Christ In Psalms
Christ in Psalms
Bro Micah See | 6 September 2026 | Psalm 110:1–7
"The LORD said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'" — Psalm 110:1 (NKJV)
The Songbook of the Messiah
The book of Psalms is Israel's ancient songbook — poetry, worship, laments, praises. And yet within its 150 songs are some of the most breathtaking prophecies of the coming Christ found anywhere in the Old Testament. The Psalms do not just describe suffering and hope in general — they describe specific things Jesus would say, do, and suffer, hundreds of years before He was born.
Before we come to the great Messianic Psalm — Psalm 110 — it is worth pausing on a few of the other Psalms that speak so clearly of Christ.
Prophecies of the Messiah Hidden in Songs
Psalm 2 — God's Anointed King, the Son
Psalm 2 sets forth the idea of God anointing His own special King — and that King is His Son:
"'Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.' I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You.'" (Psalm 2:6–7)
God's King is God's Son. Written a thousand years before Bethlehem — pointing straight to Christ.
Psalm 22 — The Prophecy of the Cross
This is a prophetic psalm because of the very words Jesus Himself uttered from the cross:
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Psalm 22:1)
Not because God had forsaken Him — but to bring the mind of every listener back to this ancient psalm, and to the exact manner in which the Messiah would die. And read on in that same psalm:
"They pierced My hands and My feet… They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots." (Psalm 22:16, 18)
This was written centuries before the Romans even invented crucifixion. The pierced hands and feet. The divided garments. The cast lots. Every detail fulfilled at Calvary, exactly as the psalm foretold. This is the power of prophecy in the Psalms — divinely inspired, precisely fulfilled.
Psalm 16 — The Body That Would Not Decay
Look at Psalm 16, verse 10:
"For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption." (Psalm 16:10)
The body of the Messiah would not decompose. He would rise before decay could touch Him. And He did — on the third day, exactly as this psalm had prophesied.
The Most Quoted Psalm in the New Testament
And now we come to the one psalm that stands above all others in the New Testament — Psalm 110. Of all the apostles and writers of the New Testament, this is the psalm most often quoted. It appears again and again — in the Gospels, in Acts, in the letters, and especially in Hebrews.
Why is it so significant? Why did the writers of the New Testament keep coming back to it?
Because Jesus Himself quoted it — and used it to expose the truth of who He really is.
Jesus Quotes Psalm 110 to the Pharisees
"While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, 'What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?' They said to Him, 'The Son of David.' He said to them, 'How then does David in the Spirit call Him "Lord," saying:
"The LORD said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'"?
If David then calls Him "Lord," how is He his Son?' And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore." (Matthew 22:41–46)
This same scene is also recorded in Mark 12 and Luke 20. Jesus was quoting one verse, but pointing to the whole passage. Why?
Consider the setting. The Pharisees, the scribes, all of Jewish teaching accepted that a Messiah was coming — an Adonai, a Lord — someone great, someone anointed by God to deliver His people. In Hebrew culture, an older, more respected person is called "my Lord" — never a father calling his own son. And yet in Psalm 110, King David — the highest earthly authority in Israel — calls this coming descendant "my Lord." How could David call his own future descendant "my Lord"?
Because David, by the Spirit, recognised that this One coming after him would be far greater than himself. Not merely another king in his line — but the Messiah, the true King of God's people, exalted at the right hand of God Himself.
Jesus was widening the Pharisees' worldview. They thought of the Messiah only as a Son of David — a human king, an earthly deliverer. But David himself had already seen more. This Messiah would be Lord even to David.
The King Who Is Also Priest
But Psalm 110 does not stop with the coming King. Read verse 4:
"The LORD has sworn and will not relent, 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'" (Psalm 110:4)
This is astonishing. In Israel, the kings and the priests were kept strictly separate.
Kings came from the tribe of Judah — David's lineage.
Priests came from the tribe of Levi — Aaron's lineage.
Nowhere in the Bible do we find a lawful priest-king under the Law of Moses.
