Jesus, God's Priestly Son | Psalm 110:4

I invite you to turn to Psalm 110. Our text today is located in just one verse – Ps. 110:4. If I were to sum up the aim and purpose of this series of sermons we’ve chosen for this Advent season, there would be no better explanation than Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1. “Father, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” That’s our purpose in a nutshell. “O God, reveal the wonders, reveal the wisdom, reveal the treasures, reveal the majestic mountain peaks – that are visible nowhere else, in no one else but in your Son. And do it so that in and through your Son, you, O God may be praised and prized and loved and glorified for all that you are!” That’s pretty lofty. But loved ones, there is nothing else in all the world that comes close to capturing God’s aim and purpose for the holiday we call Christmas. “This is my Son! And this Son, Christ Jesus, is the object of my affection. My delight, my pleasure, my joy is in him. So, see him. Slow down and think about him. Wrap your heads around him, so that your hearts might be captured by him.” Otherwise, Christmas is in vain. And so, we’ve entitled this Advent series, “This Is My Son.” And on this third Sunday of Advent, I call your attention to one verse, actually one sentence in one verse. So please stand and listen carefully as I read all of Ps. 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 (And now here is our text – this important sentence), “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.”

— Psalm 110

This is God’s Word. May He be glorified in it and get enduring things done, through it. Let’s pray. 

 If there is one thing everyone in this room needs, it is a priest. Perhaps more than anything, what we all need today, and every day, is a priest. I’m not kidding. What we need is a priest. No. What we really need is a high priest. Actually, what we need, more than anything else, is a great high priest. And that which we all need the most, is the very thing God has so kindly, and wisely, and generously provided. The Son, whom God the Father has put forward, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is Jesus, God’s priestly Son. 

It was my wife who introduced me to “Mr. B.” Both “Mr. B” and his wife were bright, outgoing, highly educated, attractive young professionals who had recently relocated to the US from the Middle East. Mr. B identified himself as a liberal Muslim. And in our very first conversation, things led to me walking Mr. B through this little tract, entitled, “How Good Are You?”

The point of the tract is to show that we are all, by nature, by choice, and by moral and spiritual inability, hopelessly separated from God. God created us to experience the incomparable joy of soul-satisfying fellowship with Him. Nothing makes God happier than sharing with us the pleasure of His nearness. But instead of giving thanks to God, and humbly submitting to His wise and loving rule over our lives, we’ve sought to exalt ourselves above Him. By doing our own thing, and living according to our own wisdom and purpose, we have broken countless times, either the letter or the spirit of every one of God’s Ten Commandments. And the result is separation. Relational distance. For some, that means ambivalence toward God. For others, it’s hard thoughts and a ice-y glare at God. And for others, it’s outright anger and cursing and hostility toward God. Relational brokenness. That’s where the world is at in relation to God, along with an unwillingness to take responsibility for it. 

 And further, any attempt to reconcile with God, on our terms, like trying to straighten ourselves out - be a good person - is impossible. It’s like trying to jump across the Grand Canyon. Some might be able to jump further than others, but none of us would make it. 

Now unlike many people today, who just don’t care. If they’re alienated from God, it just doesn’t matter. But it was clear that for Mr. B, he did care. It mattered to him that he was accepted by God. And so he was religious about the tenants of Islam. He prayed. He fasted. And seemed to find remarkable assurance that everything was good between him and God. He said, “I know that God loves me. I’m sure that He accepts me just the way I am. I’m absolutely sure of it.” “Absolutely sure”, I said. “O yes, absolutely.” 

And then I asked, “How is it that you are so certain that God loves you and accepts you the way you are?” “O that’s easy.” And this is exactly what Mr. B said, “I know that God loves me because I won the lottery – twice.” “You won the lottery – twice?” “Yes. Twice! It was miracle!” 

I put the tract back in my pocket, and wasn’t quite sure what to say next. But what’s going through my mind is – Mr. B and his wife are living like mice in the spare bedroom of a cousin. Mr. B is working in the back room at T.J. Maxx breaking down shipping boxes. So I said, “Do you mind if I ask, what exactly did you win in the lottery?” And he brightened right up and said, “An exit visa! I won an exit visa! Millions of people are desperate to leave my home country. And only a handful, each year, are granted an exit visa. They are chosen by lottery. I was one of millions who applied. And I won. It was miracle. But when I went to claim my exit visa, there was a discrepancy in the spelling of my name on my birth-certificate and my lottery ticket. One letter was off. So they voided my ‘one-in-a-millions’ chance to leave the country. And I was crushed. But I applied for the lottery again the next year. And I won again. It was miracle! And I know God loves me and accepts me just the way I am.” 

