WORD From The Woods
As Christmas draws near, I want to look at one of my favorite passages that the old testament jews had pointing forward to the coming Messiah. It might even be God’s favorite Psalm since it’s the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. We know it was a prophetic Psalm about the coming Messianic King because of how it’s applied by the New Testament authors.
Psalm 110
“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 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.”
To understand how powerful and awesome this Psalm really is I want to look at a couple of New Testament passages. The first is Mark 16:19. This is right after Jesus gave His disciples the great commission to take the gospel to the world and ascended to heaven. “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” Another important passage is, 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” I point to these passages to remind us of where Christ is this Christmas season! So that, when we sing “joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King,” We are mindful of what that really means. After His earthly ministry, Christ ascended to heaven, where He sat down at the right hand of the Father and was given authority over all things to rule and reign over His kingdom! With that in mind read Psalm 110 again. This might seem like an odd passage for Christmas, but it’s why the baby in the manger came to earth. Because without a savior, as enemies of God, we would all face the wrath of God spoken of in Psalm 110, and He will rule and reign until all of His enemies are defeated! But, in Christ, we will stand before God dressed in the Holy garments of the righteousness of King Jesus! We can be sure of this because the Lord has sworn it and will not change His mind. Think about that for a minute or two, the Lord God, Creator of everything, has sworn this, He has made a covenant, and He will not change His mind. And that is something worth celebrating this Christmas!
God Bless, have a great week and Merry CHRISTmas! -Terry-
As Christmas draws near, I want to look at one of my favorite passages that the old testament jews had pointing forward to the coming Messiah. It might even be God’s favorite Psalm since it’s the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. We know it was a prophetic Psalm about the coming Messianic King because of how it’s applied by the New Testament authors.
Psalm 110
“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 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.”
To understand how powerful and awesome this Psalm really is I want to look at a couple of New Testament passages. The first is Mark 16:19. This is right after Jesus gave His disciples the great commission to take the gospel to the world and ascended to heaven. “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” Another important passage is, 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” I point to these passages to remind us of where Christ is this Christmas season! So that, when we sing “joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King,” We are mindful of what that really means. After His earthly ministry, Christ ascended to heaven, where He sat down at the right hand of the Father and was given authority over all things to rule and reign over His kingdom! With that in mind read Psalm 110 again. This might seem like an odd passage for Christmas, but it’s why the baby in the manger came to earth. Because without a savior, as enemies of God, we would all face the wrath of God spoken of in Psalm 110, and He will rule and reign until all of His enemies are defeated! But, in Christ, we will stand before God dressed in the Holy garments of the righteousness of King Jesus! We can be sure of this because the Lord has sworn it and will not change His mind. Think about that for a minute or two, the Lord God, Creator of everything, has sworn this, He has made a covenant, and He will not change His mind. And that is something worth celebrating this Christmas!
God Bless, have a great week and Merry CHRISTmas! -Terry-