Psalms 108-110

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Psalm 108:1-13

A Song or Psalm of David.

“Psalm 108, ah, we’ll read through it, “O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; that thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me. God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver; Moab is my washpot: over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph. Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts? Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.”

Introduction

I wonder as we read through that, if it sounds familiar to you. Because this 108^th Psalm, the first five verses are from Psalm 57, verses 5 to 11, and then verses 6 to 13 are from Psalm 60, verses 5 to 12. So it isn’t an original Psalm in that sense. It is a compilation, there’s two sections of two other Psalms that are taken, and so it’s a repetition. That in itself should cause our antenna to go up and ask a question. The first Psalms when they were written, were written by David. It tells us here, this Song is a Song of David, it’s actually a compilation of two songs that David wrote, centuries before this. The first part of it, David wrote when he came to the Cave of Adullam, if you read the introduction in Psalm 57, it’s when he was in the cave hiding from Saul. And from verses 6 onward, it tells us, it’s when Joab led the armies of David, and they had the great victory in the Valley of Saul, there were 12,000 of those of Edom. So, here we have, centuries later, when the children of Israel [the Jews, not the northern 10-tribed children of Israel] come back from the Babylonian Captivity to the land. And the interesting thing is, one of the Psalmists at that point in time, takes two of David’s Psalms that were applicable hundreds of years before this, and makes them applicable to the current circumstance. So he takes the half of Psalm 57 that deals with David praising in a very difficult circumstance, he takes the half of the other Psalm that speaks of victory, the fact that God can give great victory, and he brings them together. And the interesting thing is here we have the promises and the prayers of old applied to a new generation. Here we have the Word of God written long before this, the dust is blown off of it, and it’s brought back to a new generation, and we’re praying to see that now. You know, we are certainly praying to see that now, because there’s all kinds of other alternatives being offered. They hear of things that were written centuries before, they find themselves in incredible difficult circumstances, and yet the Word of God is enough. Charles Spurgeon says “God’s not repeating himself because he runs out of excellent things to say, [where] he could have come up with completely new things.” Somewhere in this there’s a demonstration. ‘You know, what kept David in the Cave, is what can keep my people now. And the victories I granted them of old are the ones that I can grant now.’

A Song Of David In The Cave Of Adullam

A Psalm of David, “O God, my heart is fixed;” we would sing ‘I have decided to follow Jesus.’ “I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.” (verse 1) ‘I’m going to lift everything I have up to you.’ “Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.” (verse 2) here’s David, going through the process, a boy, come to the battlefield, gone out and faced the giant, the champion of the Philistines, slew Goliath, gave great victory to the people of God, and went forth in the name of the Living God, comes into the tent of Saul, and he’s dragging the head of Goliath and the sword of the giant. And Saul, and Jonathan falls in love with him at that point in time, he’s at least 30 years older than David, and David’s 17, and Jonathan’s probably over 50 years old by that time, and just falls in love with this young man [not romantically of course], and he ends up leading the armies of Saul. The people are singing ‘Saul hath killed his thousands, but David hath slain his tens of thousands,’ and Saul becomes jealous, and he puts out a contract on David, he looses his mind. [This situation was repeated, in a sense, by J. Edgar Hoover toward his lead G-man, Melvin Purvis, after Melvin gained wide press notoriety for the killing of John Dillinger, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Read the book “Vendetta” by Alston Purvis, © 2005. It’s very sad, but professional jealousy is a common evil that hurts the innocent.] And David goes through the whole process of, with Michal his wife, Saul’s daughter, hiding, and then he flees, she says he’s sick, the whole process, they go back to Saul, say, ‘He really looks bad,’ she put goat-hair on a pillow, ‘We don’t know what he’s got, but we don’t want to catch it,’ Saul said, ‘I don’t care, go back and get him out of there,’ and he goes back, and when he goes there, it’s not David, and he’s furious, David flees to Samuel, and Samuel says ‘You can’t stay here,’ David goes through this whole process, he goes to Jonathan, and there’s the whole deal with the arrows. And you watch David, in the most difficult days of his life, the LORD has told him, ‘I have great plans for you, you’ve been anointed to be king of Israel,’ everything that a young man would take hold of and hold onto, but David was not yet the king, he was anointed to be. The character that God wanted to see in him was not yet formed, and God doesn’t send him to a counselor, nothing wrong with counselors, but in this situation, the LORD takes away his job, takes away his wife and his home, takes away his counselor, Samuel, takes away his best friend, Jonathan, he isolates, and isolates, and isolates, because the healthiest place for David to be, after he goes to Gath and acts like an insane person, he dribbles on his beard and scratches on the door, and Agag says ‘Look, I already have a staff, do I need more government workers around here that are crazy? Get rid of this guy.’ And he ends up in the Cave of Adullam. And somehow there his heart wakes up, he picks up his harp again, takes his guitar out, he says “Awake, psaltery and harp: I will awake early”, he begins to write. These are songs of the caveman. You know, if you’re a caveman or a cavewoman tonight, when everything else has been stripped away, nobody understands but you understand perfectly. This is the song of cavemen and cave-gals, whoever they are, cave-sisters, you know. These are good things to read through, “O God, my heart is fixed” that’s remarkable, in the circumstance he was in, and it was remarkable for the people returning from the Babylonian Captivity, to remember that God’s Word doesn’t change, and neither does he. “I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.” (verses 1-3) here’s a guy whose got nothing, he says ‘I’m gonna stand in front of the nations, LORD, I’m gonna sing your praise.’ “For thy mercy is great above the heavens:” which he can’t even see, he’s looking at the ceiling of a cave, “and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;” (verses 4-5)

