Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 110 | Date: July 6, 2025 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Psalm 110: An Overview

Psalm 110. We come now to a psalm that is enormously famous in the New Testament. We find it very often in the New Testament. And so we will spend some time with this psalm, not just today, but in the coming weeks. I mentioned to my wife that this psalm of seven verses, we will probably spend six weeks in this psalm. I promise not to go at that rate when we come to Psalm 119. But this psalm is unique, and it deserves to have the time spent in it.

Psalm 110. You notice the superscript? It is a psalm of David. That becomes very important in understanding the psalm.

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.

Let’s bow together for prayer.

Our Father, as we come to your word, we acknowledge our need of the help of your Spirit to illumine our minds and our hearts. Give us understanding, give us receptiveness to it, and give us through it a deepening faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we take our time now in particular with this psalm, we ask that that would be the case—that you would show us the Lord Jesus through these words and give us a greater appreciation of him, a firmer faith in him, and a greater hope in him. We ask in his name, amen.

We’ll begin by putting the psalm in perspective. First of all, in the background, you’ll remember we have Psalm 109. In Psalm 109, the wicked are in hostile opposition to the king, and then the king prays for their elimination. We saw that last time. Now in Psalm 110, that prayer of the king is answered. Here the king achieves his ultimate vindication, and his enemies are made his footstool. We see that in verse 1, and then we’ll see it in more detail later in the psalm.

Psalm 110 is just seven verses, but far and away, this is the most prominent psalm in the New Testament. When we come to the New Testament writers, this psalm pops up here and there and over and again many times over, particularly with verse 1, also with verse 4. But in verse 1, we have described for us the king’s session: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” There’s a prophecy then of the king sitting on his throne, reigning over his enemies.

Now we come to the New Testament. The Lord Jesus himself—we’ll see this in more detail in a few minutes—but the Lord Jesus himself affirms that he is the king that is seated on the throne here in Psalm 110 in verse 1. We find that in Matthew chapter 22; we’ll see that in some detail later this morning. And we see it also in Matthew chapter 26 in Jesus’ trial before the high priest. He claims that he is the one spoken of here. The high priest asks him, “Are you the Christ or not? Tell us.” Jesus says, “You’ve said it, and from now on you will see the Son of Man seated on his throne and coming on the clouds of heaven,” combining the quote with Daniel chapter 7. We find it also in Revelation chapter 3, where Jesus writes to the church of Laodicea.

Well, Jesus laid claim to this psalm then, and it’s not surprising that we find in the New Testament that the apostles and the early church follow in step. Three or four times in the book of Acts, the Apostle Peter makes reference to Psalm 110 in verse 1, speaking of Jesus as the one who has taken his seat on the right hand of the Father. We find the same thing in Acts chapter 7, where Stephen the deacon, at his stoning because of his witness for Christ, makes reference to Psalm 110 in verse 1: “I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.”

We find it in Paul throughout his epistles. In Romans chapter 8, for example: “Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died. He’s raised from the dead. He’s seated at the right hand of the Father.” We find it later in Ephesians chapter 1 and Ephesians chapter 2—seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Colossians chapter 3—we’re seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Philippians chapter 2 makes reference to this, not with the exact wording, but it makes reference to this of Christ having come in his humiliation and his incarnation, is exalted and has received a name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow. This is a reference then to Psalm 110 in verse 1. All of this is referring then to Jesus as the king seated on his throne in the first verse here.

We find the same thing, although not in the same words that are quoted, but we find an echo of this in Revelation chapter 5, where with apocalyptic imagery, the Apostle John draws from the enthronement of the king in Psalm 110 in verse 1 and speaks of the slain and now exalted Lord Jesus Christ taking the scroll from the sovereign’s hand, receiving a kingdom from him, and then executing the rights and prerogatives of that kingdom.

