Main idea: The victorious return of the King-priest commands a daily life reset.
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All I want for Christmas is a new left hip, a new left hip, a new left hip. Wednesday morning, 630 Sacred Heart Hospital. I get a new left hip, and so we pray for that. Pray for my poor wife. It's Christmas, and she's the glue that holds the family together, and then she's got to take care of me. So pray that I would be a blessing to her, and I could get everything done before I before I'm out of out of commission for a little bit. Our family would appreciate prayer for that as well. It's those kind of everyday issues in life, illnesses, sicknesses, that make Advent a special time to reset. You know, a lot of Advent songs like Oka Maka Emmanuel, are set in a minor key, because life, until Jesus is here, is a minor key often, and we have the difficulties to bear, whether it's relational or whether it's physical, whether it's political. This psalm that we're going to look at just gets us a reset. We're going to look at Psalm 110 open to Psalm 110 with me. It continues on in our Advent theme. Stand with me for the reading of God's Word. Notice as I read it, word shatter is also translatable as crush. Last week, we looked at Genesis 315, that the Messiah was going to come and crush the Serpent. This is now any enemy rulers who stand against Jesus at His second coming. They, they too will come under His judging, judging eye, judging scepter, so to speak, and all will be made right. I mean, that's the glorious good news we celebrated the Advent. Jesus has come. He will come again, and He will make all things right. Psalm 110, verse one, a Psalm of David. 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 freely, 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 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. This is the word of the LORD God we thank you. Indeed you give us your word. We have revelation from you, and it is as timely as any We thank You, Father that you have made a plan with the Son to redeem people for yourself, for your possession by the power of your spirit and holy trinity, we praise you this this morning for what you have given us here during our Advent season, during as we look at the scriptures for the truths here in Psalm 110 open our eyes to see Holy Spirit. We would plead for you to illuminate. Help us understand and apply what we have here in front of us. Help it give us hope. Help it give us focus. Father, I pray that You would help me as I preach to be clear, and that the insights from your word would penetrate all of our hearts and lives. We pray for others who are sick. I know that I'm grateful for the prayers of the saints. I pray for Keith Dunham, who is going to need a surgery for prostate that's been causing problems for his kidneys. Pray that You would help him and Cathy, give them comfort and strength and help all of these things move forward quickly for his relief, I pray that you would be at work across our city, we pray for churches across our city, I think of Life Center, and they'll have lots and lots of services coming in. Help them be faithful preaching the gospel, setting Jesus high. Pray that You would help them be faithful in shepherding. Pray that You would help churches that are always committed to praying for us like three crosses. I got another card from them, Christmas card. They are praying for faith, Bible Church, as they do almost monthly. As a church community, I pray that you would encourage them help, help their pastors, their their deacons and elders continue to be faithful at the. By lifting Christ high through the preaching of the Word and by faithfully caring for their people. May all of us, may all of us make you known more and more by how we live and what we say in Christ's name. Amen, you may be seated. CS Lewis is is famous as a Christian writer. If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you probably starting to come across him. He's probably one of the most quoted and quotable people of the 19th century and and you know, he's known for his fiction line, which in the wardrobe and the whole chronics of Narnia series. He's also a philosopher, but few know about his prayer life. For decades, Lewis received letters from around the world from people who asked him to pray, and at some point, he had so many coming in, he was having a hard time keeping up. He shared a car with the head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, on a way to an event that he was to speak at, and he was just sharing with the archbishop, I am really overwhelmed. I have so many prayer requests I can't finish them all. And the archbishop said, you're just going to have to learn to pray faster. I suppose that's a practical answer, Lord, this is brief and sincere. Well, imagine, if you will, a president, like the president of the US or the president of China, or the President of Russia or the King of England. Imagine a top general the army or armed forces. Imagine if one of them were the most authentic believer, most genuine believer in the world. And imagine you could send your prayer requests, and this person would pray for you, and God would hear his prayers. Yeah, I know you're like, Yeah, that's a that's a