A Compilation Of Things Of The Past That Are Applicable Today

Now, in verse 6 it switches to Psalm 60, verses 5 to 12, that speaks of the great victory that Joab had, a Psalm of David over the Edomites. Now, you can’t join the grammar, verse 5 says “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; that…” “that” in verse 6 is not a reason for what he just said in verse 5, there’s a beginning statement here, “that thy beloved may be delivered:” that’s your statement, ‘this is what, LORD, I’m asking you to do, that your beloved may be delivered,’ “save with thy right hand, and answer me. God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;” (verses 6-8) [he just mentioned three major tribes of Israel, two of which are historically lost, and the Jews privately debate where in the world could they be?] LORD, all of these things are his. Now he moves to the foreign nations that surround Israel, “Moab is my washpot:” that’s not a compliment, by the way, sorry Moe, ‘Moab’s the place where I’ll wash my dirty feet.’ a basin for washing dirty feet, “Moab is my washpot: over Edom will I cast out my shoe;” that’s not good either, by the way. These were the enemies that thought they were going to defeat, in the early days, David, who was the greatest king that nation had seen. “over Philistia will I triumph. Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?” (verse 9b-10) ‘to Petra?, who will get me into that rock fortress?’ “Wilt not thou, O God who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts?” (verse 11) and we wonder how much of this may be prophetic, looking at the last days, it’s hard to be dogmatic. “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.” (verse 12) Everybody over 50 understands that. “Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.” (verse 13) So this song for difficult times, a compilation of things of the past that are applicable to the present day. The whole Bible is like that for us. So, interesting Psalm.

Psalm 109:1-31

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

“Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. For my love they are adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul. But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust. My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads. Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy: that they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.”