Verse 4 of this psalm, we find that the Messianic king is also a priest: “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The book of Hebrews makes extensive use of that. We find Hebrews using this psalm in Hebrews chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 5, 7, 8, and 10. We find it over and again, the writer of the book of Hebrews drawing from Psalm 110. In fact, I have a friend who several years ago wrote his dissertation on Psalm 110, and he argued that the whole argument of the epistle to the Hebrews is simply an unpacking of implications of Psalm 110 verse 1 and Psalm 110 verse 4. This has dominating influence in the New Testament.

And in fact, it has, as I’ve already alluded to, it has influence even in the Old Testament. There are echoes of it in Daniel chapter 7, where we have the vision of the nations in a rage, pictured there in apocalyptic imagery as the great beasts devouring one another. And finally, the Ancient of Days comes and puts a stop to it and comes to the Day of Judgment. And it’s at that point that the Son of Man arrives, and he ascends in the clouds of heaven before the Ancient of Days and receives the kingdom. And he receives a kingdom which will have no end, and all nations and peoples and dominions will be subservient to him. Jesus then makes reference to that in Matthew chapter 26, as I mentioned at his trial, that he is that king, both in terms of Daniel chapter 7 and Psalm 110—the king seated on his throne, the king ascending on the clouds of heaven before the Ancient of Days to receive the kingdom. All of that is working out of Psalm 110 and verse 1.

Well, because of this prominence of Psalm 110 in the New Testament, it’s really no surprise then that we find throughout the history of the church there’s a prominent use of this psalm as well. In the Nicene Creed, and in the Apostles’ Creed as well—words that have been recited by Christians now for centuries, seventeen or more centuries—”I believe in Jesus Christ, who ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” That’s Psalm 110, verse 1.

Martin Luther, the reformer, took 123 pages in his commentary to expound this psalm—more than any other psalm—a psalm of only seven verses. He took more space to expound this psalm than any other. And he writes, “This beautiful psalm is the very core and quintessence of the whole scripture. No other psalm prophesies as abundantly and completely about Christ. It portrays the Lord and his entire kingdom and is full of comfort for Christians.”

It’s not surprising then that we find Psalm 110 recurring in lines of Christian hymnody as well. We sing songs like “Jesus the Savior Reigns.” That’s Psalm 110 verse 1. “Jesus the Savior reigns, the God of truth and love. When he had purged our stains, he took his seat above.” That’s Psalm 110 and verse 1. And anytime we sing in our songs, “He sits at God’s right hand,” or lines like, “Seated in the seat of power,” “Enthroned in the seat of power,” or “The Lamb of God upon his throne”—all of that is language echoing Psalm 110 and verse 1.

And of course, not only in our hymnody, but in countless books and expositions and examinations of Psalm 110 have appeared over the centuries, examining the depths of this psalm and its portrayal of Christ. The impact of this psalm on the New Testament and on the church’s historic understanding of the ascension of Christ, the exaltation of Christ, the work of Christ yet to come—the impact of this psalm on all of that is just enormous.

Psalm 110 is prophecy. Direct prophecy. We have seen in the Psalter how the psalmist very often foreshadows the Lord Jesus in subtle kinds of ways, so that David is prospective of David’s greater son, or the actions of David reflect actions to come on the part of the Lord Jesus, or even the words of David become the words of Jesus in subtle ways like that. There’s nothing subtle about Psalm 110. This is direct prophecy of the king seated on his throne, and then Jesus himself, as I’ve mentioned, lays claim to it in the New Testament and the apostles as well.

Now, looking more closely at the psalm, you’ll notice in the superscript it’s a psalm. That is, it’s a song to be sung with musical accompaniment. And it’s a psalm of David. That’s essential for the understanding of the psalm, as we’ll see as we move along. The specific setting in view of this psalm is that it’s a coronation scene. “Sit at my right hand.” That’s enthronement language. The language of enthronement. Here he’s taking his throne. “Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” You remember we saw in Psalm 2 at the outset of the Psalter, we have this announcement that God has set his Son, the anointed king, on Zion, and he will rule. And though the enemies may rage against him, God laughs because he’s established his Son on Zion; he reigns, and he’ll have the nations as an inheritance. That’s the scene here.

