Psalm 110 GW

Apr 09, 2026

∙ Paid

When you read your New Testament, ie. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, etc.,

this is the Old Testament passage quoted most by New Testament writers. They go to Psalm 110 more than any other; more than Moses, more than the prophets, more than all the other psalms. The theology, the study of who God is and what he does, is pulled into the New Testament from this psalm more than from any other place. One could say that the vision of David the Psalmist that has more impact on New Testament theology than any other is Psalm 110.

So; what does Psalm 110 envision? What does it say?

It is about God enthroning Jesus as the ruler of all the nations. It is about God’s people willingly and happily following him. It is about Jesus the forever-priest, whose order of priesthood surpasses that of Aaron. It is about the conquest of the world by Jesus, the great Priest/King, who will not stop until he is finished his holy war, and the world happily owns him as King.

If this vision of Jesus is not what you were taught in church, you need a better church.

If this vision of Jesus seems too violent to you; if it seems to you that Jesus himself repudiated such a vision, you need to go look again. Jesus taught us a great deal about personal ethics, about how to treat your neighbour, how to regard your neighbour. He taught us how to regard Pharisees, religious leaders who lead for their own benefit. He taught us about laying down our lives for others. He taught us not to take our own vengeance. He taught us to think of others as more important than ourselves. But if we regard passive quietness as the be-all of the Christian faith, we have missed the forest for the trees.

Jesus came into the world, in part, to fulfill the promises God made to David in places like Psalm 110. “Sit at my right hand until…” Jesus now sits at God’s right hand. David the King would one day have a descendant of his sit on his kingly throne forever, and Jesus has taken up that throne at his ascension (Dan. 7:13-14). He rules and reigns, and he must do so until all his enemies are under his feet. (1 Cor. 15:25). The last enemy to be destroyed, we are told, is death, which will happen at the general resurrection of the dead at the end of history. This implies that all his other enemies, all other things raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:4-6) will be defeated by then.

Jesus is the King, and everybody on earth owes him their allegiance. Everybody. No excuses, my Moslem friend. You can stick your fingers in your ears and shout profanities, O blue-haired secularist, but denial is no excuse. Jesus does not want me to personally kill you to win you for his cause. That is what Allah does, but not Jesus. Jesus offers you arguments. Proofs. Persuasion. He offers love, which love is sometimes returned in hatred (Ps. 109). He offers you abundant life here and now, and heaven later. He offers you all the truly good things in life, like marriage, family, property, inheritance. He offers you freedom. Because you are a slave, and you need to be freed.

Above all this, he offers you himself. His life for yours. He will save you from your sins, from your enemies, from yourself. He will redeem your wasted life, give it purpose again. He is the great and saving King.

If you oppress and subjugate God’s people; if you enslave them, if you kill their men and steal and rape their women and children, if you appropriate all their things and their lands and put them into the service of your demonic god, as the Mohammedans did of old, do not be surprised if war rises against you from the Christians in another part of the world. It has happened before, and it could happen again. I would rather persuade you, but if the world would be a better place without you in it…

O believer in the Lord Jesus the Christ, this psalm is here for you to sing. Take the victory of Christ upon your lips, and never again fall for the notion that he does not want to win the world. He does, and he will succeed.

Here are the lyrics.