Introduction

Psalm 109, again, it says ‘A Psalm of David’, ah, it is for the chief Musician, which meant it was, when it was written, to be played publicly. It’s an interesting Psalm, there’s a plea to the LORD in the first five verses, then verses 6 to 20, it’s an imprecatory prayer, where he’s asking for vengeance on, ‘Get the bad guys.’ And the, and all the scholars say that this is the most severe imprecation in the entire book of Psalms. This is the most severe plea, you know, for vengeance, for God to strike down the enemy in any Psalm in the whole book of Psalms. And then it comes around to the end again, from verses 21 on, pleading with the LORD one more time. So it’s an interesting picture. Now look, just so you understand, we have the word “adversary” here in verse 4, “For my love they are my adversaries”, down in verse 6 where it says “Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand” that’s an interesting play on words, because that’s the word “adversary”, “Let the adversary stand at his right hand”, over in verse 20, “Let this be the reward of mine adversaries”, and again in verse 29, “Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame,” So these are not just people that are gossiping, these are not just people that are picking on David behind his back, this is real life-threatening things, these are people who really want to hurt him and destroy him. He calls them “the wicked, the deceitful, the lying tongue,” they’re filled with hatred, they’re persecuting him without a cause, he says, again “for evil, for hatred.” He goes through all of this. And then he moves into a section where he says ‘Get ‘em LORD, do this, do that, do this, do that,’ and you’re going to notice as we get to verse 6, and you on your own can circle in your Bible, it has the word “let” 22 times. ‘Let this happen, let that happen, let this happen,’ or ‘allow this to happen to them, LORD, allow this…’ The interesting thing is, David doesn’t take things into his own hands. He understands somehow, “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the LORD.” He didn’t take things into his own hands. With Saul, as he fled like a partridge in the mountains. And here, in the most difficult circumstances, David is saying to the LORD, ‘Let this happen,’ understanding that the LORD’s in charge of what happens, he’s sovereign. ‘Let this happen, LORD, allow this to happen to them, LORD, I need you to allow this to happen,’ “allow this” 22 times as we go through here, you’re going to hear him say that. And the interesting thing is, the most unjust thing that’s ever happened in human history, is for human beings to take the Son of God, who only did good to them, he healed, he opened the eyes of the blind, he said “For which of these good works are you persecuting me?” The most unjust, wicked thing that was ever done was how he was beaten and spit upon, and then hung on the cross and mocked as he was there. So, there are very interesting shades of that here. If you look in verse 8, verse 8 says, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office” or bishopric, this is the verse that Peter quotes in Acts chapter 1, when they’re trying to come up with replacement for Judas, the betrayer. And Peter says “As it is written, let another take his office”, if you look in verse 25, it says there, “I became a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.” Matthew 27:39, the religious leaders going by, and shaking their heads at him on the cross. So those shadows and shades are in here, very interestingly, as we go through.

The Most Difficult Kind Of Betrayal

Here’s the Psalm, “Hold not thy peace,” ‘I don’t want you to hold back,’ “O God of my praise; for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.” (verses 1-2) ‘LORD, what they’re saying is not true,’ “They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without cause.” (verse 3) and notice, “fought against me”, so these are adversaries. There’s action, there’s not just words here, they “fought against me without cause.” Notice what he said, “without cause.” And here his heart is open and ruptured. “For my love they are my adversaries” ‘I love them, and for doing good to them, for reaching out,’ ‘For my love, what do I get? They are my adversaries.' “But I give myself unto prayer.” (verse 4) “And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” (verse 5) This is the most difficult kind of betrayal [I know all about this kind of betrayal, and it hurts deep down into my soul], you know, those who are closest to you, and we know that here, because he says he loves them. He had done good unto them, he had loved them. So, that’s not the guy down the street, that’s not the guy that works in the hardware store, these are people close enough that you look at them and say ‘This is unjust, this is deceitful, they’re fighting against me without a cause, I love them. And what do I get? I get this thrown in my face, you know, I went the extra mile, I did everything I could for them, I loved them,’ and he says ‘And for my love, they’ve become my adversaries, “and they rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” (verse 5) And what he says, in the middle of that, “but” what I do, he says, “but I give myself unto prayer.” (verse 4b) I have a little question mark in my Bible there, says “Do I?”. Because lots of times, I don’t really do this, I’m just going to tell you, so you feel better about yourself. Lots of times when people talk about me or war against me, or stab me in the back, I get a posse together. ‘That’s terrible, ok, you can be part of my posse, ‘Oh you’re right,’ ‘ok, you can be part of my posse.’ And we tend to want to do that. David says, ‘I’m deeply hurt, this was unjust,’ but this is a guy who learned things in the Cave of Adullam, when he was completely…and he says ‘What I did, I gave myself to prayer. LORD, you’re my strength, I trust in you.’ That’s a remarkable, remarkable thing. Now it isn’t that he attitude was great, as we read into this. Let’s look and see what he says.