The separation was so strict that when Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark of the Covenant — meant only for the priests to handle — "the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God." (2 Samuel 6:7). Later, King Uzziah presumed to burn incense in the temple — a priestly duty — and God struck him with leprosy.
A king could not be a priest. A priest could not be a king. And yet Psalm 110 says this coming Messiah would be both — a king enthroned at God's right hand, and a priest forever.
How could that be? Not according to the order of Aaron — but according to the order of Melchizedek.
Melchizedek appears briefly in Genesis 14, when Abram returned from battle and was met by 'Melchizedek king of Salem… the priest of God Most High' (Genesis 14:18) — a mysterious figure who was both king and priest, to whom the great patriarch Abraham himself paid tithes (Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:2). His priesthood was legitimate before God, standing outside the Levitical system altogether — because he lived long before it was ever given. "The writer of Hebrews takes exactly this connection and builds an entire teaching on it:
"So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You.' As He also says in another place: 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek'… called by God as High Priest 'according to the order of Melchizedek.'" (Hebrews 5:5–6, 10)
Jesus is the King-Priest that Melchizedek foreshadowed. And Hebrews chapters 6, 7, and onward keep returning to this theme, because it changes everything about how we come to God.
A Priesthood Based on Faithfulness
Under the Law of Moses, you could only become a priest if you were born into the tribe of Levi. But the priesthood of Christ — the order of Melchizedek — is not based on lineage. It is based on faithfulness, on serving God with all your heart.
When Jesus came, and when the new covenant was established, the Levitical system was no longer needed. The old sacrificial system was completed, once for all, in Him. And this matters personally to every one of us — because we have no lineage back to Israel. None of us here is descended from the tribe of Levi. Under the old order, we could never be priests before God.
But because of Christ's new order — a priesthood not of blood but of faith — we have a hope of eternal life. And we have the hope even of being priests to God ourselves, apart from any Levitical lineage.
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9)
Rereading Psalm 110 with New Eyes
Now that we have seen who this King-Priest really is, look again at what Psalm 110 says about His people:
"Your people shall be volunteers"
"Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power." (Psalm 110:3)
All of us are volunteers. None of us was born a Christian. None of us became a Christian by birthright. We are here voluntarily — to follow Christ. Nobody was dragged into the kingdom of God. Nobody inherited it because of family. Every person who belongs to Christ made a personal choice to come — willingly, gladly, in the beauty of holiness.
That is the kind of people the King-Priest has — a willing people, a volunteering people, a people who chose to bow before Him.
The Nations, and the Judgment That Comes to All
Verses 5 and 6 speak of the King executing judgment among the nations, filling the places with dead bodies:
"The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries." (Psalm 110:5–6)
The Jews of Jesus' day hoped for a physical Messiah who would pile up the bodies of their enemies — a military king who would kill everyone who was not Israel. But that is not the kingdom God established.
The new promise, revealed through Christ, is that all nations now have the opportunity to become Christians — to follow Christ and be saved. And with equal seriousness — all nations also have the opportunity to disobey Christ. It is an opportunity, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter what your background is.
But do not miss this warning either: God's judgment applies equally to all. All nations are accountable. The final judgment falls on every soul that has rejected the King. The Psalm's picture of judgment is not annulled — it is universalised. All must give an account. All must decide.
Come to the King-Priest
Jesus is enthroned at God's right hand — exactly as Psalm 110 promised, a thousand years before He was born. He is the King the prophets promised. He is the Priest who lives forever, interceding for those who come to God through Him. He is the Son whom David called "my Lord." He is the greater than Solomon, greater than David, greater than Aaron, greater than every earthly figure the Old Testament could offer.
And He is calling us to come.
Not as those born into a lineage.
Not as those forced by fate.
As volunteers — willing hearts, in the day of His power.
Bow before the King. Bring your prayers to the Priest. Take shelter in the One at whose right hand every enemy — including our final enemy, death — is being placed as His footstool. Because the day is coming when His enemies will be no more, and His volunteers will reign with Him forever.