He’s taking his throne, and because this is a psalm sung to a musical accompaniment, we can surmise then that this was sung at the accession of each next Davidic king to the throne. In fact, some comparative studies have been done. Another doctoral dissertation was done a number of years ago demonstrating that in the ancient Near East, this was the kind of ceremony that was common at the accession to the throne of each next king. And that’s what we have here then. David is the author, but he writes as a prophet looking to his greater son who will take the throne. And each next son of David who takes the throne—Solomon, Rehoboam, and on it goes—each next son who takes the throne is not that greater son to come, but he is representative of that greater son to come. And so at each accession here, this psalm is sung reflecting this hope that God had promised to David a greater son who will rule the world. You remember how we’ve seen that in 2 Samuel chapter 7.

Two Divine Pronouncements

All right, the psalm then is organized around two divine pronouncements or proclamations. Number one is verse 1: “The Lord says to my Lord.” So it is God himself, Yahweh is speaking. “The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” God then is commanding Messiah, “You sit here and we’ll finish this out.”

And then verse 4. We have another divine utterance where Yahweh says to the king, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” Now these are the two divisions of the psalm then. We have verses 1 to 3 and verses 4 to 7. Now, the same person is addressed in both. In verses 1 to 3, he’s addressed as a king. In verse 4, he’s told that he will be a priest. But then later in the psalm, he’s addressed as a king again, who comes to judge his enemies. Both statements, verse 1 and verse 4, are from Yahweh, God himself, to the one whom David calls his Lord. We’ll see the significance of that as we go along.

So we have actually three persons involved in this psalm. We have David, the author, the one to whom God had made the promise that his greater son will rule, and he’s speaking. And then we have the Lord, Yahweh himself, the speaker whom David overhears and now reports to us what he heard him say. And then we have the third one, and that is this one whom David calls “my Lord.” David writes, “The Lord said to my Lord,” that is my Adonai, my master, my sovereign. It has to be the Messiah. Who else could it be? So David overhears the Lord speaking in conversation to the Messiah. So this is an interesting passage in that respect. It’s significant in that way. And David is echoing for us what he has heard God say in conversation to the Messiah. Verse 1: “Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” And then he tells him in verse 4: “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” So Yahweh is addressing Messiah, whom David refers to as “my Lord.”

Just to see the layout of the psalm then, notice again that we have these alternating speakers in the psalm. Verse 1, the Lord speaks to the king: “The Lord says to my Lord,” the Lord speaking now to Messiah, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Then in verses 2 and 3, David, the psalmist prophet, speaks to the Messiah. Verse 2: “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 youth will be yours.”

Now in verse 4, the Lord speaks again. He speaks again to the Messiah. “The Lord has sworn,” this is David recording it, “the Lord has sworn, will not change his mind,” quote, here’s the Lord speaking, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” And then verses 5 to 7, David is speaking again. So there’s another shift actually in these verses as well. In verse 5, David addresses the Messiah: “The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.” And then verses 6 and 7, David is still speaking, but here he’s addressing the congregation about the king. He, that is the Messiah, the greater Son, 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.

Presumably—we don’t know this for certain, but most have surmised that Psalm 110, then, presumably was sung antiphonally. So you have groups of singers singing back and forth to one another, one group reflecting one voice of the psalm, another group reflecting another voice in the psalm, and another group reflecting yet another voice in the psalm.

Well, today we’ll look at Psalm 110. We’re going to take our time with the psalm, as I said, and again, we’ll focus on verse 1: “The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Again, this is enthronement language. The Messiah now is taking the throne, receiving the kingdom. He has the right to rule. God is giving him that right, and “You sit here at my right hand in the position of power, this position of authority, and you rule until I make your enemies your footstool.”

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times already, the superscript here is important. It’s a psalm of David. That David is the “my” in verse 1—”The Lord says to my Lord”—this is David’s Lord. So the Lord, Yahweh, says to my Lord, my Adonai, that’s David’s Lord then, who’s being spoken to by God himself. David’s master, his sovereign, his ruler. “The Lord says to my Lord,” that can’t be anyone but the Messiah—David’s promised greater son. And that, of course, for obvious reasons, is the ancient understanding of Psalm 110 as well among the Jews.