David Prays For Vengeance, But Doesn’t Take It Into His Own Hands

But this is what he says to the LORD, ‘LORD,’ “Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.” (verse 6) King James says “let Satan stand at his right hand.” It’s “let an adversary stand at his right hand.” So, “When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.” (verse 7) ‘LORD, he’s not asking for anything that’s right, don’t listen to what he says.’ “Let his days to be few; and let another take his office.” (verse 8) So David’s forming a posse, a posse of two, him, and God. And he’s saying ‘LORD, do this to him, let another take his office,’ look, “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.” (verses 9-10) This is after David prays, this is what he’s left with, so this is a tough guy. We’re glad he didn’t do anything, you’re thinking ‘After you pray, David, wow!’ Look at verse 11, “Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.” (verses 11-13) My flesh bears witness with this, this is a great thing, LORD, for you to do to my enemies…look, “Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.” ‘LORD, remember everything they did wrong, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out, Yo Mama,’ that’s what it says in the Hebrew. “Let them” their sins and so forth, “be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.” (verse 15) Here’s why he says that, “Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.” (verse 16) God does not sit well with that, whether it’s legislation, whether it’s the government, whether it’s an individual, no matter who it is. People that are selling sex-slaves in our culture, people that are kidnapping young girls and getting them addicted to heroine and sending them out to do their, God has something to say at some point, to those, everything’s going to be made right. He says “Because he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.” (verses 16-17) you know, David understands sowing and reaping, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, this is the Old Testament, so he says “As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.” (verses 17-18) ‘let all the cursing come upon him.’ “Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.” (verses 19-20) Twenty-two times, ‘Let this happen, let this happen, let this happen, let this happen, let this happen,’ he doesn’t take it into his own hands, this is not “turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, pray for those who despitefully use you,” David never read that, Old Testament vastly different. But the Old Testament takes the opportunity to put the picture before us, of God’s justice, of why in fact Judas had betrayed Christ, why Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate injustice, all of that was settled on the cross, so that grace and mercy can be extended to us. So, yes, this is a harsh picture, but it only leads up to the harshest picture that eternity’s ever seen, and that’s the Lord himself being spit upon and brutalized, bearing the sin of the world on a cross. But of the imprecatory Psalms, this is the most severe.

My Heart Is Wounded Within Me

He turns back to the LORD in verse 21, says, “But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.” ‘I know who you are, humans are going to treat me this way, LORD, this what I need from you.’ “For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. (verse 22) ‘My heart is wounded within me.’ ever felt that way? [ya, right now. Amazing how I seem to be going through the emotions and circumstances of each Psalm as I transcribe it, the Lord is definitely working out something here with me.] You know, when we get into a situation like that, most of the time we really can’t communicate it to another human being. [I try, but oh boy, he’s right here. How do you communicate a heart-wound?] When the deepest part of our being is genuinely wounded, you know, then that, the highest security prison in the world becomes our skin, it’s inescapable, and it is something that we have to take to the Lord. “I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as locust. My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.” (verses 23-24) ‘I’m loosing weight, I’m fading away.’ “I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.” (verse 25) interesting, the very words of Christ on the cross coming here. “Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:” Why? “that they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it.” (verses 26-27) ‘LORD, I will be content, if you get the glory, I’ll be content if this works out in such a way that everybody knows you did it, this is not my hand, LORD, this is what you’re doing.’ “Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.” (verse 28) ‘Alright, LORD, I’m willing to put up with that, but bless thou, let them curse, but I want you to bless, LORD, that’s what I’m asking for.’ “when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.” (verse 28b) “Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.” (verses 29-30) David is quite a man, through all of these things that he’s gone through that we hear here, “I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.” (verses 30-31) What a wonderful picture. The LORD will take a stand, and righteousness will be meted out, and the right thing then will take place.

