowledging the fact that people are referring to Jesus as the son of David. And he's saying David also called the Messiah Lord Lord. Right, He's saying, in other words, he's saying, the Messiah is greater than David. Right that Matthew twenty two forty one through forty six is the same story. Yes, right. And the note in the Life Avacation studyed Bible says, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and supporters of Herod had asked their questions, and then Jesus turned the tables and asked them a penetrating question. Remember it was always going back and forth. He did such a good job, always turning the tables on them. And they who did they think the Messiah was? And the Pharisees knew that the Messiah would be a descendant to David, but they did not understand that he would be God himself. So Jesus quoted proh Psalm one to ten, verse one to show that the Messiah would be greater than David. Hebrews one thirteen uses the same. Text as proof of christ deity. By the way, which I don't know that we quoted Hebrews one thirteen just a minute ago. It's another quote from this passage. The most important question we will ever answer is what we believe about Christ. Other theological questions are irrelevant. Until we believe that Jesus is who he said he is. So Jesus uses. This passage to keep arguing with people who would have known this passage was about the Messiah. He's arguing, going, hey, why would David view the Messiah as greater than him if he's only his son? Right? By the way, Hebrews one thirteen says, and God never said to any of the angels sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstal under your feet. Therefore, angels are only servants, spirits sent to care for people who inherit salvation. Isn't that crazy? Yeah? So wow, you're right. I mean, what a crazy thing to know that this Psalm is quoted so much as connected to so many massive truths. Because, to be honest, I know you read this and you read through it, but unless you take the time to say, hey, I wonder how many places is pal one ten is quarter than the Testament? Right, Because I don't think I've ever done that. Well, it's only seven verses, right, it comes up I think some of the really exciting ones, and I don't know that we can get into him too much, but you know one ten, verse one will humble your enemies, and then verse six that says he will punish the nations and fill their lands. With the corpses. He'll shatter heads over the whole earth. That's talking about the final judgment right against humanity that has risen up the fight against him. And we find that in Revelation chapter six through nine. This is you know, this massive destruction of the evil people that I have risen up the fight against Christ at the end of you know, end of this planet. And he's hinting at it here and you see it actually fulfilled Revelation six through nine. Which, by the way, let's take note of the fact that here's David writing something that is going to be fulfilled eons now it still has not yet to be fulfilled. David's writing this a thousand years before Christ, right nine and fifty nine hundred and fifty years before Jesus. Yeah, and so let's just marvel. As talking on this is three thousand years ago. Right, marvel at just that one fact that David is writing something here that Jesus and other people under the direction of the Holy Spirit quote as both being fulfilled when Jesus came and then also when Jesus will come again. Right, So Jesus is quoting it as authority, yes, you know, saying, hey, he's talking about me, right, And then John writes about it, saying, and this is how it all Unpacts in Revelation sixty nine, and then talking about his eternal kingdom right, his long reign in Revelation chapter twenty. Which is also Jesus' authority right right only to come. Right, Yeah, that would be what we would consider many people say the millennium, but it would be his reign here on earth. It's it's just it's astounding to see all these references, the fact that Jesus will overcome all of the forces of evil for all time in Revelation chapter nineteen eleven through twenty one. It's pretty cool. Yeah, that's neat. And then hang on and then Acts can I read Acts two, Acts two thirty two? I think this is cool because this is Peter in the New Testament, and Acts two thirty two says this, Oh, actually, wow, let me just actually read this, Peter. I'm going to back up a few verses. Actually, in verse number twenty nine, it says, dear brothers, think about this. You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn't referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb was still here among us. But he was a prophet, and he knew that God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit on his throne. David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah's resurrection. He was saying that God not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave. Then we get the verse thirty two. God raised Jesus from the dead. Now we are all witnesses of this. Now he has exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven at God's right hand, And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out on us, just as you see and hear today. For David himself never ascended into heaven. Yet he said, then here it comes the Lord said to my Lord, said, of the place of honor at my right hand, until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet. So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, to