nice daydream. We're used to powerful military generals. We're used to powerful politicians and monarchs and presidents. But what Psalm 110 tells us is that when Jesus returns, we're going to see the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS also be the high priest, reigning from his throne in Jerusalem and being the ready access to the Father, praying for us. I mean, this is a powerful psalm, Psalm 110 is an already, but not yet. Psalm in that from our vantage point, 3000 years after David wrote it, the First Coming has happened. Jesus has descended, the glorious story of the baby in the manger and the angels announcing and him growing from an infant and growing into manhood, being tested in every way, never failing, working miracles, being rejected, dying in our place, on the cross, bearing the wrath of God. Three days later, he has been resurrected, and he is ascended. He has been exalted to the right hand of God. It's an already, but not yet Psalm, because some of this has already happened, but not all of it has. He is ruling, and he is acting at the right hand of the Father on the throne. But he will descend again. He will return to conquer, he will save and He will establish a new creation. This is the kind of Psalm that can provide a daily life reset, because it declares God's highest purposes. Often, a person looks at a Psalm and tries to think about the setting that the author wrote. Sometimes David would write a psalm in the cave of Adullam trying to escape Saul or the Philistines or something like that. And then there's some portion of that that gives you these types or previews of Jesus. This is not one of those. This is, this is a song that was written by David, Psalm of David, and a psalm means a song he rewrote this as be part of the song book of Israel. Churches that set Psalms to music are just following right in line with that,
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and in part because it's. A psalm without a setting, meaning it's just prophecy predicting the future. It's a psalm for any setting. This is the kind of Psalm, like lots of the passages of the Old Testament and the New Testament that set as mountain peaks in a mountain range of prophecies about Jesus and His coming to reign. There is a a real sense, as we look at this, that this can give you a reset, because here we find God the Father speaking to God the Son about his eternal plans. And yes, Advent, all by itself, is a time for a reset. Comes during this time of year in the northern hemisphere, it's the dark time of year. It's the dark time of year for lots of reasons, although it's the most wonderful time of year, it's not the most wonderful time of year. And so the season is a time for reset. It's convenient, isn't it, that we hit the Advent kind of language, and we're looking at Psalm 110 just before you get a chance to make your New Year's resolutions, you get a seasonal reset. The Psalms a reason for a daily reset, and we're going to unpack how that that falls. Here's the big idea for today, to take away the victorious Return of the King priest. This is not a phrase we're used to setting to set together, but Jesus is going to return as the king priest. He is King priest in heaven. He will be king priest when he returns, and the news of this return commands a response from us. It's not first about us, it's first about what God the Father and God the Son are doing, and the Holy Spirit is revealing that to us. It's not first about us, but it does include us. You have to ask yourself, when you have news like this, how am I responding to it?
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And I could justify that from a couple of verses from the Gospels, for instance, in the Sermon on the Mount, when we are given the daily Lord's prayer, Jesus commands every disciple to pray this way, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, bring the kingdom. When I use that prayer, it's bring it in me first for this situation, until Jesus shows up and takes over. It's a prayer for kingdom, living until the Second Coming, Jesus would say, in regard to our anxieties, Matthew, chapter six goes on and there's worry over food, worry over clothes, worry over shelter. Am I going to have enough of those things. And Jesus says, Don't worry about those. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added. All your daily needs will be met. Jesus teaches his followers to be ready for his return at any moment. Luke, 1235, through 40. We'll look at that in a little bit. So let me ask the question right now for you, what is occupying the greatest brain space in your life? I know right now it's the sermon. I'm not thinking about anything else, but the sermon while you're laughing, no, but you probably got a bunch of things that have to happen, and it's taking a brain space. Go ahead, you could even write it down. This is taking all my brain space. Have you ever sat on hold for service for an insurance claim? You're tied to that tinny echoey hold music? I mean, unfortunately, with the insurance company, usually there's nobody on the line. Is your business is valuable to us? Please stay on the line. No, the music just keeps playing. There's a significant amount of money on the line and, like, those kind of