Psalm 110:1-7

We come to the one-hundred and tenth Psalm. It is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. Let’s read through it quickly, then we’ll look at it,

A Psalm of David.

“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of morning: thou hast the dew of youth. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The LORD at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.”

Introduction

Kind of breaks down the first three verses, talk about the King and his army. Verse 4 specifically tells us that the King is also a priest, and verses 5 to 7 tell us that the Priest-King goes to war and ends up completely victorious. Now, the importance of the Psalm hangs on, completely, the few words right there at the beginning, “A Psalm of David.” That is where all of the worth of the Psalm, in many ways, hang. Scholars want to debate that, particularly Jewish scholars, very difficult. Matthew 22, Mark 12, Luke 20, “how then doth David, in the Spirit, call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Mark, in chapter 12 says, “how say of the scribes, that Christ is the son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Ghost,” David himself, “the LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Luke, again in chapter 20, says there, “and he said unto them, how say they that Christ is David’s son? And David himself saith in the Book of Psalms, the LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” The whole importance of the Psalm hinges on the fact that it’s written by David, because all of the Jews of Jesus day, and of today, the Orthodox Jews, believe that the Messiah is the son of David. When they hear that title, they’re all in agreement, 100 percent, that the Messiah, the Christ that will come, is the son of David, he’s of David’s lineage. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/mathew/Matthew1-1-17.htm] He’s of David’s lineage, of David’s throne. You know that when Gabriel came to Mary and says “the throne of his father David shall be established forever.” So every Jew is willing to acknowledge that Messiah is the son of David. Jesus, in the last days of the Temple precinct, when he confronts the religious leaders, and they’re coming at him with all these questions, you know, ‘Whose image, who shall we pay tribute to? To Caesar, is it lawful? Here’s the woman, she had seven husbands, whose wife will she be in the resurrection?’ and then finally the Lord says to them, ‘Let me ask you a question, who do the scribes, the religious leaders say the Messiah is?’ They said, ‘He’s the son of David.’ And then the question, he says, ‘Then how does David say this? The LORD,’ look there in our first verse, when you see capital O, capital R, capital D, that’s Yahweh, Jehovah. ‘The LORD said’ i.e. this is the oracle of Jehovah, David says ‘unto my Lord, my Adonai, Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.’ David himself says, ‘God gave me this picture, he gave me this vision, and in the vision, I saw Jehovah God say to my Lord, my Adonai, Sit thou at my right hand,’ Jesus said, ‘Well if Messiah is David’s son, how then does he say to him, I saw Jehovah say to my Lord?’ Because, first of all, in that culture, no man would ever call his son his Lord. It would just not be accepted. But this is the word “Adonai,” it’s speaking of a Divine presence in David’s life. And he’s saying ‘If Messiah is his son, how is it then that David calls him his Lord?’ And of course the struggle there amongst the religious leaders, ‘The LORD, Jehovah God, in an oracle, said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I’ve made thine enemies thy footstool.’ Now for you and I, by the way, these are wonderful things. We know, it says in the Book of Hebrews, ‘God who at sundry times past in diverse manners, spake in time past unto our fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,’ literally “in Son,” ‘whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of Majesty on High.’ You have to understand, sitting down in the Jews mind at the right hand of Jehovah, at the right hand of Majesty, is the most powerful place that can be enjoyed. Over in verse 8 of Hebrews 1 it says ‘But unto the Son, he sayeth, Thy throne O God,’ to the Son, ‘Thy throne O God is for ever and for ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom,’ and again, ‘To which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I have made thine enemies thy footstool.’ So, for you and I, wonderfully, we have no problem, this is Jehovah God speaking to the Christ, his Son, to sit at his right hand, until all of his enemies are destroyed, in verse 1. Verse 2 tells us that Jesus Christ has enemies. By the way, if Jesus Christ has enemies, and Christ is in you and we’re in Christ, then his enemies are our enemies also. Something to think about.