How Does Jesus Handle This Psalm?

All right, keep your hand here. We’ll probably be back. But let’s go to Matthew chapter 22 to see how Jesus handles this psalm. Important passage, Matthew chapter 22. We may look back at Psalm 110 briefly, but we’ll spend the bulk of the rest of our time here in Matthew 22. We’ll be aiming at verses 43 and 44.

But to back up and to give you the context here, in Matthew 21 and 22, we have a series of confrontations, controversy passages, where the Jewish leaders are coming against Christ, trying to confront him in various ways to discredit him. Chapter 22, verses 15 and following, we have a series of these verbal confrontations where they come against Jesus. They’re trying to entrap him into some argument, and so find him with a wrong answer and therefore discredit him as a teacher.

Matthew 22, verse 15, they’re seeking how to entangle him with his words. Let’s trip him up. Let’s find an argument where he’s going to misspeak and we’ll embarrass him publicly and he’ll be discredited. And you might think already, well, good luck with that. Verses 16 and following, we have the Pharisees and the Herodians coming against Jesus. And they have this trick question about whether or not it is right to pay taxes to Caesar. We can’t go through that now. Jesus provides an answer that unravels the conundrum. That didn’t work.

Verses 23 and following, the Sadducees come to Jesus, and they’ve got their own question to trip him up. That’s the question about the resurrection. You’ve got this woman whose husband died, and she married his brother, and he died, and another brother, and he died. You’ve got seven of them. Well, ha, ha, ha. Resurrection doesn’t make much sense now. Whose wife will she be in the resurrection? Another trick question, gotcha moment. And again, Jesus answers in a way that they hadn’t considered, with insight into the biblical text in ways that they had never comprehended, and their attempt to entrap him failed.

And then verse 34 and following. The Pharisees send a sharp lawyer against Jesus. Surely a well-trained lawyer should be able to trip up Jesus, and he comes with the question, “What is the greatest commandment?” And it seems like whatever answer Jesus gives, this lawyer’s going to be able to trip him up and find a greater one. And you’ll remember that Jesus unravels that argument as well. He answers in a way that leaves the questioner frustrated, and he leaves.

Well, that’s the setting here. Now verse 41, Jesus turns the tables now. And they are not asking him questions—they’ve done that. Now he’s asking them questions. Verse 41: “Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘Well that’s easy, the son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David in the Spirit, in Psalm 110, calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies under your feet”? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?'” No one was able to answer him a word, and they said, “We’re not going to ask him any more questions.” It’s one of those passages you can’t read without a chuckle.

The question that Jesus wants to press here is the identity of the Messiah. Verse 42, the question, the issue under question here is, “Whose son is he?” In verse 42, they reply, “Well, that’s an easy question. He’s David’s son. Everybody knows that.” That’s the common ground now that Jesus has with his opponents. They all agree, and you have to agree. 2 Samuel 7 is plain. Messiah, David’s greater son. He’s David’s son. David’s descendant. He’s David’s son, and they hold that in common.

But the answer is not as easy as it may seem. Verses 43 and 44, he pushes that a little bit. “How then is it that David in the Spirit calls him Lord, saying…” Psalm 110, verse 1. Now, a couple of things here. Number one, Jesus confirms for us the Davidic authorship of Psalm 110. In doing that, he confirms, by the way, the reliability of the superscripts of the Psalms that have been questioned in contemporary scholarly literature. We have this consistently. All of the manuscript evidence that we have points to these as in the original, and in fact, we have New Testament warrant and confirmation of it. And here Jesus himself confirms with respect to Psalm 110 in particular that this is a psalm of David as the superscript says, and David speaking in the Spirit, that is under inspiration of the Spirit of God.