hours, like, there's hardly anything else you can do. If you know you have to have one of those phone calls, you're like, oh, I have to have one of those phone calls today. Have you ever been in a project, protracted argument with your spouse? No, I'm sure you never have, has it felt at those times like nothing else in the world exists? Of course, you have, are you single, wanting to date, and Saturday night came and went and you were alone for another weekend. I mean, loneliness can take up a lot of brain space. Yes. How about food allergies? Do you have severe food allergies? Are you a parent of a child with severe food allergies? I mean, it takes so much work to eat the next meal just to go grocery shopping. All right, it's got 400 ingredients. I am sure I'm allergic. This has one ingredient. I'm also allergic, like man, either me or my kids, that stuff takes up a lot of brain space, doesn't it? Those are just the personal issues you could have. Your national issues. Every election in recent memory is is set by somebody, some pundit somewhere. This is the most important election in history. Okay, I guess I should be whipped up in a frenzy about it. Then it could be international. A new war has broken out. There's a new regime in a Middle Eastern country, an old war is dragging on one of your friends that you texted a couple weeks ago died in battle like those. Those things are, they take up a lot of brain space. They get our attention. So a psalm like this, and then how Jesus applies it. Just Jesus applies it. We're going to see how others apply it. This is a great place to come for a reset, because seeing the overarching plan of God and redemptive purposes of God, seeing the overwhelming victory that is yet ahead. Can give you endurance. It can it can help you keep holding on. It can help you take the next step forward and a hard day and a hard week. It can also make sure that you make things that seem big to you because they're right in your face. You can make them small again by seeing Christ where he is. That's what we hope to do today. I mean, what this? This Psalm has the components of a great daily reset, an Advent reset, a new year resolution reset. We're going to unpack the Psalm as we continue on our Advent series, they're simple enough, number one, hear the prophecy of His coming. So the first thing to do is be ready to listen when God speaks, when the Lord says something, we should listen. And that's true anywhere in the Bible. Here we have, we have almost a conversation between God the Father and God the Son. It's properly it's a prophecy that David's giving from God the Father to God the Son. We get an we get a sit in the room listen to the prophecy opens up with a Psalm of David, verse one. King David's writing a song for Israel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus says in Mark chapter 12. There's this episode in Mark 1235, it's repeated in other gospels as well. Jesus says David himself in the Holy Spirit declared. And then he quotes the psalm Spirit inspired. So here you have God the Spirit inspiring this prophecy from God the Father to God the Son. It's an inter Trinitarian conversation going on. It's a prophetic Psalm. No no specific circumstances, just giving us a view to the future from David's vantage point, which is curious, because he is the king. It's entirely about Messiah's future rule, and it continues the theme we saw last week, about how messiah will crush his enemies. You'll notice the footstool and the Shatter language in here. Footstool that was an ancient, Near Eastern way to say that when I'm sitting on my throne, the neck of my enemy will be my comforting footstool. Quite an image. Chatter is in the last verses is also translated as crush i
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He will crush his enemies and establish righteousness and peace. It's an inter Trinitarian Psalm, and when you read it, it can't it can be a little bit confusing, because you have the Lord says to my Lord and the you and your and who's talking to who? When? Okay, let's sort it out. First of all, we have the Lord says to my Lord, and the language is actually the language of a prophecy or an Oracle, a serious, sober, mysterious pronouncement, an Oracle. Ian.
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And it had confounded interpreters all the way into Jesus day, if we're to translate it, which helps you sort out what what language is going on Yahweh says to my Adonai, Yahweh, the covenant name of God, the relationship name of God to His people, Israel, speaking to Adonai, my lord David, David has given a revelation that he will serve a master that will be God, yet the master will be distinct from Yahweh, and remember David is significant, because in Second Samuel chapter seven, when David takes the throne, he is told that he will start a dynasty, that an offspring would come, and that his throne would endure forever. It seems like from about 350 years after this to the time Jesus came, that the prophecy had been abandoned, not so there is a Messiah coming. All the Jews looked to this passage as a passage for the coming of the Messiah. What's curious about it is that King David was going to serve a lord, but he knew that his son was also going to be Messiah. And