The Messiah Is Divine, Not Merely Human, A King-Priest

“The LORD said unto my Lord, David says, Sit thou at my right hand.” So the Messiah is not just human, the Messiah is not just someone who is coming from a genetic line, the Messiah is Divine. We’re gonna find out here he’s Divine, he’s a King, a Divine King, he’s a Divine King whose also a Priest, and he’s a Divine King whose a Priest who will judge the world. We’re going to find out some remarkable things about him. And look, in the Old Testament when you go through it, you don’t find anybody whose king and priest, except Melchisedec. The king was not allowed to be a priest. You find a king who prophecies like David. You find a priest whose also a prophet, Jeremiah, there are others. But you don’t find a king-priest. There was a separation of church and state. [Comment: And that’s Biblical, the Separatists in the midlands of England and Plymouth Plantation understood that, as well as the nation of Holland during the 1600s.] And you don’t want to mess politics and religion. Except for Melchisedec, the order that he was of, he was King of Righteousness, and he was High Priest of Salem, so we do have an interesting picture there. But he says here, “The LORD, Jehovah, said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” (verse 1) David is saying, my Adonai, who is divine by his description, ‘Sit thou at my right hand, until I make, I cause you’re enemies to by thy footstool.’ By the way, that’s just a picture of putting your foot on the neck of your enemies. When you’re enemies are your footstool, you ain’t worried about them. “until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD, Jehovah, shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” (verses 1b-2) “the rod” or “the sceptre”. We see pictures of this in the Book of Revelation, “rule thou in the midst of thine enemies” what a picture we have here in regards to this King and his army.

How We’ll Be Clothed At Christ’s Return, Our Youth Restored

And then in verse 3 it says this, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness” now everywhere else that’s used, it’s talking about priestly garments or about holy garments, it gives a picture of you and I coming with him, when he’s coming to tread down his enemies, and it says we’re going to be clothed with royal garments, the very righteousness of Christ in white garments, the very righteousness of Christ himself. It says “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.” (verse 3) “from the womb of the morning” it’s a Hebrew idiom that speaks of the way that the morning, from it’s womb, gives birth to dew, which refreshes, which renews, which gives life. The idea is, “from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth” you know, when we’re sixteen, seventeen, twenty, just the dew of our youth, here’s a picture of the armies of heaven [that’s us, folks!, resurrected saints, made immortal at the time of the 1^st resurrection] coming with this great King, and that we are virulent, we are strong, we’re in our youth, we’re this remarkable army coming, dressed in these garments of righteousness, coming with the King. What a picture is put before us.

There’s A Day That We Come To Make Every Wrong Right

Let me read from the next to last Psalm, in case the Lord comes, before we get there. I love these verses, it says in Psalm 149, it says, “Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.” (verse 5) “Let the saints be joyful in glory” I’m ready to try that on, aren’t you? There’s going to be glory-beds when we get there, glory-naps no doubt. “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishment upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.” (verses 6-9) There’s a day that we come to make every wrong right, and he allows us to participate. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Psalms/Psalm%2024%201-10.htm to see this from another angle, this awesome event we’ll participate in.] He allows us to participate. He does it alone, he doesn’t need our help, but we get to come and be eyewitness, coming it says in the beauty of holiness, in the wonder of a youth restored, coming to deal with his enemies.

“Thou Art A Priest For Ever After The Order Of Melchizedek” Who Is Melchizedek?