Now Jesus’ whole argument rests on this. The whole argument falls apart if David didn’t write the psalm. Jesus rests his whole argument here on the fact that this is a Davidic psalm. He’s writing, and he says of Messiah, “He is my Lord.” And so he draws out the implications then regarding the nature and the status of the Messianic King. Jesus’ purpose here is not just to win an argument and to beat them. His purpose here is to press a right understanding of who the Messiah is. The important issue here is not taxes, paying to Caesar or not. The important issue here is not details about the resurrection. The important issue here is not what’s the greatest commandment. The important issue that he points out is the nature and the character of the Messiah himself.

And what he zeroes in on is David’s reference to Messiah as his Lord. “My Lord,” verse 1. This is why the superscript and the Davidic authorship of the psalm is essential. David referred to the Messiah as his Lord. Now that raises a question that Jesus is pressing here. There’s no question that Messiah is David’s son. No question about that. We hold that in common. We’ve got that common ground. The question is, how can Messiah be merely David’s human son when David himself refers to him as his Lord? How can he be just David’s son if in fact he is David’s Lord? Doesn’t that imply that Messiah is more than David’s son? And doesn’t it tell us that David himself recognizes that his son is in some sense much greater, much more exalted than he is?

So great King David is the father of Messiah, and yet David calls his son his master, his Lord—the one to whom he is subordinate. So the question is, how can David’s son be David’s Lord? Is the son superior to the father? He’s David’s son, to be sure. And yet the son is superior. He’s the one to whom everyone must submit, including David himself. So David’s son holds a status that is far superior than that of just David’s son. He’s David’s Lord.

Now, the implications of deity here are just unmistakable. You can’t miss it. When you look at it, there’s more of this actually in Psalm 110 as well. If you want to flip back quickly, you’ll see it in Psalm 110. More than just the title “my Lord” in verse 1, implications of deity are there. But there’s more of it through this psalm. Verse 1: the king sits at God’s right hand. Well, who in the world is so exalted that he can sit at the right hand of God and administer his kingdom? Verse 5: the Lord is, in fact, at Messiah’s right hand. You see that? Verse 5, where David says to the king, “The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.” Well, who is at whose right hand after all? And who is going to work for whom? There’s some notion of equality here already.

In fact, now the title Lord, Adonai—verse 1, the Lord says to my Adonai, my Lord—now that title is given to Yahweh. In verse 5, both are Adonai. And then in verses 5 and 6, God himself goes to war against the rebel nations while Messiah sits enthroned. “He will execute judgment among the nations.” There’s clearly some notion of equality here that’s unmistakable. There’s just no way to do justice to all of these details of the psalm until you recognize that Messiah is much more than even the most exalted human king. And that’s the point that Jesus is pressing. And on Jesus’ own authority, we have it that we are right, not only to see Jesus in these psalms, but we are right on Jesus’ authority to see the psalms as pointing forward to a divine Messiah. Now this is not new to us; we saw it in Psalm 45, we’ve seen it in other psalms as well, the prophets are full of it—we’ve seen that many times over—but here we see it in Psalm 110 again.

So he’s pressing the deity of Messiah. But there’s more. It goes deeper than that. What is the specific question at issue in this confrontation? Verse 42, back to Matthew 22. The specific question at issue is, “Whose son is he?” If he’s David’s Lord, how can he be his son? So Psalm 110 in verse 1 leaves us to conclude that Messiah is not only David’s son, he’s the Son of God. He’s God’s Son, in fact. In fact, he’s David’s Lord precisely because he is God’s Son. And he’s God’s Son in the most exalted sense. He is not only God’s Son in a messianic sense—remember, God promised to David, “I’ll be a father to your son and he’ll be a son to me”—this is more than that. He is God’s Son in the most exalted sense.

So Jesus is directing us not only to see Messiah in terms of his deity, but Jesus is introducing for us the basic elements of Trinitarian theology. It is not God, but God’s Son who comes. And yet God’s Son who comes is God. Now he doesn’t spell out all the intricacies of one being, one God with three persons, but he does have the Son of God coming who is himself God. And he doesn’t get into the intricacies of Trinitarian theology: there is one God, one being who is God, and that God subsists in three persons. And the distinction between these three persons is not one of being. They share the same being equally and fully among each of the three. The only distinction between the three is one of relation. We have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father begets, the Son is begotten, the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son, and yet they all share equally the same being of God.

