#DailyDevotion Jesus Is Our King Of Peace
Psalm 110:1–4, 2 a
2From Zion the LORD will send out the scepter of Your power:The LORD says to my Lord, “Sit at My right until I make Your enemies Your footstool.” 2From Zion the LORD will send out the scepter of Your power: “Rule in the middle of Your enemies.” 3Your people willingly offer themselves when You call up Your army. From the womb of the dawn like dew, Your youth will come to You in beautiful, holy garments. 4The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a Priest forever like Melchizedek.” 2From Zion the LORD will send out the scepter of Your power:
From Zion the LORD will send out the scepter of Your power. An interesting antiphon for Christmas eve. It’s interesting because of course, Jesus is born in Bethlehem. Well this is a forward looking psalm to begin with. One could take Zion as the Church yet I’m not sure it really fits here. As it is a forward looking psalm I think we can indeed take it as Jerusalem. For it is from Jerusalem, Zion, the Holy Spirit descends on Pentecost day and the gospel of Jesus Christ, the “scepter of Your power” goes forth into all the earth.
Now Jesus quotes verse one in a confrontation with the Pharisees. David is speaking here and David says, “The LORD says to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right until I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” Jesus questions them how can the Messiah be David’s descendant if David calls him “my Lord.” Yet David is the ancestor of “my Lord” and he is subject to “my Lord.” Jesus of course is the one of whom David speaks. David’s descendant and Lord is the Root of Jesse. He is from ancient days. He is from all eternity. For David’s descendant and Lord is the LORD, God Almighty. Jesus is the LORD, God Almighty.
Now the throne David sat on and all the other kings of Jerusalem sat on was the throne of God, as it is written, 1 Chr. 29, “23Then Solomon sat on the LORD’s throne as king succeeding his father David. All went very well, and all Israel obeyed him.” It is the LORD’s throne to which Jesus is called to sit at the right hand of and indeed sits on. He is ruling now in the midst of his enemies upon the earth. They oppose him on every side yet they cannot defeat him. They will be made a footstool for him. From Zion has his reign and scepter gone out. Wherever Christians are, there his power is made known.
The power and scepter of Jesus, the power of God is the good news of Jesus. That power resides in the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness he won by the shedding of his blood and his death. His resurrection overcomes death and gives eternal life to all who believe this. The forgiveness of sins is the power to overcome slavery to sin and the fear of death.
Now the LORD makes our Jesus a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews makes note of this that Melchizedek was without beginninng and without end. He was king of Salem(peace) aka Jerusalem. So too, Jesus, who is YHWH from all eternity, is made king of Zion and is the high priest the King of Peace. At his birth the angels sang, “Peace on earth” and indeed that is who is born unto us, the King of Peace.
Heavenly Father, you declared Jesus to be the King of Peace and our High Priest. Grant that we may know his peace now and live in that peace forever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.