It says in verse 4, “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” Notice, “Thou art a priest for ever” and it’s “after the order of Melchizedek.” You’re going to find Melchizedek three times in the Bible, you find him there in Genesis 14, where you have the first war [after the flood] in the Bible. And you have Chedorlaomer and five kings of the north [Assyrian Empire kings] come down and they invade the valley of Sodom. It is the first war described in the Bible [not to say there weren’t other wars before this, we know there were, archeological sites prove this.] And they carry away the inhabitants of Sodom and they take Lot, and his wife and his daughters. And word comes to Abraham what has taken place. Abraham takes 325, 326 of his armed servants, and he begins to pursue these five kings of the north, with 325 Navy Seals, Seal Team 6 guys. And it says he pursues them to Dan, which was Laish at that point in time, then to Damascus. Wonderful thing about that, is why you should sign up to go to Israel with us, in October, they have uncovered at Dan, the oldest free-standing mudbrick gate in the world, it’s 4,000 years old. I was standing there with my daughter the first time she was there, and she said ‘Dad, I’m no longer impressed with a 250-year-old bell, I’m standing in front of a 4,000-year-old gate.’ It’s the gate to Dan where Abraham stood, and it says he called in to see if his nephew Lot was there. You stand at that gate and you realize that Abraham stood at this gate. It doesn’t have to blow your mind. It blows my mind. It blows my mind. And then he pursued from Dan, they headed up north of Damascus and he overtook them, and he brought back the inhabitants, he brought back the spoils of war, he brought back Lot. And on his way back down the Jordan Valley he encounters this Melchizedek, who is the Prince of Salem, ah, no doubt the early city of Jabus, today called Jeru-salem, Jerusalem, the City of Peace. He’s the Prince of Righteousness, the Prince of Peace, he’s a King and a Priest. Abraham encounters him, and gives tithes to him, it tells us, and he offers Abraham bread and wine. Isn’t that an interesting picture? And the chapter ends, and the guy disappears for over a thousand years. ‘Nice meetin’ you Melchisedek,’ we hear nothing until we get to Psalm 110 and he shows up again, after a thousand years, we hear this, “The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (verse 4) which predates the order of Aaron, the Aaronic priesthood. So there’s this other order, which is a King-Priest order, Jesus was Prophet and Priest and King, that’s why they brought him gold [the Magi, the Parthian nobility], frankincense, he was a Priest, myrrh, he was Prophet, Prophet-Priest-King. It says, he, Jesus himself is after the order of Melchizedek. Then you find Melchizedek again show up when the Book of Hebrews is written, in chapter 5, chapter 6 there’s a verse, and then you find him in chapter 7 throughout where it talks a great deal about Melchizedek, and it says that Christ was a type, he was after the similitude of, it says that Melchizedek neither had father nor mother, and he didn’t have any pedigree, the way the King James says it over to you. It says “He is without father, without mother, without descent” that doesn’t mean children, the idea is ‘without pedigree,’ he doesn’t have a genealogy, which is the thing that a priest needed above every else, to prove that he was of Aaron’s line. And it says, “he is made like unto” it doesn’t say he is, the Son of God, and in verse 15 it says, “it is yet far more evident, for after the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another Priest.” So, it doesn’t say that Jesus is Melchizedek, people want to argue that, you can do that, and when I get to heaven [at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb] if Jesus was Melchizedek that will be fine with me, I’ll be happy as a lark [I believe he was, but we’ll see]. It’s just, you can’t be dogmatic about it. But so here, this Priesthood of Melchizedek, which is a King-Priest, shows up, and it says ‘I’ve sworn, he’s going to be a priest after that order,’ he’s of the tribe of Judah, he’s not of the tribe of Levi, or of the Aaronic priesthood. He’s in a different bloodline. But it says here, here’s this priesthood that predates the Aaronic priesthood, and he’s gonna be a priest after this line forever, after the order of Melchizedek.

