A king and a priest

Sometimes my Bible Reading plan really comes out perfectly having me read something that is pertinent to what I'm working on that week. Today happened to be one of those days, on Sunday I am preaching on Matthew 22:34-46 and looking at Hebrews 7. Now while neither of those are what I read today, they do have one thing in common, Psalm 110.

It is a Psalm of David and begins:
The LORD says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.” (Psalm 110:1 NIV)
LORD of course is God but the question stands who is God talking to. The lord of the king is the person being spoken to, so whoever it is, is even greater than David, one who God will make the ruler of all due to what he says. Luckily for us Jesus gives us the answer in Matthew 22:42-45 we know that this is about Jesus, the Messiah, it is a Messianic Psalm, it should have been clear, but becomes especially clear when that is how the Messiah interprets it.

So with that base we read on:
The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
3 Your troops will be willing
on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
your young men will come to you
like dew from the morning’s womb. (Psalm 110:2-3 NIV)
The messiah is portrayed as a mighty king, the best ever, he will rule among all of the nations. Indeed Christ is seen everywhere, not just in Jerusalem and people do come to him. The battle is not a physical battle but a spiritual one, and we fight it everyday.

The Messiah also has another role:
The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:4 NIV)
We know the first part of this verse to be true. God does not change his mind, he has always had this plan in mind. The second part gives us a new piece of information though, the Messiah is a priest in the order of Melchizedek. The writer goes to great detail in Hebrews 7 to explain the significance of this. The messiah will bring in a better priesthood, one that endures forever and one that is appointed by God not men, a perfect and enduring priesthood and that is what we really need.

Jesus comes to us as both priest and king, he comes as the ruler and as the one who will make atonement for us, with an even better sacrifice. Jesus exceeds the priesthood and the kingship in every way, the book of Hebrews focuses on this. Why would we put our hope anywhere else?!