The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
—Psalm 110:1-2
King David seems to see beyond the first coming of the Messiah and His ascension. In Luke 1, we read, “Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (vv. 30-33). “Son of David,” which is implied in these verses, refers to the human family through which the Son of the Highest would be born as the God Man. David was born of the lineage of Judah, the tribe of kings, and Jesus rightfully entered the world as prophesied. Interestingly, this “Son of David” is also David’s Lord, as the king prophesies here of seeing beyond the first coming of Jesus and into the heavenly arena, which is the present day “reality” concerning the whereabouts of the Son of the Highest— “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1).
David sees beyond the first coming of Jesus, past His ascension, and now he says that Jesus’s presence in heaven at the right hand of the Father is a time of waiting. We’re in that process now, waiting until the Lord makes His enemies His footstool. The Lord, Jehovah, will send the rod of His strength out of Jerusalem! What will He do? He will rule right in the midst of, and even surrounded by, His enemies. Obviously, this isn’t a description of Christ’s first appearance on earth, when He was falsely accused, arrested, tried in a mock trial, found guilty, and ultimately executed for things He didn’t do . . . but we did. And that’s why He came. Thus we see that this psalm is yet unfulfilled and still requires the return of the Messiah. But for the present time, He is seated at the right hand of the Father. When that day and hour arrive, the King will return to the earth. And then what?
First, He will bring righteousness and justice to an unrighteous and unjust world. The Bible teaches the physical return of Christ to the earth when He comes to rule on earth for the thousand years of the Millennium. Here is how the Bible describes that time: “Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Revelation 19:15). We want to remember that the “nations being ruled with a rod of iron” means that there will be sin even in the Millennium with Christ on the throne! Otherwise, what would be the purpose of a rod of iron? The standard by which all nations are judged will be the Word of God, the sharp sword coming from the mouth of the Lord. When Jesus returns and rules on the earth, there will no longer be people who “get away with murder.” There won’t be any more “loopholes” or technicalities that let criminals off the hook. No one will lie to the judge in an attempt to fool him, because the Judge of all the earth is omniscient. He knows all, and therefore no one will be convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, nor will anyone be able to lie themselves out of a just penalty. Abortion won’t be allowed. False worship and cults won’t be permitted either, and disobedience to the King will be met with swift consequences (Zechariah 14:17-19). The King is coming! When He arrives on the earth, things will return to the way they should have been run all along. No more injustice, no more promoted and protected unrighteousness. What a day that will be. Are you ready for Him if He should make His appearance today?
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