But that’s what we’re left with. And in fact, there’s more. If he’s pressing the deity of Messiah, and if he is introducing for us the basic elements of Trinitarian theology, he’s also pressing the theology of the incarnation as well. Because the Son of God became the Son of David. The miracle of the virgin birth—through that miracle, God the Son, the one who is eternally God, eternally in fellowship with God, sharing in the same being with God, distinct only in terms of his person and his relationship to the Father, he became flesh. He became the son of David. And so now he is two natures. One person still, God the Son. But now, although from eternity he has had divine nature fully, now he has taken to himself human nature. One person, two natures. The mystery of the two natures of Jesus.

Now again, Jesus doesn’t spell out all of those details that the apostles would have to unpack after him. But he leaves us with just those kinds of implications: the deity of the Messiah, the distinct personhood of the Son from the Father, and the incarnation of the Son and his two natures. He just leaves us with those implications.

Of course, Jesus’ opponents are not about to concede all that. They’ve got no categories for understanding all of this. But neither could they argue. And they quickly realize they’re in over their heads. And so verse 46 here: “No one was able to answer him a word.” And in fact, Matthew records for us it threw them into such a conundrum that from that day no one dare ask him any more questions. We’ll have to find another way to get rid of this guy. We’ll not out-argue him.

Now for us, standing on this side of Jesus and this side of the apostles, this is no puzzle at all. This is the glorious ground of the gospel. This is the uniqueness of Christianity. This is a Christian’s trump card. How is it we insist so on the unique significance of Jesus? How is it that we insist that he is the only savior, that he’s the only one who can save? And the answer is because of the uniqueness of Jesus. He’s God himself come from heaven to the rescue of his people. He came and took on human flesh so that he, as one of us, would stand in our place and offer himself in sacrifice to God and make propitiation for our sins. And here all of that lay for centuries, hidden in plain view, until Jesus comes and points it out, and then you can’t miss it.

This, by the way, is how we find the Trinity in the Old Testament—the doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament. It’s there. No one saw it. But we come to the New Testament, and the bright light is shining, and we shine that light back in the Old Testament. Oh, there it is. There it is. Find God sending Messiah, who is God. You find God sending his Spirit who is God, and yet these three are distinct in some sense and share the single deity in another way. How do you put all that together? And as that unfolded, of course, in the New Testament, in the incarnation of Christ, in his ministry, in his teaching, and then with the apostles, it all becomes very clear.

Well, with all of that, you can see then why Psalm 110 became such a pivotal passage for the New Testament writers in their understanding of Jesus. Jesus is the Christ, the promised son of David. He’s the Son of God. He’s God himself come to save sinners. He’s also the King. He’ll rule the nations and he’ll bring the whole world to his feet. We also find in verse 4 of the psalm, he’s also a great high priest. And it’s through his work that access to God has opened up for us. He’s David’s promised son and he’s David’s Lord. And in fact, he’s Lord of all. And we happily acknowledge that today, and we look forward to that wonderful day when all the world will acknowledge him.

Before I close, I have to read you one more thing. The apostles unpack the implications of what Jesus taught. And then it’s left for the church with what I’ve called before this “revelation dump” that we have in the New Testament. Jesus comes and teaches and the apostles expand on it. And we’re left then—the church is left to put all this together. And for the coming centuries, the church is looking back to the apostles and to Jesus and the teaching. How do we say all of this?

And one of the high points in that, of course, is the fourth century, the Council of Nicaea and then the Council of Constantinople. And they captured all of this teaching in words that the Christians have recited now together for all of these centuries. And notice how all of this is in one sense an unpacking of the implications of Psalm 110:

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, was made man, was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, he suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father, and he shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.”

Marvelous summary of the whole New Testament teaching that grows in some part out of Psalm 110. We’ll pick that up again next time.