when Jesus goes to the Pharisees in Mark chapter 12, for instance, says, So, what does this mean? David saying, by the Holy Spirit the Lord, said to my Lord, Sit at your right hand. The answer is this God the Father, sending God the Son, the Son of Man, to be Messiah. David is predicting that his offspring, Son of man, will also be son of God, and He will take the throne of heaven and earth. I mean, this is a prophecy that you need to listen to friend. He says this, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. This is the picture of exaltation. Philippians, two talks about exaltation, where at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess this is, this is the picture of exaltation. Sit at my right hand. But God, what Yahweh is saying to Adonai here is that I am going to set you at my right hand. I am going to give you the place of preeminence. You're going to sit on the throne with me until I make your enemies your footstool, until I win the victory on your behalf. Remember, Sit at my right hand is not rest. It is start ruling, because to sit on the throne was to be in session. Didn't mean you were literally sitting. It meant the rain is in session. The raining is happening, and you have God the Father and God the Son, working together to vanquish or conquer their enemies, until I make your enemies your foot. So why do you need to listen to this friend? Why do you need to listen? You need to ask yourself, which side are you on right now? Are you a friend of God through faith and repentance, believing on Lord the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you an enemy of God, living your own life, worshiping your own gods, or your own god substitutes, because one day, God will make you a footstool for Jesus feet. If you're his enemy, you
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this is a continuation of that promise that we saw last week from Genesis 315 of Messiah defeating Satan and his forces. This time, it's going to be earthly rules, rulers and earthly enemies, and Jesus, Peter Paul and the writer to the Hebrews all quote this verse. It's the most quoted verse, most quoted Psalm in the New Testament, Yahweh will elevate David's Lord to His right hand, and he will have the place of preeminence over all things. So are you a friend or are you an enemy? Friends of God are those who trust and submit to Him? Notice Next it says, The Lord sends forth from Zion, your mighty scepter. Now something's happened in between this exaltation and this next phrase here in the Psalm. It happens in the transition from verse one to verse two, the Lord sends forth from Zion. Where is Zion? Well, Zion was well known to the Jews as the pinnacle of the Mount in Jerusalem. David built the city of David on Zion in the city of David was the king's palace and the Temple Mount. So there in that one city, king and priest resided, send forth from Zion Zechariah and others are going to talk about Messiah returning from the Mount of Olives, taking the city, back, reclaiming it, and then extending his reign from Zion in the transition. This is the descent of the Lord Jesus, stepping into Jerusalem, and he is now going to take the rule of all the nations. The Lord sends forth. Yahweh sends forth from Zion, your Adonai, your Jesus, your mighty scepter. Yahweh is going to extend his reign through Messiah from Jerusalem, all over the earth. And notice he says, rule in the midst of your enemies. He will not just win a decisive victory over his enemies. He will do that. Revelation 19 is this fullest picture of this victory, but he will also establish his reign in their midst. Now, how does that work? Revelation 19, you have all the armies being destroyed, and then you have Jesus spreading out his reign. What happens? Well, only the armies go to war in the battle. All the other nations are around the world. And Jesus will send his people. He will reign through his people all over the earth. He will rule in their midst, offering restoration and salvation or justice and punishment, depending on the response, but He will establish His reign in their midst. I mean, for for Yahweh is faithful, there's hardly a more comforting word in a world that is always putting some new obstacle to following Yahweh in their path, some new idol, some persecution, some policy that makes it more difficult. This has happened for all of history. There's hardly a more comforting word he is going to rule in our midst.
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The fulfillment has already begun. Jesus has sent the Spirit to believers in Jerusalem at that exaltation Acts chapter two after Jesus was exalted in chapter one, and he took the right hand of the throne in chapter two of Acts, He sends His Holy Spirit, and ever since then, throughout the through the prophecy of or through the proclamation of the apostles and now us believers, Jesus is subduing his enemies. He's subduing them through the Good News of the Gospel, announcing that there is a king who reconciles enemies. It's already happening, but there is a day happening when enemies will not stand against his gospel. Are you hearing this? Is is Jesus Christ on his throne while you're on hold with the insurance company? Is Jesus Christ on the throne as you read