The 2^nd Coming Of The Messiah

And then it says, “The LORD at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.” (verse 5) This is quite a picture. “He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.” (verse 6) “the heads”, ‘the leaders, the captains over many countries.’ He’s gonna deal with that. We’re told this in Isaiah, “Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bosra? This that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I that speak in righteousness,” he identifies himself, “mighty to save.” The question, “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine vat?” Answer: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me, for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon mine garments, I will stain all of my raimnant. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redeemed is come, and I looked and there was none to help, so I wondered that there was none to help to uphold, therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me, and I will tread down the people in my anger, and I will be drunk in my fury, I will bring their strength down to the earth.” So, this remarkable picture of the LORD, coming from Bosra, from Edom [modern-day Turkey], as the lightning shines from the east to the west, that’s the direction he’s coming in, he’s trampling out the grapes of wrath by himself, Revelation 14, Revelation 19 you can go and you look there. We are coming with him, but he’s doing this all by himself, and it’s his own battle, the sword is proceeding from his mouth, this remarkable scene is taking place. Ah, he touches down, we’re told, on the Mount of Olives, Zechariah chapter 14, verse 8, and it says “And it shall be that in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, half of them toward the hinder sea,” it’s the day when there’s great darkness, it’s the day when he comes, it describes the whole day, the Mount of Olives being destroyed [divided in two, into a great valley]. And it says here, look, “The LORD” verse 5, Adonai “at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the nations, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He will drink of the brook in the way: therefore he shall lift up the head.” (verses 5-7, Psalm 110) Zechariah 14, in that day, when he does this, living waters shall come forth, it says [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zechariah/Zechariah4.htm and scroll to and read the section on Zechariah 14:1-21], from the mountain as it splits. “He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.” (verse 7) “Lift up your heads O ye gates, O ye gates be lifted up you everlasting doors, the king of glory shall come in.” (cf Psalm 24, scroll back and log onto that link for Psalm 24) What a remarkable picture.

In Closing: We’re Here For One Final Revival

Let’s pray. He’s gonna come. You believe that? Very good, just checking. You should, after all these years. We need to pray for this world that we live in, and not just be so frustrated with it that we want to get outa here. And I feel that way. But this world that drives us crazy, we’re told God so loved this world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth will not perish, but have everlasting life. And he’s chosen us to be here now, each one of us can bring somebody next Wednesday night, maybe see them saved. He’s chosen us to be here now, to serve him, to share the Gospel, not to be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because it is the power of God unto salvation. [Comment: and what is that Gospel? See http://www.unityinchrist.com/misc/WhatIsTheGospel%20.htm] And to see as many gathered in as possible, because the day is going to come, when the drug cartels are not going to stand up against the One who comes through the sky. There will be no terrorist activity, there will be no injustice, there will be no sexploitation of young girls, there will be no girls stolen, there will be no kidnapping, there’s going to be no child pornography, he’s coming, and he’s going to smash it all to smithereens. But because he paid for all on the cross, I believe he’s going to give one more remarkable opportunity for even the greatest sinners in the world to turn. You know it says in 2^nd Thessalonians, it says, finally it says there the deception comes on the world through the antichrist, and it says ‘because they received not the love of the truth,’ which means it had been offered, ‘he gives them over to believe the lie, because they refused to love the truth,’ which means, to me, there was a worldwide offer, one more great distribution of the love and the grace of God. But because they refused, snap! the Church [greater Body of Christ, Philadelphia era, Revelation 3:6-10] is gone. Blame it on UFOs, do whatever you want to do down here at that point, deception rules, but because they received not the love of the truth he gives them over to believe, it’s a definite article, “the lie,” whatever it is, I don’t know, everybody is going to go for it, whatever it is. But right now, here we are. He’s chosen us to be here. Just think of what will we believe, just think of what’s in our hearts, and think of the world that we’re living in, think how quickly things are falling away, how quickly things are changing. Here we are, in the middle of all that, I’m so amazed, at his grace and his love. Where would you be, where would I be if we hadn’t got saved? And I think, I graduated from high school, I know one or two other kids from my graduating class that are believers, of course I’m 63, kids I’m saying. Ah, graduated in 1968 [I graduated in 1967, went right into the Submarine service, was on a boat by the fall of 1967], we’re kids, we’re still kids. And I think ‘Why me? Why me Lord? Why me? when so many others I know, so many others I grew up with, so many others along the way have been…why me?’ But here we are, 2014, June, closer to the trumpet blowing than we’ve ever been, here we are. What an opportunity we have to reach this lost world, remarkable. Not to just live out our lives selfishly, waiting for the coming of the Lord, but to be infectious. Look, and the truth is, you can’t give somebody the measles unless you got it, we should all be infected with the love and the grace of our Saviour in this lost world. Let’s stand, let’s pray…[transcript of a connective expository sermon given on Psalm 108:1-13, Psalm 109:1-31 and Psalm 110:1-7, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]