We’re all like Mr. B, aren’t we? If things are going smooth, and we’re blessed with favor and good fortune, we feel like God is for us. He feels close. And we’re tempted to diminish the seriousness of our countless sins, because it sure seems like He’s happy with us. But if the wind of providence is blowing against us, our failures are amplified. It seems like God is giving the cold shoulder. We perceive an ice-y glare. It seems that He’s not talking to us. We sense tension. And what we forget, but by God’s grace realize, is that even the very best we can offer is not enough to get us closer to God. For it’s not because of works of righteousness that we have done that the sweet fellowship we were created to enjoy is restored. Rather, it is on account of His mercy, that He saves, and forgives, and redeems, and draws us near. What we need is a priest. No. What we really is a high priest. Actually, what we need more than anything is a great high priest to bring us to God. Now look at the little phrase embedded in Ps. 110:4. “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4b).

Who is “you”? Who is being addressed? We know that King David is the composer of this Psalm. The ascription over Ps. 110 says, “A Psalm of David.” Jesus, himself, ascribes Ps. 110 to David. 

 “As Jesus taught in the temple, he said . . . David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.’” David himself calls him Lord.”

—Mark 12:35-37

 So, whoever “you” is in Ps. 110, we know he’s not David. Rather he is David’s Lord. And he sits at Yahweh’s right hand. 

 “The LORD (Yahweh) says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

—Psalm 110:1

 So, Yahweh will someday make this man’s adversaries a footstool. God will make this man’s enemies as threatening as a Lazyboy recliner. Further, Yahweh is extending His own reign and authority through the rule of this man. “The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies”(Psalm 110:2).

So, whoever he is, he wields a sword. And he commands an army of willing servants, who are clothed in holiness. “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments” (Psalm 110:3a).

And this Lord, unlike others whose life and power pass like a morning cloud, he owns the dew of his youth. Verse 3, “From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.”

 So, who is he, this Lord over David? Who is this Lord, of whom Yahweh attributes such power and authority? Again, Jesus leaves little doubt. 

 “Jesus asked them a question . . . “What do you think about the Christ? . . . David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.’”

—Matthew 22:41-44

According to Jesus, the “you” of Ps. 110:4 is Jesus. And the one addressing the Lord Jesus in Ps. 110, is Yahweh, the LORD God Almighty. This might not seem like that big a deal. But we are listening in on divine communication from God the Father, to God the Son. A curtain has been pulled back on the heavenly realm. It’s holy ground. And we hear these intimate and personal words. “You - let me tell you something about you - something crucial and glorious about me, and you, about us. We are going to show the world something high – no higher than high. We are going to show the world the summit of our glory! We’re going to do something the world knows not of. We’re going to reveal something the world has not seen. We are going to put on display MERCY! We are going to show the world what it looks like to restore broken relationships. We are going to show the world what it looks like to remain holy and put away wrath. We are going to show the world what it looks like to make peace and uphold justice. We are going to show the world what it looks like to tear down division, and separation, and alienation without compromising righteousness. We are going to show the world what it looks like to experience real communion. And listen, my Son, the locus is you. You, my dearly loved Son. You, my only begotten Son. It is you. And you alone are the access to communion with me, to fellowship with me, to relationship with me, and to eternal pleasure in me. It’s you.” That’s who “you” is in Ps. 110:4. Now v. 4 goes on to say, “You are a priest.”

That is, Jesus is a priest. And a priest is what we need. So, what is it that priests do that we so desperately need? Priests do two things: 1) mediation, and 2) intercession. 

 As a mediator, the priest is the go-between representing us to God, and representing God to us. And this mediation was accomplished through the offering of a sacrifice on another’s behalf. The sacrifice needed to be unblemished – free from defect or disease. The ritual included laying a hand on the victim’s head. This symbolized the transfer (or imputation) of the sinner’s guilt to the animal substitute. And then would come the death of the sacrifice by the hand of the one it represented. In other words, the death of the sacrifice is recognized to be caused by the offender. And the priest was the appointed mediator. That is, the priest was responsible for transferring the shed blood of the sacrifice to the altar for appropriation/application as atonement for sin. And then the priest would take the blood, enter the holy place, sprinkle the blood on “the mercy seat”, while he offered prayer on behalf of the people. If God rejected their offering, the priest and the people could well be consumed. So you can understand, then, the relief and the joy in the people when the priest reappeared. “Is he dead? No. He’s alive. Hallelujah!” It signified that God had accepted the blood as atonement, assuring the people that his holy wrath had been set aside. 