the ingredient lists on packages? Is Jesus Christ on the throne while you're in conflict, while you have bouts of depression or loneliness. Is he on the throne when war breaks out? Is he on the throne when the stock market falls? Do you believe the Spirit's words here? If you believe the Spirit's words here, then you will experience the fruit of the Spirit and how you respond to all the daily difficulties, annoyances and setbacks of life. You'll experience the fruit of the Spirit in your speech, in your conduct, in your waiting, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self control, they're gonna mark your interactions and dealing with the daily realities of a fallen world like I could never figure out the new remote control. I don't, I don't. I forgot my 400th password, and then I forgot. Out I know I have a password program, which I forgot the password to the password program. Can I keep the fruit of the Spirit over all things? So first hear the prophecy. I mean all those things, as difficult as they are, 630 in the morning, show up to the surgeon. They're going to rip my hip out. They're going to put titanium in, and I'm going to be the bionic hip. It's small. It's small. It's small in light of the transcendent glory of the reign of God through Christ, hear the prophecy, which then calls for this, offering yourself freely. Offering yourself freely. This is just, this is the news of what's going to happen. It's a prophecy, but it calls us that is this going to be me? Is this going to be you? Since Jesus is going to win, when the wisdom says you should seek to be pleasing to Him. Verse three says Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments, Jesus, prophecy, David prophesies, what later Jesus will command seek, first, the kingdom. Notice the three big what, when and hows that show up at the first half of this verse, the what, which is voluntary worship. They said they will offer themselves freely. It's an Old Testament phrase for a free will. Offering. In the Old Testament, you have prescribed sacrifices, prescribed festivals. You were commanded to do them, you were in trouble. If you didn't, then there were free will offerings. Free Will offerings were the things voluntary, because you were you were overwhelmed by God's grace and a blessing, and so you went and gave an extra offering. You were profoundly moved by God's worthiness to be Lord of your life, and so you went and gave a Free Will offering. This is what he's talking about. They understood the terms when Messiah splits the skies to enter Earth his people will be offering him themselves freely to him. Paul is going to use the language of living sacrifice in Romans 12. Hebrews 13 is going to talk about the language of a sacrifice of praise, Thanksgiving. So are you hearing this? Are you offering yourself freely to him as worship? Notice the wind in the day of his power. This is language of that second coming in glory to claim the physical Earth, back from satan and back from Satan's servants, although they're the kings of the earth often Isaac Watts wrote a great hymn. One of the lines in it calls this a day of glory, a day of dread. No man can stand before him. This is the day of God's power, a power of conquest. No enemy can stand and friends can only stand in faith and in holiness. When he comes, will He be ready? Look at the how in holy garments. They need to be pursuing holiness and righteousness and character. This is going to be characteristic of those that are friends of God, those who are servants of God, those who are children of God. They're going to be dressing themselves in Christ like character, treating their family in a Christ like way, having a Christ like concern for society, the poor, the needy, holy garments.
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Notice the mixed poetry here might be not be transparent. If you're not living in a desert, middle eastern land. Notice this engaging poetry here it says, From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours again, David's prophesying about Messiah and Messiah's people. The womb of the morning refers not just to sunrise. It does refer to that if we think of Malachi promise about the sunrise from on High shall visit us, talking about John the Baptist is coming. John the Baptist will prepare the way for Jesus, and then the sunrise from on High shall visit us. He is talking about a sunrise. But you've got this. Double emphasis with this, with the womb of the morning, because what does a baby signify? New life. You have new life. New Creation, a new start. It's not just the womb of the morning speaking of a new sunrise, but a new day with a new creation is dawning. Ian, when Jesus returns to rule from Jerusalem, it will be the dawn of a new creation for the world, for God's people. Then there's the dew of the youth will be yours. Remember, in arid climates like Israel, Dew is the refreshing water that covers the land at sunrise. Sometimes in an arid climate, the water on the plants is the only water you can collect. It's a poetic device talking about the new creation and Messiah will be active and energetic, eternally, like a youth. And so will Messiah's people. They will be forever young. It's not just an 80s song. You'll be forever young.
