Rev. Don Campbell
Psalms 108-110
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, May 24, 2019
“JESUS NOW RULES”
Psalms 108 and 109 seem to be a compilation of several other psalms. Our focus is on Psalm 110, which quoted by more in the N.T. than any other psalm. Both Jesus and Peter say that David wrote it (Matthew 23:43; Acts 2:33-35). Verse one is quoted or alluded to at least 25 times, 10 of which are in Hebrews. Our focus will be on verse two: “Rule in the midst of your enemies.”
Some do not believe Jesus is ruling today, because he is not “ruling over” all his foes. This verse says, and N.T. writers confirm that he rules “in the midst of his enemies,” but that those whom he rules over are those who have volunteered freely.
First, Paul says, “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church” (Ephesians 1:22). He further states, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7).
“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘all things are put in subjection,’ it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).
Presently, Jesus rules “in the midst” of his enemies. The day will come when those enemies will bow before him, but it will be too late: “Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” (Revelations 6:15-17).
We can volunteer to bow the knee to Jesus now, or we can be forced to do so later: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
CONNECTIONS
1. If people are forced to submit to God’s moral law by any kind of force, whether military or political, have they really obeyed?
2. Paul said that if law could produce righteousness then righteousness would have come by the law of Moses (Galatians 3:21). Could the passing of laws which reflect the morality of the New Testament give us a false sense of righteousness?