Now what God the Father is saying in Ps. 110:4 is that Jesus has been appointed to function as a priest. Verse 4, “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest.”

This means that Jesus is the mediator assigned to offer, no even more, to be a sacrifice to atone for all we’ve done to scorn and offend God. This means that God the Father himself has taken the initiative and made an unbreakable oath to accomplish what is impossible for us to do by ourselves. Col. 1:21 says, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”

It’s our sins that have caused the breach. God is the offended party. God is the one who could righteously distance himself from us. But for the sake of the praise of His matchless mercy, He reaches out to us. He puts forward a great high priest – whose name is love. And it’s by the power of His grace alone that our ambivalent (or hostile) disposition is subdued and made willing to turn and trust and respond. 

 “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments.”

—Psalm 110:3

 Jesus is no ordinary priest. According to v. 4, God says, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Who is “Melchizedek”? And what does it mean for Jesus to be a priest “after” his “order”? 

Melchizedek is introduced in Gen. 14, where he appears very briefly and without much explanation. But according to the book of Hebrews, we learn that Melchizedek is both a king and priest. Heb. 7:1, “The Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God.”

That’s noteworthy because in OT Israel the offices of king and priest were kept strictly separate – a separation of power not unlike the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our own government. And yet, here’s a man who combines these vital offices of king and priest. 

 The writer of Hebrews also registers the meaning of Melchizedek’s name and title. Heb. 7:2, “He (Melchizedek) is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.” 

That tells you something – here’s a man who lived among one of history’s most depraved people. The Canaanites practiced the most gross expressions of immorality. And yet here is man who dwelt among them, and whose kingly rule was, nevertheless righteous and extended peace. Heb. 7:3 is remarkable.

 “He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues as a priest forever.”

—Hebrews 7:3

 One commentator writes, “The silence of the Old Testament Scriptures concerning his parentage has a designed significance. The entire omission was ordered by the Holy Spirit . . . in order to present a perfect type of the Lord Jesus” (Pink).

The more we know about Melchizedek, the more we see how wonderfully he depicts Jesus, God’s priestly Son. “You, Lord Jesus, are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” in that,

 Jesus Is a Sovereign Priest

And as both king AND priest, Jesus is a mediator for our whole salvation. Having offered the sacrifice of His own blood, shed on the cross for the atonement of our sins, he also possesses the royal power to subdue our hearts, and govern his kingdom, and defend his people from every enemy. Heb. 7:25 says, “He is able to save to the uttermost.”

Jesus Is a Sinless Priest

Jesus does more than offer an unblemished sacrifice. He is the unblemished sacrifice. He is the true King of Righteousness. It was his spotless holiness lived out amongst our depravity that was the necessary and essential condition for such a great reconciliation. Heb. 7:26-27, “It was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”

 “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself."

—Hebrews 7:26-27

Jesus Is a Sufficient Priest

He’s the only one that ever made full and adequate atonement for sin. Any priest other than Christ, needed the same personal atonement for his own sin just like the rest of the people. Any sacrifice other than Christ required repetition over and over and over. But Jesus has taken away the sins of redeemed sinners by a single act – his finished work on the cross. He took his own blood and entered the holy place. He offered himself, and died. And we know God accepted Jesus’s sacrifice because, after three days in the grave, he came out! 

“We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right had of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

—Hebrews 10:10-14

Jesus is a Steadfast Priest

God did not only promise that Jesus is a priest. Nor did he only promise that Jesus should be a priest for a long time. Rather God, Yahweh himself, “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever” (Psalm 110:4)

Loved ones, when we sin, we have a great high priest, who laid down His life for us. His sinless life offered to God on our behalf is the ground of our salvation. And his enduring, eternal priestly intercession – before the throne of God is our hope and confidence that God will never say to us, “depart from me. I never knew you.” Charles Spurgeon writes, “It must be a solemn and sure matter which leads the Eternal to swear, and with him an oath fixes and settles the decree forever. But in this case, as if to make assurance a thousand times sure, it is added, “And will not repent” . . . If his priesthood could be revoked, and his authority removed, it would be the end of all hope and life for the people who he loves. But this sure rock is the basis of all our security and will stand throughout all eternity.”

You have a priest. You have a great high priest. In Christ, before the throne of God, you have a sovereign, sinless, sufficient, steadfast priest. 

Let’s pray.