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It, there is a youthfulness, a vitality and an energy that is coming with Messiah. So how do we respond? How do we offer ourselves willingly? Well, one is in holy garments. Another is in freely offering our lives, our resources to God, First John three, two through three says, Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. We're not everything we're going to be yet, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And every everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure, a daily reset, an Advent reset, a new a new set of resolutions at New Year, be a good Time. I got like, how about this roommate or spouse. What are sinful habits that are less than a blessing for your spouse? This is, this is one of the things I'm prone to. It's less than a blessing for my spouse. It's actually hard for my roommates, hard for my what if that was one of your results? What if there was a resolve that you would pursue Christ like character, that would kill an old sinful habit, and it would bless the people who are immediately in your life, I just immediately started a fight between you and your spouse because your spouse is saying, like, I've got one if you want to know, got one if you want to know. A daily reset includes offering your self willing to God, willingly to God every day. Daily reset offers that a daily reset makes you ready for his return. Luke 1234, through 35 Jesus starts that parable about the return of a of a man coming back from a wedding. And he says, Be dressed and ready for action. And he finishes that section by saying, for the man of for the Son of Man will return at an hour you do not expect what is predicted here is in any moment, possibility. Right now, are you ready to offer yourself to God willingly? Here, offer third. Draw near. Draw near for help. God is sending his king, who will also be a priest. You could get the idea from one through three that all there's going to be is military conquest, but Jesus will be installed as the high priest. Verse four, it's the high point of the Psalm. It's it's the apex the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The reference to Melchizedek is to Genesis 14. Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God Abraham. Went into battle to rescue his son lot rescue some of the other nobles from Sodom and Gomorrah, and on their release and on the captivity, he returns by Jerusalem Melchizedek is the King of Righteousness. That's literally what the name means. He is the king of Salem Abraham offers him a tithe. Mel. Melchizedek prays for him. Here you have a priest that is not in the line of the Levites. All the other priesthood established then in Exodus and Leviticus, they were all Levitical priests. This is going to be a priest outside of that order. It's going to be the in the order of Melchizedek, King of Righteousness, king of peace. Now notice it says The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. It would be enough for us if Yahweh had sworn. We trust Yahweh and His character. The Lord has sworn. Why are we doubling up and will not change his mind? It is for the purpose of rhetoric, let's cement this in our minds, God doesn't go back on his promises. We were recently watching a Netflix series. It illustrates our problem. The main character was a widower mourning over his failures to his daughter after his his wife had died, he had promised his wife that even though she got dementia, he would never put her in memory care. But at the very end, he just couldn't care for her and keep her safe. He was riddled with guilt. He had to move her. He was telling his daughter how he had failed her mother. I promised your mother, I failed her. And she said, Dad, the woman you made that promise to was gone a long time ago. You You didn't fail. That's an illustration of the best promises humans make. You just can't always come through. You'll want to come through and you can't. Sometimes we're foolish making promises that we can't deliver on, and sometimes we're sinful making promises we know we're not going to come through on, but that is not the case with Yahweh and Jesus. There is no circumstance in heaven or on earth that can ever make Yahweh go back on his promise. He has the power to follow through whatever circumstance comes. So he says the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest in the order of Melchizedek. Why that promise that God won't go back on? Jump over to Hebrews five and seven if you if you have a paper Bible, or you want to turn there. Just listen. If not, you can. You can look at these chapters later, because two whole chapters in the book of Hebrews deal with this psalm. Hebrews, five, seven says, quoting from this, this verse, this passage, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's the quote Psalm 110 in the days of his flesh. Writer of Hebrews, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Jesus poured out His heart in prayer. We could think about what Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, for instance, And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, being designated by God, a High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek. There in Hebrews chapter five, there is one person who can allow you, or grant you access into the presence of the Father. It is Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice, through His resurrection and through his place as high priest, and he is the only one you can come to for access to God. You if you're going to be saved from the king's wrath, you have to come through the king's priest. Jesus is the priest. Chapter Seven, same book says this He Jesus holds his priesthood permanently, unlike the Levitical priests, soon as they died, they're out. Soon as they get too old, they're out. They die, they're out. They get too old, they're out. But he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. He is resurrected in a glorified body, God and Man glorified. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. I mean, notice those phrases, save to the uttermost. What does save to the uttermost? Mean, get you all the way to the end into glory. Glory, whatever the difficulty, whatever the annoyance, whatever the challenge, whatever the trial, whatever the temptation, whatever the failure, Jesus is able to save to the uttermost, deliver into glory those who draw near to God through Him, you may fall to temptation, you may fall to trial, you may fall to difficulty. But he is able to say, save to the uttermost notice this other phrase, since he always lives to make intercession for them, always lives He is eternal, so that's secure. He is always on duty and he never gets tired. Since he is God, and the Father is God, they can communicate quick about everything. I but I want you to notice this always lives. Yeah, he's an eternal but let's, let's think of a different phrase. There's probably something in your life that makes you excited to get up in the morning, you know? So the phrase, what do you got to live for? Now? Jesus never gets up in the morning. Okay, but he's got something to live for.
