Psalm 110:1 - Divine Diversity

Psalm 110:1
The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

Message: Divine Diversity

Time: The psalms were written by many different people across a period of a thousand years in Israel's history. They are thought to have been compiled and put together in their present form by some unknown editor shortly after the captivity ended about 537 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

I looked at this passage of Scripture in October as I was studying the book of Mark and Jesus took a moment to quote these words from Psalm 110 as he gave a response to a question from the scribes.

At the time of my reading of it, I was interested in the terminology and what Jesus was saying in these verses, namely that He was offering a defense of Jesus and His relationship to Father God. As this verse states - The Lord says to my Lord - so there are two Lords present in this verse with one speaking to another.

As I continue to look at specifics regarding the doctrine of God and have previously studied that there is only one God. All other gods may be claimed to be gods but there is only one true God and He is one. He is a God to all people everywhere for all time. He is also displayed in 3 persons. He is a singular God but has 3 essences in the God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There is often confusion in thinking that this somehow means that we Christians worship 3 Gods, but that statement is invalid. God is still one but throughout Scripture comes on the scene in 3 forms or persons and now we want to look at the idea that those 3 forms are distinct.

The Tabletalk reading today wants to make the point that the Bible does not speak of Modalism which says that while there is one God that God manifests itself at different times as the Father, then other times as the Son, then other times as the Spirit and those manifestations are never at the same time. So, God starts out as Father, then comes to earth as Son, then after ascension as the Spirit. Beliefs are interesting because I notice that people will often try to define something that makes the most sense to them and this idea of God is often a challenge for people and so throughout the ages people try to make God out to be something that fits their thinking but it isn't the entire truth and suddenly we have many different belief systems with millions of adherents and all have a little different picture of God:

• Mormons speak of many gods, so Joseph Smith saw the Father, saw the Son, saw the Spirit. They were separate and Mormons speak of man one day becoming a god. Again, Joseph Smith saw a physical representation of God. Perhaps he wanted to see God and so this became His theology. 
• Jehovah Witnesses also wanted to say that God and Jesus are separate. They have decided that Jesus was on the scene during Old Testament times as Michael the archangel. Thus, they seem to recognize Jesus as being there before he came to earth, but they fit him in as the Archangel and then the Holy Spirit as a completely separate force. Unitarianism is also another name or belief system of this. 
• Islam believes the New Testament text has been corrupted and therefore teaches that the scriptures we have about a resurrection are misconstrued and Jesus was actually a really great man and similar to other men called prophets like Moses and even Muhammad. But, they do not believe in a Trinity and instead focus squarely on only one God, not in 3 persons and call their god Allah. 
• Judaism is another monotheistic belief that says there is 1 God, not 3 persons of the Trinity. There are several holy books that speak of this. It speaks of God having a purpose, man inability to follow that purpose and God repeatedly pulling them back or bringing them back to His purpose. But God is always singular and do not believe Jesus is the Messiah. 

Verse 1 of this passage is very interesting. David is in the middle of a conversation between on one side the Lord, Jehovah, and on the other side, Adonai. The Lord (Jehovah) is speaking to his Lord (Adonai).

Jehovah is one of the primary names for God in the Bible. Sometimes it is used for God the Father, sometimes for God the Son, sometimes for God the Holy Spirit and the context of the passage determines which person of the Trinity Jehovah is. Here in this passage Jehovah is God the Father. The word Adonai or who David refers to as my Lord is God's Son. Therefore, Jehovah is speaking to Jesus.

It is also interesting the word says or said is literally an oracle and this word is only used of a direct utterance of God, sometimes a word from a prophet, but it is more common as a word or oracle coming from God.

When Jesus quotes this passage he adds a statement clarifying where David received these words - David himself said in the Holy Spirit. Thus, the message that David records in this passage in Psalm 110 is not his own, but is said in the Holy Spirit. Thus, in a matter of words Jesus is saying David speaks from the Holy Spirit and witnesses THE LORD (YAHWEH) SAYING TO MY LORD (ADONAI) - SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET. 

Saint Augustine of Hippo who lived from 354 AD to 430 AD, stated:

Christ is both David's Son, and David's Lord: David's Lord always, David's Son in time: David's Lord, born of the substance of His Father, David's Son, born of the Virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Ghost...Unless our Lord Jesus Christ has vouchsafed to become man, man had perished. He was made that which He made, that what He made might not perish. Very Man, Very God; God and man, the whole Christ."

The Pulpit Commentary concludes it well:

From this verse (Psalm 110.) our Lord shows that the Messiah, such as he was, was not a mere man, as the Pharisees thought, but that he was God, and therefore David's Lord. The meaning, therefore, is this, "The Lord God said to my Lord," that is, Christ, "Sit thou at my right hand," that is, when, after his cross, his death, and his resurrection, he will exalt him far above all principality and power, and place him next to him in heaven, that he may reign with supreme happiness and power and glory over all creatures. These words show that this is a Divine decree, fixed and irrevocable. Till I make thine enemies thy footstool (ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου); literally, the footstool of thy feet; that is, reign with me in glory until the day of judgment, when I will make the wicked, all opposing powers, subject to thee. The word "till" does not imply that Christ will then cease to reign. "Of his kingdom there shall be no end." But he will then formally deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, only that he may receive it again as the second Person of the Godhead.

Thus, there is a clear distinction in the Bible between the persons of the trinity and their existence is that they are present at all time. Our God is personal.

Promise: God is personal and relates to us and is involved in the affairs of human beings. We must accept the God of the Bible instead of working hard to fit God into our own thinking.

Prayer: O God, as I spend more time in Your Word and reading and studying of You, I thank You that I learn more about You. I thank you for the people that have come before me that have gotten into your Word and understand it and You have given them understanding. Help me though to always see You as You are. It is amazing there are so many different beliefs and yet sad at the same time that so many have not been willing to accept You as You are.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with January being about the doctrine of God.