Who’s in charge around here?
Are you in charge? If not, can you be okay with that?
If not you, then who?
If you can’t be in charge, you want to have a say for who is in charge. You cast your ballot, you vote with your feet, you make your will known even if you don’t call the shots.
What if no one is in charge? You get on an airplane, and it’s a crapshoot, whether or not it flies or goes down. Without a sovereign in charge of every atom in the universe, you are left with only impersonal, uncaring chance.
What a frightening thought! Thankfully, someone great, caring, and perfect is completely in charge. There will be no change of mind about it. No one will ever usurp his being in charge nor his personal care. And you belong to him.
Singing Psalm 110, who is in charge of circumstances?
Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and yet he submitted and yielded to the Father to take care of his enemies for him. He waited, trusting his Father to act at just the right time. Jesus was willing to suffer and die at the hands of his enemies to save his people before being risen to everlasting preeminence.
David is singing here as prophet about his Lord, our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, our forever priest, and the King of kings whose sovereign reign will never end:
“The LORD said to my Lord:
‘Sit here at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies
A footstool for Your feet.’” ~ Psalm 110:1
“And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” ~ Ephesians 1:22-23
“The LORD from Zion sends You scepter in its strength,‘With mighty power show Your rule Among Your enemies.’” ~ Psalm 110:2
Laying aside those who want to be in charge, and those who seem to be in charge, and those who force their way to be in charge, why is it that we don’t more easily recognize who is actually in charge?
Could it be because he is humble? He continually does amazing things quietly. So much so that you can easily take it for granted. Are you in awe every morning that the sun comes up and there is daylight, or when it sets each evening giving way to the considerably darker moonlight? God does not boast of all his incredible works with trumpet sounds. This is precisely why he deserves abundant praise from his people. You humble yourself to praise him only in response to his display of humility first!
That one so great loves you first and wants you to love him in return — why is it so easy to disregard such an amazing reality?
O Lord, please would you open the eyes of your people to see?
You fulfill your destiny when you rightly praise him and enjoy him.
Singing Psalm 110, you learn that there are universal laws in place that are more sure than the law of gravity: the one who humbles himself will be exalted, and the one who exalts himself will be humbled. Whatever the circumstances, humble yourself. The Lord‘s gracious and merciful eye will not fail to notice.
Singing Psalm 110, who is in charge of relationships?
Singing Psalm 110 ought to instill a deep security within you about your standing with God.
“Your people freely come Throughout Your day of pow’r;From morning’s dawn, in holy robes, Your youth are like the dew.“ ~ Psalm 110:3
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” ~ Revelation 22:14
“So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” ~ Hebrews 13:12-14
Jesus always listened to the Father. When he took our sin upon himself on the cross, the fact that the Father did not listen to Jesus is confirmation that he indeed became sin for his people. He is the great high priest, the perfect sacrifice who once-for-all perfectly atoned for sin and redeemed his people. Because of his humility, the Father exalted him to the highest place in existence. Because of Jesus’ all sufficient high priestly sacrifice, his people can approach the throne of grace with confidence. Your sin has been removed from your record so that God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, not only hear you but live with you and in you. And you, a sheep in his flock, hear your good shepherd and live with and in him. No other relationship is covenanted as the one you have with the Lord Jesus who will never forsake you. Unless you forsake him, he is yours forever. Guaranteed.
Will you sit at his right hand, confidently waiting for him to make all things right? Or will you frantically try to make things right in your own way? “Don’t just do something, sit there.” Jesus was willing to suffer in order to obey the Father— to sit at his right hand until he placed his enemies beneath his feet. Jesus commands you to follow him even in this.
And even if your dearest relationships here on earth prove to be false, there is indescribable comfort knowing that Jesus, the one in charge, is always true. He can also, if he wills, transform those false relationships and make them true. You keep your eyes fixed on him as your horizon to see the good he will do. But even if he doesn’t, your hope stays on him. No one can snatch you from his hand. What joy that there is no end to his love!
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” ~ Hebrews 4:14-16
Singing Psalm 110, who is in charge forever?
“The Lord has sworn an oath,
And will not change His mind:
‘In th’order of Melchizedek,
You ever are a priest.’” ~ Psalm 110:5
Even someone as great as Abraham acknowledged Melchizedek as greater than him.
The great king David sang of a future descendent, whom he called “my Lord,” who would have an everlasting reign far greater than David’s. And David was the greatest king of Israel.
“So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’;
as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” ~ Hebrews 5:5-10
God made not only a promise but also an oath. These are both unchangeable as is the unchangeable character of his purpose, and it is impossible for God to lie. “We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this, as a sure, steadfast anchor of the soul, I hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” ~ Hebrews 6:19-20
“The Lord at Your right hand
Will shatter kings in wrath.
Among the nations He will judge,
And fill them with their dead.” ~ Psalm 110:5-6a
“For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.” ~ Hebrews 7:28
Jesus didn’t gloat over his enemies watching them drink the cup of death down to the dregs. No, Jesus drank the cup of death for those who trust him before he drank the cup of victory. Because he was willing to count himself as nothing, and to count his people as worth dying for, he was exalted. Instead of hanging his head in shame, he lifted up his head in glory, for this is God's good pleasure: to humble the proud and to exalt the humble. Jesus alone, the gentle and lowly one, is worthy to be exalted to preeminence and to lift up his head at last. Only Jesus is perfectly in charge having all the power of an indestructible life. And he generously chose to extend that power to his people. As you bow down to worship Jesus, your head no no longer sinks in shame but lifts in joy as you humbly follow him and walk with him forever.
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” ~ Hebrews 9:27-28
Yes, Jesus drank the bitter cup. He drank by the wayside, and in God’s economy, it follows that he should lift his head and be exalted. It is in his gentle lowliness that he is most worthy of worship, and it is in this that he calls you to learn from him.
“Yes, He will smite and crush
Chief men in many lands.
And from the wayside brook He’ll drink,
And therefore lift His head.” ~ Psalm 110:6b-7
February 16 – 23, 2024
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