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He has something to live for. What does he live for? He lives to intercede for you. He's praying for you when you're not praying for you, and he's praying for you when others aren't praying for you. He lives to make intercession, to pray and when you come, however misdirected your prayers are mis motivated. Your prayers are Jesus hears it and tells the Father, this is what they need. Whatever occupies your mind, commands your attention, tempts you, robs your peace. Is a prompt to do what to draw near to God. It's a prompt to draw near to God a daily reset, hears anew God's cosmic plans through Christ offers itself willingly to God as worship, and then draws near in prayer. You're going to have to help me, Lord, because do you know I've got to call the insurance company today,
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I had another friend die in war today. I day. I'm in another fight with my spouse. Today, I'm going to need your help. Leads us to the fourth remember Judgment Day? Remember Judgment Day? There's a day coming, a judgment day coming. You heard the phrase of being on the right side of history. It's kind of a common political phrase. People like to say it. News pundits like to say it. Media pundits like to say it. And these elites, so called elites, imagine that a modern person has a modern morality, and you want to land up on the land on the right side of history. So a president is very thoughtful about what his legacy is going to be. Do you know what it means to stay on the right side of history? It means to live to please God, who has eternal justice and an eternal holy standard that he applies equally to all people. To be on the right side of the history means that you trust in his son, and you seek to follow the son's will.
49:09
Verse five says the Lord is at your right hand. Here we have the picture now of Messiah going out from Jerusalem, reigning through His saints, visiting the nations to fight against them, to subdue them. The Lord is at your right hand. Yahweh promises to strengthen Adonai Jesus as he goes out in Conquest. And it says he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. Here is that crush language. That's what that word can be translated as. When the Messiah comes, the father is going to join the work, and he will empower him. And here's our word about the Head Crusher again, this time it's going to be the governmental enemies of God. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. Ian. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. Revelation, 19 pictures this of the armies. Zechariah five describes any remaining, any remaining resistance, being punished as Jesus extends his reign. Zechariah five describes it taking months to bury all the dead. Jesus is returning to judge his enemies and his people's enemies. What really matters at the end of the day and at the end of your life is that you have sought to please Him.
50:40
God will conquer his enemies, He will establish a reign of righteousness and peace on the earth. Little more poetry finishes it out, and it's again in that new creation theme, once he conquers his enemies, there is a new creation that's going to affect government, and it's going to affect the land itself. It is going to finish up what was started in Genesis one and two. It makes a statement. He will drink from the brook. By the way, this Brook is the idea of a wadi in Israel, the winter rains and spring rains fill what are otherwise the desert hills, they'll get all their rain in a short period of time, and it's going to matriculate down. It's going to fill the aquifers. And a wadi is a seasonal river bed. In the spring, it's going to be flowing with basically spring fed rivers. Here is a picture of of the spring, the new beginning, the water gushing from it. Messiah himself will stoop in in the desert that is now going to become a garden, now going to become an oasis, and as he is conquering, he will bend over, so to speak, he will raise a cupped hand, and he will drink fresh water. That's that's the visual imagery of the conqueror. He will lift up his head the poetic imagery meaning. He will establish this new creation. He will restore the Earth itself that will bring new life to his people, new life to the earth, a restoration to the planet, mankind will be blessed with abundance from the King, priest. Imagine a president, a general, a truly godly leader that could send you could send prayer requests too. Could you imagine that that is just who Jesus is. That is just who he will be here on earth. You will notice it in the Christmas carols. When you sing Joy to the world, you're going to sing about a restored earth, not just poetic imagery. Jesus, when He returns, you will see the high king, the Commander in Chief, the high priest, all in one. He is God to worship, king to serve, general with whom you will ride into battle, and priest who prays for you, He will come again. All mankind that gives its allegiance to him will be able to come and make whatever request they need, and he will usher them into the presence of the Father, and their request will be answered.
54:02
This is the kind of Psalm that gives us a reset to endure. Let's pray, Father, thank you for what you have given us in this psalm. We love it. We love our Advent season. Jesus, you are a powerful king. We already know it by what you have accomplished in our spiritual salvation, and we look forward to our physical resurrection in this world's resurrection, a new creation, new heaven and a new earth. In the difficulty of a winter, as we face assorted trials of life, we would pray that this would renew our hope in you, it's in Christ's name. Amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is teaching pastor and team leader at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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