both Lord and Messiah. Peter's words pierced their heart, and they said, to him and the other apostles, brothers, what should we do? So this is Peter in his speech to the Sanhedrin. This is Peter quoting Psalm one ten and then throwing Jesus's messiah ship into the faces of those who actually crucified him. Yeah, the Sanhedron reminded our listeners, was the supreme court of Israel at the time. Yes, So to have brought this passage, they would have viewed Psalm one ten as the passage that would declare, you know, the Messiah from David's writings. And so for him to come and quote this to them and point out the fact that Jesus and they don't have any answer, right, it is really really powerful. Wow, that's great. So who knew? I knew that Psalme ten was, you know, quite quoted. I just did not know it was quoted quite so much. And then one other thing that's mentioned in here is talking about he's a priest in the order of Melchizedeic, yes, which comes up in Hebrews. Right, Jesus is our ultimate high priest. But the character of Melchizedic for those of you that have been tracking along with this, if you remember early on Abraham or Abram, actually his name hadn't been changed to Abraham yet. Abram has a one time encounter with this priest from what eventually became Jerusalem, right Salem, and this is where Jesus died. All these things, you know, thousands of years later. But Abram has one day encounter after having a great victory over his enemies, and this priest who also happens to worship God. There weren't very many God worshipers at that time, but this priest name Melchizedek, comes out. They engage with each other even though they're strangers, and the priest reminds him, hey, God's. Good to you because he gave you victory over your enemies. And Abram was so thrilled that God had given his victory he tithed ten percent of all of the spoils of that victory to Melchizedek. And then we never hear of Melchizedic again. Just Melchizedek praises God. That's it. And so what you have is this this priest pre law. He's outside of the law of Moses at the time, so it's pre Jewish religion encountering Abram. As far as we know, this is the first religious leader that also highlighted God in Abram's life, because Abram had this encounter with God where God calls him from the era of the Keldes in Iraq and so just go to go to the place I'm going to give you. That's it. So Abram's just following God on his own, and then he has this spiritual encounter with this religious leader who also apparently was worshiping the same God. There's nothing really that we know about him other than the fact that he gives glory to God. And so he's this priest who's serving God outside of the law and yet at the same time fulfilling the law to the point that Abram says, I'm going to give a ten percent of all of my spoils to you. And the Bible says that Jesus functions as a high priest similar to Melchizedek, right fulfilling the law, but outside the law. He bruchs five. Yeah, yeah, and it's amazing. How again, once again, it's just a reminder that all of these things that happened since the Garden of Eden is nothing more than a foreshadowing that points to one day that God will solve the sin problem that was created a long time ago. Because when God gave Adam and Eve choice and they chose to go their own way, you know, he gave him freedom. God still gives us freedom today. Right. He doesn't force us to love him like robots, although he could, but that's not where true love comes from. And ever since that day when sin entered into the world, the foreshadowing was there will be a day when Jesus will come and he will take care of the sin problem of the world. And thank God that we were able to connect these thousands of dots and we can come to the conclusion, Hey, this is beyond mathematical probability, it's beyond coincidence. It is beyond anything that we could even comprehend. It takes more faith to believe that these things happen by accident or by coincidence, and somehow Jesus was able to fulfill all of these things. It's mathematically absolutely impossible. It takes more faith to believe that that isn't true. And so for our listeners today, there's a lot of complexity in this and in twenty minutes we can't possibly cover all of this stuff. We're just alluding to these little ideas. But just understand that the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Israel, saw the authority in this passage. Peter declares it Jesus, this is talking about me. John says, this is how it's all going to end. And it's all tied into this passage. It's very significant. So just take the idea that every element of the Bible is intertwined, whether we understand how it's all intertwined or not, every element of the Bible comes together. And then what's the extraordinary is it was written over a fifteen hundred year period by over forty authors, and it all comes together in this very strong, cohesive proof that God is, that God exists, that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. He's our high priest that pays the price for us, and that salvation is by grace through faith in him. Right, it all ties together, So it's really exciting even though we didn't get to really dig in deep. Sure, sure, and so on one ten all starts with a boy who would be king, there you go, and we'll continue that tomorrow on the Bible Gosh